Today is my first day back at work in
Saint-Quentin after a busy vacation. My first excursion during break was a visit
to Normandy with five of my fellow teaching assistants.
The main event of our trip was a guided tour of some of the D-Day landing beaches and key sites from the Battle of Normandy. These included Gold Beach (British landing), Omaha
Beach (American landing), German bunkers, war cemeteries, and several
monuments. Our tour guide took us through picturesque countryside
bordering the English Channel, and it was hard at times to imagine
the Battle of Normandy taking place in an area that is so calm today.
I’m glad we opted to do a guided tour—I learned a lot about D-Day
and the liberation of France that I would never have found out on my
own.
For the rest of the trip we explored
Bayeux, the town in Normandy where we stayed during our visit. Bayeux
is rare in that it sustained virtually no battle damage during WWII,
so it’s cobbled streets and stone buildings retain their pre-war
integrity. It’s a charming town with the standard windy European
lanes plus some lovely canals and an impressive cathedral. We also
visited three of the city’s museums, my favorite of which was the
Bayeux Tapestry Museum.
~ Peaceful morning touring Normandy beaches ~
~ Omaha Beach; German artillery ~
~ View from a German bunker at Omaha Beach ~
~ Monument at Omaha Beach; Gravestone inscription ~
~ Bayeux Cathedral ~
~ With Katie, Haidee, and Alex in Bayeux ~
~ One of Bayeux's canals ~
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