All posts by tdelora

Arromanches, D-Day, France, Normandy

The Beach Day

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When we plan these trips we always look for a central place to stay and day trip out from. This gives us a place to set up ‘household’ for a while and provides flexibility in our schedule to flex to how we feel and conditions. The town of Audrieu is serving as our central point on this trip and when the weather gods blessed us with a clear day we pulled the day along the beach card. The beaches however are all about D-Day.

Our first stop was at Pointe du Hoc, a promontory located between Utah and Omaha beaches. From such a point the German Army would have a great view of any invasion force thus making it an early target of the D-Day efforts. A US Army Ranger Assault Group was given this unfortunate but ultimately successful task.

Next we moved to Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer for a walk on just north of Omaha Beach and the location of one of the two temporary harbors built during the invasion (more on this later). This particular section of the beach was quieter than other sections but still gave you a good feel of the beach situation. We timed it to be near low tide and you could see how wide the beaches in Normandy could get.

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer was our next stop where 9000+ Americans are buried. A sad and moving place it gives a great visual reminder of the sacrifice made something not  so easy with number on a page.

Our final stop was in Arromanches-les-Bains which is at the center of Gold Beach and the location of one of the other  temporary harbor built during the D-Day invasion. Rather than wait for the capture of a port city it was decided to build these harbors (called Mulberry Harbors) so supplies, etc could get to the invading forces quickly. The harbor at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer  was damaged during a storm within a month of D-Day and put out of comission. The Arromanches harbor ran for six months when permanent ports had been secured. Some of the breakwaters and pontoon bridge floats are still visible today. We also got a good demonstration of how quick the tides rise around Normandy, when we arrived we were able to walk up to a breakwater and some of the pontoons. We noticed though the wave were coming higher on the beach very visibly and had to keep an eye on the waves. Within 20 minutes the breakwater was no longer accessible and within an hour most of the pontoons were under water. Quite the change. 

The Garmin continues its job of moving us around with great directions but its choice of roads on this trip continues to be down the odd back road. If it was not for the system I would think we were getting lost. This time though we had a beautiful sunset to accompany our drive thru scenic French towns and countryside. Some cows vaches took quite an interest in us tourists when we pulled over to enjoy the scenery.

There are a few more photo under The Beach Day tab on the upper menu.

Hi Helena and James!

Sydney at a gun emplacement at Pointe du Hoc.
Sydney at a gun emplacement at Pointe du Hoc.
Pointe du Hoc.
Pointe du Hoc.
Utah beach from Pointe du Hoc.
Utah beach from Pointe du Hoc.
Omaha beach from Pointe du Hoc.
Omaha beach from Pointe du Hoc.
The German Spotter Bunker at Pointe du Hoc.
The German Spotter Bunker at Pointe du Hoc.
Sydney in a bomb crater.
Sydney in a bomb crater.
Syd and Kim on the beach at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
Syd and Kim on the beach at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
The memorial at the Normandy American Cemetery.
The memorial at the Normandy American Cemetery.
Normandy American Cemetery
Normandy American Cemetery
Syd on the beach at Arromanches.
Syd on the beach at Arromanches.
Parts of the breakwater from the Mulberry Harbor at Arromanches. Bigger than they look.
Parts of the breakwater from the Mulberry Harbor at Arromanches. Bigger than they look.
The beach at Arromanches when we arrived.
The beach at Arromanches when we arrived.
The beach at Arromanches when we departed.
The beach at Arromanches when we departed.
What moo looking at?
What moo looking at?
Audrieu, France, Honfleur

It Never Rains In Honfleur

We were expecting some rain as we planned this trip, the Pay-Bas and Normandy are noted for cooler, wetter weather. We were hoping for some scattered showers but the last 24 hours was a bit more inclement than we wanted. Driving south through more rain we were wondering if we would get a break only to have the break reveal itself as we pulled into our destination for the day, Honfleur with warm sun and scattered clouds, just what we were hoping for.

Honfleur is a picturesque port town located on the south bank of the Seine near where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. Still an active port it also has a place in art history, several noted artists lived and worked here including Claude Monet and the visions seen in this area helped inspire the Impressionist movement. The city has one of the more interesting churches we have seen in a while, Saint Catherine’s. Since the area was populated by fisherman thus ship builders they applied some of the same techniques when these same people built the church thus some parts look like a boat.

We indulged  in local delicacies for dinner including some great Oysters, local fish and savory buckwheat crapés.

We are now at our home for 5 days, Audrieu a centrally located town from where we can day trip out to the many sights we want to see nearby. And much to Syd’s happiness there is a nice pool. Rain, rain go away!

Heard a loud groan from the north. Bye-bye Pay-Bas.

Approaching the Pont de Normandie.
Approaching the Pont de Normandie.
Crossing the Pont de Normandie.
Crossing the Pont de Normandie.
Honfleur Harbor
Honfleur Harbor
Honfleur Harbor
Honfleur Harbor
Saint-Catherine's Church & Bell Tower.
Saint-Catherine’s Church & Bell Tower.
Inside Saint-Catherine's Church.
Inside Saint-Catherine’s Church.
The ladies in Honfleur.
The ladies in Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
A fish boat heading out for the evening catch.
A fish boat heading out for the evening catch.

 

France, Gosnay, Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

Kinderdijk

Alas it is time to move on from Amsterdam. Our travel ‘method’ has always been to go visit a city/country for a short time to get the feel for it and then to return for an extended visit in several Amsterdam will certainly be on the list.

We had to make one last stop in Les Pays-Bas, what kind of parents would we be of we took Syd to this country and not visit a windmill? Luckily heritage and UNESCO made it easy by preserving a series of mills along our way in the village of Kinderdijk. The name means “Children dike” and is rumored to be where the folktale “Cat and the Cradle” originated when during a particularly bad flood a cat was found keeping a cradle floating in the flood water containing a sleeping baby in balance. I did not realize that families lived inside these giant pumps and had all the incidents that one would expect in such a situation.  Modern flood pumps have since replaced the windmills at this sites original purpose, the well preserved site was well worth the visit. Rains returned today so the site was fairly empty during our visit, their visit loss was a (wet) gain for us. Man, can those blades move, aerodynamics at its finest.

Our second stop of the day was to be at Ghent, Belgium however a major accident slowed us down for nearly two hours so we decided to press on to our evening destination. That part of the drive was an interesting test for the Garmin Nav system and reviled several of its short comings. When it said it knew a quicker route we said OK and ended up getting a nice tour of central Antwerp. And when the traffic became really bad due to the accident the system did not know, so the accident re-routing is flaky at best.

First night in France in Gosnay. The FIFA world cup is still on an although I enjoy being at work during the tournament due to the excitement of many of my foreign born colleagues it was nice to be in ‘Futbul’  countries the cup is in contest. Tonight was in no slouch, even though Germany had a solid lead the entire time the hotel staff was still as jumpy as a jackrabbit on a hot-plate. Lots of fun! Nice meal at a local brasserie, I know Americans have a reputation for being ‘ugly’ but boy there was trio of Brits in the restaurant as well last night that would have taken the top spot in any contest with their complaints…

A wet walk.
A wet walk.
A close-up of a still working mill.
A close-up of a still working mill.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Those are big clogs to fill!
Those are big clogs to fill!
Singing in the rain.
Singing in the rain.