Once we were clear of Paris proper, it stunned me how quickly all signs of city life fell away. We went from mile high skyscrapers and century old churches to lots and lots of fields. The countryside looked like Missouri, except this countryside had exotic animals like cows, horses, and we even saw a couple of camels (but I think they belonged to the circus caravan that was parked on the side road). During this bus ride, we alternated between listening to the Madame Gabriella (our tour guide) and amusing ourselves. This mostly consisted of listening to music, talking, and sleeping; sleeping was the most popular choice. We stopped at a rest stop for lunch because there was a convenience store and a bakery and free bathroom. However, the girls free bathrooms were being repainted, so everyone got a personal tour of the boys bathroom, which looked exactly like the girls bathroom, except blue. It was definitely a new experience none of us will ever forget.
We ate lunch on the bus as we traveled to Caen (pronounced Cam or something like that) to see the D-Day Museum. Right before D-Day, Caen was heavily bombed by the Allied Powers in order to distract the Nazis from the fact that the Allied Powers were marching through the front door on Omaha Beach (and 4 other beaches, but we focused on Omaha). About 90% of the city was destroyed, but at least the world was saved. And the people were given a heads up beforehand by the French Resistance, so most people survived. Here's the website of the museum we visited if you want more information about Caen: http://normandy.memorial-caen.com/
The museum itself was breath-taking. There were pictures I had never seen before, detailed explanations of the rise of the Third Reich and the Final Solution, speeches and quotations from important people, and artifacts everywhere. It was stunning and hard to process.
I kept wondering how this actually happened. But then I stumbled across a quotation from Hitler. It said something along the lines of how if the bankers were all Jewish, they must be responsible for the economy crash, and so the way to fix the economy was to get rid of the Jews. The quotation was horribly inaccurate, but there was a simple logic to it. I understood why the German people had been so willing to follow Hitler: he promised a fast solution to a exponentially infinite amount of pain and humiliation. He was never right, but I can now understand how this all came to be.
We also walked through a D-Day exhibit. Inside there was tactical graphs, preparation information, and one of the dummy parachutes (who were all affectionately named Rupert). It was exciting to be able to read all of this new information, which was then coupled with a video displaying both the Nazi and the Allied views of the D-Day invasion. Learning all of this information really helped prepare me for Omaha Beach.
When we arrived at Omaha Beach, the monuments rose out of the beach almost organically, like they had always been there and had witnessed D-Day itself. Because it was low tide, we all walked all the way out, enjoying the cool ocean breeze and dodging puddles as we went. The ocean went on until it became the sky, and as we were standing there, the serenity felt like a calm after a storm. The waves gently lapped up closer and closer to us as we realized the sheer magnitude of the beach. It seemed miraculous that the Allied Powers had been successful at all.
After we were all covered with sand, we hopped back on the bus to head to the Normandy American Cemetery (https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/normandy-american-cemetery). In the 1950's, France gave America a plot of land to bury the fallen during World War 2 that overlooks Omaha Beach. There's a beautiful monument there, giving homage to the courage, integrity, and sacrifice of the fallen. We only walked through one section of the cemetery, which was already too big. All of the burial sections are placed to create one giant cross, made up of thousands of little ones. The tombstones that stunned me most were the ones marked as unknown. These were soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice to save the world, but they will forever be anonymous heroes. We will never be able to do them the service of thanking them by name.
We explored the small museum at the cemetery for about half an hour. It was filled with specific D-Day information and artifacts, including more Rupert dolls. I had never realized the volume of planning that was necessary to pull this invasion off until I physically walked through the museum.
After an emotionally exhausting day, we headed back to the hotel for salad, pasta, and pie. The staff were all polite and managed all 80 of us quite well. It was a lovely dinner, during which we continued bonding with each other. Not that we had a choice; the chaperones were patrolling for open phones.
Today has left me with a lot to think about. We focused a lot on death, sacrifice, and war. But I think the lessons I have drawn from today concern memory, independent thinking, and peace. We don't always have to agree (Life would get kind of boring if we did), but we do need to respect each other as fellow human beings. It doesn't matter if you live in a government office, wander outside the city walls, or just believe something different from other people (religion, politics, favorite type of dessert, etc.). We are all people, and we all deserve to have the same opportunity to success, happiness, and life. No amount of logic can say otherwise.
