2022 May Day 03 - Normandy and Le Mont Saint Michel

3rd Day has begun.  Our AIRBNB last night was about 15 miles north east of Le Havre in a village called Maneglise.  The. AIRBNB was part of a farm in this village.  The accommodation was nice…beds a bit small.  But they forgot to leave us muchd paper products and bath towels.  So showering this morning was a ‘drip dry affair’.  But I did it nonetheless.  All in all it was very comfortable.  We did not get there until really late and the lady of the farm came out to greet us and get us in.  We also met her husband, I assume, who finally delivered towels about the time we were going to leave.

Naturally I was the first one up, showered and ready to go.  So I decided to go for a walk to see if there was anything around.  Across the street was a cool church.  Down the street further, I could see parents walking their children to school.  So I followed them to see what it was like where the school was.   About 100 yards or so down the road was the ‘center’ of town and there was a little ‘market’.  Unfortunately I did not have money with me (euros) so I headed back to the BNB to get some coinage.  When I arrived back there, Mike was outside.  So I told him about the market.  So together we went back there to get some Orange Juice, pastries, ham croissants and so on for breakfast.  It tasted good in the end.

After everyone was ready, we loaded up and off we went to Normandy…our first stop to be at the museum at Omaha Beach and the cemerary there.  This has been something that Denise and I had talked about and always wanted to someday visit.  It did not disappoint.  The feelings I felt here are quite overwhelmingly humbling.    All I could think in my mind was ‘Thank you’…to the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to take on this important job of fighting for the freedoms that we continue to enjoy today.  I felt the prompting to know that these brothers and sisters of mine have their elections made sure.  As a matter of fact, I believer, our Savior will weep with gratitude for their mortal time on earth and the work they did in fighting for human freedoms.   At the judgement bar, they will receive their ultimate medal, one of eternal lives.  Such a sacred place this place is…2nd largest American military  cemetery.

After spending a good 1.5 hours there, we jumped in the car and headed to Omaha Beach.  While waiting for a few to get back to the car though, security came over and really questioned us.  I think that they thought that Mike was a hired driver and not parking in the right place.  He had been sitting there by himself for a while.  He probably looked like a hired hand.  They were nice but very questioning of us.  Fortunately Josh could speak a bit of French to get through it.  The drive down to the beach was about 10 minutes.  There we could see the bunkers the Germans had and visualize how difficult the assault that day had to of been.  The area is very pretty.   Omaha Beach is a nice, sandy, beach.  But it was red with blood that June day in 1944.  I’m grateful to be here and see this with my own eyes.  Very blessed Denise and I are.

We next headed about 1.75 hours down the road to an interesting place called ‘Le Mont Saint Michel’.  This is a monastery built on an a rock of an island.  It is quite large and very high up.  We decided to pay to do the whole deal and we climbed hundreds of steps, 27 floors worth.  Our legs are feeling it.  It was nice through to see this place.  As you start your journey, you walk through a medevial ‘mall’.  That was pretty fascinating.  Upon completing our walking tour, we found a place to finally get some dinner.  We skipped lunch  so all of us were pretty hungry. 

I’m writing this now as we start our 2 hour drive to Le Mans, our next place to stay.   This time we will be in a hotel, I think.  But we shall see.

It has been a nice day…raining a bit in the morning and blue skies in the afternoon.    On the coast, the weather has been much cooler than the past few days inland around Paris.  I suspect the rest of our trip will be fairly cool as tomorrow we head to the Swiss Alps….a long drive.

Pictures….sorry for the random sequence of the pictures.  The import tool does not put them in any particular sequence and it is too much work to manually move them around with this tool.\

The group at the ‘mall’ at Le Mont - Saint Michel (LMSM).

The draw bridge as you enter the mall portion of LMSM.

One of the pretty areas with water at the Omaha Memorial for d-Day.

Our buggy parked just outside our AIRBNB.  You can’t see the AIRBNB which is to the right of the van.

Le Mont - Saint Michel

Memorial at Omaha Beach.

Pretty flowers on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach.

The Hunter clan at LMSM.

This is ‘City Center’ at Maneglise… where our BNB was.

One of the few spiral stair cases with Denise physically looking down on me.  I suspect mentally she looks down on me lots.  :-)

This is the church just 30 yards from our BNB.  On the hour the bells would ring out.

Part of the cemetery at Omaha Beach Memorial.

Omaha Beach…the actual beach!

Nice statue at Omaha Beach Memorial.

Climbing stairs at LMSM.

One of the memorials at Omaha Beach memorial.

Our BNB was a farm and there were chickens and goats there staying to destroy things.  

Nice view of a small part of the cemetery at Omaha Beach.

Josh and Riley in the fireplace at one of the rooms in LMSM.

Up top, there was this nice little area that had some grass in LMSM.  Pretty little courtyard.

I was standing in front of the town church looking down the road where our BNB was.

I thought this hall was pretty cool to look at and Denise made it even more amazing.  Had to get a picture of both!

One of the many bunkers that the Germans had built all along the western seaboard of France.  It must have been brutal to get to these guys as they shot up mortars and fired bullets.