D-day

After spending a lovely night in Cabourg, we had croissants and pan au chocolat for breakfast before walking a long the beach in the sun. It's a cute little town, and fairly empty in the winter, which was nice. 

view of Arromanches from the clifftop

Then we all jumped back in the car and headed down the coast to Arromanches. This little town was right in the middle of the D-day landing sites on Gold beach, where part of the British landed. It is an interesting place to see since this is where they built one of the Mulberry harbors, artificial harbors built to be able to bring equipment ashore after the landing. Pieces of the harbor can still be seen on the beach and out in the water. 

part of the artificial harbor

There was also a museum up on the cliff we went to that had video from the landings and after. I like history, so it was interesting and sobering to see just where everything had happened. 

Omaha beach today

After a pizza lunch in town, we headed down the road to Omaha beach, where the Americans landed on d-day, and where the allied forces suffered the most damage. Just above the beach on a cliff, is the American cemetery where all the troops are buried up until the end of the war. The museum there is really well done and we could have spent hours just looking in it. But the cemetery itself, is an amazing sight. 9,387 crosses and stars of david line the grass in front of a memorial and reflecting pool.

It was really moving to stand in the middle of all those crosses and read the names of the men, and where they were from. I realized my grandpa could have been one of those names, if he had not survived when his plane was shot down over France. We watched two ceremonies where the flags were taken down from the poles, folded, and given to families of killed soldiers. We left feeling thankful for the sacrifice these men made for us.