France 2026—May 18th, Normandy and American Cemetery & a bit of Bayeux

May 18th, the American Cemetery

This morning was informative and moving because we spent 2.5 hours walking around the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach where over 34,000 came ashore June 6, 1944. Whether by parachute, glider, or amphibious assault craft, in all, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on D-Day.

We circled the cemetery, visited the Chapel, the Memorial, the Garden of the Missing, and finished with the Visitor Center. We wanted to experience this place before reading about D-Day, viewing the video and displays. For us this was the right order, finishing our visit with the fact, but beginning with walking among the fallen, the men and women who saved the world from fascism.

Two of these busses arrived last night and unloaded about 100

American and Canadian tourists at the hotel.

We have a perfect view of these flags in the middle of a round-
about. The flags are from the allies who took part on D-Day. 

The first sign you see before entering.

 

Overlook to Omaha Beach.

This chapel is placed in line with the Memorial down the center of the 10 grave
plots, 5 to the left and 5 to the right of this central path.

This mosaic on the ceiling of the chapel depicts America blessing her sons as
they depart by sea and air and a grateful France bestowing a laurel wreath
upon the American dead.

The marble altar in the chapel.

This quotation is on the left side of the curved wall.

And this quotation is on the right side as you face the alter.

I am standing in front of the chapel looking east to the Memorial. Behind the sculpture, the curved 

wall of the Garden of the Missing embraces the Memorial and the 22 foot sculpture shown below. 

"The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves" faces west toward the
headstones. As we arrived at the Memorial, a carillon rendition of "The Star 
Spankled Banner" was played over speakers. This was followed by taps and
the sound of a 3-gun salute. Everybody within hearing stopped where they were.

Panorama of the "Garden of the Missing".

Before leaving the Visitor Center—where displays about the Nazi occupation of northern France, the fortifications Germans used to defend the Normandy coastline, the Allied planning of D-Day, and the execution of the invasion—you enter a plain cement hallway where a voice announces the names of those who died and missing. 

Our time at the American Cemetery was enough so we didn't go to the WWII Museum, Utah Beach, or Point du Hoc, the location where "prior to the invasion of Normandy, the German army fortified the area with concrete casemates and gun pits. On D-Day, the United States Army Provisional Ranger Group attacked and captured Pointe du Hoc after scaling the cliffs. United States generals including Dwight D. Eisenhower had determined that the place housed artillery that could slow down nearby beach attacks." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_du_Hoc)

•.  •.  •

We returned to Bayeux and purchased a taboule salad, cheese and crackers, and chips at a nearby grocery store and returned to our hotel for a snack. We rested up for about an hour and then figured out how far and where we had to go to meet our guide for the walking tour of Bayeux tomorrow. It was only a mile away directly down the same street as our hotel. 

The next set of pictures were taken near the Bayeux Tourism Office, the meeting place for the tour of the old town. Between this walk and the 2.5 hours we spent at the American Cemetery, somehow we walked 5 miles again.

The Aure River runs through Bayeux.

The walk along the Aure River looks relaxing.

Bayeux Cathedral was consecrated in 1077.

  

I couldn't resist this picture, because it's on the 

same street as the above 15th century buildings.

I'll be interested to find out about the older buildings pictured above during our walking tour of Bayeux tomorrow, May 19th.

France 2026—May 16th-17th (Mont St. Michel)

May 16th Cancale & Mont St. Michel

Today Thomas and Claire had a new washing machine delivered and installed. Thomas was unhappy about being defeated by the old one, because he put forth herculean efforts to fix it himself. We stayed for the installation and then gave our thanks for a lovely time. It wasn't goodbye quite yet, because we're meeting them in Paris May 22nd for dinner.

By noon we drove off for Mont St. Michel, meandering along the coast. We couldn't check in until 4PM so we weren't in a hurry. We stopped in Pontorson and wandered around this town of 4,000 and eventually ate lunch.

We asked Claire for an individual picture and guess who
photo-bombed it?

Claire is the eldest at 20 and attends university
in Rennes, an hour south of Cancale.

Thomas assisted, making the installation easier.

Claire supervises the installation.

And viola!

Take a close look at these colorful sheep decorating this lane in Pontorson. 

Quite whimsical!

 

The busses are packed.

And lots of folks walked the half mile.

These folks were on a guided walk through the flats.

This is quite a sight stepping off the bus.

