Our day and a bit in France
After we explored Dover castle and the white cliffs, we made our way back to Folkstone and the channel tunnel to cross into France. We started this day behind. I had hoped to explore the White Cliffs or the castle the day before, but with flight delays and how tired we were, we did not get out to do anything that evening. We also spent a lot more time at the castle than I had planned because we toured the underground tunnels--so worth it. We made it to the channel crossing at about 4 pm, which meant we would arrive at our hotel at 9 or 10 pm. I was still suffering from jet lad, it was only the second day, so as soon as we drove the car onto the train taking us under the channel to France, I fell asleep and slept the hour or so that it took to cross the channel.
Originally our plan was to drive east to Dunkirk and then head west to Normandy, but because we left so late, we decided to see Dunkirk on our way home the next day and head straight to our motel. This turned out to be the right choice, because our GPS worked great until we came to a highway that was closed for construction and our navigator did not find a way around it, but kept guiding us to the same exit to take this road. At one point it told us to make a U-turn. We did what we were told and got some angry honks and fist shakes from French drivers as we made a 3 or 4 point turn. That was the most difficult and frustrating part of the drive in France. We ended up looking at our GPS map and finding a road that would lead us in the right direction. It was much slower as we drove through many French villages. We arrived at our hotel around 11:30, maybe midnight. That is a funny story as well.
I booked our hotels a month earlier and put in Jon's email so he would have all the information. By accident he had deleted a group of emails a few weeks earlier, many of which were our hotel confirmations. I could not remember the name of our hotel, but I knew it was a golf resort near Omaha Beach. Once we started down the back roads of France, we again used the GPS and typed in golf resort Omaha Beach. It pulled up a resort that looked right, so we headed that way. When we are nearly to our destination, we are driving on dark roads surrounded by trees and fields. We can see no lights that would make us think we were headed to a hotel or resort. I began to fear our GPS was leading us to the middle of the golf course. Faithfully, we followed the instructions, and fortunately, we made it to the Hotel Mercure where we had a reservation waiting. (Even as we parked and were ready to check in, I was still unsure we were in the right place.) Note to self, record the names and addresses of hotels when traveling. This was not the only time this happened. That story is for our days in London.
We went to bed, then woke up early to begin exploring Omaha beach, museums, and Utah beach before heading to Dunkirk and back to Folkstone for the night. The French seem to enjoy sleeping in, none of the museums opened until 10:00 am. So we visited Omaha Beach first. The highlight of this day was the American Cemetery. We walked through a museum that gave a lot of information about D-Day and then we walk out to the grounds of the cemetery. We aren't seeing any white crosses and we are wondering where the cemetery will be. Then, we round a corner and there are white crosses as far as one can see. It was so overwhelming Jon and I both just stood and cried. It puts into perspective what 10,000 lives lost really means. After we explored Normandy beaches, we headed to Dunkirk before leaving France.
Dunkirk was a little disappointing. There were no signs to guide you to the beach where the rescue happened. There was a monument near one of the beaches and there was a museum that had closed by the time we got there. But there wasn't a lot to see in Dunkirk. We were especially glad we had taken a tour of the tunnels beneath Dover castle because we learned much more about operation Dynamo in Dover than we did in Dunkirk.
Originally our plan was to drive east to Dunkirk and then head west to Normandy, but because we left so late, we decided to see Dunkirk on our way home the next day and head straight to our motel. This turned out to be the right choice, because our GPS worked great until we came to a highway that was closed for construction and our navigator did not find a way around it, but kept guiding us to the same exit to take this road. At one point it told us to make a U-turn. We did what we were told and got some angry honks and fist shakes from French drivers as we made a 3 or 4 point turn. That was the most difficult and frustrating part of the drive in France. We ended up looking at our GPS map and finding a road that would lead us in the right direction. It was much slower as we drove through many French villages. We arrived at our hotel around 11:30, maybe midnight. That is a funny story as well.
I booked our hotels a month earlier and put in Jon's email so he would have all the information. By accident he had deleted a group of emails a few weeks earlier, many of which were our hotel confirmations. I could not remember the name of our hotel, but I knew it was a golf resort near Omaha Beach. Once we started down the back roads of France, we again used the GPS and typed in golf resort Omaha Beach. It pulled up a resort that looked right, so we headed that way. When we are nearly to our destination, we are driving on dark roads surrounded by trees and fields. We can see no lights that would make us think we were headed to a hotel or resort. I began to fear our GPS was leading us to the middle of the golf course. Faithfully, we followed the instructions, and fortunately, we made it to the Hotel Mercure where we had a reservation waiting. (Even as we parked and were ready to check in, I was still unsure we were in the right place.) Note to self, record the names and addresses of hotels when traveling. This was not the only time this happened. That story is for our days in London.
We went to bed, then woke up early to begin exploring Omaha beach, museums, and Utah beach before heading to Dunkirk and back to Folkstone for the night. The French seem to enjoy sleeping in, none of the museums opened until 10:00 am. So we visited Omaha Beach first. The highlight of this day was the American Cemetery. We walked through a museum that gave a lot of information about D-Day and then we walk out to the grounds of the cemetery. We aren't seeing any white crosses and we are wondering where the cemetery will be. Then, we round a corner and there are white crosses as far as one can see. It was so overwhelming Jon and I both just stood and cried. It puts into perspective what 10,000 lives lost really means. After we explored Normandy beaches, we headed to Dunkirk before leaving France.
Dunkirk was a little disappointing. There were no signs to guide you to the beach where the rescue happened. There was a monument near one of the beaches and there was a museum that had closed by the time we got there. But there wasn't a lot to see in Dunkirk. We were especially glad we had taken a tour of the tunnels beneath Dover castle because we learned much more about operation Dynamo in Dover than we did in Dunkirk.
 |
| We are looking out a window in the back of the museum. They left some of the barriers used by Hitler to protect the beaches. |
 |
| The videos don't play, but it doesn't matter. I was trying but unable to capture the charming French villages we drove through. |
Comments
Post a Comment