June 17th a day to remember.

June 17th
To see in real life what we have learnt in class.
It makes you speachless, it makes you reflecting and it makes you wonder.
No words can discribe how powerfull, amazing and special this day was.
Thank you Alex for sharing this day with me!

We awoke not that cold which we thought it would be. Made some oatmeal in the parking lot with these fancy RV kitchens looking on and packed and cleaned the car for the day. First stop we decided, should be the movie at Arromances area to get us in the WWII setting. As we were driving we heard thunk and a honk behind us, was that about us? we turned in wonderment?! Sure was, it turns out our coconut oil fell from the roof and tumbled across the road. We were lucky a nice French woman picked it up for us and it didn’t hit her car. Syl did a sprint to get it so at least she got her workout in. Onto the movie we go now that we safely have our cooking oil for the journey.

We parked and it seemed pretty and peaceful until a ton of Dutch people arrived of course on their bikes. It was like 50 people and bikes. Alex bought the tickets before the Dutch overtook the place and we went on admiring the view while we waited for the film to start. The movie gave us a good first impression of what it was like on D-Day with actual footage from the day. And also what to expect for the rest of the day. It gave us the chills and for sure made us silent for a little bit as we reflected on what must happened that day. As we were leaving we bought some postcards and then we were good to go.

Bayeux it was. Plan was to see the carpet something and the British cemetery. We went to the cathedral and the cemetery.  But before we got there we ended up walking through the market of the town and we couldn’t resist but bought more avocados. And mailed some post cards. It was a cute little market but had many tourist trinkets and we hadn’t seen very many people up until this point so it was slightly confusing to us. On our way to the cemetery we met Albert and Margeret, who were an elderly couple from Australia, and they were both born the same year as DDay so this trip had a special significance for them. We met them while they were attempting to take their picture with a tank. We offered to help. They were amazed two young, haha (thank you guys), girls from different parts of the world were making these travels together.

                                            

The British cemetery was full of flowers, which we would learn later is a very different look but not feel from the American cemetery. Both places recognize the work of foreign soldiers to take back the land the Germans had captured during the war and restore peace to Europe. Visits like these always put things in perspective and Sylvia realized that this was the turning point to make Europe back to the way she grew up in it and how her life could have been very different if this day did not happen.

                                       

Back to our car for lunch in a local park and quick naps and dishes before we headed to Omaha. We got to the American cemetery and went to the Visitors center which was a very nice place, saw a movie that spoke about certain individuals from that day. And we scanned the war timeline that they had on the wall to get a refresher on the buildup for DDay and aftermath. It was a very nicely done exhibit and it was free. Then we walked the cemetery, which is huge. There is something so peaceful about the uniform rows of tombstones but it is also an impressive place as well.

                             

I got even more quiet. This is what I wanted to see. Its different but het laat je relativeren. I keep trying to imagine how it must have been. How they arrived at the beach, run towards the dunes and fought. Such a big distance while the Germans kept attacking them. And then its not over. They had to win ground, go inland and win city by city. It is all just too big to picture. I also keep telling myself that I am blessed that I can do this with my good friend Alex. I don’t think I wanted to do this with anyone else. I don’t want to get too emotional but those people who fought have made this possible in a way.

                                                         
On our way out we walked down the hill that the American soldiers ran up to get to the beach that they landed on. We took in our surroundings and Alex gathered some sand to save for her grandfather who served in WWII. There is an interesting video of this as well.

 

It was getting late and we had to get our car out of the parking lot by a certain point apparently. Alex noticed she was missing the front lens cover of her camera and I remembered something falling in the sand. I quickly ran back down a huge hill and scoured the sand looking for the lens. Found it, little victory, and ran back up. Count that as another workout on this journey. After thinking and talking about where to camp we decided to go to Grandcamp Maisy. But along the way we still had time to explore Pont-du-hoc.

                                                         

Pont-du-hoc is where the rangers were trying to climb the cliff. It is also a corner where the Germans had many bunkers connected by trenches. From the initial 225 rangers, 150 who made it to the top and only 90 rangers got rescued after two days. This was also impressive. They had a big view over the ocean and could see perfectly the Americans coming. One of the reasons only a few Americans went, was because it was used to be a place to mislead the Germans attack from the beaches, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, and also cause it was an important place that had big gunning stations. This was a great victory for DDay taking the pont. Amazing is to see an aerial photo of this place before and after DDay and what it looks like today. It is an amazing image. You can see where and how much the Germans got bombed.

It was getting colder and we were getting tired, and we still needed to eat. We heard Grandcamp Maisy had some of the best seafood in the area. So we decided to treat ourselves to a night out with a good meal. A small town like a port, a fewsmall restaurants. We choose a fancy looking one, not dressed the part but who cares we are travelers.

It was good, I think we could say we were happy with our choices, especially with our choice to eat out at a nice place rather than a bag dinner out of our trunk. Ha. Now the only thing we had to do was find the free camping place and so we did. Same as the day before except without setting up the tent and having to break it down again. Our little car in a sea of fancy RVs seems about right for our journey. Just sleeping in the car. I love it!