Mastermis
Well-known member
I just got back from 2-weeks in France. Had some business meetings in Paris and then my wife & I went for a road trip to the Atlantic coast. My family was deeply involved/affected by WWII so Normandy has been on my list of places to visit for a long time. Hope you enjoy the pics.
We started down near La Rochelle and made our way up the coast. (also visited some Chateau & Mont St-Michel but thats not in this thread) The first WWII thing we saw was in St. Nazaire. Its a massive U-Boat pen. This place was HUGE! It's 300 meters long and has 30ft thick roof for bombs. Apparently it would cost so much to destroy/remove it that the city is just leaving it there. The words "massive", "austere" and "grim" come to mind of this place.
The length of it
30ft thick roof. This place was so fortified, that when the allies bombed St Nazaire, it was not even on their priority target list.
Where the U-Boats were
Likely the same spot during the war
If you want more info about this U-Boat pen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Nazaire_submarine_base
Next up the coast is a stop in Saint-Mere-Eglise. Here is the church where paratrooper John Steele got stuck
More info about the incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Mère-Église
Our first "D-day" visit is to Omaha beach (US landing on D-Day)
Omaha beach memorial
USA cemetery
USA visitor center. Very nicely done. Well worth the visit.
The brothers that inspired the "Saving Private Ryan" movie
German bunker at Omaha beach
The next day we went to Juno beach (Canadian landing on D-Day)
Juno Beach
German observation bunker at Juno beach
The Canadian visitor center. Also very nicely done (only 10 years old) If you take your time, you could easily spend 5h at this place. We had no idea this place had so much to see and had to speed up at the end (we had to leave Normandy immediately after)
I am really pleased to have finally been to the D-Day beaches and seen the other sites. You can literally "feel" the history and definitely know that something important happened there. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in WWII and to honor the veterans.
On a side note, when we flew to Paris via JFK, there was a group of WWII vets that were going to Normandy for the 69th anniversary. American Airlines were part of a group who paid to send the vets over. At the gate before the flight there was a whole ceremony with some speeches and singing. The vets were noticeably moved.
There was a whole "flag ceremony" with each branch of the military plus FDNY, etc.
The vets are to the right ; could not get a good shot of them. Most were in wheel chairs as they would all be in their late 80's.
Finally ... this being a car forum, here was our ride for this road trip. I had booked an "BMW X1 or equivalent" and ended up with this. Considering we did 2,300km I am actually glad we got this Peugeot 508. It was a super comfortable ride and cost next to nothing for diesel. Its a 2.0l TDI
We started down near La Rochelle and made our way up the coast. (also visited some Chateau & Mont St-Michel but thats not in this thread) The first WWII thing we saw was in St. Nazaire. Its a massive U-Boat pen. This place was HUGE! It's 300 meters long and has 30ft thick roof for bombs. Apparently it would cost so much to destroy/remove it that the city is just leaving it there. The words "massive", "austere" and "grim" come to mind of this place.
The length of it
30ft thick roof. This place was so fortified, that when the allies bombed St Nazaire, it was not even on their priority target list.
Where the U-Boats were
Likely the same spot during the war
If you want more info about this U-Boat pen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Nazaire_submarine_base
Next up the coast is a stop in Saint-Mere-Eglise. Here is the church where paratrooper John Steele got stuck
More info about the incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Mère-Église
Our first "D-day" visit is to Omaha beach (US landing on D-Day)
Omaha beach memorial
USA cemetery
USA visitor center. Very nicely done. Well worth the visit.
The brothers that inspired the "Saving Private Ryan" movie
German bunker at Omaha beach
The next day we went to Juno beach (Canadian landing on D-Day)
Juno Beach
German observation bunker at Juno beach
The Canadian visitor center. Also very nicely done (only 10 years old) If you take your time, you could easily spend 5h at this place. We had no idea this place had so much to see and had to speed up at the end (we had to leave Normandy immediately after)
I am really pleased to have finally been to the D-Day beaches and seen the other sites. You can literally "feel" the history and definitely know that something important happened there. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in WWII and to honor the veterans.
On a side note, when we flew to Paris via JFK, there was a group of WWII vets that were going to Normandy for the 69th anniversary. American Airlines were part of a group who paid to send the vets over. At the gate before the flight there was a whole ceremony with some speeches and singing. The vets were noticeably moved.
There was a whole "flag ceremony" with each branch of the military plus FDNY, etc.
The vets are to the right ; could not get a good shot of them. Most were in wheel chairs as they would all be in their late 80's.
Finally ... this being a car forum, here was our ride for this road trip. I had booked an "BMW X1 or equivalent" and ended up with this. Considering we did 2,300km I am actually glad we got this Peugeot 508. It was a super comfortable ride and cost next to nothing for diesel. Its a 2.0l TDI
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