June 15 – Off to Normandy

Grabbed some breakfast this morning at the hotel in Paris and off we went to Normandy. Once again we drove around the area of Paris we were in before we found the way to the expressway to get on the road going west.

If you go to Europe and mess around in the big cities you should have a GPS. We don’t and life would have been so much easier. If you don’t think you can buy one then rent it from the car company. I will try to come up with some recommendations when I get home but the mapping data is always subject to change and before any trip you should download updates if they are available.

It took about 3 hours to drive from Paris to Omaha Beach. We stopped in Caen, France to see if there were any tours available. We thought we might take a half-day tour and then go on our own. I did check on a couple yesterday on the Internet but none of those were available. Didn’t find one available while in Caen either.

We decided to go to Omaha Beach before we checked into the hotel so we would have more time there and more time at the American Cemetery tomorrow. It’s difficult to imagine what it must have been like 69 years ago. From the beach to the high ground surrounding it is more than ¼ of a mile. A clear open killing field was the only thing I could think of walking down the beach. What a horror it must have been for those soldiers and marines jumping from the LSTs into the water and then trying to storm up the beach to the base of the high ground. I just can’t imagine it and I’m sure movies like the Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan do not really do the horror justice. Tears come to my eyes just writing this. My emotions were very conflicted as I walked up the beach, from anger to joy, from horror to elation. One that was always there was the humble feeling brought on by the great sacrifice of the soldiers who gave their lives so that I might have the freedom I have today.

Dinner at a local seafood established was wonderful. It’s so much easier with Melanie because she speaks French so well. She does get irritated with us taking for so long to make decisions about what to eat. The seafood should be good. We stayed in Deauville, France. It happens to be a fishing town on the English Channel. The food was very good and the company was exceptional.

The “hotel” for this night and the next was adequate and clean. That’s about all I will say about it. Rooms for 100€ are very basic in general. That being said there are nice deals to be had like the place we stayed in Alphen in the Netherlands.

Off we went to bed after another long day.