Set sail early for Bayeaux and the WW2 battlefields. Arrived in Bayeaux at the tourist info office and then drove out to Arromanches and the “Winston harbour”. Unfortunately, the bad weather has returned and it is windy and wet. However, this does not dampen our spirit. Arromanches is a village which lives on tourism and in part the D Day invasion. This was the site of the English floating harbour which supported the troops after the invasion. The other harbour at Omaha Beach was to support the American troops and it failed due to bad weather. There are parts of the harbour still in place at Arromanches but the best thing is to go to the local museum which has displays of the construction and how it was planned and deployed.
Still raining, so we went to the Normandie Hotel and had lunch – onion soup followed by mussels Normandie for me and steak for Kerry and a dose of the runs for both of us. But in true stoic fashion we marched on to the American military cemetery – like Arlington in many respects but on this occasion the Americans accepted they were not the only ones winning the war and recognised all nations with a great static and film presentation on all aspects of the invasion and the rest of the war. This was without a doubt spectacular and fitting for the remembrance of the lives lost. We also called in at the Red One museum – not so hot in my view. We then set sail for Utah beach and the museum there but ran out of time. We did not get to see the Bayeaux tapestry and made it our purpose to visit tomorrow.
glendon1954 