We checked in at Les Terraces Poulard, and because
our room wouldn't be ready for an hour, we braved 
Grand Rue where everybody and their mother was.

You can see we had a little elbow room at this wide spot.

This is the view from our room. Folks just kept coming.

Thomas advised us to make a reservation to visit the Abbey yesterday, and it was a good thing we did. There was a long line for those who hadn't purchased tickets ahead. You can read all about Mont St. Michel, but the short version is that Archangel Michael (Michel) appeared before Bishop Aubert 3 times in 708 and told him to build a shrine on Mont-Tombe (later becoming Mont St. Michel). In the 10th century the Duke of Normandy established a Benedictine monastery that was expanded by the 14th century. And there's more to tell and this link does.

We stepped out the hotel lobby, turned right and...

...began the climb to the top of the rock.

There are a few places along the way to stop and gawk.

And then you keep going.

There was one semi-flat switchback.

It provided a chance to stop and notice we were 

getting closer...

...and closer and...

...closer and...

...we're there after this flight.

At the entrance we took a moment to look over the edge of the terrace.
Marie reflected on the climb and realized we visited this site just in time
to make it all the way to the top!

These are the folks who couldn't finish the climb.

This panorama of the surrounding countryside was 

taken outside the abbey church (circa 1023).

The self-guided tour of the abbey leads you from the upper level, beginning at the church to the cloister and refectory. At the middle level we wound our way to and through the Salle des Hotel used to host kings and noblemen, the Crypt of the Great Pillars used to support the new choir in the 15th century, the Wheel Room where food was hoisted up for inmates when the abbey had been used as a prison (1793-1863), through a bunch of other rooms and down a staircase to the spectacular scriptorium where monks copied and studied manuscripts. The tour through the abbey ends with the cellar where food was stored, but is now the gift and book shop on the lower level. From there, you walk through the garden, and eventually to an outer walled walkway overlooking the bay and down, down, down again to the village.

Inside the abbey church, circa 1023. 

Abbey spire with St. Michel.

The Evangelists, bas relief circa 1546.

Adam and Eve bas relief circa 1546.

 

I wasn't sure what this door was for...

...so I looked through the peep hole and discovered a storage area.

Passage to the cloister.

   

Doorway to Refectory.

The Refectory.

This door leads to the Crypt of the Great Pillars.

The Crypt of the Great Pillars.

Marie in the background provides scale.

The wheel was used to hoist food up to prisoners
when the abbey was used as a prison 1793-1863.

The Scriptorium.

The Scriptorium; note how light this huge room is.

And now we're headed down to the cellar.

The cellar leads to the garden where we watched...

...the tide roll in quickly.

Passing out of the garden, the abbey walls...

...are pretty impressive

Just outside the exit of the abbey there's a good view of the
hikers experiencing just how fast the tide moves.

May 17th—Mont St. Michel in the Morning and Driving to Bayeux

This morning after breakfast, we took a walk along some of the ramparts at Mont St. Michel. Afterward, we leisurely drove to Cherbourg and had a snack at Cite de la Mer and stretched our legs before driving to the Novotel Hotel just outside of the Bayeux city center.

Mont St. Michel is all about stairs, climbing
up or stepping down. We were on the 3rd
floor, but the stairs were worth the view.

This is Grand Rue, the same street shown at the
top of this blog entry.

We stepped out of our hotel and up the stairs to

see what the streets and ramparts looked like

without a horde of folks packing both.

 

On the way up we passed this cute home.

We stepped into St. Pierre chapel and listened to a lecture in

French as if we understood. 

We stepped out of the chapel and there it is again.

This was our last view from Mont St. Michel before
crossing the bridge in the background to our car.

We took a look back at the entrance to the

village on our way out.

The bridge on our way to a shuttle bus
back to our car.

And we're off to Bayeux.

On the road again.

After driving along the coast and in and out of small towns, we
stopped in Cherbourg at La Cite de la Mer for a snack. We really
needed to stretch our legs, and stopping here was a nice surprise.
This humongous building has at least six actual submersibles that
changed underwater exploration.  

A little over an hour later we checked into the Bayeux Novotel. Tomorrow we'll drive to Omaha Beach and Colleville-sur-Mer to visit the American Cemetery and pay homage to those who "gave the last full measure of devotion" so the rest of us (all of us) could freely pursue our dreams.