A Quick Trip to Paris and Normandy

May 28 - May 31, 2003

On Friday morning we headed north from Paris to get to the D-Day beaches. Unfortunately, we underestimated the holiday traffic headed for the beach and spent far too much time sitting on the French tollway. Having to get all four worn and torn tires replaced didn't help either. But we did finally get to the beaches on the English Channel! What we found was a cute resort town with a pleasant beach for walking and playing. Of course, Will and Ellen dug in to build a sand castle and, in the process, found all kinds of little sand worms, shell creatures and shrimp! It was a nice affirmation of life and the power of nature, especially given the things we would see during the rest of the vacation.

The other wonderful thing that we got to see was people "shrimping" for their dinners. This nice lady was kind enough to explain to us what she was doing and later showed us her catch. They catch little grey shrimp, which we see all the time here in the grocery stores.

After our playful visit to the beach it was time to drive up the coast. The beach that we were playing on, which is now a resort with sunbathers and snack bars and dogs frolicking in the surf, is known as Sword Beach, where the British landed on D-Day. We made our way along, past Juno Beach where the Canadians landed, and saw tanks, a German pill box, an anti-tank gun, and a monument to Charles de Gaulle and the French Resistance, who also participated in the Normandy invasions. When we got to Arromanches we were able to stop at the top of the cliffs where hundreds of British troops lost their lives trying to scale the cliff. On the top of the cliff were German bunkers we were able to climb on.

Arromanches is at Gold Beach where the British landed and where the Allies created an artificial harbor by sinking old ships. The ships are still off shore, in the water, as you may be able to see in these photos. In the photo above on the left you can see the cliff, the sunken ships, and a tiny speck on the beach that is a horse and rider. It was a very striking scene. We tried to impress upon the children what went on here, and Ellen apparently decided she had conquered the Nazis herself. Below, Kevin checks out one of the underground bunkers, and then he and the kids spend a quiet moment reflecting on life and death, war and peace.

Click to see:

- more of our visit in Normandy

- our home page