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Visiting Normandy - D-Day Beaches - On June 6 of any year
I immediately think about D-Day. For anyone who hasn't yet visited the invasion beaches, it is something that I really recommend doing. There is actually very little left. Without the historical signs and the occasional tank or monument here or there, one could almost drive the whole place and not have an idea of the historical significance. Of course there are exceptions: Pointe du Hoc looks like a battlefield. The bunkers and other concrete structures look like they have been hit in battle, and the land is completely pocked even 66 years later.
But for anyone who knows what happened on June 6 and the days that followed, it is really amazing to be able to visit the same places, know that you are on the same roads, see the same bocage, and so on that the Allied and German forces battled over in 1944.
If you do go, make sure you take the D-Day Atlas. There are a lot of things that are obvious on there which aren't just by following the road signs and historical markers. And if you are flying to France, then contact your local airline to see which side of the plane will possibly fly over the beaches. I have gotten an excellent aerial view of Normandy on a couple of flights.
Here is to the brave Allied soldiers who landed on June 6th and in the waves that followed.
I'm often asked, "how many days should I stay in Normandy?" or "how long should I visit
Normandy?" There is a lot to see.
There are five invasion beaches: two American, one Canadian, two British.
There are sites like Pegasus Bridge that are behind the beaches and two
major gun batteries including Pointe du Hoc that are well worth visiting.
There is St. Mere Eglise. You also
have the non-D-Day, but very important Bayeux Tapestry in the lovely town of
Bayeux. There are various random sites
like a little artillery/vehicle graveyard that is off the beaten path.
There are various museums that are worth
seeing. There is the American cemetery at
Coleville-sur-Mer (the "Omaha Beach" cemetery); Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., his
brother Quentin Roosevelt and thousands of other Americans are buried there.
I'd also want to walk around some, not just at the official tourist
sites, but in between to really try to get a feel for what the soldiers were
seeing/feeling/hearing/sensing as they moved from point to point across the
bocage country, narrow country lanes, etc.
If this was my once in a lifetime trip and I was a huge WWII buff (which
I am ), then I would try for at least three full days. Narayan