Paris Day 6: Roadtrip!

Tuesday 9/18

Today we broke out of our routine, even skipping our daily dose of America (a.k.a. Starbucks) and took the metro across town to pick up a rental car for our day trip to Normandy! The Budget/Avis rental people really personified that stereotypical French rudeness as they barely acknowledged your presence and were most unhelpful regarding maps and GPS assistance. After getting settled into our "Fancy Fiat" we made a quick stop at nearby train station where I dashed in to look for a road map. After 5 unsuccessful attempts I finally found a bookstore (Library in French) and bought one, then we were on our way! Almost $15 in tolls, and a stop at a gas station for more food (again, the gas station food in Europe is way better!--sorry Sheetz) we made our way to Omaha Beach, one of the strategic sites for the infamous D-Day battle.

The memorials that have been erected at Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and Point de Huc are phenomenal! It was so overwhelming to see such a great tribute to our soldiers in a foreign country! My Granny had told me we had a relative involved in D-Day so I searched several monuments and found someone with her family name (still waiting for confirmation if we're related). It's really crazy to think of what bloody and ugly history happened here because today the land and monuments are just gorgeous!

We jumped back in our Fancy Fiat and drove over to Utah beach where they had an interesting sculpture along the coastline to commemorate the Naval reinforcements during the battle. And finally we made it to Point de Huc, one of the most crucial sites of the battle. This memorial is huge and also very well done! There is a cemetery there very similar to Arlington National Cemetery, multiple monuments to distinguish honor bestowed on various branches of the military, and several great depictions of the attack plans to give you a better understanding as to how intricate and involved this siege was. Another interesting point of interest is the actual Point de Huc battle site where you walk along a very uneven trail dodging craters made by bombs and you can get down and explore underground battle stations, trenches, and hideouts. This place is a little boys dream, and a grown man's nightmare.

As it was quite cold, and the sun was starting to set we made our way to the car for our 3 hour ride back to Paris. Fortunately we didn't run into too much traffic but we missed returning the car early by 10 minutes so we parked it at a nearby garage (parking in Paris is not easy!) and metro-ed home.