We awoke to a wonderful breakfast at the Manoir d’ Herouville – croissants with homemade jam, yogurt, muselix, cinnamon bread, scrambled eggs, sliced ham, coffee, orange juice, milk and hot chocolate.
We headed out to spend the day absorbing the beauty and history of Normandy. After a lovely drive through the countryside, we arrived at the Museum and Memorial at Caen (www.memorial-caen.fr). We visited remarkable exhibits depicting a variety of aspects of D-Day, World War II and post-war France and Europe. We also visited the very moving and recently completed September 11th Exhibit.
From Caen, we headed back to Arromanches, the site of Gold Beach. Wyatt and Caroline enjoyed the carousel and some sights on the beach. We met up with the Moores to see a special depiction of the Battle of Normandy at 360* theatre in Arromanches. It was loud and a bit scary, but we all enjoyed the experience of “theater in the round”.
We then headed on to Colleville-sur-Mer, the site of Omaha Beach. This is the site of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial featured in the opening of the film, Saving Private Ryan. The Cemetery is emotionally over-whelming, with rows and rows graves marked with white Crosses and Stars of David reminding all of us the remarkable price one generation paid for our freedom. We stood quietly for the lowering of the flag at 5:30 pm.
We made our way back to the Manoir, where we enjoyed an impromptu dinner together rin the tower – spaghetti and red sauce, vegetable soup, local cheese, bread, salmon, and wine. We visited with our hosts at the Manoir, a British couple who have recently taken on the property. They were delightful, with many stories of their travels guests. We were also treated to a light rain, which was refreshing.
We turned in relatively early, after a day well-spent.
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