Our first stop for the day was the D-Day museum in Caen. There were very interesting displays to see and a couple movies to watch. It would be easy to spend much more time here, but we needed to push on. We went for lunch in the town of Arromanches, a nice coastal town with plenty of little dining spots and shops to check out as well as a lovely beach. From there, we went to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. No matter how many images you may have seen of military cemeteries, when you stand in the middle of the white crosses and see straight rows of them going in every direction, it is quite moving. After leaving the cemetery, we went to a small memorial on the beach where many of us walked in the sand and a few of the kids went into the water. Our final stop was the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Memorial where the Germans had built bunkers to fight the allies as they attempted to climb up the cliffs. It's where the beginning scenes of Saving Private Ryan are based upon.
Our hotel for the night was an old abbey called L'Abbey. It was a very nice spot with a sun heated pool and tennis court. Many of the adventurous went swimming.
The next morning, we went to Mont St. Micheal. We walked quickly through the town so that we could tour the church first. It was quite lovely and on the way out, we were able to shop a bit and enjoy the town. Next, we drove on to St. Malo, a walled city that was 80% destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in it's original design afterwards. The very proud residents consider themselves of St. Malo before Breton or France.
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