Normandie

Sunday began with a visit to the American War Cemetery in Normandy. This place was eerily quiet, especially when the soldiers were raising the flag. The rows of graves seem to go on forever, and with bagpipes playing and soldiers saluting all around me I had the worst bought of goosebumps I've ever gotten. The Cemetery overlooks the ocean and is surrounded by gardens, pools, statues and plaques, all commemorating those who served or died at war. It's a very powerful and emotional place. The memorial museum, which I saw on the way out, is a smaller museum featuring photos of young soldiers and videos telling their story. 

9, 238 American soldiers buried here

Some soldiers raising the flag (this was accompanied by bagpipes)
 

"The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves"

"Here rest in honored glory, a comrade in arms, known but to God"

Next we went to Omaha and Utah beaches, "Les PLages de Debarquement". It's hard to imagine any sort of war on these beaches now, but the pictures we saw showed what seemed like an entirely different place. The beach was covered in soldiers, tanks, canons, equipment and bunkers. Now everything is serene and seemingly untouched, but for the few bunkers that remain intact, a single rock memorial, and the bomb holes that cover the ground. 

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memorial

one of the many bomb indents

german bunker

They were pretty far away from home...

After this we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry. This Tapestry, made as early as 1077, stretches 230 ft long. We had an audio tour of it, which told us the story of the tapestry. I won't bore you with it, but basically it tells of the Norman conquest of England. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but it looks something like this: