Day 20: Normandy

Sadly, our last port stop has arrived but it is a much anticipated one. We are touring the Normandy D-Day beaches today. We have 2 eight passenger vans booked for today but when we exit the ship find they have arrived with one 16 passenger one. I ask for a price reduction since we only have one guide for all of us to no avail. Last May (2009) when we first booked this cruise Normandy was the port Char booked our tour in. After she had to cancel this cruise I took over the booking. I thought since we had booked so early we would have the owner of the company, Alan of Overlord Tours but he was with another group today. Our guide was very knowledgeable but had quite an accent. We had a great day despite the expectations not being met.


We drive 2 hours to the furthermost point of our tour, Utah Beach and our guide tells us lots of details about the invasion here. There is a nice bar in the back of the building by the parking lot which is recreated to look like it would have in 1945. Several veterans who have visited have wrote on the walls.

Next stop is St Marie Eglise. This is the village where the paratrooper landed on the church roof, was captured and held prisoner for a few days before escaping. This is a pretty village and it is market day, so we have lunch while walking around.

Pointe Du Hoc is our next site to visit. This is where a lot of destruction took place. The hill above the beach is riddled with huge craters where bombs fell.

Omaha beach is our next stop and again, our guide describes the events that took place there.

Our last stop for the day is the American Cemetery. It is the highlight of our day. It is so sad to see how many lives were lost but a beautiful cemetery and we enjoy a walk around. We have an hour to spend here and it is not long enough to visit the museum, so that will have to wait until another time.

It was yet another great day, even if a hurried one.