Tuesday, May 18th, was our only full day "field trip" to the Normandy coast and the sites of the D-Day invasion of WW II. Our ship was docked at Rouen and we were transported on the 1 1/2 hour trip to the Normandy coast. It was a pretty trip through lots of rolling farmland... many golden fields of canola, green wheat fields, and lots of grazing Normandy cows. I guess I didn't really take any pictures of the countryside...
Then on to the landing site at Omaha Beach. There was a guide on each bus who recalled the relevant history. The woman who was our guide was a French woman from the region who was born in 1944, just after the Allied landing, and she had lots of family stories about incidents just before and after her birth. As always, the guides were an excellent source of information and added so much to our experience.
Our final stop was at the American Cemetery at Colleville sur Mer. We had time to wander the gravesites... nearly 10,000 crosses and stars of David... marking the soldiers who were buried there. There was also an excellent interpretive center with very moving films and displays. 
Our first stop was Golden Beach (Arromanches), one of the allied landing sites, then on to Bayeux where we viewed the 11th century tapestries which graphically portrayed the history surrounding the Battle of Hastings (1066... William the Conqueror). Since I am a fan of fabric and needlework, I was really captivated by this huge embroidery which is in amazingly great condition. It is 230 feet long and contains 58 panels and tells a dramatic story with interesting detail and even some humor. We had an audio device which helped us to pick up on some of the details and follow the story, which is presented in manner similar to a comic strip with each panel adding to the what has come before. Bayeux itself is a pretty little medieval town and of course it has an impressive looking cathedral and it also has lots of cute little restaurants and creperies, so we were able to take some time to wander and eat lunch there.
Then on to the landing site at Omaha Beach. There was a guide on each bus who recalled the relevant history. The woman who was our guide was a French woman from the region who was born in 1944, just after the Allied landing, and she had lots of family stories about incidents just before and after her birth. As always, the guides were an excellent source of information and added so much to our experience.
Our final stop was at the American Cemetery at Colleville sur Mer. We had time to wander the gravesites... nearly 10,000 crosses and stars of David... marking the soldiers who were buried there. There was also an excellent interpretive center with very moving films and displays. 
Our cruise line, Uniworld, participates in a charity to place flowers of remembrance on graves, so we were each given a rose to place by a grave of our choice. It was numbing to walk among the markers, read names, dates and home states. I ended up chosing to place my rose on a marker signifying an "unknown." The marker reads: Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God.
It was a long day, but followed by a wonderful dinner on board and a second night docked at Rouen, which was our city to explore tomorrow.
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