Other Things That Didn't make the Blog but I don't Want to Forget

Today's post is a random collection of things I don't want to forget but am afraid I will if I don't journal it...

- I loved the way Euros are different sizes (including the paper ones) for different denominations. It was very handy to just look in my wallet and pull a small one if I needed a small bill, etc.

- I loved croque moiseur sandwiches - a grilled ham and cheese with cheese on top

- It is funny how different pizza can be in a different country, taking on the culture, even. In France a 'margherita' pizza (which you would think would be plain cheese) comes randomly with olives and sometimes even ham. We frequently had to ask for the pizza 'sans' something (usually olives). The pizzas were all about the size of a dinner plate and arrived totally uncut, as they expected you to just cut and eat with a knife and fork, similar to what you would do for a piece of meat.

- The French always have both hands visible when eating, usually holding both a knife and fork. Its actually considered rude to have you hands on your lap. This is amazingly easy to adapt to and in fact a very useful way of eating.

- People speak far more quietly in France. This was harder to adjust to, but incredibly pleasant in restaurants. John and I were in a restaurant in Severna Park, MD last night and it was really noisy (last night was our Anniversary, so that's why we were out - woot on 16 years).

- Light switches are not like typical US ones - they are more like the flat flippy ones - fun to figure out where they are too.

- Fixed price menus all over the place and desserts assumed.

- Appel (to call) and rappel (warning, we think) all over the place... so fun to see our names everywhere.

- The Holocaust section of the Caen Memorial - made both Alexa and I gasp and then tear up - a room full of electric candles.

- The roosters at Monet's garden in Giverny - fun and crowing

- The Texan family we met in the train station and then bumped into again in Bayeux - so nice and fun and sent us on an Oddessey for a wooden sword for Ben.

- The lovely pharmacists who were so helpful, and 'bon marche!'

- Frederick, my new friend, who is the manager at the hotel in Bayeux and was the most helpful host.

- The fabulous sense of relaxation that comes from slowing down at meals and just chatting as a family. And how amazingly easy it is to fall into the routine of having a drink at lunch (its sooo much cheaper to have cider than Coca-light - same price for a bottle that served both John and I).

Pictures from the last night in Paris

I'm finally getting the last photos loaded, so here are a couple from the last night.

As an aside, it would appear that we took about 2,000 photos in our two weeks... I'm thinking I have a large task ahead of me in deciding which to print and use for a scrapbook...

Twinkling lights, Jet lag, reintegrating, etc.

Just to fill in the last few details that John didn't get to -

Alexa got to pick the restaurant for our final dinner in France (Ben had picked lunch, and John had selected the last night in Bayeux - I had gotten my 'last pick' the day we were at Point Du Hoc - I wanted one last omlette mixte (a ham and cheese omlette). She wanted Italian (her favorite) and when the hotel receptionist told us there was a restaurant nearby called "Arlechinno" that sealed the deal for her - she loves Comedia Del Arte and Arlechinno is the clown-like character with a diamond costume. Anyway, we had a nice dinner and the waiter and Ben had lots of fun together - the waiter made faces with him, joked around with him, and gave both he and lollipops (actually, my favorite kind of lollipop - cherry flavored and cherry-like in appearance - two lollipops, one each on the end of a bent green plasic 'stem' - I actually ask for them every time I go to farmers market in Annapolis, only to be out of luck each time - I was soooo jealous that my kids got them).

In the end, John and Alexa had the twinkly night on the town, using up the last of our Metro tickets (and closing down the Metro at 12:30 am, followed by a cab back to the hotel). Ben and I were both tired and opted to stay home and go to bed - we watched Wimbledon in French and read stories from the Nicholas series (about a French schoolboy) that Ben has become quite fond of - he was turned onto them by the librarian at his elementary school. John and Alexa watched the Eiffel Tower twinkle (it does that for the first 10 minutes of each hour - they turn off the floodlights and let the twinkly lights), then saw the floodlit Arch d'Triomphe, headed over to the Louvre (for the lit pyramide), and eventually ended up back in our neighborhood near the Bastille monuments.

