Let’s Get Caught Up With the Pictures

April 7

We’re staying in a hotel in Lille and FINALLY have a great internet connection. This is the first one since we’ve been to France. It may take most of the evening, but I plan to get caught up with pictures. We’ll start back in Brittany.

March 31

Here are some pictures from St. Malo. We visited here after we went to Mont St. Michel

Of course there’s a castle.
View from the city walls
Carousel ride anyone?
And the fort

April 1

Next, we moved on to Normandie (or Normandy in English). We stayed about 15 minutes outside of Bayeaux and our first stop was to the Bayeaux Museum to see the famous tapestry. We couldn’t take pictures of the tapestry itself, but we have some from the rest of the museum.

These are the types of stitches and colors used in the tapestry

Here are a few pictures from the reproduction. While it was one very long tapestry, each section was marked with a number that corresponded to a piece of the story of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Here is a scale model of the story.

The Bayeaux Cathedral

Just one of the many beautiful stained glass windows
Close up of the sacristy
One of the many side chapels

Then we stopped by the Bayeaux Military Cemetery. The first part is dedicated to every journalist who was ever killed in the line of duty beginning with WWII. Their names are on these pillars.

This was the only name we recognized; died in 1945
Memorial at entrance
Our stone house outside of Bayeaux….it was gigantic.

April 2

This is the day we visited Utah and Omaha Beaches. First set of pictures are from Utah Beach.

One of the memorials
Another view; that’s Lynn trying to get up the stairs; she was still having back spasms and was moving very slowly
Another memorial
Storming the beach
It was so cold.
The beach is so peaceful now; hard to imagine what it was like that Tuesday morning

From the Utah Museum

For all of you Band of Brothers fans (Lynn has seen it at least 10 times)

On to St. Mere Eglise; had lunch, visited the Church and went to the 82nd Airborne Museum.

Inside the church
If you look closely just below the parachute on the roof you can see the manikin representing John Steele (Red Buttons in the movie)
The 82nd Airborne Museum
Ike talking to the men just before D-Day

Point Du Hoc. The Army Special Rangers had to scale these cliffs to eliminate the German guns pointed at Utah and Omaha Beaches.

Some of the craters left from the Allied shelling in preparation for D-Day landings
German Bunker
Imagine trying to shoot into this tiny opening. It’s the only part of the bunker that was vulnerable.

The Omaha Beach Museum was closed by the time we got there. There are a couple of memorials on the beach.

For the Coast Guard
Another peaceful beach
Les Brave

The Bayeaux Normandy Museum

Caen before DDay
Caen after DDay

April 3

We went to the American Military Cemetery and Caen.

American Military Cemetery

The Chapel
Inside the chapel

Caen

Men’s Abbey; built by William the Conqueror
Close up of the Abbey with flowers in bloom
A little backstory
Inside the Abbey
Marker for William’s crypt

April 4

On our way to Rouen we stopped at Pegasus Bridge, went back to Caen and spent the night in Rouen.

Pegasus Bridge was where the British Glider Squadron landed to secure the bridge in preparation for the amphibious landings.

Spot where Major Howard’s glider landed; talk about a precision landing between the canal and the bridge….not a lot of room
Gondree’s Cafe; Owners were part of French resistance and assisted the Brits when they landed. When Lynn was here in 06 with her mom, she saw the daughter (now an old woman) in the cafe.

It’s a very nice museum.

Bullet hole in Maj. Howard’s helmet. Luckily it just grazed him.
Aerial photo of the gliders at the bridge
Very cool photo once bridge was secured.
Piece of the original bridge

Back in Caen

Caen Chateau; William’s Castle
Church built by William’s son
Caen from the Castle ramparts; about 5 minutes later it started to rain.
Ruins of the castle

The Women’s Abbey

Simple but beautiful
Mathilda’s Crypt
Beautiful cupola

Off to Rouen

Walking the old town in the rain
Notre Dame de Rouen
Crypt containing the heart of Richard the Lionhearted
Crypt containing Rollo’s thigh bone

April 5

We’re still in Rouen and visited the Joan of Arc Museum.

The museum was in the same building in which she was put on trial
The papers declaring Joan’s final sentence
The chapel
This clock in Rouen is from early 1400s and is the oldest working clock in the world
Cross marks the spot Joan was executed. The site is now next to an open air market and a church.

Okay….that’s got you caught up until yesterday. I’ll put Sommes Valley in a new post. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Fingers are crossed we’ll have good connections from now on.

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