Normandy Day 2 - Dday Beaches

With a late start we enjoyed some of our hosts homemade bread and jam then headed off to the D-day beaches.

We first stopped at Point du Hoc. Point du Hoc is a preserved beach from the d-day attack. First you enter a memorial displaying information and telling stories. A video shows elderly men with hats covered in pins telling the camera about their friends that died and heroic acts they witnessed. Following our time in the memorial we walked towards the beach. The beach has been completely untouched. The only thing added is a dirt path allowing visitors to walk in-between the blown out holes in the ground created by the air raids. Bunkers line the cliff that you can walk along and go into, all overlooking the English Channel. It is certainly an unforgettable experience.

Following Point du Hoc, we went to Omaha beach. While Omaha beach was not preserved they do have memorials dedicated to D-day. Now houses line the streets and without knowing the history it appears as any other normal beach city. Today it is hard to imagine what it was like on Omaha beach. People are outside walking around and enjoying lunch on the sand. Something that does capture your attention is the size of the beach even at high tide. Omaha is a very wide and long beach. It is difficult to imagine the track these men had to endure to get to a relatively safe location after leaving the boats.

If you do ever visit the D-day beaches there is an excellent creperie near Omaha beach. We enjoyed some savory and sweet crepes with cider for lunch.

Following lunch we drove to the American cemetery.