Saturday was exhausting, for a day that we just sat around (on the plane, in the airport). John mentioned that there was a national slowdown (apparently referred to as an escargot) which impacted our movement through security. There were only two security lines open for all of the international travel, as best as I could tell. We waited in line for an hour (luckily we had gotten to the airport 3 hours early on the advice of the hotel clerk) and then all of a sudden we were whisked to the front of the line. Apparently someone saw John's cane and decided we needed out of the line. Given that Alexa was just moments short of a meltdown (of the 'its loud, its hot, and there are too many people and I can't pace' variety), I was more than willing to have the temporary disability that was visible help us out of a worse situation caused by the one that's not visible.

Once we got on our way, things were rather uneventful. We flew Continental and had a nice flight (with an ice cream break, even, as well as a hot meal and a hot sandwich during the 10 hour stretch). We had to go through Houston (its a Continental hub, and it meant that we could get tickets for the four of us for under 6K), where we came in through immigration and customs and were once again pulled out of a line and sent to the front because of the cane. Our flight had several other injured folks - must have been a bad week for sprains in France as there was a young woman with a sprained ankle and another with a knee injury close to us - and Continental went out of their way to help folks. Several of the other injured people on the plane were given rides on carts - there must have been at least 5 wheelchairs waiting for our plane. It was kind of funny to see as we walked out.

As we were re-checking our bags (you have to claim your baggage to get through customs and then they re-check them immediately), I bumped into another person from the University of Maryland. It was very funny to just look up and see Bob Infantino (an Associate Dean in one of the colleges with whom I've worked on several committees, for those of you who are not from Maryland). We had a nice chat as we went back through security - he and his family were returning from Honduras. We bumped into them again as our kids were asking for Auntie Anne's and they were there already with their son - apparently kids miss 'American' food no matter what country they've been visitng.

We arrived home at about midnight, eastern time (which was 6 am France time, for those not keeping track). We all took melatonin and headed for bed...

This morning we were all up by 8 (our bodies thought it was 2 in the afternoon) and I headed out for Ben's favorite Sunday breakfast - Einstein's bagels. I didn't make it far as my neighbor greeted me and told me not to use my car as it had a flat she could see. Apparently there was a rash of tire slashings in the neighborhood - she said she had seen at least 20 flat tires. On the bright side, this is better car luck than we've had after other major vacations. After our last major vacations we've bought new cars out of necessity (John had overheaded cars on the beltway leading to cracked heads and then trashed cars after both our Colorado and Disney vacations).

So I spent part of my day waiting for two new tires to be installed. It is rather frightening to re-integrate into the US state of mind in a Super Wal Mart (the closest place open and selling tires today). I don't really recommend it. I thought I was going to cry in the middle of a grocery aisle at one point (I did use some time to get shopping done). But I now have two new tires (and I'm pulling my car into the driveway before I go to bed).

We had a little 'birthday dinner' for Alexa tonight with an ice cream cake (her fave). John's mother and brother came over to join us and I think Alexa felt a bit more satisfied that her day was fully celebrated... I think it had been bugging her that she was cheated out of a 'real' birthday...

Its now 10:30 and everyone else is asleep.... I go back to work tomorrow and Alexa goes with me to Shakespeare camp. John has one more day off and Ben will hang out with him (they are going to build a model they got in Normandy and look at Pegasus Bridge maps... geeky bliss as Alexa would say).

When we finally manage to get readjusted we'll post the pictures from the nighttime tour, but I doubt John or I will post much more in terms of text.

Thanks for letting us share our trip with you.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

Just a quick note to say we're all back home as of a little after midnight Saturday night, thanks to my mom & Greg (whose porter services were invaluable). It was a long, tiring day starting at about 1 AM US Eastern time and ending about 24 hours later. Turns out a national strike (well, a slow-down) kicked off in France on Saturday, so things moved verrrry slowly at Charles De Galle.

Now to plow through our work e-mail boxes, the mail at the house, do a ton of laundry and deal with a flat tire on Michelle's car. But first, Einstein Bagels!

D-Day part 3; Down and Out to an Ending

John again. We're now settled in at our last lodging in Paris, a hotel in the Canal-St. Martin district. Today has mostly been either downtime or travel time, riding the train from Bayeux back to Paris. (We got a lesson in the importance of reserving seats on the train, though - we got displaced from our original seats in Caen and the conductor had to locate space for us in one of the private berths, which caused some frustration mid-way.) The kids and I did take a quick pass through the Battle of Normandy Museum in Bayeux (not bad for it's size, but not up to the standards of either the Caen Memorial or either the British or American Airborne Museums). All or some of us may be going out to see some of the major sights lit up at night, though, if stamina holds out. I'm still wrapping my ankle and using the cane occasionally, but at least it doesn't feel like someone's shoving a red-hot poker through my ankle at every step, as on Wednesday.

