Walking Rome

Today was our day to just walk around central Rome.  Nothing fancy to see...just walking.  Of course, you can't walk anywhere here without seeing ancient Roman buildings more than 2000 years old, or incredible Renaissance works of art, literally on on the corner, or churches filled with Baroque wonders and artifacts from the ancient Christian world.  Yep...just a walk.

Our hotel is right off XX September Avenue, so named because this is the street that the victors over the papal armies road after the final battle for Italian unification.  Just a block away from our hotel is a intersection where large bas relief sculptures are on all four corners. Each scuplture is a foutain representing key Italian rivers and goddesses.  This is just how it is in Rome....there are statues and fountains everywhere!  Here's one of the four:

Walking on we are in the Presidential Complex...lots of highly armed and serious looking men around here.  Some of them are the Corazzieri, the elite presidential guards.  This elite unit's regimental headquarters is directly outside our hotel's windows.  We've seen them come and go on their horses and we've seen them inside the entrances to the key governmental buildings.  These guys are kick ass...minimum height is 6' 2.8" and they are highly trained.  You can't miss them on duty as they are dressed in old-style uniforms with plummage and all.  I've been repeatedly warned not to joke with them....and not all of the warnings have come from Monte, Aleta and Mona.  Zoom in on the pic below and you'll see two of teh Corazzieri.

Our first major stop of the day was Trevi Fountain.  Yes, of course, we threw coins in the fountain...why would you not?!?!?

There are a lot of cool street performers in Rome.  We hope this was one of them:

Next major stop was the Pantheon.....the engineering here is beyond compare!  (I don't know why the font just changed, but we will all just have to deal with it.)  This structure is about 2000 years old and is still in great shape.  I won't bore you with all the incredible details of this awesome awesome building but suffice it to say that no other dome like it was built for over 1000 years....not until the Duomo in Florence which used this dome for a model.  The dome itself is made of concrete with a base 20 feet thick...narrowing as it goes up.  The only light is from a 30 foot circle at the top...the ocular eye...and it's wide open to the elements.  The floor is concave to drain away the water.

I could tell you lots and lots about the Pantheon, but I'm restraining myself.  How about one more picture then I'll move one.

Our next stop was Piazza Navone.  This was our favorite place from our first visit and we were so glad to be back.  This used to be a chariot racetrack but it's now filled with beautiful fountains, artists, restaurants and tourists.  It's simply delightful!

Love love love this place. We'll be back!

How the hell do they do this?!?!!??

I digress.  We then walked across a bridge over the Tiber and walked on the other side for a ways.

Then back across to end up at our final destination of our walk...The Spanish Steps.  Here we relaxed with a few thousand of our closest friends.  Somehow, I half expected to see Trae and Tiffany walk up and say, "hi!"

Our walk ended with a ride home on the Metro where we encountered a team of pickpockets.  Suffice it to say that we kept all of our valuables and they ran off as fast as they could.

Now, we're ready for dinner and another evening of swapping stories...some of them true.

The Colosseum and the Roman Forum

Today was to be yet another big day...the Colosseum!  We caught the B line Metro and got off at the Colosseo stop.  Did you know that Rome has only two Metro lines?  That's not many for a city of 2.6 million.  It's not that they don't want more lines, it's just so hard to build them here.  The problem is that literally all of Rome is a vast archeological site.  Anywhere you dig you run into artifacts and the digging must stop so that everything can be examined and cataloged.  Very much like Athens.

Immediately as you exit you see it...THE Colosseum!  It's huge and amazing!

Last time Mona and I visited we didn't have enough time to go inside...we had plenty of time no for an inside visit...so we joined the throngs of people in the Vomitorium to queue up for tickets.  Yep...it really is named the Vomitorium.  So named because the Colosseum is designed to spew out its 50,000 spectators in as little as fifteen minutes!  (Right, Linda L?)

