I’ve never been to Normandy, but I do recommend visiting the national cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
I believe France now requires women to wear burkas. I could be wrong.
I’ve seen pictures of Monet’s renovated garden in Normandy and it looks to be well worth a visit.
It is a wonderful experience and hope you enjoy it, have been a number of times. There is also a small somewhat private museum on the road to the cemetary that is worth a visit.
I took a day tour and it started at the Caan Museum with lunch. The museum had some interesting artifacts like a Tiger tank. We proceeded to Point du Hoc then on to Omaha Beach and the cemetery. It is a very solemn place. Walk among the graves and see how many states our precious treasure came from. Stop and say a prayer for those with no name “Known only to God.” If you are physically able walk down the hill to the beach and collect a few rocks for souvenirs. When you go back up the hill imagine our soldiers going up the hill wet and carrying heavy Equipment!
We then went to Juno and Gold which were flat beaches where the English and Canadians landed. You will see our soldiers had a tougher task.
You are going to create memories for a lifetime. Take lots of pictures and don’t forget the rocks!
The trains are really good transportation. I flew into Paris and took the train to Normandy Beach. It doesnt go right to it, but it will get you real close.
I also went there by Eurostar train from London through the Chunnel.
Here is a good link.
https://www.thetrainline.com/en-us/via/europe/france/how-to-visit-normandys-d-day-beaches-by-train
You're going in July, good thing, because dementia joe is going there next month!
I’m envious. :)
I would love to do one of these tours
My sister (Baldwin77) and BIL visited Normandy last week — a day trip from a cruise ship. Hugely impactful.
My father went ashore.. WWII.
In news video, young men not even 21, on the boats from ships, bringing them to their destination.. Quiet, solumn faces.. German guns awaited them as they ran to shore.
Their instructions: run.. Don’t stop.. Don’t help a fallen soldier.. Take his gun if he is gone.. Run, run.. The goal was to get enough men inland.. Knowing many would be killed.
My father made it.. And spent the next weeks, cold wet and dirty.. Sleep now and then in a temporary fox hole.
We don’t know that kind of life, today. Are we prepared for it with a weak government and years of no war.. We can’t take peace and freedom for granted.
My favorite is the one where Patton is buried in Luxembourg. Good interpretive signage there about the big battles too.
Good you’re going to Normandy soon, “Climate Change” is now threatening the beaches.
https://news.yahoo.com/frances-historic-d-day-beaches-144214429.html
You are referring to the St. Laurent Cemetery above Omaha Beach in in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. It is a lovely cemetery and one can walk down the steps made on the track that the 16th Infantry climbed to get behind the German defenders. (See for battle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Beach )
I visited Normandy in June, 1986, with a group of fellow Army officers touring the Normandy battlefields and took that trail, now a nice set of steps from the cemetery to the eastern end of Omaha Beach.
Visit the American Battle Monuments Commission website to get details to help plan your visit.
From wikipedia about establishing the St. Laurent Cemetery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial
I was just in Bayeux last week went on beaches tour of Omaha, Utah, Pointe de Hoc along with American cemetery at Omaha. Airborne museum at St. Mere Église was good.
They had blocked off much of the American Cemetery for the dignitaires stages and you can’t get next to the gravesites unlike the British cemetery in Bayeux.
The best hotels on Bayeux were full.
But the Bayeux tapestry was great as were the beaches.
Go when there’s not a big anniversary.
My daughter and I went to see the Normandy site.
We hired a private driver on line to drive and conduct the tour.
She picked us up at our hotel early 6am.
On the way, she explained the local history of DDay and how each little town was impacted.
We stopped for a quick breakfast and were at the coast under war sunny and windy skies.
We saw the cliffs they climbed and the bomb craters and the remains of the German artillery emplacements. The people were quiet, whispers about what they were seeing.
We walked the beaches, nobody had it easy. There are houses along the road now.
The rain started when we got to the Cemetery.
Row upon row of white markers.
We found some with the same last names of our families, no idea if they were relatives or not.
Do it and remember.
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