Normandy Tour Day 2 6/30

Again today we started at 8:30 with breakfast. Leslie served crèpes today with fruit and lots of other sides. I also drank a lot of tea:) Grahm guided us around again and it was as interesting as yesterday. We went to three cemetaries today- Grahm wanted us to compare the different nations way of commemorating the fallen. First we saw a German cemetary. It had all dark black stones and was very somber. It was kept up but not very detailed or extravagant. Next we saw the American one. It looked similar to Arlington in Washington D.C. as it was very precise lines and all white cross headstones. It had many statues and memorials and a wall of names of missing soldiers similar to the Vietnam memorial in D.C. One thing he told us was that to construct the grounds, they dug up the earth and installed a series of underground beams so that the cemetary slopes perfectly down towards Omaha beach and so that the headstones could be attached into the framework so they wouldn't move over time. I was very impressed with the perfection of the grounds. Grahm told us there were only 4 women buried there, a few pairs of brothers, and one father and son. The last cemetary we visited was the British cemetary. Grahm told us there were 16 British cemetaries because it is their custom to bury the soldiers close to where they died. One thing that I thought was the most interesting was that there was a small plot of German burials among the British. He said that this is also a custom to bury the enemy among the British troops. The external difference of this cemetary was that it was much like a large garden. There were flowers everywhere including among the headstones. Overall, I thought it was a neat idea to compare the gravesites because I would have never thought there would be that much of a difference. Today we also went to Omaha beach. Contrasting from Utah beach, the battle at Omaha was much more difficult and bloody. We first stopped at the western end of the beach. The tide was low so we got to see how wide the beach was when the Americans arrived on D-Day. It surprised me how much the terrain differed from Utah beach which was about 30 miles away driving. At the back of Utah was low dunes with tall grass whereas Omaha had tall forested bluffs at the back of it thus making it harder to get inland. Grahm also took us to an awesome lookout point at the eastern end of the beach. We got to look down on the beach like the Germans had almost 70 years ago. Once we were on the lookout point the tide had came. It reminded us how fast the Americans had to get off of the beach due to the rising tide on D-Day. We went to lunch at a small restaurant where I had croque Monsiuer, salad, and fries. The other awesome thing we did today was go to Pointe Du Hoc where American Rangers assaulted the cliffs east of Omaha beach. There were craters all around from the allied airforce bombs that had tried to decimate the German artillery and hideout. When the Rangers climbed the cliffs on D-Day they expected to find large guns on the top of the cliffs. Instead, they only found a small amount of Germans because the guns had been moved inland. The site and the view were very impressive. One more thing that we did was go and view the Bayeux tapestry from the 10th century. it had something to do with William the Conqueror and a battle but I haven't studied that far back in history yet. Anyway, the tapestry itself was extremely long-it wrapped around a room. It was totally hand embroidered with scenes from a battle. Just to inagine the time and effort put into it was amazing. Conclusively, I had another great time learning about the sites of Normandy and getting an expert's view on the invasion. On the way home from touring we picked up some things to have a sort of picnic outside the cottage. Of course, Grandpa bought a ton of sweets at the pasterie shop (he's a sugar addict!) We are going to bed a little earlier today because we have a day of traveling tomorrow. I am so glad we came to Normandy. I have learned so much and furthered my interest in history. 

Pointe Du Hoc

Omaha Beach