normandy, bayeux, and the d-day beaches

we took the train from paris to bayeux and upon our arrival discovered that, due to the many strikes going on throughout the country, there were no buses going out to the WWII battlefields so we decided to take a guided tour.  it was a small group comprised of one french tour guide, one friendly belgian family, and two louisiana tea partiers.

our chariot

many of the nazi bunkers are still left just the way they were after the invasion on dday 

remnants of the mulberry harbours along the beaches of arromanches. 

 these floating roadways provided a port that could float up and down with the tides and were created by the british to  aide in the liberation of france following the dday invasion

it was a huge undertaking for the already overstretched british military war industry but was instrumental in the process of providing men and supplies for the continuing libertion of europe 

the normandy american cemetery and memorial

it is customary when visiting a jewish gravesite to place a stone atop a grave stone as an act of  respect or mourning

the remains of 9,387 american military personnel are buried here

"les braves" is a monument marking the landing site of omaha beach

pointe du hoc was a nazi clifftop stronghold on the atlantic wall between utah and omaha  beach

a u.s. 2nd ranger battalion was tasked with scaling the cliffs and capturing the gunner positions to protect the landing sites below

bullet holes on the wall of one of the bunkers

the town of bayeux where we met up with our tour

the cathedral notre-dame de bayeux in the morning