D-Day Beaches and the end of Dad's visit

After my 5pm class on Thursday we took the rental car down to Portsmouth, about a 2 ½ hour drive from Canterbury. Our ferry left at 11:45pm and got into Ouistreham, France at about 7:30am. It was less than a good night’s sleep…”reclining seats” don’t really live up to their name on these ferries. After we got off the ferry it was a quick drive to Caen and we attempted to find a bakery for breakfast…not a hard task in France, or any European country (except England for whatever reason). I had my first real French baguette that was heavenly. Dad got some pastries that were equally as yummy. My baguette became my lunch as well that day, but it was so good I didn’t mind one bit. There is a road that runs from Ouistreham all the way along the northern French coast. Along the way there are loads of places to stop and see the D-Day beaches or memorials to the men who fought on them. The first beach we came to was the Canadian beach, Juno (not Sword, which is actually the first one you would come to if you started in Ouistreham). We stopped at two points along the beach to take pictures, walk and look at the memorials. It was sort of surreal to think what had taken place on those beaches over sixty years ago. It was also fulfilling one of my life goals to visit the beaches. Gold was the next beach where we stopped once up on a cliff above the beach. There was theatre there that had some movie, but we decided to keep moving because Omaha beach was next. Driving to the beaches takes you through all of these cute and very beautiful French towns and countryside. I couldn’t believe how much the towns look like what is recreated in a lot of the D-Day movies. Omaha beach and the American cemetery there in Colleville was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. It was such a beautiful day for us and it made the beauty and the peacefulness of that area so much more. We went through the visitor center that has a small, but very interesting museum in the bottom. When you come out of the museum, the beach is in front of you and the cemetery is to the left. We walked a bit toward the beach then turned in toward the cemetery. The rows upon rows of crosses I had seen before, but only in pictures. You really have to go there yourself to understand the feeling that you get there. I won’t even try to explain it, but I know that it really got to me. We walked down the hill to the beach and spent some time walking and taking it all in. Dad made a comment on the way down about how chaotic it must have been all those years ago. It is hard to imagine that because of how peaceful and calm it is there now. But it got me thinking that the way it is now, the peace, serenity and beauty of that area are part of what those men were fighting for. We drove down and around to Utah beach and spend some more time walking and observing. Carentan is not far from there and we drove through, just so I could say I’d been there (for all of you Band of Brothers fans out there you’ll know what I mean). Around 5pm we headed back to Ouistreham to see Sword beach. It was the most unremarkable off all the beaches there, but the sun was setting and made it really beautiful. We decided to go back to Caen to find a place for dinner. When we did it was an Italian/French place with a waiter that really didn’t like the fact that we couldn’t speak French. Oh, well, his problem, not ours. However, it did vindicate the stereotype that the French don’t like Americans. Since we had a bit of time before we had to get on the ferry we just killed the time in the ferry terminal, because there was really nothing left to do and it was dark. Thankfully we had a cabin on the way back, so we got a decent night’s sleep this time. On Saturday I took Dad to the Canterbury cathedral and we walked around High St. We had a really nice dinner…cooked by moi…see I do know some French! :) Dad left for the airport early Sunday morning. I was sad to see him go, but we had a great time together. I’ve spent the rest of this week writing papers in preparation for when Dave comes on Tuesday! (! for Dave coming, not the papers) Tomorrow I have to be at the university by 7:45am to get on the tour bus for our two day trip to Oxford, Bath, the Cotswolds, Lacock and Stonehenge. Should be a great trip and I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully I will get and update up sooner rather than later and get some pictures up too. Hope everyone is doing well back home. I miss you all!
Cheers!
e