Normandy

So I got to travel to the beaches of Normandy this weekend and see several memorials for WWII and different beaches. We went to the German memorial first which was very sobering. I normally find cemeteries very peaceful (I know I’m strange) but these just made me sad. Then we went to the American one where the land that the memorial is on was given to the US after the war. When we were told that everyone got very excited and one of my Chinese friends was like “I’m going to America and I don’t even need a visa!” lol Surrounding the memorial there was a short wall and you could see the beach and ocean far far down below. Only one problem – there was a big mountain. The memorial is on top of the mountain but you still have to get down. That was a challenge and took awhile and whole time I kept thinking of how in the world we were gonna get back up lol but it was worth it! Only one of us was crazy enough to go swimming and I was happy to just getting my hands wet.

After that we had to climb the mountain. The whole time I was so focused on climbing and sometimes checking to make sure Marjo was close behind that I forgot about the others. When Marjo and I climbed over the wall at the top of the mountain we looked back and realized we’d left the others in the dust lol ops So we just chilled at the top and waited for them. Then we drove about 30-40min to the Canadian memorial. That one was the biggest one that we’d been to. It reminded me of the one in DC that I went to this summer but this one was much much smaller. There was a rainbow on the beach there! We also got to see and go in a couple bunkers. The country side up there is very pretty! Lots of cottages with sheep, etc and the style of houses that made me think I'd traveled to Scotland or Ireland.