Paris - Day 3

Our day only started and ended in Paris - but it was spent driving across northern France and visiting several WWII battlefields along the beaches of Normandy. Driving from Paris to Caen and back is about like driving from Little Rock to Fayetteville and then back again. We left Paris at 7:30AM and arrived back at 10:30PM. We didn't have a dull moment. The drive through the French countryside was picture perfect and filled with hours of geopolitical/historical discussion. We visited the D-Day museum at Caen, and then explored some Nazi gun fortifications at Arromanches before going to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where thousands of American soldiers who fought and died in France are buried. We walked along Omaha Beach (Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day) and then crawled through the leftover gun positions at Pointe du Hoc. It's worth mentioning that the wind was blowing a constant 40mph gale all day long.

Here are the day's photographs.

Dr. Musteen put together an agenda for our day. I include it below for your edification.

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Normandy Agenda

· Caen Memorial Museum
· The artificial harbor at Arromanches
· The German battery at Longues-sur-Mer
· The American Military Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer
· Omaha Beach
· Pointe du Hoc

Caen Memorial Museum: The film at the War Memorial Museum in Caen is unforgettable. It is a must see. It is approx 30 min and shows a split screen of German and Allied forces actual war footage. It is unbelievabe. No words, no language barriers, just music and harsh reality. Everything you have ever heard, seen, or read pales in comparison to this.

Arromanches: This seaside town, designated as Gold Beach, features one of the area’s oldest and most respected D-Day museums, the Musée du Débarquement. Offshore, remnants remain of the artificial harbors codenamed Mullberrys that the Allies made to facilitate the massive flow of supplies for the invading army.

German gun batteries at Longues-Sur-Mer: A spectacularly preserved example of the massive firepower the Allies faced in storming the Normandy beaches, these four German 152mm gun batteries situated on the coast in the midst of a working French farm field are a fascinating visit. Finally knocked out by Allied warships following a daylong artillery duel, three of the guns remain in their massive concrete bunkers. Make sure to tour the range-finding bunker at the cliff side. Peering from the concrete observation post facing the sea, one can only imagine what the Germans felt when the saw the Allies’ 5,000 ship armada.

American Cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer: Situated above Omaha Beach, where the Americans suffered staggering casualties on D-Day, the American cemetery contains the remains of nearly 10,000 servicemen who died during the Normandy campaign. With marble crosses and Stars of David stretching as far as the eye can see, the cemetery is a solemn, breathtaking experience that every American should share.

La Pointe du Hoc: Strategically located between American landing beaches Omaha and Utah farther west, La Pointe du Hoc remains virtually unchanged from when American Army Rangers scaled its sheer cliffs under deadly fire to knock out huge coastal guns they didn't know had been moved. Pocked by huge craters left by naval bombardment, most of the German bunkers remain. The cliff-side battlefield also offers a scenic view of the French coastline that saw some of the war's fiercest fighting.