Living, Laughing, and Loving Life: Europe Trip 2012 - Part 4 Normandy and surrounding area

On Thursday and Friday of our trip, we spent time at some of the museums and sites in the Normandy area.

We traveled up the road to Sainte-Mere-Eglise, a small town in France where the paratroopers landed in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944. If any of you have ever seen the movie "The Longest Day," this town is highlighted in the movie. It is the town where the paratrooper(John Steele) got caught on the church steeple on his way down and then hung there for several hours pretending to be dead so he wouldn't be shot. The town still has a parachute and "dummy" hanging from the church steeple! John Steele became a celebrity here and most of the town continues to be so thankful to Americans for what was done on that day!

"Paratrooper" hanging from the steeple of the church at Sainte-Mere-Eglise.

One of the two stained glass windows honoring the paratroopers.

The other stained glass window honoring the paratroopers.

We visited the Airborne museum here as well. It was a great museum and we all enjoyed our time here.

From here, we went to Utah Beach and the Utah Beach Museum. Utah Beach was the other landing point for American troops on D-Day. It was raining most of the day, but we managed to get in a quick visit between showers. Part of the Museum here is built in a old bunker and overlooks the beach.

Utah Beach Museum

Utah Beach Memorial

Utah Beach

We also had the opportunity to visit the Omaha Beach Museum, just up the road from Omaha Beach. It was a small museum, but it packed a big punch! A very well done museum that communicated the message of what happened very well. They also had a lot of artifacts that had been recovered from the water, some as recently as 2009. It was sobering to realize how many of the young men fighting never even made it to the shore.

Omaha Beach Museum

An example of things recovered just off Omaha Beach.

Omaha Beach Monument

After the Americans came ashore, they set up Mulberry ports to bring supplies and equipment on shore. Just a few weeks later, one of the ports was destroyed by a storm. This is the remnants of one of those ports.

We then made our way to Pointe du Hoc. We had tried to visit this site on Wednesday, but got caught in a downpour and didn't really get to see any of it then. Pointe du Hoc was a German stronghold during the war, as it was able to defend both Omaha and Utah beaches. It is located on a cliff and the Germans had built many bunkers and positioned guns here. On the morning of June 6, 1944, over 200 Army Rangers began scaling the cliffs to take this Pointe. When they finally made it to the top, the Germans had removed their guns. The Rangers fought for 2 1/2 days before reinforcements arrived and they had suffered heavy losses with only 90 men remaining. Pointe du Hoc is covered in craters from the bombs sent in by American ships - some large enough for cars and small apartments to fit it. There is one bunker that remains in tact, with several others partially in tact.

Monument at Pointe du Hoc

Cliffs at the end of Pointe du Hoc - this is where the Rangers would have to climb up.

Cliffs west of Pointe du Hoc

Craters from the bombs sent ashore by American ships

One of the partially in tact bunkers at Pointe du Hoc

View from inside the bunker at the very end of Pointe du Hoc .

On our way out of the Normandy area, we were able to drive through several strategic towns in France. They are beautiful towns now, and I cannot even imagine what it was like to be here in the days following June 6.

Carentan was a quaint, little town with beautiful buildings.

Church in Carentan

Street scene in Carentan

St. Lo was the site of another strategic battle with the Germans. After the Americans came ashore, the Germans retreated to St. Lo - a walled city that they could easily defend. We were able to see one of the old city walls here. The cathedral at St. Lo - called Notre Dame, was the center of town and it, as well as most of the town, was all but destroyed in the battle to liberate France.

St. Lo Notre Dame. It is still beautiful but bears the scars of freedom.

Old city walls of St. Lo

A picture of St. Lo Notre Dame before the war.

St. Lo Notre Dame after the war.

Our time in the Normandy area was amazing, and I think we could have probably spent weeks there! Here are a few extra shots - churches and roads in the French countryside.