Bayeux & Normandy

28 mai


Today we started our week long trip around northern France!  Our host mom Madame drove us to the BYU apartment to meet everyone else.  It was really sad and sentimental leaving them.  I hope someday I can go back and visit them.  Everyone on the BYU program met up at the apartment and we boarded a hot pink tour bus that would be our home for the next week.  We drove a couple hours north to Normandy and stopped first in Bayeux.  The main attraction there was a huge middle ages tapestry.  The tapestry told stories of the vikings and rulers of France in that time.  We had audio guides that told us the story as we walked around it.  It was so huge!  This picture is just one side of it--it looped around and was triple this size here.  All the detail and colors were fascinating.

Like every French city, there was an incredibly beautiful cathedral.

"Je suis le pain de vie.  Celui qui mange ce pain, vivra eternellement."  I am the bread of life.  Those who eat this bread will have eternal life.

We walked around the city of Bayeux a bit and found this cake at a patisserie.  It was too cute not to buy.  The outside was made of fondant and the middle was a super sugarized cake..it looked better than it tasted.

Lace shop

Bayeux was a cute little town with an antique charm.

Then we drove to the D-day beaches at Normandy.  Professor Lebras said that the area belongs to America now, so we were back on American soil for a little bit.  As soon as I got out of the bus and started walking towards the memorial, I felt a change in the atmosphere--I felt the power of the place and knew that this was a special, almost sacred place.  

When we got there we realized that it was memorial day!  It made it all so much more meaningful to us to be in such a poignant location on that day.  There had been a special program there earlier that morning with a flyover and other cool things, but we had missed it.  They had lots of inspiring quotes and stories throughout the museum exhibit.  It kind of made you feel hollow though just because it was so sad as it talked about all the Americans that died there at Normandy and during WWII in general.  The stories were definitely inspiring though.

"The eyes of the world are upon you...I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle."

I signed the guest book there.

"Time will not dim the glory of their deeds."

"If ever proof were needed that we fought for a cuase and not for conquest it could be found in these cemeteries.  Here was our only conquest: all we asked...was enough soil in which to bury our gallant dead."

"Beauty that dies the soonest, lives the longest.  Who can fail to see the beauty and sacrifice our brave lads are making? Because they cannot keep themselves for a day, we'll keep them forever in memory and give them immortality."

We were all silent and subdued as we walked through the museum and learned more about the events of that day on June 6, 1944.  Then we went outside and saw Omaha Beach which is one of the beaches that American troops landed at.  Omaha was the code name for the D-day excursions.

I was not emotionally prepared for the sight of the American cemetery.  It was overwhelmingly horrible and beautiful at the same time.  Thousands of white crosses in perfectly straight lines.  Because it was memorial day, there was an American flag and a French flag at each grave.  I didn't know where to start with all these graves.  I wanted to honor each and everyone of them that was buried there that died ensuring my future protection and that of my family, but there were just too many of them there.  This picture below is just a part of one plot.  There were at least 10 other plots of more crosses.

Each cross stone had the name of the person buried there along with their military ID number, the day they died, and their home state.  I wish there was enough time in the world for me to go past each one and take moment to ponder the incredible sacrifice for each one.  But I had to settle for saying a prayer in my heart for all those people that were buried there, thanking them for their sacrifice and bravery.

There were many gravestones that had unidentified people there.  They would say, "Here rests in honored glory, a comrade in arms known but to God."  I wish I had thought ahead to bring flowers here, but I settled for picking some white daisies from the fields nearby and laying them on one of these unknown graves.

There would be a star of David stone every once in a while for Jewish Americans that had died.

"Leurs tombes sont le symbole eternel de leur heroisme et de leur sacrifice a la cause commune de humanite."  Roughly translated: Their tombs are the eternal symbol of their heroism and sacrifice towards the common human cause.

All of the lines of crosses with the flags combined with the clear sky made an unforgettable impact on me.

This sculpture at the memorial really struck me.  The man is reaching up to heaven as he is coming out of the waters.  So poignant.  This wall on the left are all the names of Americans that were missing in action after World War II.  This is just a third of the wall seen here in this picture.  The person's name was listed along with their position in the military and their home state.  Very sad.

I know I look sad in this picture...but it just felt weird smiling at such a somber place.  But I know that the people who died wouldn't want me to be sad so I should have smiled I guess.

It made us happy that English was listed first on all the signs :)

Next we went to Point du Hoc which was a German stronghold up on a cliff along the beaches.  American soldiers sacrificed their lives climbing up this cliff to try and reach the German base. They were just taking down the American flag when we were walking up and so they let some people from our group help take it down and fold it.

Bomb shelter in the ground

It was a beautiful view of the English channel at Point du Hoc.  Reminded me of the cliffs in the movie Leap Year.

That night we all went out to dinner in St. Lo and then stayed at an Etap hotel.  Etap hotels became our best friend as we stayed at one almost all week.  They are all over France are basically a nice hostel.