Normandy

• Dancer_alison's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Arromanches-les-Bains

Trip Start Aug 10, 2008 Trip End Aug 31, 2008 Next
Entry

  Arromanches-les-Bains, Normandy, France
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Our travels thus far have been a good news - bad news drama.  Good news - we arrived in Paris in one piece and even a little early.  Bad news - some moron left his luggage unattended and we had to wait in the tunnel for 20 minutes.  Good news - once we were cleared, things moved fairly quickly.  Bad news - our luggage didnt arrive with us.  Good news -AirCanada gave us 200 Euro so we could buy clothes and toiletries and a promise that our luggage would be delivered in the morning.  Bad news -it wasnt.  Good news - we had a great hotelier that helped us try to call the AirCanada luggage line.  Bad news - at 0.15 Euros/minute and 4 attempts to reach a real person, we gave up.  Good news -I had a brainwave and thought to call our next hotel... it was there.  Bad news -Customs (France?) confiscated the 3 bottles of perfume that we bought for Attilas family.  So here we are.  Anyways; despite our trials, France is lovely.

We started in the town of Arromanches on the Normandy coast.  Our first visit in Normandy was to the harbour museum.  After the Allies captured the beaches on D-Day, Britain started to build an artificial harbour in Arromanches so the Allies would have a place to bring in supplies and bring out the wounded soldiers.  The harbour consisted of a concrete breakwater and two wharves.  Several of the breakwater pieces are still intact and there are sections of the wharves littering the beach.  Its quite eerie watching families play in the surf amongst the remnants of war.

Our next stop was Juno beach.  Juno of course was where the Canadian forces landed on D-Day.  Several years ago, some veterans revisited the site, only to find that although the British, Anerican, and German veterans were all memorialized at Normandy, no such site existed for the Canadians.  They pooled their resources and founded the Juno Beach Memorial Centre.  It consists of a beautiful museum which showcases Canadas role in the war and Canada today.  After visiting the Centre and touring the beach, we went to the Canadian cemetary.  It was touching to see the rows of crosses decorated with Canadian flags and poppies from back home.

Leaving Juno, we headed for the American cemetary.  What a contrast.  Here, we had to go through security where our bags were thoroughly searched and we had to pass through a metal detector.  Once inside, we were drenched by one of the frequent rainstorms that run through the region.  The graves here seemed to go on for miles.  It was also touching, but I felt a little bitter when I looked at the display of flags at the entry... US, Britain, France.... where is Canada?  Apparently we werent important enough in the war effort.  Typical.

After leaving the cemetary, we went to the Pointe du Hoc.  It is a section of bluff where the Germans posted a dozen or so batteries.  The whole bluff is pock-marked from the Allied bombs but the shells of the batteries remain.  We dodged the rain here too but at least we could take shelter in the batteries.

We finally retired to Arromanches for the evening where we indulged in an (over-budget) meal and crème brulée with raspberries for dessert.  Délicieuse!

Print this entry Share Arromanches-les-Bains hotels

Next Entry