WILLKOMMEN!: Normandy France for Memorial Day Weekend

I cannot think of a better place for our family to spend Memorial Day weekend. What an amazing, powerful & moving experience to visit the beaches of Normandy that were such a key part of WW II 67 years ago. It's hard to fathom all that took place on those beautiful beaches. As we visited each place we tried to imagine what that soldier must have felt like during that time. And appreciate the ultimate sacrifice that some made during D Day. How do you wrap your mind around men that are sitting in a small boat on the early morning of June 6th getting ready to pull into a beach full of gun fire, jumping into cold water, heavy pack on their backs (made heavier by water) & make your way to the beaches...some seeing combat for their first time ever? It's overwhelming.

What is also overwhelming is the amount of appreciation for all the troops that participated in D Day & their countries in that region. It is surreal to see American, Canadian & British Flags, among a few others, flying just as much as their own French Flags. Their countryside is gorgeous & reminded us very much of our Whidbey Island, especially the Ft. Ebey & Ft. Casey Area. With beautiful coastline & steep cliffs. I still can't imagine the Rangers scaling those cliffs...

The small towns are amazing & we had such fun on the back roads in Kirk's jeep. It seemed very appropriate to take his jeep to Normandy. Kirk had prepped Alex with a lot history before we went so he would understand the meaning of all that we were seeing & taking in. What a privilege to stand on those beaches & remember all the sacrifice that has taken place.

We also took a side trip to Le Mont Saint Michel which is among one of the top four pilgrimage spots in Europe. Very beautiful. Touristy at the bottom but if you skip all that nonsense & head straight to the top towards the Abbey it's totally worth it.

I took over 300 pictures in the small amount of time we were there. This is the most pictures I have posted on the blog. It felt so important to include these pictures & our experience with the D Day time line. I apologize in advance.

The town of Grandcamp Maisy, where we stayed

Arromaches

The beach at Arromanches & site of the artificial harbor. You can see some of it in the background

Looking onto Arromaches

Alex re-enacting some of the D-Day experience

The Guns at Longues

Race ya!

Looking onto Omaha Beach from the American Cemetery

They take sand from Omaha beach & rub it into the head stone for the family members visiting or so you can better see the names of those that paid the ultimate sacrifice.