Honfleur

I was so excited to take a trip to see Honfleur! This picturesque city is known for its old and beautiful port, characterized by its houses with slate-covered frontages. We enjoyed walking along this charming city hearing musicians play and seeing all these beautiful paintings by local artists. I wish we were able to stay a little longer.

lunch

Saint Catherine's Church

This church was made to look like a ship and is completely made out of wood. It is the 

largest church made out of wood in France.

Rouen & Caen

During our stay in Normandy, we decided to take a day trip to a couple places outside of the D-Day sites. Rouen is where Joan of Arc was executed in 1431.

Rouen

 Church of St. Joan of Arc

 Rue du Gros-Horloge

Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Rouen

St. Maclou's Church

I LOVED this church! I have never seen a white Cathedral before. They never knew it was white till a few years ago when they started to cleaned it, lol.

 Caen

 Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who is buried here, and for the Battle of Caen in 1944, destroying much of the city.

                                                                                     

Abbaye aux Hommes (Men's Abbey)

Normandy

When we first moved to Germany, my husband said his #1 place to visit was Normandy. I had to jump on planning way ahead of time because we wanted to go during the 70th Anniversary of D-Day. I was able to find an AMAZING B&B called Le Moulin de Taillebosq in Audrieu. Our hosts, Brigitte and Andre were so sweet and welcomed us like family. Their property is beautiful and Rand enjoyed seeing all their animals. 

Rand enjoying some fresh croissants for breakfast

Because we were in Normandy for about a week, we were able to see a lot but honestly, a week wasn't enough time to really see everything. Normandy is full of historical sites and museums and Rob (my history buff husband) really wishes we were able to stay longer. Here are some of my favorite pics from this week and a quick overview of where we went.

Our first stop was Point du Hoc. While walking out to Point du Hoc, we got to meet some of 

the Vets from D-Day and their families. 

This cliff top is between Utah and Omaha beaches.  There were six casemates that housed a battery of captured French canon.  After several bombardments by air and naval guns, the US Army Rangers climbed an 100 meter high cliff and fought to make sure that the casemates could not be used to house weapons that might threaten the landings at Utah and Omaha beaches.  It is amazing to see the bomb craters that still remain as well as the Ranger memorial.
RLTW!

 Sainte-Mère-Église
You definitely need to spend some time in Sainte-Mère-Église while visiting Normandy. Below is a picture of Sainte-Mere-Eglise Church and outside of course, there is something which catches the eye of many visitors - an effigy of the paratrooper john Steele whose parachute got caught up on one of the church pinnacles during the D-Day landings in 1944.  You also should check out the Airborne Museum while here. 

 Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

When you visit, make sure to save plenty of time for the visitor center exhibits. We were unable to go inside because of the other events going on. We wish we could of came back to visit on another day.

Omaha Beach

 at Grandcamp Maisy
Grandcamp Maisy is an adorable seaside village. It has a great fish market in the morning and also a great little Ranger Museum. Our friends rented a house in this village so we got to spend a lot of time in this area.

Bayeux

This is a darling little city with lots of beautiful buildings but be sure to check out the Bayeux Tapestry as well. 

 Pegasus Bridge
The Pegasus Bridge has a wonderful museum you need to check out.

Utah Beach

You will need to take a stop at the Utah Beach Landing museum in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. We were unable to go because it was closed.