Day 7
Day 7. Normandy.
We took a (slow) 2 hour train to Normandy today and toured the beaches of the American D-Day Invasion. I wouldn't consider myself a fervent nationalist, but I have to say, Day-um, it was pretty cool. The best was Port du Hoc where the beach was left largely "as-is" after D-Day. There were huge holes all around where the bombs had hit and pieces of German bunkers blown all over the place. It was quite surreal. Plus there were bunnies, which are cute. :D
Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we saw in total, three different beaches, the American Cemetary (only 4 women buried there), a museum at Omaha beach, and a town that was liberated by several airborne divisions (including the 501st!). They were so happy about paratroopers that they worked them into the stained glass in their 13th century gothic church and even have a manequin of John Steele (we're not sure on the name) who got stuck on the spire of the cathedral when they jumped in and had to play dead for almost two hours to avoid being shot by the Germans. Cris told me to tell y'all that we also saw lots of the countryside that was covered in Band of Brothers in the first few episodes.
No funny stories as it was a pretty somber day, shortened by all of the train riding and driving around.
