D-Day Tour 6/29

I have absolutely loved the day so far! We got up around 8 this morning and ate a really good breakfast that Leslie served-homemade granola, fruit, and delicious breads! After that we left for our tour with Grahm. If I wasn't clear before, Leslie and Grahm are a British couple that own the cottage we are staying in. Grahm is a British general that has extensive knowledge about d-day. He didn't serve in WWII but he is an expert on the Normandy area as well as the invasion. Anyways, we set out on the tour and the first stop was an 11th century church. It had various memorials and he tied together pretty much the entire European history in 3/4 of an hour. He also told a facinating story about a D-Day paratrooper that landed on top of the church and slid down only to be captured a day later by the Germans. I am glad I had a little knowledge about history so I knew some of what he was speaking about. The next few places he took us were various memorials and sites where the fighting took place. I found it interesting to see all of the fields that were flooded by the Germans to detain the Allies. We also went to a town called Ste. Mere Eglise where apparently 2 paratroopers landed on the roof of a church. One is said to have gotten stuck on the spire and hung there for 2 hours and eventually taken prisoner(although Grahm didn't seem to think it was a true story). After a few more stops, we finally reached the coast! I was so excited because it was super beautiful:) Although today was a little windy it turned out to be sunny and the nicest day yet in France. On the coast we toured the site at Utah beach where the Allies were supposed to land. Because of current and other factors they landed quite a ways further down the beach. We got to see some bunkers actually used by the Germans. We ate lunch at a cafè right by the beach. I had a baguette sandwich with ham and cheese. After lunch, we went to the real site of the landings on Utah beach. Again, the coast was pretty but windy. I couldn't believe kids were actually swimming! Grahm told us the whole story of the Utah beach landings. Apparently they were pretty successful as opposed to the Omaha beach invasion. One thing I thought was interesting was that there were actually 13 nations involved in the landings! After the beach, we went to another site of a battle where Americans fought after having success on the beach. One gross thing he told us was that there were so many dead cows and horses from the bombing that they blocked the street and smelled awful. Our last stop was a demolished churchyard where a rather large battle took place. There was some goegeous scenery but the stories about civillian casualties were sad. We are currently resting and plan to go to dinner around 7 (they eat late here because it doesn't get dark until about midnight). I guess I'll rest and look around at the gardens for a while. Can't wait for another exciting and informational day tomorrow:)

See the paratrooper statue on the top of the church. 

Utah Beach

You can tell it's windy by our hair!!:)