D-Day Beaches of Normandy Day Trip

One of the things that was very important for me to accomplish and see during my time here 

in France was to tour and experience the D-Day beaches of Normandy. I attribute this interest

partly due to touristic curiosity but more to patriotic sentimentalism, as the feat that 

the Allies accomplished that day remains a marvel and a source of pride even to this day. Thus, 

I signed up for a day trip from Paris, and since Aaron also shared this interest, he too

signed up for the tour. Here below are some of the highlights from that memorable day:

Our first stop was the Caen Memorial Peace Museum, a museum that
believes that to fostering peace, we must remember the violent past. Thus, the
expositions we saw in this museum concerned principally World War II
and D-Day, but also paid tribute to the Cold War and Human Rights campaigns. 

Point du Hoc: the site between Utah and Omaha Beach
at which the Army Ranger Assault Group assaulted and
captured this German command  post after scaling
its tall cliffs. The holes you see in the terrain were
created by bombs and aerial attacks. 

If you can believe it, we experienced similar weather conditions
that the Allies experienced on June 6, 1944! It was rainy, cold, and
winds were whipping 80 km/hour!

One of the larger bomb craters

The Point du Huc Memorial Statue. 

Inside the German command center

Some facts and numbers. 

After Point du Hoc, we spent a little bit of time
at the most notorious beach of Normandy: Omaha Beach. Given that
little to no artifacts from the day remain on this beach, it was
up to you to picture and remember what happened on that day,
or else, it would just appear as just another pretty beach.
Fortunately, our tour guide was able to give us some facts
and information about this site to make us really
appreciate what was accomplished during this campaign. 

The Omaha Beach Memorial Statue

The American Cemetery of Normandy 

An incredibly beautiful, yet harrowing place to visit 

Remembering one of the men that gave his life for France's, the Allies',
and frankly, the world's freedom from the Nazi regime. 

Visiting Juno Beach, the site at which the Canadian army
secured the beach,  cut the Caen-Bayeux road, seized the Carpiquet airport
west of Caen, and form a link between the two British beaches
of Gold and Sword on either side of Juno Beach

The Juno Beach Memorial