Just standing in this line is a thrill as you get an up close look at the incredible engineering of this massive structure.  Massive arch after arch...holding up millions of pounds of concrete, bricks, and granite.  It's mind boggling!  And did you know the Colosseum was built by slaves?  About 70 AD a pesky kingdom would not yeild to the Romans' simple demand of all conquered lands: "Add our emperor god to your list of gods."  Simple, right?  Not for the Kingdom of Judea, so the Romans tore down their temple and enslaved the Jews and brought them to Rome.  The slaves' first task was to build the Colosseum.  Thus began the Jewish Diaspora.

Once we got our tickets we could finally go inside inside!  Incredible!  Reminded us so much of Busch Stadium that we could imagine the vendors, "Bud, Bud Light, Bud Select, waaaterrr!"

We walked around on three different levels...amazed....simply amazed.  This all used to be covered in white marble.  And there used to be canopies on top, manned by sailors to keep the spectators cool.

The picture above shows the basement where all the gladiators, beasts and victims waited their turn to be in the big show.  You can also see the recreated floor showing where the action would have taken place.  There were elevators (seriously) bringing the animals and participants up to the main floor from the basement.  Beasts here included lions, bears, tigers, hippos, elephants, alligators and anything else the Romans thought might be fun to play with.

I lost track of how much time we spent inside, but finally it was time to crawl away and find some lunch.  After some antipasit and wine we were ready to go again....now to The Roman Forum!

The Forum was the centerpoint of Roman political, social and religious life.  It was all there....temples, tributes, the Senate, palaces...along with souvenier sellers, pickpockets and hookers.  You could get it all at Forum!

Then, the Forum was all white and beautiful with statues everywhere.  Today, it can seem to be piles of stones and rocks...but with a little imagination it all comes back to life.  It's indeed amazing to think that you're walking where Julius Ceasar walked...along with Mark Anthony, Cleopatra, Caligula and a host of others that we've only read about.

Some buildings have only a column or two left behind to mark their spot in history.  Others stand fully intact save for the marble that has been stripped away.  

It's hard to believe all this was built thousands of years ago...while America was still in the stone age.

All too soon it was time to take our weary feet and leave the Forum.  Up the hill we trudged...headed for the Metro stop.  But wait, there was one more little mystery for us to see.  On the sidewalk were huge garbage bags with people in them.  What the heck???  After a bit of writhing about the garbage bag was lowered and this was what you saw:

This guy is easily two feet off the ground.  Two feet!  One hand is on top of the post, one hand is outstreched.  There is nothing below him but sidewalk two feet down.

That was enough for us!  Headed back to our hotel for some wine and opera!!!

Florence

We caught another fast train out of the Termini station and headed for a day trip to Firenze...or as we say in English, Florence.  We soon moved out of the rainy Rome region and back into sunny Tuscany where we saw olive groves, vineyards and beautiful green hills.  At 150 mph it was only 90 minutes before were we in Florence. 

We started with a visit to the Basilica Santa Maria Novella which is right across the street from the train station.  This gothic church was took over 100 years to build and it's probably most famous for being the church where they first began to attack Galileo.  The picture below is of the altar in this church.

Now we walked through the crowded streets and made our way to the Piazza San Giovanni which is connected to the Piazza del Duomo. There's a lot to see here!  First thing you see is Giotto's Bell Tower which was completed in 1359.  It towers (pun intended) over the nearby Baptistry of Florence and the Duomo...Santa Maria del Fiore.  The Baptistry has the Doors of Paradise, as called by Michelangelo, which were said to have begun the Italian Renaissance.  

Santa Maria is capped by Brunelleschi's dome.  No domes had been built for a thousand years becuse the art/engineering of such domes had been lost with the fall of the Roman empire.  However the builders of this church wanted a dome and built the church without completing the roof...waiting for someone to figure out how to built a dome. It took many years for someone to figure it out, but finally Brunelleschi did...using the Roman dome in the Pantheon as his model.  This dome was the inspiration for many subsequent domes including Michelangelo's design of the Vatican dome.  The picture below shows the Bell Tower with the dome to the right of it.