Yesterday, though - no museums, just the raw places - or as raw as they are today.

Michelle described our first stop at the massive German cemetary at La Cambe, west of Bayeux and almost due south 8 kilometers from Point du Hoc. The site used to house one of the temporary American cemetaries, but in the late 40s through the 1950s many of the American dead were repatriated - families were given the choice to have their loved ones returned home or left in the ground they'd purchased with their lives. (The British & Commonwealth dead almost all remain in Normandy in a number of cemetaries, the one just outside Bayeux holding 4100 of the fallen, along with a few hundred German dead.)

La Cambe holds over 21,000 German dead, and even on a sunny morning it's a quiet, somewhat somber place. There's a large mound in the center with three large, dark crosses, surrounded by the burial blocks holding 3-5 German soldiers, many unknown, in each grave. On one wall inside the gatehouse is engraved in both German and French, "Here lie soldiers of Germany, forever at peace."

(By the way, our Battlebus guide Dale mentioned that each year about a dozen war dead, almost all German, are uncovered. Given the number of missing soldiers of both sides, Normandy looks to yield this crop for many years yet.)

Next we crossed over the N13, the major highway through this part of Normandy, and struck north to Point du Hoc. This was the site of a German battery capable of hitting both Utah & Omaha beaches. The USAF tried to destroy it from the air, and the Navy made a few tries from the sea, but as is always the case it took a bunch of young men with rifles and guts to do the job - US Army Rangers in one of their most celebrated exploits.

Picture this: you've spent the last 6 hours in a landing craft, bucking 5-foot waves while you & everyone else gets seasick, bailing out the craft with your helmets from time to time as the pumps can't keep up. Your mission - nothing much. Just land on a tiny sliver of beach, scale a 70-80 foot cliff, under fire, and clean the Germans out of their foritifications at the top. To do the job, there's 225 or so of you, equipped with rocket-fired grappling hooks, rope ladders, and extension ladders borrowed from the London fire department. Cake, right?

The Rangers did the job, even found the relocated guns inland and destroyed them, then held out for two days against repeated counterattacks until troops from Omaha Beach relieved them.

Point du Hoc was donated to the US by the French in 1979 and is officially US soil. Original bomb and shell craters cover much of the ground, and the original fortifications have been largely left intact. Ben had a great time scrambling around the gun casemates and bunkers.

Next we moved east to Vierville at the west end of Omaha Beach, and one of the bloodiest spots on D-Day. Another unit I served in, the 29th Infantry, originally a National Guard division Federalized at the beginning of the war, landed on this end of Omaha. The Vierville Draw saw some of the most horrific losses of the day for the Americans - if you've seen "Saving Private Ryan", this is where the real events took place. "SPR" compresses the time greatly, though - picture that lasting over three hours... one company of the 116th Infantry regiment ceased to exist on that stretch of beach, and one small town in Virigina lost 35 young men that morning.

There's not much left from 1944 there today: some sort of German fortification on the eastern wall of the draw, and the seawall down by the water. There are a number of monuments, though, including a very moving one paying tribute to the 29th Division, and another to the Rangers. This is the place where the Rangers got their motto - General Norman Cota of the 29th, moving up and down the beach spurring the men forward ("There's only two kinds of men on this beach, those who are dead and those who are gonna die, so move your asses inland!"), came across a group of Rangers and told them "Rangers, lead the way!" pointing up the draw. They did, with boys from Maryland and Virginia wearing blue & gray on their shoulders beside them (and troops from other units - one problem at Omaha was that landing craft kept putting men ashore in the wrong places).

After lunch overlooking the beach (indoors as the day was chilly & breezy), we drove eastward along Omaha beach and climbed back out at St. Laurent-sur-Mer, just west of the American Cemetary. This was another draw the 29th took, at high cost but not quite so dearly as Vierville.

We made our way back to Bayeux for a bit of snacking and souvenier shopping (Ben now has a wooden bow firing suction-cup arrows - how he pursuaded Michelle I have no idea!) and ended up at the hotel for some downtime and laundry.

