Europe Recap–Normandy

How lucky are we that we got to start our 2 week trip off with a couple days in Northern France?! Kyle was totally stoked to see Normandy and the D-Day landing beaches. We missed the actual D-Day (June 6th) by just a few days. But no worries for us, the annual commemoration continued on.

Just because I want to remember this silly experience, I’m going to go ahead and write it out. K imagine this… We woke up at 1am Mountain Standard Time to catch our flight to Minneapolis where we had a 7 hour layover until our flight to Paris. The flight to Paris was a little over 10 hours. We both slept for about an hour is all.

Once in Paris it took us a good 4 hours to navigate around the city to get to the correct train station to catch our train to the city of Caen in the province of Normandy. At the train station Kyle zonked out sitting on a bench and tipped over onto the unsuspecting shoulder of a French lady! I couldn’t stop laughing.

Once safely on the train we were ironically seated next to a couple from Grand Junction and bless their hearts they sure wanted to talk! Five long hours later we arrived at our hotel in Caen. Phew! We were so exhausted.

So exhausted, that bedtime came at 6pm that evening. Later on, we were both roused by some commotion outside. The clock said the  time was 10 o’clock, yet it was light outside and we were super sleep still! We went back and forth trying to decide if it was 10 am or pm. I was freaking out a little bit because the tour I had arranged for us to take of the D-Day beaches was at 10:30am. But we were still soooo tired, there was no way we felt we had slept 16 hours. It was light as day outside. Do you understand how confusing this was?! We discussed whether it was am or pm for quite some time. Finally, Kyle found a TV station that stated the time as 2200 (10pm). What a relief! Apparently, Normandy’s latitude is high enough that during summer it is only dark for a few hours a night. Mystery solved.

I felt really lucky to have stumbled upon the phone number of the man that we hired to take Kyle and I around the landing beaches. When he (Sylvan) picked us up he told us in his thick French accent that 1) He will be talking a lot, and 2) His family, back 3 generations is from the area, so the things he says and the stories he tells is his family history and excuse him if he gets emotional. Wow. We were in the palm of his hand the whole day. Sylvan’s family lived there at the time of the German occupation, to say he had a personal connection to D-Day would be an understatement.

He told us story after story of how his grandfather was a fisherman and had to have 2 German soldiers with him at all times because they wanted to make sure no illegal transporting or anything was going on. He told of when a German soldier offered his grandmother a piece of candy and, even as a little girl, knew she didn’t like the Nazi’s and refused to take the offer and it made the officer so angry and more and more personal stories!

First on the list of stops was Pointe Du Hoc.

Bunkers and crudely built safety zones scattered the countryside and were free to wander around and explore. It was so surreal thinking that real soldiers were fighting against Americans at one time and I was in that very place they were.

All the divots, pock marks and holes in the ground are left from firing guns, cannons and other weapons during the invasion. The cliffs down to the ocean were incredible. Army Rangers scaled those cliffs under constant gunfire and eventually won possession of Normandy. Amazing.

Random bunkers and ‘pillboxes’ could be seen all along the countryside, still standing as a reminder to what happened years ago. Sylvan told us they were wonderful to play in as a young boy with his friends. “It’s where we played war games. It’s where I had my first beer, my first cigarette…”

At this point in the tour Sylvan dropped us off at the American Cemetery. He said, “when you step out of my car, I hope you understand you are on American soil. You have paid for this land with your tax dollars and everyone working here will be American.” He said it was a reverent and sacred place not only to Americans but to those who live in Normandy. They are truly grateful to the bravery and sacrifice of the Americans to have fought for the freedom from occupation of the Nazi’s. I’d never been so proud to be an American as I was when Sylvan told us that.

And seeing the American flag flown in a foreign country? It is an awesome experience.

Almost 10,000 white crosses and Stars of David headstones represent the resting place of the courageous men.

The Garden of the Missing. Over 1,500 names of American men whose bodies were never found after the D-Day invasion are etched into this stone wall.

Normandy is beautiful

Kyle would’ve been a great American soldier!

General Dwight Eisenhower had these ‘artificial harbors’ built to dock the Allied ships at.

Kyle had to be a little goofy sometimes to expend some pent up energy and lighten the mood.

Many other places were visited this day, but I think this last photo sums it all up. A very simple yet poignant display in the American sector visitor’s center portrayed this WWII soldier's rifle and helmet. (Can you see the ghost? It’s me!)

We topped off the day with a ferry ride across the English channel to the southern shores of England. (From there we took the train to London)

My Russia girls will appreciate this. Remember chocolate and vanilla Nutella?! It’s also available in France. YUM! Still can’ figure out why you can’t find this in the States…