NORMANDY BEACHES

Monday, May 21, 2012

Found out this morning that we were supposed to park in a different lot last night at Le Mont Saint Michel and take the little shuttle bus for hotel guests instead of the big bus for tourists….it would have taken us right to the base of the Abbeye…live and learn. 

Had light rain as we walked to our car but soon the weather cleared and although it was overcast most of the day…we didn’t have any more rain once we were on the road.  Today we headed East and made our first stop at Saint-Mere-Eglise; the town that had a paratrooper land on the church steeple and it’s kept them in the tourist business ever since.  Plus there was a movie about it.  Seriously, this was the town that was liberated by the American Paratroopers and we’ve had a great relationship ever since.  They have built a wonderful museum there that had everything that the boys felt was missing from the big museum in Caen yesterday.  The one yesterday was fifty years of history and this one was all about D-Day!  Airplanes, tanks, etc., etc., etc.

One note of interest is that Fifi continues to work very well ever since we reported that she’d quit on us Saturday morning. 

We had lunch after the museum and then continued on to Dead Man’s Corner.  A German command post that was run by a former American College Professor who’d gone back to Germany when the war started; when the American’s arrived an American tank was attacked and burned on this corner.  The wreckage was left as is for several days…with the body of the commander visible; so directions were given “go past the corner with the dead man in the tank..” and soon it was called “Dead Man’s Corner”.  Another museum with all kinds of very expensive original memorable for sale and lots of history!

Then we headed for Utah Beach that is located near Saint Marie-des-Mont; walked on the beach but did not go into the museum.  Might stop there tomorrow; we continued East towards Bayeux and La Tour Louise, our B&B for the next two nights.

A tour of the museum of the Bayeux Tapestries; a visit to the Cathedrale and then another delightful dinner before calling it a night.  Finally found onion soup…not on the menu very often in this region.   It’s getting late so am making this a quick journal.  A Bientot