After marveling at these sights we wandered down Via dei Calzauiuoli which is lined with upscale shops along with gelato shops serving up some of the most delightful treats in the world.  

Soon we came to another famous piazza...Piazza della Signoria.  Here is where is you'll find many of the famous large sculptures of Florence all outside.  Most famous of all is Michelangelo's David just outside the door of Plazzo Vecchio.  (Actually, the original David is in a nearby museum...moved there after his arm was broken off when someone threw a piece of furniture out the palace window.)

Also here are a few people...come from all over the world to see these statues in this square.  It almost looks like a mob scene from up on the platform: 

The equestrian statue is of Cosimo I de'Medici and the tall statue is Neptune, crowning the Fountain of Neptune.  It has the face of Cosimo and it's said that Michelangelo thought it was a waste of money  It's near this fountain that Savonarola led the burning of books and art, hoping to to bring a return to Medieval values....and also where Savonarola was hanged and burned in 1498.

We then walked through the Avenue of Heros that cuts through the middle of the Galleria degil Uffizi.  Here are statues of many of the greats of Florence....Machevelli, Galileo, da Vinci, Michelangelo, and even Amerigo Vespucci.

Afterwards, we stood high above the banks of the Arno gazing at the Ponte Vecchoio which has been home to goldsmiths and silversmiths since the 1500s.  Did you know the Arno had a massive flood in 1966 which resulted in over six feet of mud and water in many of these famous sites?

Our last stop of the day was Basilica Santa Croce. Here are interred many of Florence's notables including Galileo, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli.  It's amazing just how many people are interred here.  The pictures below are of the altar and Galileo's tomb.

We saw so much here in Florence...but there is so so much more to see.  You could spends a week here and only scratch the surface. Maybe we'll get to come back someday!

Italy

We started our journey to Rome by catching a local train from Monaco to Ventimiglia.  The train was packed with students on their way to the university in Menton so it was a pretty noisy and boisterous ride.  At Ventimiglia we had to change from a French train an Italian train.  This train then took us along the Mediterranean first to Genoa and then north to Milan.  All the way through to Genoa we had lots of seacoast views with the mountains meeting the seas.  Then we traveled through the mountains and saw lots of villages with colorful homes scattered along the mountains.  Finally, we got up on the plains leading to Milan and seeming every town had a Renaissance tower peeking above the rooftops.

We had a travelers' lunch in Milan and then caught our final train of the day..to Rome.   This was a red Trenitalia high speed train that took us through the heart of Tuscany and finally into Rome Termini Station.  A short, but Six-Flags-wild, taxi ride and there it was; Hotel Oceania, our home for the next eight days. From the outset, we were pretty sure this would be a different experience from our normal Marriotts.  First, there was the tiny elevator...room for two with luggage:

                       

Then there was the courtyard:

                                        

This is the view we have when sitting out to drink our wine on the hotel terrace. Actually, it is very cool as we got to hear someone practicing singing the scales.  Very Roman!!!!  We love this place!

Our primary objective for our first full day was the Vatican City.  We caught the Metro to a stop about ten minutes away from our destintation.  About five minutes into the walk we were caught in a torrential downpour.  Luckily, we had umbrellas and ponches so we weathered the rain quite well....and the ladies got to watch a Swiss Guard do his guarding in the rain.  

Our first stop after the rain was the Vatican Museum...luckily, we have purchased tickets online otherwise we would have had to stand in a mile long line. The pic above shows a small section of the line alongside the wall of the Vatican City.  

The museum was incredible..beyond description and at the same time very tiring on our poor feet and backs.  Will post an ablum with the pictures...but unfortunately, they didn't allow pictures of the Sistene Chappel so you'll have to read about it. Trust me, no pictures can compare with the reality.  The picture below is not the Sistene Chappel, but just one of the beautiful ceilings in the museum.