I really wanted to eat at a place called "La Pommier", recommended by several guidebooks and the concierge of our hotel, but the kids were a bit leery. We did wind up there with a promise of pizza from the place across the street if we couldn't find something they could stand, but as Michelle said, the owner (who took our order, as well as everyone's) graciously made them chicken in cream sauce similar to what I've made for them before. The food was fantastic, every bit as good as advertised, and Dad got to scratch his itch to have some reasonably authentic Norman food (pork filets cooked in cider, yum!)

It's now time to decide on our plans for the evening - likely no more entries until we get home. Au revoir, and hope you've enjoyed peeking over our shoulders!

Why saying goodbye to Normandy will be hard

Tomorrow, we leave Normandy and though the children are happy (because this signals getting ready to head for the airport and home - we spend one night in Paris before the flight home on Saturday), I will be very sad to leave Normandy. We have had good weather, met delightful people, and seen some amazing sites. The blend of agriculture and beach is about as close to bliss as I can imagine.

Today, we fit in the few things we had been saying we 'need to do before we leave.' John will write that blog on the train tomorrow. The pictures are: the German cemetery (which they have worked hard to make a statement for peace and not to glorify the evil of the Third Reich - there were some young German volunteers there caring for it, scrubbing the markers, etc. while we were there - it was really touching), a peace statue along the road between the D Day sites, Ben climbing in a bunker at Point du Hoc, the awesome French sign to be referenced below, and a memorial at Omaha Beach.

Here are some of the reasons I love France:

1. The people love and enjoy children and go to great lengths for them. The hot dog from yesterday is a great example of them doing something for a child that they wouldn't otherwise do. Tonight at the rather upscale restaurant where we ate, they allowed the kids to order food from the mid-day menu. Museums (particularly those in Paris) are free for kids under 18, the Bayeux tapestry has a special recording just for kids... the list could go on.
2. Flowers and trees - the French are serious about their gardening, even in the city. There are flowers everywhere here in Bayeux (windowboxes and planters on the light poles etc.), and in Paris there were also plenty of flowers and gardens. I love that they take the time to just make things beautiful. As John said this morning about a lovely tree-lined (and well manicured at that) path to the German cemetery, you would never find this in the US because no one would want their tax money going to it and you can't make a profit off of it.
3. Appreciation for 'quality of life' - as noted above, the French don't impose the 'what does this do for me' standard when making decisions. And the pace of life, even in Paris, is generally much slower. They take time to greet each other, slow down meals, and generally worry about the pleasantries of life. Normandy is an excellent example of their desire to preserve history, do it in a lovely way, and not worry about the profits or taxes. There are miles of farm land right next to beaches that you would never see in the US ('why waste that space where we could make money?'). And the citizens of tiny towns have spent their own money erecting little monuments to ensure that the lessons of World War II do not get forgotten. It is clear that they care about things unrelated to the Euro.
4. Patisseries and amazing desserts - profiteroles will be tough to give up for Alexa; for me, it will be the amazing bread (particularly with butter, swiss cheese, and 'jambon' - ham - in yummy sandwiches) and pain chocolat (chocolate croissants), and for Ben... well lets just say we need to make sure we keep buying baguettes at home or else he might starve when we get back.

Here are some great ideas we could use, if you ask me:

1. Tasteful signs that depict (in shades of brown) the historic attractions at exits of the highway. One of these is pictured above. They were helpful and tasteful.
2. Marked 'spaces' in front of the gas pumps indicating where you should (and should not) park your car to fill up (it really cuts down on the people who block two pumps).
3. Little areas around grave markers that are filled with smooth, small gravel - gives families a place to put flowers and eliminates the need to trim around the markers... the mower can easily pass over these.
4. Dual flush toilets - almost every toilet here has had two push buttons - one for when you need to use less water.
5. Small cars - cute, easy to maneuver in the narrow streets, and economical

I'm sure I'll think of others, but I'm tired and its time for bed....

Surviving an ambitious schedule for Wednesday

Today was probably the closest to "death march through France" that we'll get. John was careful to try to pace us throughout the trip and he has done a magnificent job at getting A LOT of sites and activities into our two weeks. We have had an amazing trip and we all held up pretty well until today...

