It’s going to be an extra short one today. It’s extra late right now and I’ve got a busy morning tomorrow!
Finishing the museum
Yesterday, we started going through the excellent museum of WWII and D-Day here in Caen. We finished up today, focusing extra time on the D-Day exhibit, going through German General Richter’s bunker, and watching a couple films.
Richter was in charge of German defense forces along the beaches when the landings happened. He commanded the German army from there for around 3 weeks before they were forced to retreat. Interesting enough, the memorial museum is built right on top of his bunker! So it was just a quick elevator ride down to see it.
It was fun to compare the French WWII museum to the British IWM museums. IWM is definitely more well-designed, but they’re a parliamentary-funded project, so that makes sense. However, Caen’s museum is well worth the visit, especially if you aren’t fortunate enough to go the IWM on the same trip.
Quick cathedral
We finally timed it right to see inside one of the cathedrals here. I really wanted to check out two of the others, but you can’t do everything. It was really pretty though! This one, St. Peter’s, was heavily damaged in the war. You can still see evidence of it in the brickwork that was rebuilt and the stained glass that never got repainted, just filled in. So many reminders of our terrible past in this country.
Exploring the castle
I can’t remember if I talked about the castle here yet or not and I’m too tired to look tonight. There’s a castle less than a mile from our hotel that overlooks the whole city. It’s massive! It’s got a beautiful park at the entryway and another beautiful park inside the castle walls.
I don’t know much about the castle, other than it was built nearly 1000 years ago to house William the Conqueror. If you don’t know any medieval history, good ol’ Bill Conqueror is a king that has had a direct impact on your life. He invaded England to establish Norman influence in 1066. His invasion had lasting effects, the largest of which was the addition of French words to the English language! So the reason you’ve got lots of weirdly-spelled words in your vocabulary is because the king that lived here made it that way. Pretty cool to see.
It was also neat to learn that after visiting the Tower of London, as that’s a castle William enjoyed visiting. I didn’t come on this trip to learn medieval history, but it’s here whether I like it or not (I do).
This week’s plans
I spent a couple of hours planning out the rest of my week tonight. This is the one week I left totally open for flexibility and lack of decisiveness. Although it’d be a lot of fun to just yolo it every day and go where the wind takes me, I did have several things I wanted to make sure to hit on this trip. I also wanted a little more time to explore various towns in Normandy that were major battle sites after D-Day. That means that I’m doing a self-dubbed travel sprint!
My tentative plan:
- Hopefully visit a beach/bunker tomorrow or stop by Carentan (from Band of Brothers).
- Travel to Amsterdam Wednesday and see what I can see that evening.
- Make a day trip Thursday to Arnhem, Netherlands, where a major airborne battle occurred; hang out with Katie and Hudson in the evening.
- Travel to Luxembourg or Arlon, Belgium on Friday. It’s a long trip.
- Travel to and from Bastogne, Belgium on Saturday, a major battlefield from late in WWII.
- Check out Luxembourg city and/or the Ardennes Forest on Sunday.
- Leave early early Monday to go pick up Valerie and Mom from the airport in Frankfurt!
I’m sweating just thinking about it. I think it’ll be exhausting and exciting at the same time. I’m especially excited to stay in a pod hotel in Amsterdam.
I’m sad to part ways with Grandpa and Grandma in the morning. It’s been wonderful and special to see Normandy with them. They’re headed off to Frankfurt then Paris to spend time with my cousins Liz and Isaac.
That’s it for now. Lots to come this week!