Normandy, day 2

It was another busy day . . . so much to see and so little time! The morning started at Pointe-du-Hoc which is about the mid-point between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. I am not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't what I expected. Don't get me wrong it was a great place to visit but just different . . . I wasn't expecting to see the craters where bombs were dropped . . . but it sure was a big cliff for those men to scale . . .



. . . I knew there have/had been issues with parts of Pointe-du-Hoc sinking or washing away and sadly they had removed the 'pointe'. It is being reinforced to prevent future damage . . . I read about it in a recent Texas Aggie magazine. None the less, you still get the point . . . Colin really enjoyed running around and going inside the old bunkers. I swear I don't know where that kid gets all his energy! So I can not at least mention the leader of troops at Pointe-du-Hoc . . . I mean I am a very proud Aggie you know. Of course that would be James E. Rudder who was an Aggie too and later became president of Texas A&M University . . . hmmmm, I don't know the Aggie Campo but I am sure someone reading this does, LOL.

Next stop was Omaha Beach . . . it was much different that Utah Beach. Utah was rocky, and Omaha is flat. It is lined with beach houses and looks like a summer vacation town. It doesn't look flat here as I am standing on higher ground but trust me it is flat . . .
Just down the road was a Big Red 1 Museum . . . very small but worth the visit. It was break time so we stopped at the only place we saw open for a quick lunch. You could tell it was a Mom and Pop place which are usually pretty good . . . when I opened the menu the first thing I saw was the Obama Burger . . . oh gee seriously? I don't even know. I ordered a salad and Colin got pizza . . . go figure right? I should have been keeping tally on just how many he has eaten on vacation.

We tried to time it so we arrived at the American Cemetery around 2:00pm for the tour but it just wasn't working. I tried to explain to Colin that we could not run wild like we do when we visit the College Station cemetery . . . we don't act like animals but he does sit on Sean's headstone . . . I mean what more can you say . . .
. . . it is at the most beautiful location . . . overlooking the beaches . . . the most perfectly kept lawns . . . beautiful flowers . . . just overwhelming as always. They do a very nice visitor's center which has not been open very long . . . great video presentations that tell about specific soldiers and interview their living relatives. Of course I cried as I can relate. I have worried about exposing Colin to this but he has done remarkably well . . . he really does stay focused while at the museums.

We are staying in Bayeux which is a nice town but their claim to fame is the Bayeux Tapestry. It was really the only thing I wanted to do in the town. It was pretty impressive I might say and the free audio guide explained every inch. The thing is long . . . 230 feet long . . . yes, just one piece of cloth! I would not call it a tapestry but embroidered cloth . . . just my two cents!

The final stop of the day was at the Arromanches . . . they were big chucks of concrete being used for the artificial port /harbors used during the war . . . if you look behind us you see these long black things . . . that is them . . .

. . . we also stopped to see a movie that was on a 360 degree screen with no words . . . interesting. It mixes war footage with present day footage . . . it was okay. Of course Colin noticed the beach again . . . tons of people lounging around . . . I changed his shoes and let him splash while I walked and thought about all that had walked there before us . . .

Colin's Photo of the Day
It's back . . . taken at the American Cemetery . . .