Next was St. Peter's.  OMG...no words can describe this place.  First up is Michangelo's Pieta...it brings tears to your eyes.  Then spectacle after spectacle....art and architecture beyond compare.  We happened to some people slipping down alongside a statue of St. Peter.  We decided to follow them and found ourselves in the crypt below the main floor.  There we got to see St. Peter's tomb along with the internments of many many of the popes...so lucky we got to go down there.  (Will post the St. Peter's pictures on an album as well.)  The picture below is of the main dome of St. Peter's.

Of course we had to find a cache in this country, the second smallest in the world (after Monaco).  This turned out to be more difficult than expected...but after much climging and sweating (not just me) we managed to find the cache.  Whew!  Glad that one is done...now, we just have to find one in Italy.

We're having fun in the cafes and restaurants here...except when my "roast pork" turned out to be pig knuckles.  At least the wine was good!

Rome is turning out to be an experience unlike any other...but of course, what else would you expect from the Eternal City?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Monaco

We made our way to Monaco via a TGV high speed train from Gare de Lyon in Paris.  High speed trains are wonderful, but for one minor detail.  Don't try to look at the scenery up close...it's all a blur as  it flashes past.  Just look out into the distance and you're fine!  Another word to the wise, don't jump out of your seat when another train flashes past you in the other direction.  You hear almost a sonic boom as the two trains fly past each other.  (This reminds me of a storybook math question from the 8th grade:   You're on a train traveling to Marseilles at 230 miles per hour.  You cross paths with another train going the opposite direction, also at 230 miles per hour.  How many feet high do you jump?)

Our journey took about 6 hours across France taking us along the western edge of the French Alps and to Provence and the Cote d'Azur.  We got to see snow capped mountains, castles, chateus and many many vineyards.  Finally, we reached Marseille and got our first glimpse of the Mediterranean.  Beautiful!  Now our train slowed down...winding its way between the mountains and the coast...stopping at cities we've only read about:  Toulon, Cannes, Antibes...until we finally arrived in Nice where we switched trains for the last leg of our journey.  That final train made a stop at Villefranche Sur Mer...one of Carl and Heather's favorite spots.

You know you're in Monaco as soon as you get out at the train...that's because most train stations are concrete and tile...not Monaco, it's all marble and polished granite.  Took us a few bumps to get a taxi, but finally got one and were on our way.

Soon we are at our new home for a few days, the Marriott Cap d'Ail. The hotel is steps away from the Mediterranean and is actually in France.  As you leave the hotel you turn left and you're in Monaco and if you turn right you're in France....on the French Riveria, oo la la!

Lots to see here...the sea, the yachts, the city perched between the sea and the mountains, the architecture and of course the Art!  Seemingly everywhere you look you see beauty.  But of course, we first had to find a geocache!  Found one by the helioport and quickly got that piece of business out of the way.  (Note: many of our pictures are greyish...that's because it's been overcast and rainy since we've been here.  It's also been about 74 degrees so it's been quite nice for sightseeing.)

Our first objective of the day was Princess Grace's Rose Garden.  It's only a couple of blocks from our hotel so off we went.  Anticipation was high, as this is one of Mona's favorite spots.  However, the anticipation was quickly smote (Should that be smitten, smoted or simply smushed?) as the gardens have been dug up for rennovation.  ARGH!

We hopped the shuttle to the old city which is perched high on a plateau overlooking the sea.  This location used to keep the Monegasque safe; until pirates and the occaisional conqueror figured out how to breach their walls.  But still...this is where it all began and the palace,  the cathedral and a warren of shops and cafes is still here.  Streets are incredebly narrow, but cars, trucks, cycles and pedestrians share them with little incident.

We did some shopping, some "cafe-ing" and some touring...actually it's hard to separate the three.  We saw the changing of the guard at the palace and checked out the awesome views of the sea and surroundings.  We also visited St. Nicolas' Cathedral where Prince Rainier III  and Princess Grace are interred.

There are tunnels everywhere in Monaco.  As you would expect, most are for automobiles, but there are many other uses.  For instance, the train station is largely a huge tunnel carved into the mountainside.  Also, there are many pedestrian tunnels.  For instance, the tunnel shown below which connects one side of a plateau to a mall at the base of the other side of the plateau, near the Port of Fontvieille.

