Les Braves

 

Since we just had the 6th of June which was the 81st anniversary of D-Day, I'll skip to the beaches in Normandy that we visited during our trip to France and which were so important for the eventual liberation of Europe from the terror regime of Nazi Germany.

These are the five beaches, stretched along the coast of Normandy, where Allied forces, including the US, Great Britain and Canada, stormed onto land as part of Operation Overlord.

The first beach we went to was Utah Beach. Nowadays, the beach looks peaceful and rather empty since it was a cool and gloomy day. But what was this like on June 6, 1944? A very different picture and the outcome still unknown on that morning. The beaches had all been enforced and were littered with mines, antitank barriers etc.

That's why before the amphibious landing 175 Naval Combat Demolition Unit "Frogmen" landed on Utah and Omaha beaches to clear all these obstacles. The statue of The Lone Sailor in Normandy pays tribute to these men and all Sea Service personnel. It is located on the plaza in front of the Utah Beach Museum.

There are other statues as well.

The most stirring was this one - it brought up a lot of emotion in me.

What was going on in the minds and hearts of this young soldiers while they were transported on the landing craft, also called Higgins boat, from their ships to close to the beach? They knew that they would be greeted with fierce fire and they were going into battle from which they didn't know whether they would return alive or injured and marked for the rest of their lives. Were they thinking of their homeland and their families that they had left behind? Were they praying? I cannot imagine what it must have felt like for these brave men.

In the museum I saw this very touching letter by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), the author of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince). I remember reading this and asking myself whether he would write the same today? Would it still be the same text? You can find the entire text in a slightly different translation here if you're interested. There is also a very interesting article by Steve Schmidt about what it means to be an American, inspired by this letter. An interesting, provocative read that asks a lot of questions.

Our next stop was Omaha Beach, nowadays home to the impressive sculpture Les Braves (The Braves), created by Anilore Banon.

Les Braves pays tribute to the Allies that landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. It was unveiled on June 6th, 2004, during the 60th anniversary commemorations.

The sculpture consists of three elements. Anilore Banon:

The sculpture is truly impressive and very beautiful at the same time. We walked around it for a long time and took way too many photos of the different perspectives.

It was incredibly moving. I do lack the words to adequately express what I was feeling.

A twin of the original sculpture, also created by Anilore Bannon, can be found in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

Our next stop was Cap Manvieux from where we had a first view over Arromanches and the remains of the artificial harbor that was errected in 1944, one of the Mulberry Harbours.

These were two temporary portable habors developed to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto the beaches during D-Day. The sections of these prefabricated harbors were towed across the English Channel within hours of the Allies creating beachheads. Mulberry "A" was placed in postion off Omaha Beach and Mulberry "B" off Gold Beach where we were now. Since Mulberry "A" was damaged in a storm and abandoned, it was Mulberry "B" at Gold Beach that served for ten months before it was fully decommissioned.

Remains of the artificial harbor can be seen out in the sea (photo above) and on the beach in Arromanches. When we went there, someone played a backpipe on a wall near the beach. Listening to "Amazing Grace" on this overcast day really contributed to the gloomy mood.

The concrete remains were interesting and sinister at the same time. 

Our last stop on this day was the British Normandy Memorial. 

We saw little memorials that people left everywhere, not just here. 

But here at the British Normandy Memorial we also found the acknowledgement of the war nurses and the enormous work that they had done.

Saying that it was difficult that day to come back to some kind of normalcy is an understatement. We had failed to look for a place to spend the night and since it was already rather late in the afternoon we scrambled to find a hotel in the area. We finally found a good and affordable one in Caen and right next to it was a restaurant where we had a pretty good dinner. A small bottle of rosé was welcome (this is for T Tuesday) and I throroughly enjoyed the profiteroles dessert.

The Island of Stairs

 

We're back in France, in Normandie. After we had visited Honfleur, we had a bit of a longer drive until we reached that day's destination: Mont Saint-Michel. I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of it or seen pictures of it. It's one of the most visited cultural sites in France and since 1979 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

It was the spring of 1976 that I first visited it. At that time, Mont Saint-Michel was only accessible during low tide. There was a causeway leading to the island, and if you forgot about the time, you could be stuck on the island if the water had covered the causeway. Because of environmental reasons the causeway now has been removed and replaced by a long bridge that you can either cross by shuttle or on foot.

A huge parking lot has been built about 2.5 km (1.5 mi) away from the island. From here you have a first view of the Mont.

There were a lot of people waiting for the shuttle, therefore we opted to walk the 2.5 km. I'm glad that we did. It takes about 35-40 minutes to walk from the parking lot and it's nice to see the Mont getting closer and closer.

The big walls below...

... and the abbey on top.

We were greeted by a very vocal gull.

Let's go in, shall we?

After getting through the first two gates, you find yourself in the narrow alley, and you're certainly not alone.

We climbed up to the wall and got a first impression of the Mont. Little towers with intersting roofs, beautiful windows...

... and a foretaste of what was to come - stairs. Lots of them.

It's also an island of old doors, and since I love doors I took way too many pictures of them.

So let's climb those stairs, but take it slow.

No matter how many stairs you climb, the abbey is always looming over you. Does it every get closer?

The gulls have it a lot easier to get up.

But at least there are always little nooks to discover. It certainly isn't boring here, and since you have to stop and catch your breath, you have ample time to take in the sights.

More stairs, up to the abbey now - or so we thought. The is the Grand Degré staircase with the church on the right and the abbey's living quarters on the left.

Still not there! But close.

Finally we found ourselves at the West Terrace in front of the entrance to the abbey. I stopped to look around and really enjoyed what the shadow of the abbey looked like on the flats.

Then we entered the abbey church. Work on the church began in 1023, built on the rock (that is the Mont) and rests partially on four crypts built into the slope. There was a mass going on when we stepped in, and the beautiful singing gave the room a very special atmosphere.

I liked the "plainness" of the church.

The part I usually like best about abbeys is the cloister. This one was no exception. Yes, that is Kaefer on the other side.

From the cloister you get into the refectory where the Benedictine monks ate their meals in silence while one of them read from the pulpit. Here I especially like the beautiful windows. Aren't they gorgeous?

And we're still not done with the stairs!

Now we're in the Salle des Hôtes which was used for hosting kings and noblemen. The shadows that the windows created fascinated me (the left one is in the Salle des Hôtes, the right one in the abbey church).

Another part of churches I like is the crypt. As mentioned above, Mont Saint-Michel Abbey has four crypts and I certainly loved the Crypte des gros piliers (Crypt of the Great pillars) including the creative way of getting light and air inside.

These windows are not particularly spectacular, but I loved the old vaults.

More stairs...

The Scriptorium was probably my favorite room (this is not the entire room).

And still more stairs... I think I reached my annual stair-climbing quota.

Then it was time to leave. This time we took the shuttle because we were all a bit exhausted. Au revoir, le mont!

We stayed the night in nearby Pontorson where we had found an entire vacation home. In the evening we went to the small Crêperie du Couesnon - it only has about six tables. Thankfully we were early, because not even 30 minutes after we had arrived, the sign "complet" (full) was put in the door. The food was wonderful - crêpes are the sweet ones and galletes are the savory one, usually made with buckwheat. I first had a galette with ham, mushrooms, egg and cheese followed by a crêpe flambée. Both were so delicious - the Geek and Kaefer were very happy with their choices as well. You can also see our glasses of water in the picture, they are my ticket to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

Hopefully after reading this long post you are not quite as exhausted as I was after climbing all those stairs!