Our first stop was the memorial in the city of Caen, which recounts the events leading up to WWII. The memorial is made in a downward spiral, to show that it really was the end of WWI that contributed to the events of WWII.
Then, we went to Pointe du Hoc, the cliff that the American soldiers had to climb to reach the Norman mainland. Pointe du Hoc has been left in pretty much the same condition as it was in in 1944.
Here is the memorial at the top of the cliff...
As a final stop on our trip, we went to the American cemetery in Normandy, overlooking Omaha beach. The cemetery is impressive, with the graves of about 10,000 soldiers that lost their lives because of D-Day.
I found myself surprisingly moved by our visit in Normandy, I suppose it was because I realized that these events weren't really all that long ago, and seeing the land where it all took place made it all the more real.
I'm going into my last weeks here in Paris, with finals next week and 10 days of travel afterward. I decided to stay in France rather than trying to do a whirlwind tour of Europe, so I'm going to Chartres, Reims (Champagne), Tours (Chateaux of the Loire Valley), Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, and Nice/Monaco in Cote d'Azure. This trip so far has been absolutely amazing, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks even more.
A la Prochaine!
No comments:
Post a Comment