Day One in Normandy

We made a decision to go with a guide for this part of the trip even though having a personal tour guide for the day isn't cheap because we wanted the kids to get more out of it.  A beach is just a beach until you've heard all the history and seen the pictures of D-day on that very beach.  Brian met a lady when he was doing the Bastogne walk in December, and he set up our guide and our itinerary.  Normally, she drives you around for this, but since we were 10 people in a 12 passenger van we drove her around in our van.

Her name is Kate and she was really an excellent guide.  You can tell she has a real passion for the history of World War II.  She showed us all kinds of places and told us countless stories about everything we saw.  In addition to all that, she was our navigator and our meal planner.  She called ahead to restaurants to pre-order sandwiches the first day to save time and made reservations the second day for a pretty quick lunch.  Lunchtime has really been known to take a big chunk away from sightseeing in Europe because the meals are served slow here and always cooked up fresh.  The amount of time that saved really helped us get more out of our days with her.  If you are making a trip to Normandy, France I wholeheartedly recommend her.   Email her at katell.pape@orange.fr 

Before this trip, I had my older three kids read some books on WW II.

D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy (YA adaptation) Rick Atkinson

We Were Heroes:  The Journal of Scott Pendelton Collins by Walter Dean Myers

Invasion by Walter Dean Myers (Disclaimer:  Hannah was the only one I let read this because it turned out to have some pretty rough language in it and a couple other references to immorality that she found.)

The Lacemaker and the Princess by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (I couldn't find this book in our library, so I have no idea if it's a good one or not.  It was on my list though.)

Then after we got back from our trip, the three big kids and the adults all watched The Longest Day over three nights after the little ones went to bed.  It was a much more interesting movie for me and the children when we could see all the places we were at just the week before.  I am hoping it really sealed in our minds some of these events and facts.

Our first stop was a quick one at the German Cemetery.  It was really sad to learn about how this cemetery came to be and is maintained.  I'll give you a hint, it's not the French taking care of this cemetery.

Then we moved on to Point du Huc where the kids really enjoyed the bomb craters.  It was great to actually see what kind of landscape the Americans had to overcome and how important this site was to the whole plan and ultimately to taking back Europe from Nazi control.

Genevieve is posing with a plaque recognizing Rudder, an Aggie, and his successful service and leadership at Point du Huc.

Next up was Omaha Beach.  The kids looked for pieces left from WW II.  They found a couple of metal pieces that they hope are from armor or weapons, but who knows.  Drew kept a stone from the craters at Pointe du Huc and a stone from here.  I wrote in permanent marker on them so he could put them into his rock collection.

After the beach we went to pick up and eat our sandwiches that Kate had pre-ordered for us.  Then we went to the American WW II Cemetery.  There you can find the graves of men who have since gained fame through Hollywood, like the brothers from Saving Private Ryan, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., and then other Purple Heart soldiers.  At the end of this, it started pouring down rain on us and we were caught quite unprepared with our rain jackets in the van.

The last stop of the day was at Longues-sur-mer, a German battery with guns still inside the fortifications.  It had stopped raining and was muddy with a side of a rainbow.

We ate dinner at a restaurant that Kate recommended to us.