Lets start with John - he sprained his ankle yesterday, apparently, I'm guessing at Utah Beach or at our last stop at the village cemetery. Last night it was bothering him but it really started hurting today. Thankfully the pharmacies are well marked and the handy Rick Steves language guide has body part names - that plus some gestures crossed the language divide in Rouen and John now has an ace bandage and cane (I was pretty proud of myself, I must say).

That meant that I got to drive for most of our trip today (we have been trading off on other days) .... You might think that this is not so terrible, but today's itinerary was Giverny, Chateau Galliard L'Engleses, and Rouen. The farthest point (Giverny) is about 200 Kilometers from Bayeux. Our trip started with a likely speeding ticket for me - John saw the flash go off on what must be a classic speed trap - the road goes from 130 Km/hr to 70 Km/hr within about 500 meters, stays there for 500 meters, and then jumps back up. I guess we'll see what happens there.... Then, we selected a "Departmental" road that we thought would go fairly quickly (you can drive 90 Km/hr outside the towns) and appeared to be more direct. Unfortunately, there are A LOT of towns (all with roundabouts) along the way - imagine driving from Harrisburg to Philadelphia on Route 322, or from Baltimore to Charlottesville on 29. And have I mentioned that rental cars in Europe are manual transmission (which I am capable of driving, but prefer not to as I have had a lingering ankle issue, likely from a cyst)? After the first 90 minutes I basically demanded that John find me a high speed road. I don't think it was a pretty sight from the back seat (the poor kiddos, neither was the Rouen Oddesey to be mentioned later).

The kids were great - they were pretty quiet in the back seat, watching the rainy countryside go by, trying to amuse themselves and us with jokes. Poor things - I had the grumpies and I was not laughing....

We managed to get to Giverny and it was sooooo worth it. The gardens are just beautiful, and I think the damp day made them even more pretty. My camera will not have done them justice (particularly because I'm not the most adept at using it). Alexa and I spent at least an hour taking photos of flowers before a total downpour started.

We had lunch in Giverny at the waterlily cafe (its name is essentially that, but in French). The waiter was great - he not only allowed us to grab hot dogs for the kids from the sister 'take out' attached to the restaurant, he actually took their plates of fries (which we had ordered from the restaurant so that we were getting something for them from there) to the take out to get the hot dogs. The hot dogs here, by the way, come in a baguette. Ben was soooo happy.

Their lunches must have looked quite appetizing because the mother and daughter who sat down next to us (coming in drenched, did I mention the rain?) asked for the same thing and the waiter said they couldn't have it - it was a special exception. Who says the French aren't nice?!?!

We ended up chatting with the mother and daughter (they asked us about the Monet house and garden - they were still debating whether to go in the rain) and it turned out they were from Denmark. The daughter was working for Ikea in Paris, so of course we had to have an Ikea love fest. In the end we gave them one of our umbrellas (they had none) and told them they really should go to the garden at least...

From Giverny it was off to the Chateau Galliard - the ruins of a castle built by King Richard the Lionhearted. Remember that the movie John managed to get me to watch was The Lion in Winter. It was a really cool castle (though we didn't go in it - recall that John has a sprained ankle and at that point I still had not managed to locate appropriate supplies) and it was amazing to look up and think that a KING (John reminds me it was really three kings) walked around in there 800 years ago. Its also quite apparent why he chose that spot to build upon - its on top of a hill that commands a spectacular view (and would therefore have been easy to defend). The drive up and back was interesting - hairpin turns and 15% grades on gravel road... poor John having to sit in the passenger seat with no control over my driving - I'm sure I would not have sat there too comfortably.

Finally, we headed to Rouen. For those that don't know, Rouen is famous as the site that Joan of Arc was burned at the stake as well as the site of the cathedral Monet painted. I knew it had sustained heavy damage during WWII, but I was still looking forward to seeing it, imagining a quaint town with half timber buildings, based on what I had seen on Rick Steves show.

Well, Rouen is the largest city in Normandy, so quaint is not really a good descriptor. And I probably should have read the part in Rick's book that notes that EVERYONE gets lost in Rouen (because we did). At a minimum, I probably would have had a better set of expectations had I read about just how much had been flattened (as in, none of the original Joan of Arc stuff still stands, some destroyed well before the war, the cathedral sustained damage and is in the midst of being restored, the half timber buildings were re-built, etc.). In the end, we had a reasonably nice time, saw what we came for, and were glad to put Rouen behind us (particularly the graffiti on the old Palace of Judgement that appalled both Ben and I).

