A trip Northern France is on my "To Do" List.
Being from the "Great White North",
Vimy Ridge is my ultimate destination.
Many times we forget what this generation did for us.
I try to pay my respect every Nov.11th.
But, they are slowly leaving us!
"Lest we Forget"

 

I visited several museums too. Impressive, especially that in Caen. But also the museum in Bayeux about the battles in and around Normandy following the weeks and months after the invasion was very impressive. Visited war graves in Bayeux and reading the numbers of casualties and deaths (220,000 German soldiers died, appr. the same amount of Allied soldiers) are breathtaking... Yes, I took some pictures and I will bring them here when I have downloaded them.
But between all the emotions it must be said that Normandy is a paradise for motorrides..Small roads with hedges, time stood still, farms with old walls surrounding them, ancient villages, woods, hills and always the sea in the vincinity or at the background...I enjoyed riding there....Also an important part of the beauty of Normandy..

 

Another battlefield in France well worth checking out is Verdun , probably one of the most brutal and epic battles , at least in WW 1.

 

I toured Normandy in 1988 it was sobering to say the least . Another hard hit was the Russian WWII memorial in Moscow , they don't sugar coat history like we do and it was ... , well I really can't explain it the words elude me . Seeing that war from a very different perspective than what we have here in the US was like a cold water dunking . Touring Europe and later Russia I saw the marks of that war 60 yrs later , a open field seen from a distance still pock marked by bomb craters fading but still there , an old stone country house with plaster coming off the base rock riddled with bullet holes , the worse was the old women's eyes in rural Russia you knew they had seen things we wouldn't want to imagine . Prey we never have global conflict on that scale again .

 

My wife and I were there a few years ago, I will never get over the American cemeteries, Arromanches, Caen, and Bayeux all seem to be stopped in time. I know we rag on the French a lot, but when we were there a couple of bus loads of French school children came to visit. I was impressed that they were still bringing the kids to see it.

 

That's what suprised me too. Here in Holland there is few infomation given at schools about the WWll, but in France it is still a part of the education, at home as well at the schools..And where all schoolkids are normally yelling and playfull they are silent and impressed at the sites.. I think there are some big differences between France and Holland. First of all, France suffered of TWO world wars. Nr 1 (still named 'The Great War') made a giant battlefield from the middle of France to the north, northwest (Flanders) and northeast (verdun). I visited the battlefields and the war cemetries of the WW1 at northwest France and Flanders and I was astonished that mankind didnot learn a single lesson of the massacre of hundreds of thousands of killed soldiers in WWl at the sites. On the contrary, Normandy proves it...
An other important point is, that France had an impressive resistance in WWll, named 'Maquis', who where broad supported by the French themselves. A history of resistance to be proud of...Holland lacks that nationalistic pride...Maybe these are two reasons for a presency of education in France and a lack of knowledge of the schoolkids and youngsters in general in Holland

 

I made that same journey from the British and Canadian landing zones all the way through to Omaha and Utah after running the 24 hours of LeMans in 2001. The scope of what those men on both sides did those few days was really amazing. In addition to the beaches we did the towns you've heard so much about, St. Lo, St. Marie-Eglais, Caan, and Carentan. Trully an emotional and awe-inspiring journey.

 

I'd love to go visit those places.

Hallowed ground....to say the least