Normandie (partie II)

MOT DU JOUR!

inconscient(e): Inconsiderate

As in: Call me an obnoxious American, but I find it inconsiderate when Italian parents lets their children skinny on Omaha Beach where my countrymen sacrificed their lives on D-Day...just saying.

PHRASE DU JOUR! (Brought to you by Ginny DeLacy)

Sans l'Amérique, les Français seraient de langue Allemande!: Without America, French people would speak German!

If you haven't guessed already...today we visited beaches of Normandy and the Museum of WWII and D-Day. This was EASILY the best day I've spent in France. The museum was SO well done and the video they showed us was perfect. I can't say enough about it. It's my favorite museum I've been to...EVER. For the first time since I arrived here, I am so proud to be an American. Normandy, especially near the beaches and battlefields, are so American-friendly, and the older people here are still thankful for everything that American troops did for France. Everyone in the group left the museum swelling with patriotism and our teacher let us speak English because she could see we were so proud of our backgrounds. 

After the museum we walked all over Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc, and Arromanche-- all sites of the D-Day landings. After that we had the most emotional part of the visit. We went to Colleville which is an American cemetery for all the soldiers who died during D-Day and the following battles. The seaside rolling greens are covered in ivory crosses and jewish stars marking the more than 10,000 graves on the site.  It must have been a special day because most of all the groups there were American veterans. I really wanted to sit down and talk to one of them, but we didn't have enough time. 

After the cemetery, we visited Gold Beach where there were the remains of the temporary ports erected by Winston Churchill on June 7th 1944 the day after D-Day. The museum there was cheesy with creepy mannequins, but it was awesome to walk on the beach and see all the ports. We're now in our hotel in Bayeaux and about to go to dinner!

Go America.

Hope all is well in the states!

bisous

caro

ps. hello? mother? father? remember me? can you all call me?

pps. hello john kirkpatrick, here is your shout out