D. Day June 6, 1944. Today I was on American soil.

Today has been an incredible day! I woke up at 4:30, got ready, and went back down to the Maison Belges, I was lucky because the Tram was already running this morning! At 6:05 I got a phone call from the woman picking me up, saying she couldn't find me; we found each other and headed to the shuttle.

Our tour was made up of 7 people: A young Canadian couple, who just had a baby, and the husband was about to go on a 10 month tour in Iraq: they were taking a final goodbye vacation; a middle-aged couple from Chicago, who had a 21 year old son and who were here after a business trip in London; and a couple in their 70's (I think?) from Oklahoma, here for a visit. And me. Oh, and our guide, Roberto, a Parisian, with a Spanish name. So technically there were 8 people, but only 7 on the actual tour. We were all bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 AM when everyone had finally been picked up and we were heading out of Paris. I figured we would have some time to sleep, but Roberto clearly had his cafe this morning because he jumped RIGHT into the tour!

The bus was set up with a tiny mic that Roberto wore on his ear so he could talk and we could all hear through the speakers! He started immediately into a history of France. I fell asleep somewhere between Charlemagne and World War I. He had a LOT of information to give us, and I was really excited about it- but I needed a little nap. After a quick cup of coffee, we were back on the road, and I was ready to pay attention!

We arrived at Pointe du Hoc, which was one of the landing points in Normandy, where about 200 Germans were poised and waiting for the Americans to attack. Roberto refereed to it as a "moon-land" because the holes made from the bombs (and bomb shells) made the ground look like it had moon craters in it. We had a chance to walk around, go into these craters, and there were even a few shelters left. We then arrived at Omaha beach and were able to walk along the beach. Its absolutely incredible. You can still see a lot of 'matchboxes' up in the hills, where the soldiers would be hiding. Its an amazingly beautiful and tranquil place; I could hardly imagine it being a battlefield, despite all of the stories and the pictures. As a bonus, mostly for the Canadians, we got to go to the Juno beach site as well. This was where the Canadians fought and where Charles de Gaulle was stationed. Again, amazingly tranquil, beautiful, and calm.

We went to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial for about an hour. It was an amazing visit. I feel like I've said the word 'amazing' a lot in this post, but truly, many of these sites were simply awe-inspiring. The site of the cemetery has been given to America by the French government, which felt slightly strange knowing I was standing on 'American soil'. When we arrived, we were looking at the Memorial "The Spirit of American youth Rising from the Waves", and the American national anthem began to play. Typing that, it sounds incredibly tacky. Standing there, I was really overwhelmed. I turned and looked at the American flag and all went silent around me. I could hear a soft cry of a woman to my right, as we all looked out at the nearly 10,000 headstones we saw, with our anthem playing, looking at the flag. There was an odd mix of pride and an overwhelming sadness that came with the moment. It gives me chills even to think about it again. We had some time to walk throughout the graves and look at them. there are 9,238 Latin crosses and 149 stars of David; as well as a dedication to 1,557 men missing in action. I wished I could look at each one, the name, which force they were in, where they came from at home; there would never be enough time, but I really wished I could give each one a good look and appreciation. One of the most interesting, and saddest graves were two right next to each other: a father and a son, buried next to each other, dying for the same cause. I went into the tiny chapel and then it was time to leave.

For the rest of the Afternoon, we drove along the French countryside, stopping to visit places with completely intact cannons, we even got to see a Harley Davidson motorcycle (by complete luck!) that was an original from WWII which a man had fixed up and had RIDDEN to see the Normandy shores! All original, except for a small place for a GPS! We went through Arromanches for lunch (which was fun to help all of the other people order!) and then off to a GIANT museum for another hour and a half in Caen. I could never have seen everything the museum had to offer, or I would still be there. They had so many different objects from the war, from the U.S; Germany; France; Asia. It was overwhelming. I looked through as much as I could in our allotted time.

We mounted the bus again and headed for Paris. Thankfully the "tour" was over; so Roberto allowed us all to take naps, he said "It was peaceful, I could hear you all breathing"; glad he had a nice trip back to Paris alone! We arrived and were dropped off.

I know this post is incredibly long, I could go on for hours. I am very excited to share these experiences in person! Today has been one of the best days!

Bisous (Now for some SLEEP!)
Amy