We had promised Ben a trip back to Hippopatamus for dinner and we saw one on our way into Rouen, so we managed (with a fair bit of effort) to find our way back to it and ate dinner there before heading back to Bayeux.

In the end, we saw some really great sites today, and we all managed to laugh and have fun on the ride home (for those who ever saw the Rugrats, we are big fans of the "Reptar on Ice" episode and had a little sing a long at one point... silly, but fun).

PS - The best news of the day is probably that the New Jersey bicyclists have moved out of the hotel (at least for the rest of our stay - they'll be back in 10 days to finish their trip, apparently)!!! Individually they were nice - they said hello and wanted to chat as we passed in the evening. As a group they were a nightmare - they moved in a pack and as such consumed all of the breakfast space at one time, spread their bikes through the driveway in the mornings, and even have taken about 4 parking spaces in the covered barn with their bike cases (because they did not put them all at the same spot). I really felt for the hotel staff because they always seemed to be running for something for one of them - usually around food (the hotel provides breakfast, but the bike group also made their own dinners in the garden and then had the person working the front desk running drinks out). In fairness to the biking group, I think the hotel is too small for them - it has 30 rooms and there were 35 bikers, so they were using over half of the rooms and the place is not set up to move that many people all at once.

All American Screaming Eagles (And some Ivy, too)

(Dale, our guide, orienting John, Alexa & Ben at La Fiere)

John here expanding on Michelle's account of our day.

I'll first reiterate what she had to say about our private tour through Battlebus and our guide, Dale. Like me, Dale is a 40-something ex-serviceman, from the British Army in his case. He is a fabulous raconteur and kept all four of us spellbound despite the differences in how much we all knew about the battles described. Battlebus consistently gets glowing recommendations on independent sites like Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet, and it's easy to see why. Dale also connected very well with the kids and Ben really seemed to take a shine to him. We had a number of far-ranging discussions on some of the longer legs of our journey.

Bottom line: don't do some canned tour with a bus full of 40 other people, book a tour with these folks. It's worth every cent (American or otherwise).

I won't take everyone blow-by-blow through our day, but here's the list of the various stops during our journey - some just for a picture or two, but most for at least one personal story about the men who fought at or near that very spot, or the French civilians affected by the fighting:

• Angoville-au-Plain
• St. Mere Eglise
• US Airborne Museum
• Neuville-au-Plain
• La Fiere
• Coquiny (drive-through)
  
• Hill 30 (Shanley's Hill) (driving over and across)
  
• Chef-du-Pont
• Beauzille-de-Bastille (The bridge Dale & I believe Pam's dad was assigned to blow)
  
• Dead Man's Corner
• Causeway #2 behind Utah Beach
• Utah Beach (Jahnke's Resistance Point)
• Brecourt Manor (featured in "Band of Brothers")
  
• Bocage Country (for an explanation of what it was, and how the Allies coped)
• Grainges

(Anyone interested in learning more about what happened there, consult your Internet search engine of choice, or contact me & I'll be happy to flood you with excessive detail. ;) )

Yes, that's a lot of stops! We left Bayeux at 8:30 AM and were largely on the go until we arrived back around 5:30 PM. Dale also knew the best places to get lunch - they normally stop at a bed & breakfast that serves sandwiches that looked very tasty from the menu, but due to circumstances we wound up eating at an excellent beach-food stand just behind the dunes at Utah Beach.

We heard stories of incredible heroism (American, German and French), atrocities (some small American ones and a truly horrific German one), and many about men under fire simply coping as best they could in difficult circumstances. Dale also told us about an incredible reunion in 2004 between two American paratroopers, best buddies, both wounded within days of each other and each thinking the other dead for 60 years - and each blaming themselves for the other's supposed death.

We also learned something that I'm going to be sure to repeat at home: the local French people donate the land for these monuments, pay for many of the monuments, maintain them largely at their own expense, and decorate many with fresh flowers. There's nowhere near the tacky commercialism you'd expect to find near sites like this in the US, if any existed. Most of these people lost their homes, and many lost one or more family members, often from Allied fire - but they still regard the Americans and British as peoples very highly. (Our government, not so much, but we hardly blame them.) They know full well the price paid for their freedom, and express their gratitude for it.

