Normandy, DDay what an experience, least we forget!!

We docked at Caudebec-en-caux on the Seine for our trip to Normandy on our Avalon River cruise. Its a long day with about 2 hours 30 minutes by coach, but what a special and humbling day, I think every single person became very emotional, until you see these things its hard to imagine what this day was like.

There are the five beaches as above map, it would be difficult to see them all in one day , just from a time point of view, we went to Juno and Sword, this is where the British and Canadians landed, the Americans going off to Utah.

The first memorial was for the British, and its so sad to see all the names with the ages of 18, 22 , 23 so young to be there, and of course the unknown headstones which lay with them, its very peaceful and beautifully kept , with flowers and plants surrounding each grave.

We then went on to Juno beach and these pictures also tell a story every plaque is a soldier , look how many there are, again very humbling. The Canadians run this centre, and it is funded by them. they play a short 12 minute video at the end of the tour, all I can say is there was not a dry eye coming out of that one!!

At the centre it was so interesting to see groups of children , obviously school outings being taken around, I was very impressed with this as the slogans everywhere around Normandy are about the hero’s that sacrificed their lives on this momentous occasion in history, least we forget how many were lost.

Of all the trips this was the longest, we stayed overnight here as it was a full 10 hour day out, lunch was provided and we were back on board in time for dinner, I would highly recommend anyone to do it, fascinating, I could write for hours but the pictures say it all.