D-Day: Pointe du Hoc

October 27:  Just before D-Day on June 6, 1944, the Allies carpeted Pointe du Hoc with bombs to take out six 155mm guns that the Germans had captured from the French. Because the point was between Omaha and Utah beaches, Germans could easily fire on any advancing troops. Rangers were then sent to scale the 100-foot cliffs to take out the concrete emplacements that held both the guns and the Germans.

Unfortunately, because of weather, the Allied assault that was supposed to take place before sunrise, happened 40 minutes later in full sunlight.  The over-220 men who started out were reduced to about 90 by the end of the day. In addition, they discovered that the Germans had moved the guns about a mile inland and replaced them with decoys. The Rangers eventually found the guns and destroyed them with thermite grenades.

All that leads to a modern memorial park that is peppered with bomb craters about 10-15 feet deep. (They used to be about six or seven feet deeper but 60 years of erosion has filled them in and softened them with grass.)




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Cratered landscape with remains of a concrete bunker.

Anthony at the bottom of a crater.

Testament to German engineering are the concrete bunkers that survived the assault intact. We entered one or two to experience the war from the German point of view.

However, some emplacements didn't survive the assault.

D-Day: Battlebus

Trevor showing off German barbed wire. The closely spaced barbs make the wire harder to grip and remove.

October 26: With a French mother and American father, Trevor, proved an excellent Battlebus guide to the complexities of D-Day, World War II and Normandy.  He enthusiastically applauded American ingenuity and persistence during the invasion, and passionately espoused French fortitude and resistance during the Nazi occupation. Though he tried to hide it, he also had a distaste for Germans and what they'd done during the war.
Battlebus is based out of Bayeux and specializes in one and two-day tours of the D-Day invasion sites. We chose the two-day American Experience because of its comprehensive view of the event, and its visits to the German side. Additional tours cover the British and Canadian sectors, with specials for World War II veterans.

Typical Battlebus van.

We rode in an eight-person van, with only six customers, giving us plenty of room to move around and change seats. Trevor drove as well as lectured, and because he lived in the area, could give us intimate details about Normandy's past and present.  He used a large flipbook with maps and photos, and combination of historical facts and personal anecdotes to liven up his commentary.

I recommend the company highly. But they only accept payment in cash, primarily in Euro. (There are enough ATMs in Bayeux that this isn't a problem.) They will take dollars and pounds but only with expensive exchange fees.

Stay tuned for more details.

Themes

I don't particularly enjoy wandering aimlessly through a foreign country, lost in the "If it's Monday, it must be Marseilles" syndrome. It's a better use of time and money to have one or more themes for a vacation, to help decide what sights to visit and what to ignore.

Three themes will guide our vacation: art, World War II and food.

Art

One of Anthony's favorite painting styles is Impressionism. However, because this was considered too radical at the time, the Louvre in Paris, arguable the world's greatest art museum, has no Impressionist works. Fortunately, the Orsay, Orangerie and the Marmottan in Paris are chock full of Monets and Manets. (The picture above is Monet's at the Orsay.) The National Gallery and the Tate in London also have good examples. The Grand Palais in Paris is having the "first major exhibition in France of Claude Monet's work in over 30 years" and we have tickets.

As for me, I like Venetian 17th-Century views as in the above example by my favorite artist, Canaletto. The National Gallery in London is having the best assemblage of this painting type since 1967, which is primarily why we're going to London.

World War II

For a UK view of World War II, we're visiting the Churchill War Rooms in London, where the British government hunkered down during that period. But our main journey through the war comes from Bayeux in Normandy, France, where the Battlebus is going to take us on a two-day tour of the era, complete with visits to French, American and German cemeteries; St. Mere Eglise, whose church tower figured prominently in the film "The Longest Day;"  and the invasion beaches, where all those poor souls lost their lives loosening the country from the grip of the Nazis.

We're also spending a day at the Caen Memorial Museum, also in Normandy, one of the best museums anywhere. It concentrates on World War II, of course, but has exhibits on all types of conflict including The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

Food

 I'm nearly at my weight-loss goal of an extra ten pounds, just so I have enough room with all those rich French foods. But my gluttony may be fighting a losing battle against typically small portions and high prices. Consider that a lunch burger costs about $15 and a can of Diet Coke that's two-thirds the American size costs about $5, and you'll see what I mean. Because or the high prices, nearly half of our budget is set aside strictly for food.

London will prove to be a surprising change from my last trip there decades ago. The food was so bad that I actually lost weight after two weeks there. Fortunately, the city has since become a food capital of Europe, with cuisines from around the world. I'm especially looking forward to all the Arabic edibles, one of my favorites, imported by immigrants from across the Mediterranean.

Others

The entire trip is not going to be thematically based. Like every other tourist, we'll be gawking at the Eiffel Tower, observing the meat-eating crows at the Tower of London, and marveling at the intricate sculptures at Notre Dame. As for Segrie, France, the only reason we're stopping at that farming community in the middle of nowhere is to visit Anthony's old French teacher, who's celebrating his 78th birthday. The last time they saw each other was in Penang, Malaysia, nearly ten years ago. Even then I didn't think the old professor was going to live another ten years. There must be something in French food that makes you last forever.