Our drive was about 8 hours to the town of Bayeux, where we stayed in a nice little hotel. Our first day we finished up by just exploring the town to see what it had to offer. Very beautiful town. And the crepes, oh my, they were amazing. And while I enjoyed my crepe, Danny had to try a local beer (Pelforth Blonde). I am pretty shocked he didn't try to take the glass with us, but I guess he figured we had plenty of beer glasses at the house.
Day two started off with a boat tour along the beaches of Normandy. It was a very humbling experience. You could see the bunkers in the hillsides where the Germans sat and picked off people one by one. We continued our day with exploring the D Day Museum, where you could see remnants of that bloody day on the beach. We were making good time so we headed over to Point du Hoc, where air strikes came in and bombed the crap out of the Germans they thought were there. Intelligence on their side proved to be ahead of us as they had taken their gun and ran before the attack. The kids thought that the bomb bunkers were a blast to play in.
Day 3 we woke up early again to drive 1 1/2 hours to Mont Saint Micheal, which was worth the $140 in gas!!!! It was something off of a postcard. When we first drove in, the tide was higher and it was pretty foggy, but that quickly cleared and it was stunning. We walked up the castle streets to the castle entrance and toured the inside, it was amazing. On our way back down we bought the boys swords and ice cream, while I ate a Nutella crepe (omg if you have never had one, it is a MUST!!!). We made our way back to Normandy to participate in the scout service project, where Ryan met with a few WWII veterans, who were very thankful for what our country did for them. Then we met up with some NC friends and headed to Saint Mer Eglise and the Airborne Museum. We explored a bit, had dinner at an imbiss and headed back, it was going to be another early morning for us all. It was great to see the Cavender's though.
The final morning we woke up, packed up the car and headed over to the Normandy American Cemetery, I believe this is the largest American cemetery in Europe. The scouts gathered around the infinity pool and listened to many speakers before the wreath laying ceremony and the laying of the tulips on the graves. Ryan really enjoyed this part and gave us a farewell salute to our weekend getaway.
