Normandy

Day two in France the whole family took the trip up to Normandy to see where the allied invasion of Nazi occupied Europe began. Being a family of history lovers, who will routinely discuss magna carta and the roman empire at any dinner table ( not nerdy at all) this trip to Normandy has been long anticipated for all of us.

First was Point Du Hoc, where army rangers scaled an 80 meter (really high) cliff to take out large nazi artillery emplacements that threatened the beach landings. The area had been kept prett much the same since WW2 and it was really cool. We were climbing inside and out of old german bunkers and gun emplacements. But one of the coolest parts was that nobody ever filled in all the craters from naval bombardments and bombing runs. And Point Du Hoc got blown to hell previous to the invasion. So there were a lot of craters and a lot of the craters were exceptionally sized. Gave you a good idea that the Nazi’s weren’t too keen on hanging around there much. In fact they ended up moving those guns in land three miles before the invasion. Came as quite a surprise to those Rangers when they go to the top of the cliffs, but of course they got the job done.

After Point Du Hoc we went to Omaha and the American cemetery near by. It was really odd to be on the beach. It was a very quite and peaceful place. Such a contrast from the events that made that area so famous. I was very impressed and pleased with the American cemetery. The honoring and remembering of our fallen soldiers has been taken care of gracefully. It was a pleasant and surreal experience. It was awesome to finally see the physical place where the invasion began, our “finest hour” as it is referred to sometimes. It was cool to be able to physically see the lay out and scale of the invasion. I highly recommend a visit here once in your life. It is a focal point for major events that shaped our country and the  modern political environments around the world.

Small side note. Family also saw the Palace at Verssie. Insane stupid amounts of wealth and gluntony. Beatuiful grounds and palace. But not very tasteful in my opinon considering the state of the common man in France at the time and the lavish existence of the kind and queen. Kinda puts a bitter taste in your mouth. The French royalty seemed to liken themselves to the Roman Caesars. They had themselves painted and sculpted to look like them. A fact that my French tour guide didn’t like to bring up. The same way she didn’t like to discuss the Mona Lisa and how it was “brought” to France from Italy.

Also the French have an odd habit of getting pissed off every 100 years of so and tearing everything down. That’s why Paris is such an old city but looks so modern.