The epitaph above is from the grave of an English paratrooper who died on D-Day and is buried in Ranville, in Normandy. It says “ had you known our boy, you would have loved him too.. Glen, his paratroop dog, was killed with him”. He was 19 years old. It brought tears to my eyes.
More about D-day later.
Today was all about both the beautiful peaceful landscape of Normandy, and its stories of war. It was a long day for us too… as we started from Rouen toward Bayeux at 7:45am. We had two choices of tours today. One would have taken us to the American cemetery and to Omaha beach, stopping in Caen on the way. But we choose the second one, mostly because it would take us to Bayeux and its famous tapestry, and to the Canadian and British sides of the story of d-day. The second reason we choose this tour is that it was by far the smallest group, which was very nice).
Our first stop was in the little city of Bayeux (population 15,000) which, unlike most of Normandy was not destroyed at all during the war. Its cathedral and all of its stained glass remained untouched. 
It’s a mix of romanesque and gothic, with excellent gargoyles and flying buttresses. 
One interesting piece of stained glass was a “thank you” to the allied forces, and unique in displaying the American flag (top right corner).
The main attraction in Bayeux is its famous tapestry, displaying in 58 very detailed embroidered scenes, covering a length of 230 feet, the events leading to William the Conqueror's conquest of England in 1066. It is recognized by UNESCO and is truly spectacular! The details are amazing (note for instance that you can tell the gender of the horses by the anatomically correct detailing).
Some show the humor of the designer, as in these warriors having to take off their pants to board the boats (in order to not get them wet).
Some are poignant - as in this woman and child having to escape their house as the warriors set it on fire.
Below the main scenes are “commentaries” - as in this one, showing the dead in the battle. It would take several times around to to really absorb it all. It is just glorious!
I could not help myself and bought an embroidery kit of this tree! Looking forward to starting it once we get back.
As I said - there are 58 scenes - google them - they are amazing! (Better yet, plan a trip to Bayeux!).
We walked from the museum to the lovely medieval center of town 
and had a nice lunch before continuing our journey to our next stop, and our next war, almost 1000 years later (Oh,when will then ever learn, oh, when will they ever learn……). 
We went to Juno Beach, site of the Canadian part of D-day. I thought I knew a lot of D-day - and perhaps I did at some point and forgot…. But I don’t think I ever realized how complex an operation it was, how much planning, courage, and maybe a bit of luck it took!
Today - on the absolutely stunning beach, on a perfectly calm day, it is almost impossible to grasp what happened on a stormy day on June 6th 1944. I chose to walk on the beach rather than go to the museum, but you can still see some of the bunkers,
and get the view that the German had on the day (minus the sunshine…..).
I really loved that walk- what a beautiful place it is and -today- so amazingly peaceful. People were swimming….. it was tempting…..
It is also where Charles De Gaulle landed on June 14th, 1944, after 4 years in exile. Thus the Croix de Lorraine.
Our next stop, in the little town of Benouville, took us to the Pegasus Memorial - a critical part of D-day I knew nothing about (although if you have watched “The Longest Day” it is featured prominently in it).
The Pegasus bridge is the site of the first house liberated in France, just after midnight on D-day, by the 6th British airborne division: in order for the invasion to succeed, it was critical to secure the 2 bridges that lead inland- the English sent 3 gliders, with 30 men in each- to land next to the bridge and take it by surprise. This is a remarkable feat: landed at night, on a field, with planes made up of plywood. (The reason for gliders being the importance of surprise). The fact that it worked blows my mind. At the same time, the British send 11,000 paratroopers to destroy the other bridges and take over Rommel’s artillery lines from behind. There is no doubt that D-day would not have succeeded without this. And for some reason, I knew nothing about it. For once, I really was fascinated by a museum…..
Our day ended with a visit to the Commonwealth cemetery in Ranville - the first town liberated in France (it is often said that the first town was Sainte Mere Église- which was indeed important. But that was the first town liberated by the American troops, a few hours after Ranville).
The cemetery design is different from the American one in that not only the name, division and day of death are written. But also the age and sometime an epitaph (as shown above). Also, there are soldiers from France, Canada, and even one from New Zealand buried there.
And - surprisingly to me- in a corner of the cemetery are 300 German graves - these are striking for the age of the soldiers: this one was 17…….
We have one English couple with us, so they got to put some flowers on the monument.
It took 6 weeks for the allied troops to make it from the coast to Caen, only about 15 miles away, and until August 30th to make it to Rouen.
The battle of Normandy was awful in part because Normandy is so pretty, with all its lovely hedges separating fields where the cows roam.
The hedges made for very good hiding place for German soldiers. Normandy was bombed a lot! And yet - it is now so pretty and peaceful…
….oh how I hope that “they will ever learn”….
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