normandie

A couple of weeks ago we visited our friend Michaela in Solothurn, she's working at an American Resteraunt there. While we were there, there was a 'crazy' guy walking around mumbling to the patrons. Well, I guess he heard us speaking English, and came right over and started mumbling away. I have a hard enough time with the dialect anyway and this guy was just grumbling along like a bum... when suddenly I caught a flash of what he was saying. He was saying June 6th. I looked at my watch, and it was June 6th. D-Day. He wanted to know if we were Americans and when I told him my grandfather was there, he shook my hand, thanked us, and walked away.

The weather was great!:



Looking out in the sea you can see the remains of the mobile docks that were installed quickly during the invasion to bring in ships with supplies:


Entering the American cemetary. There is this garden and the wall holds the name of those who are not buried here, because their bodies were not recovered.



My camera couldn't capture just how peaceful and perfect everything is here.




Some big guns left in place at Omaha Beach.




Our tour guide points to where a shell hit this gun straight on. notice the shrapnel holes in the blown out side.


The beaches at Pointe du Hoc are relatively untouched, and you can climb around in the craters from the air support and from the USS Texas.


Our tour met and set out from a D-Day museum in Caen. Included was a museum ticket, we walked most of the museum, which was cool. Here's the plane hanging in the lobby.

Time to move on. We grabbed a bag of 'Speedy Burgers', paused at the public toilette, and stepped into the train station....