On the fifth day of our cruise (April 10), we toured the Normandy beaches. We left the boat at 7:45 a.m. and took a bus to Arromanches and Gold Beach. The British forces landed here on D-Day and built a temporary harbor to help bring supplies from England over to France. You can still see the remains of the harbor from the shore, but it's no longer used for that purpose. While we were in Arromanches, Mom and I looked around the beach and watched a film on the building of the harbor at the museum. The group also ate lunch here at a restaurant called 6 Juin (June 6), although neither Mom nor I enjoyed the meal very much.
After leaving Arromanches, we drove over to the German bunkers in Longues-sur-Mer. We had the chance to look around the bunkers for a few minutes, but I was most fascinated by the fields of yellow rapeseed flowers nearby. Seeing these flowers was one of Mom's fondest memories from her vacation to Eastern Europe last year, so we both were excited to see them this year.
Our next stop was the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, one of the most touching parts of the entire trip. Viking had arranged for a simple memorial ceremony to take place when we arrived, and then we had the opportunity to look around. Seeing all of the white crosses (and Stars of David) lined up was truly moving. When you walked to the edge of the cemetery, you could look down to Omaha Beach, and it was really beautiful.
The final destination of the day was Omaha Beach, where the American forces landed on D-Day. Now there is a beautiful monument commemorating the landing, and the beach is almost pristine. Both of us enjoyed looking around, and since we couldn't walk all the way down to the ocean, we took a picture of our feet on the beach instead. (Mom always loves to dip her toe in the ocean to prove she's been somewhere.)
Once we made it back to the buses, we had a long drive back to Rouen — almost 2.5 hours. I slept some of the way but also enjoyed looking around. We ate dinner soon after we made it back to the boat and ended up sitting with a nice couple from D.C. who had done a lot of traveling. It was interesting to hear their stories and share some of our own.
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