a trip to the Normandy beaches is not complete without visiting the D-day beaches and memorials of the allied landing that eventually ended world war 2. There were many museums and memorials all across the Normany shores. One of the most impressive ones is definatelly he American cemetary. Almost 10.000 soldiers are buried here. the seemingly endless rows of crosses, near Utah beach, really show the sacrifice that the Americans (and Canadiens and British) made, to free Europe of the nazi regime.
It's hard to explain to the kids what they were looking at... how do you tell them that this is what a war does...
One of the villages we visited was St, Mere Eglise. The American airborne division landed there on D-Day to take the village and control the main roads that lead to the beaches. one unfortunate paratrooper landed on top of the church and had to watch the fights from up there. On the church is a dummy that illustrates this.
One museum we visited at Utah beach had a real bomber plane in it. impressive to see! the museum itself was really well set out and gave a good impression of the landing.
eventhough the past events were all very serious, we had lots of fun, combining visits to the war-sites with trips to beaches and tourist trips to nearby towns.
on our way to the second Normandy stop, we went across Pegasus bridge. The English captured this brigde at the start of D-day.The English tourists at our bed and breakfast insisted we visited this important site as well.
by accident we found the Canadian cemetary, near Juno beach. this site is a lot more serene than the American one. again lots of soldiers who fought for a free Europe. Respect.
