Storming the Beaches

My computer seems to be going through culture shock and has stopped recognizing my apartment's wifi network. This is both a blessing (less time frittered away on Facebook) and extremely annoying (when it leads to long-overdue blog posts).

Anyway, two weekends ago, Educo took us to Normandy to see the Bayeux tapestry, the D-Day Beaches, and Mont Saint Michel!

We had a rendez-vous with the bus at 7:45 (which is dawn here). After four hours on the bus and one traumatizing "pipi stop," we arrived at Bayeux, a little bitty town in Normandy that houses an excellent cathedral and the Tapisserie de Bayeux, 70 meters of embroidery from the 11th century that recounts the victory of William the Conquerer (Guillaume) over somebody named Harold (the audio guide was in French). They won't let you take pictures of the tapestry, but here's one of the boat outside the museum:

After that we headed to the American Cemetary and D-Day Memorial at Omaha Beach and Pont du Hoc, which was also stormed by American Rangers on June 6. The weather was nasty and the path from the beach inland was long and steep, even without a heavy pack and being wet from jumping out of a Higgins boat. The memorial featured maps of the allied movements and a military cemetery, while Point du Hoc has preserved the bomb craters (more than 600 were detonated there on D-Day) and the skeletons of axis fortifications.