Omaha Beach and Bayeux

Wednesday started with sunshine but was our coldest day yet, only 6C this morning. It’s not the cool temperatures, it’s the wind. Omaha Beach was our first stop of the day. There isn’t too much of a museum there but walking along the beach was a cool thing to do and checking out from a distance the cliff-faces was interesting. Omaha Beach is a beautiful sandy beach. Small rocks and sea shells and remnants of shells are scattered about. It was a good beach to walk on (even though we had our hiking boots on) but we suspect it would be a lovely beach to spend time on in the summer and especially for children. 

Far in the distance is La Pointe du Hoc

La Pointe Du Hoc is a fascinating part of the Omaha Beach story and it was here where the Allies attempted to climb up the 30m high cliff-face to surprise the Germans. There are several bunkers still on display here and you could see where the gun casements were and the firing command post. There’s a small museum here as well which showed an educational film telling the history. Vast craters in the topography were actually places where the bombs had gone off during the war. Those craters are now filled with growing grasses and sand that has blown in off of the beach.

Pour ma petite enfants.
Can you see the man fishing  in the background? 

Just down from us on the beach we saw a team of three horses pulling people in carts. Grandpa said it looked like the carts and horses were trying to race each other on the site. It would have made for a pretty picture. I was sure I took some but they’re not showing up on my camera, go figure??

Our tour of Omaha Beach went faster than expected so we made our way to Bayeux to visit the famous Bayeux Tapestry. We were in luck because it wasn’t very busy. Photographs of the tapestry are not allowed. The Tapestry Museum has audio guides to accompany your viewing of the tapestry which I have to say from an organizer’s viewpoint, work really well at moving the crowd along. It’s remarkable how long the tapestry is and to imagine that the piece was created in the time of William the Conqueror, back in 1066. The story it depicts of the battle scenes is sharply contrasted by subtleties in the design which showed off elements of humour including smiles on the faces of some of the horses. 

We concluded our little tour of Bayeux with a visit to the cathedral. It is such a beautiful structure with incredible stained glass windows. We were able to go inside as well. It is a Roman Catholic Church and it is believed that it was the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry which nowadays is on display in a nearby building. Of course Catholicism is the primary religion in France. It has been interesting to see large wooden crosses erected at the entrance to many beaches (not just military battlefield beaches) and many of them bear the full figure of Jesus. I haven’t learned the significance.