Normandy Landing Beaches

Sorry, but I am just now getting back to completing the blog.  I have been home for almost a week, and I still can't seem to catch up with everything.  Today is my catch-up day, all day.  So now - off we go to the Normandy Landing beaches.  We set off at 8:00 for a 2 hour bus ride to Arromanches, where one of two artificial harbors was built to facilitate the D-Day landings. Fifty minutes later we

finally were on our way.  The truckers decided to hold a flash demonstration in protest of the new legislation in France and not let anyone move on the highway.  I guess they finally thought they had made their point and moved on, and so could we.  On our way to Arromanches, we saw Gold Beach and Juno Beach.  We explored the Omaha Beach where the American soldiers landed on June 6, 1944; many of us brought some of the sand from the beach back with us.  After a tour of Arromanches Museum of Debarkation  we had lunch in a local restaurant.  Back on the bus with a stop at the American Military Cemetery.  This was a very somber experience to see the graves of so many of our young men.  Freedom is not cheap, is it?

We also made a stop at Pointe du Hoc, where the American Rangers took a German fortification on the morning of the landings. Bunkers, foxholes, and gun mountings are still there today.

Back to the bus and back to the Viking Spirit.  What a great privilege to walk on the same beaches and on the same grounds where our young (most of them 19-25) men fought on that day.