It was simply incredible to see so many places I'd read about, and in some cases fought over in my wargaming, and to stand yards away from places where such acts of desperation and courage occurred. As a former paratrooper and lifelong military history buff, I've always felt a connection with those who fought here. Like Michelle at the Orsay & Orangerie, I'm seeing things I've always wanted to but never thought I would. To be able to share them and the lessons they teach with my family is something I feel incredibly fortunate for.

PS - Mom, Michelle says you should have Dad read this post, if nothing else. ;)
PPS - All Americans - the US 82nd Airborne Division; Screaming Eagles - the US 101st Airborne Division; Ivy - the US 4th Infantry Division, whose unit patch resembles an ivy branch.

D Day continued - Michelle's Version

First, let me add to what John said yesterday about the cemetery. I was a bit concerned that, having heard about how moving it was and given my general pacifist outlook, I might be let down. No need to have worried. Looking out over all those markers, seeing the beach and water beyond them, contrasting the death and destruction with the tranquility of the pastures and farmland that now line the beaches - I was in awe. Then, I noticed Ben, who was moving slowly along the line of markers, looking down (at what I later discovered were the names of the fallen) and taking his hat off in respect. Then, the clock struck 6 and was followed by the Star Spangled Banner and Ben moved away from the markers and, totally unprompted, gave a little salute. I just started sobbing.

On a day where we learned all about the horrors of war, there was still a clear message of the desire for peace.

For those who do not know, I am a member of a traditional peace church and am a pacifist. I absolutely think that there must be a better way to resolve disputes. John was a member of the 82nd Airborne and I think that I am accurately representing his views by saying that he thinks that war should be the last resort but is regrettably necessary. I think our day yesterday represented a good balance of these two views which are more close than one would think.

Today we went on a private guided tour which was absolutely amazing. Our guide, upon hearing that I was a member of a peace church and a pacifist, remarked that he typically talks about the conscientious objectors and their bravery at our first stop (which he did - in a story about a medic that was amazing) and in fact we talked throughout the day about the various aspects of being a CO and the horrors of war. I couldn't have asked for a more balanced and fair perspective on the issue - being able to converse and to take things at our own pace was worth every bit we spent on the Battlebus private tour (which was about the cost of two nights' lodging, by the way - 450 Euros for those looking to plan their own vacation).

John has been trying to get me to watch this movie, The Longest Day, for ... well, as long as I've known him probably (after convincing me to watch The Lion In Winter, which I still hate to this day, he's not had much success on a three hour war movie). Well, I think Dale (our guide) has shamed me into it. We saw lots of things today that were depicted in that movie and Dale put a personal story on all of them. I think this approach really helps to personalize what goes on and to give you a feel for the real stories (and he told us the good and the bad - it wasn't all a white washed, we won so we're great thing) not some glorified and glamorous adventure.

As we were planning our visit, we arranged to meet the father of a close friend who was a member of the 82nd Airborne and landed on D Day (Bill Bladen, Pam's father for those who know Pam). When we talked with him we found out that he was in one of the groups that was badly scattered, far from his unit (to the point of being off the map he was given and needing several days to get to where he should have been). He is now in his eighties and couldn't remember the name of the bridge he was supposed to have taken, and John made it his mission to "find Bill's bridge." The bridge in the picture above is at the spot where both John and Dale, our guide, believe Bill's bridge was (the Air Force took out the bridge before Bill and his unit got there, so they had to have built a new one by now, I'm assuming). We will be happy when we can talk to him again in person to show him his bridge, as well as the new monuments at Chef du Pont, where he met up with his group (these were erected in the past year and he was last here in 1994 for the 50th Anniversary).

I'm sure John will want to give you all the details of all the places we saw today. Frankly, I can't remember them all. My favorites were the first stop, the chapel where two young medics kept almost 80 people alive for several days (in that 80 were German soldiers and townspeople) until the fighting subsided and they could get real medical help - only two people died; and our stop at Utah Beach, where Dale taught us how the German's had set up their defense (very smart, these nests of fortifications), how the US had made a lucky accident and landed at a less fortified spot, and a story of a young German soldier that put a human face on that side.