We've used this tunnel twice so far.  Once, to get from the Old City back to the hotel.  And then to get from the hotel to downtown for dinner.  You take an elevator built into the rock to get to and from the tunnel...elevator on one end, mall on the other.  

As I mentioned, we walked to dinner, using the tunnel.  On the way home we walked around the Port of Fontvieille looking at rocks, water and yachts.  Absolutely beautiful!

About 10:00 the next morning we scored some great seats at the Cafe De Paris which is adjacent to the Monte Carlo Casino.  This is a great spot to people watch, car watch and see some great Art from all over the world.  The view is constantly changing and you can almost get lost in time here....in fact we spent several hours here...sipping wine and occaisionally getting up to see the details of a car or whatever it was that caught our eye.

Of course a visit to the casino is a must.  None of us won a million Euros, but Aleta was up a little and Monte got to order his martini "shaken, not stirred."

We headed back up to the old city and had dinner in a little cafe situated on a narrow medieval street and then we enjoyed some of the night time views such as the palace below.  It was quite a walk home but worth every step!

Next day we headed for Nice...about 20 miles east on the Riveria.  We boarded Bus 100 and paid our 1.5 Euro each and off we went.  This is a local bus that travels the lower corniche from town to town.  (There are three primary corniches (roads); one on the bottom of the mountains; one midway up and one near the top.  This bus took the lower corniche.)

The ride is beautiful with lots of beautiful views of the coast along with sightings of castles here and there.  Finally, our first view of Nice:

We got off the bus and headed for Vieux Nice the old part of the city.  Here you'll find narrow medieval streets and buildings that are centuries old.  Even though it's Sunday most of the cafes and many shops are open.  We wander through the streets and come upon a gala scene...flags, costumed people, church officials in their finest and a military band playing patriotic French songs.  It's a celebration for the saints of the local church.

We're told this fete could take hours so we move along.  One of the things I want to try is the local treat "socca"...it's crepe like but made out of chick pea dough and it's about 2 1/2 feet in diameter.  We find a shop and I get to watch it made....it's good, but give me a nutella crepe any day!

We found a nice little cafe for lunch.  I tried the Sardines Nicoise....ummm...not my favorite, but good.  But everyone else's dishes were awesome!  Hard to get bad food in Nice!

Finished our day with a night time visit to the casino area...great views at night!

It's about time for us to leave Monaco.  We've had a great time, but are looking forward to our next adventures!

More Paris

There is much to see and do in Paris...it would take weeks and weeks to see it all.  There are monuments everywhere and there are museums for virtually every subject:  from French Impressionist to Modern Art to well, just about everything...!

We also visited the Military Musuem which is located adjacent to Napoleon's Tomb.  Here lies France's greatest hero (arguably) along with many other French heros from WWI and WWII.  The first level has an altar (of glory perhaps?) which is interesting because at the time the French were moving away from religion and to The Age of Reason.  The tomb is under the dome and is located below the first level and is surrounded by crypts with the remains of other French greats.  Of course, Napoleon's tomb is, like him, larger than life....huge!

Check out the size of the people behind Napoleons' sarcophagus.  It's huge!

We finished the day back at Cafe Francis with its incredible view of the Eiffel Tower.  Here we celebrated Monte and Aleta's 30th wedding anniversary with food, wine and the Eiffel Tower which seemed to be sparkling just for them!

Our first few days were spent hitting the "must-do" sights of Paris.  Now, it's time to relax and just enjoy Paris.  We caught a Metro to Place Pigalle (the red light district) and then caught a little train to take us to the top of Montmartre.  There we shopped and cafed away the day.  Ah....Paris!

