We all had a fabulous time in Paris. How could you not as long as you like history, sight seeing, wine, and good food. But as much as we liked Paris, we had more to do and see in France. So we all piled into a taxi and headed back to the CDG Airport where we would rent a car and go on a road trip around western and southern France. We would try to hit all of the destinations that Lee, Mary and I had come up with for an itinerary.
First stop, the Normandy Coast. Nick Covey and I had been there in 2023, but I thought the Freemans should see and experience the emotions that are unavoidable at the site of the WWII D-Day invasion. We first went to a sight west of Omaha Beach where there was a battery of German artillery guns. There were part of an entire defense system the Germans had established from Norway to France.
After hiking to several of these artillery installations, we continued eastward to Omaha Beach where we walked through the American Military Cemetery where thousands of American Servicemen are buried. The buried were from the entire post D-Day part of the war, not just those who died on D-Day itself and the subsequent days afterward. I asked one of the docents if there was a portion of the cemetery that was dedicated to the D-Day casualties, but she said that there wasn’t such an area: that it was somewhat random.
Next was a visit to the Omaha beach itself where American soldiers landed at one of two beaches on the Normandy Coast. The tide was in so we could not fully experience the vast distance these troops had to negotiate to get to the slightest bit of cover from Germans firing at them.
After a lunch at one of the restaurants in the area, we traveled again easterly around a headland to Utah Beach. Utah Beach was the other beach that American troops landed at. By this time of day, the tide was going out so we all got a sense of what these troops were up against.
Utah Beach was difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as Omaha Beach was. The Germans flooded all of the nearby fields to make it harder to advance past the beach, but progress was easier. If you ever watched the series Band of Brothers, Utah Beach was the operation that Easy Company was supporting, although inland from the beach itself.
There is a museum at Utah Beach that is Excellent! Lots of the history and strategy of the Utah Beach landing and lots of displays and maps.
We all left Normandy with a sense of history and feeling somber.
Wow Greg, great stuff, I would love to see the Normandy coast and the sight of the D day landings one day! And I know you weren’t planning on staying in Paris today for the end of the Tour (likely an absolute MADHOUSE), but I have to tell you that (on TV at least) it was the most exciting Paris-finale stage that I can recall!
I love the new format (copied from the Summer Olympics 2 years ago) that has three laps that summit a Cat-4 climb (the crowd is Alp d’ Huez style along the climb and especially at the top). They had to shorten the stage today by over 35k from it’s original start outside of Paris (due to fires in the area, they needed to recall a bunch of police and security people to help with the fires, not that the fires themselves were a threat to the route or so I understand).
So they lined up and started right at the finish line on the Champs, and it was a magical stage! There was no neutral area right from the get-go, but apparently the teams all agreed to have the first 2 of 6 Champs laps as neutral (and the riders loved it, first time they really got to enjoy the crowds and views of that loop). After those 2 laps were over it was GAME ON!
I won’t give anything else away other than JUST WOW, when you have a chance to catch up, that’s a good stage to watch IMO!!!
Have fun and stay safe over there!