Normandy in July...A Good Place to Be

Last week we took our Texas visitors to Normandy for two days. The weather was perfect. Even though this was my second trip to the American beaches of D-Day...I learned a lot more about that very important day.

We stayed at the same hotel in Saint Aubin sur Mer, Le Clos Normand.

It's right on the beach wall with a great outdoor area for their excellent restaurant. We were very lucky to have front row seats for fireworks on the beach our first night there. When we asked the occasion for them it really wasn't clear...maybe nations' day...but I didn't find anything through a google search.

Our rooms were small...but clean with private bathrooms.

Our first day was spent visiting the museum and American cemetery at Omaha Beach. With the nice weather we took more time on this visit to walk through the grave sites. It really is an amazing experience to read the names of those buried there. The nice weather made this lovely infinity pool at the entrance to the monument look perfectly placed...it leads right to the ocean.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped for an adult beverage and had our first Normandy Bernese Mountain Dog encounter...she had just gotten to romp in the ocean and was headed home.

The next day we explored a man-made harbor for D-Day at Arromanches. You can see the remains of it on the beach. It was only meant to be temporary so it was amazing to see parts of it.

Here are some off the hollow concrete sections that were sunk on location to help create an artificial sea wall.

Rather than try and explain how or why the harbor was made, take a look at this quick video.

I have a much greater appreciation for the Allied invasion of France now that I have lived here for almost a year.

On our way to Utah Beach another Bernese was spotted...my husband did a quick u-turn and pulled up to this shop.

He found Forrest.

If you have read my blog for the past three years...you've heard about our Berner, Forrest, who went missing. This lovely boy is three years old...looks like Forrest got reincarnated in France. His owner is big fan of Forrest Gump, too! I showed her photos of our Jenny and Forrest on my iPhone. We just love our Berner encounters.

Then it was back to hot Paris. Oh...and by the way...the air conditioner on our car didn't work during our trip. And why was the sun always hitting my seat of the car with our black leather interior? It's hard to talk when the windows are down...too noisy!