Plages du Débarquement (Normandy Beaches)

This Sunday, I had the chance to go to the Normandy beaches and surrounding area. This is what you first see when you approach the towns that surround the beaches.

Here are a couple photos of the beaches. The first is the Pointe du Hoc area (between Utah and Omaha) and the second is Omaha Beach. Somehow it was just as I had imagined it.

Talk about putting things in your life into perspective... 

Here, my friend Mira and I are standing on the edge of the Batterie de Longues-sur-Mer area which is where a lot of German soldiers kept their ammunition and were in hiding, ready to shoot. The little crawl spaces were quite eerie so it's odd that we are smiling in this picture but we didn't know what else to do with ourselves!

Finally, we were able to spend some time at the American Cemetery and Memorial. Doesn't get much more powerful than this.

I will be returning to the Normandy beaches when my parents come in April, so if anyone has any suggestions for areas they found particularly moving, please send them my way!

 

Small Side Note:

March in Normandy is not the most pleasant time to do outdoor tours. Case in point:

HOWEVER, (in big letters!) we were often the only ones at the tourist spots which allowed us to move quickly from place-to-place and see a lot of Normandy because there really are booklets of museums, beaches, monuments, etc. to see there. It is one of the most visited places in the world, so you do the math to figure out what this place will be like come June. 

Oh, and remember how I'm complaining about the bad weather we had that day, yeah well, when you see all of these monuments and what these soldiers did for us and France, you are more than humbled. In other words, if you ever have the opportunity to go to the Normandy beaches, no matter what time of year, JUST GO. :)