Day 5: Bayeux, Arromanches, D-Day Beaches

First of all, I am having trouble with Blogspot. It has stopped seeing my new photos. When I Google the phrase "Blogspot sucks" I see hundreds of entries from other people having the same problem. I also saw multiple complaints about viewers being unable to post comments, as I have heard from some of you. I am looking at other free blog sites, but so far, no solution.

UPDATE: I figured out a work-around to get my pics uploaded, and I changed the comments settings so hopefully that will work better too!

We drove from Honfleur to Bayeux through the French countryside and saw lovely old farm houses and stone barns.

Arromanches was the tiny fishing village that was ground zero for the D-Day assault on the coast of Normandy, and Bayeux was a larger village nearby where Eisenhower and Montgomery holed up to direct the battle plans. In Bayeux, we saw the famous tapestry (70 meters in length) that tells the story of the Battle of Hastings in embroidered linen and was used to tell illiterate people of the time the story of William the conqueror who was a Norman duke who became King of England--even though he spoke not one word of English.

We also saw the massive Cathedral of St. Catherine, including the crypt and the Cathedral's holy relic (which appeared to be one of Cathy's arm bones.)

We also visited the Battle of Normandy museum. Very emotional and educational. Emotional because the "War to End All Wars" apparently didn't, despite the loss of so many men on both sides. And educational because the Battle of Normandy, the key opening for the liberation of Europe from Hitler's grip, actually lasted 3 months. The assault on the beaches was only the start. The Americans and Brits created man-made harbors, giant blocks of concrete dumped onto the ocean floor and used to anchor floating steel roadways to the beach to off-load armored vehicles and artillery. We don't hear much about this in America, apparently because the man-made harbors were a British idea.

The village of Arromanches is delightful, and the place where wealthy Parisians built their summer chateaus--stone miniature chateaus that they only used during the month of June to visit the sea. Many of them are still standing and intact. A very restful place, we could have stayed longer. But--on to Mont St. Michel!