Then it was time for the one, the only, The Moulin Rouge!  We had tried earlier to get tickets but they were sold for the duration of our trip.  But somehow our conceirge did some magic and got us four tickets and when he gave them to us he said to be sure to ask for Anthony.  We were grateful for the tickets but skeptical of the whole "Anthony" thing so we got in line...way back at the end.  After a few moments I decided to try out Anthony.  I went to the front of the line and talked to Anthony.  He had me get the rest of the crew out of the line and walked us up to the front of the VIP line.  Sweet!   We were then the first seated in the theater with center seats up and far enough away that Monte didn't get pulled on stage by the comic.

It's impossible to describe the Moulin Rouge Feerie show.  Yes, there is the obligatory Can Can, but there is so much more.  Incredible acrobats, hilarious comics, and absolutely wonderous dancing productions.  The four hours passed by in a flash!

Have I mentioned there are a few shopping opportunities here?  Everything is here...from delicious little macarons on Montmartre....

...to the most indescribable footwear on the Champs Elysees...

Yes, that price tag says 1495 Euros and no, Mona didn't buy them...this time.

Speaking of footware....it is amazing how the French women wear high heels and stilettos everywhere.  ...even on cobbled streets.  And the variety of shoes is amazing...even I, a card-carrying shoe dullard, am now into shoe watching!

Our last day in Paris was a relaxing day....no evil Metro doors trying to crush Aleta  (Twice she almost got crunched....she's okay but has bruises to remind her of the Paris Metro.)  We first  visited the Tuileries park, designed by Catherine de Medici.  This park was once the royal gardens and is located between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde (where Marie Antoinette and many others were guiollotined during the French Revoloution.)  Here we strolled the beautiful gardens, enjoying the flowers and the statuary...and enjoyed a bit of wine, crepes and quiche before moving on.

We then took the Metro to the Bastille Plaza.  There we found a local market and bought some wine, cheese and grapes.  We took them to the Place des Vosges for a nice little picnic!  Place de Voges was built during the time of Henri IV during the 1600s and is a square with identical buildings on all four sides.  Today, those buildings are full of little shops on the ground floors and common tenants above.  The inside plaza is a park while Parisians come to relax.  When we got there school had just gotten out so the park with filled with kids just hanging out before heading home.

We ended our Paris visit with yet another meal at yet another wonderful Parisian cafe. (Only because Pam so ordered.)   What better way to end a trip to Paris!

Normandy

For years the four of us (Monte, Aleta, Mona and I) have talked about visiting Normandy.  Monte and Mona's dad landed there the day after D Day; Aleta's dad was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries he suffered in WWII; and my dad served as part of the garrisoning troops in Germany in the early 50s.  Given all that personal history, I suppose it's natural that we've all read lots of books and watched lots of movies about WWII.

At last the day of our trip began.  We met in the hotel lobby at 5:45 AM and headed down the Champs Elysees to catch our first metro of the day and then transferred to our second Metro to take us to Gare St. Lazare (St. Lazare Train Station.)  There we got our Europass stamped, grabbed croissants and espresso, and watched the boards to see what our platform was to be.  In a few short minutes we saw it, Platform 23.  Luckily, it was close by and we made our way to the conductors for them to review our tickes.  Then we had to find our coach, Coach 12, and finally our seats.  We had first class tickets so we had four reserved seats, two facing two with a table in between.  Now, we relaxed and enjoyed the ride.  It was dark and raining for an hour or so, making it a good time to nap a bit.

After two hours we reached Caen.  Off the train, down the steps, up the steps and into the station to read the boards to find our platform.  Platform E this time.  Down the steps, up the steps and on to the platform where our train was waiting for us.  This was a local train so there were only three cars counting the engine, and it was packed with tourists like us and lots of locals.  Two of us sat and two of us stood (I bet you could guess the twos!) as we made our way to Bayeux. 

There we were met by Magali, our guide for the day, along with four other Americans who would be in the van with us for the next eight hours. Magali's home is about 15 miles from Caen and her home has been in her family for many years.  In fact, her home was under "The Boot" (as the locals call the German occupation) thus making her uniquely qualified to be a guide. Her and her husband are avid students of WWII history and both are tour guides for the Normandy beaches.  At last Magali got us all loaded into the van and offf we headed for the Omaha Beaches to begin our tour.

