Omaha Beach

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

We thought we set the alarm clock for 6:30 AM to pack up, eat breakfast and go pick up our rental car at 8 AM. But when we woke up, it was already 8 AM! We slept 12 hours – that tells the story of how little sleep we got on the train the night before.

Steve got up and walked to the rental car office to get our car while I tried to get the kids to eat breakfast and pack.

When Steve returned, we were pleasantly surprised with a free upgrade to a larger car (which was really needed to fit our stuff). The vehicle itself was very nice with all the latest bells and whistles, option to use manual or automatic transmission, and a hybrid diesel/electric engine. It was really nice and we fit well. The rental car office was about half way between the hotel and the ferry port and the lady at the office said she would give us a ride to the port when we got back.

We loaded up, Steve got a quick bite for breakfast and we headed to Omaha Beach. There was really just one main road going that direction but if you pulled up the directions online, you got 2 pages of directions. We decided to wing it and it worked out just fine. As we approached the beaches, everything was well marked.

First we stopped at the Omaha Beach Memorial Museum. We walked through the museum and then watched a short documentary about the D-day invasion. From there we moved a short distance to a parking lot near the memorial on the beach. We got out, walked on the beach and took photos.

After the visit to the beach, we followed the signs to the American Cemetery that is the final resting place to 9,387 American Soldiers killed in Omaha. Preparations were going on for a big event on June 6 which marks the 70^th anniversary of the event. Many world leaders are coming to Normandy for the event and we were glad we got here now when it was still possible to visit the sites.

The cemetery area where people are normally allowed to walk among the crosses was blocked off. On the way out we saw the cemetery map and realized we saw only a small portion, the first lot.

A choir was practicing singing the national anthem and other songs for the event. We wished we had more time to listen to them but we had to head back to catch our ship.

We stopped at the restroom at the end of our visit and have seen something we have not seen since we left the US – a water fountain. Even the kids noticed and had to use them right away.