I guess it's time for background.  If you're familiar with WWII and particularily the D Day events then you may want to skip this mini history lesson.  Otherwise, read on.

WWII began in earnest in 1939.  Since then, Germany had been victorius in conquering most of Europe,  In 1944, Most of Europe was under The Boot except for Britain (because the Brits won the Air Battle of Britain) and Italy (which had been liberated by the Allies.)  By 1944 the Allied Command devised a plan to attack German occupied France and labeled this attack as Operation Overlord.  Plans for this attack involved millions of men and thousands of ships, planes and tanks.  This attack was extremely secret and the Allies went to great lengths to deceive the Germans into thinking they were going to attack at Calais; i.e. At the Englilsh Channel's narrowest point.

Fast forward to June 6th, 1944.  In Normandy, the weather is horrible and the beaches are worthless for landing attack forces.  The Germans weren't too worried about an attack there; you'd have to be crazy to attack Normandy!  I guess that meant the Allied command was crazy because they decided to attack under those horrible conditions and on those worthless beaches!  The Allies plan called for each nation to attack separate sectors.  The Brits, Canadians and Free French the attacked Juno, Sword and Gold sectors.  The Americans were assigned the Omaha and Utah sectors.  This battlefront was to be huge stretching over 120 miles....the distance between between St. Louis and Decatur.

The battle began shortly after midnight on June 6th with the dropoff of over 24,000 paratroopers.  Some of these drops went well, but many went horribly wrong with troops landing in water and immediately drowning in their silks and equipment.  Many landed off target and had to make their way behind enemy lines to attempt to complete their mission.  Paratroop casualities were over 40%.  The picture below shows a monument to John Steele.  An American paratrooper whose parachute caught on the church spire as he attemtped to land.  

At 6:30 in the morning, the invasion of amphibious troops and equipment began.  

Now, I'll go back to talking about our tour and what happened to the Americans as they attacked the Omaha and Utah sectors.

After driving about 30 minutes we came to one of the Omaha beaches.  We got out of the van and walked in the sand to the water's edge.  We turned shoreward and could see the German bunkers still on the cliffs behind us.  When the Americans approached this beach at 6:30 AM they were all seasick from the horrible lurching of their landing craft.  Their landing craft had to avoid the many mines and obstacles in the water.  Once out of the landing craft the GIs were met with a murderous crossfire from the German bunkers.  Casualaties in that first hour were 90%.  Things had gone horribly wrong on Omaha beach...so wrong that the commanders contemplated withdrawing from this sector.  In spite of all that the GIs kept moving forward...it was that or die in the sand.  A few finally made it across the beach and then began the climb up the cliffs to take out the German bunkers and pillboxes...one by one.  After many many hours of savage and brutal battle the Americans were victorious....but at a huge cost.  So many casualities here that the water was red with blood after the battle.

As Magali recounted these events it was impossible to listen without tears for the many lives lost here.  As we stood here we could almost feel the presence of so many fallen brave young men.  The averaage age of these troops was 23, meaning there were many who were just teenagers.

Our next stop was the American cemetery near Colleville on a bluff overlooking Omaha.  Here is the final resting place for over 9000 GIs.   Here you will see the crosses and the Stars of David of many of our fallen GIs.  There are 42 pairs of brothers interred here, including the brothers who inspired the "Band of Brothers" movie.  Here also lies the son of an American president: Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who was a Brigadier General.  He insisted on landing with his troops and died of a heart attack a few days after the invasion.  Also here are over hundreds of crosses inscribed with "Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God."  

This cemetery is a somber place and there is no way to visit here without being deeply emotionally touched.  This is American soil.  It is hallowed soil.

The mood was quiet in the van as we went to our next stop...Point du Hoc...which is a hook-shaped cliff between the Utah and Omaha beaches.  Here approximately 250 American Rangers had to scale near-verticle cliffs to take out the German defenses entrenched above.  They had to climb those cliffs under deadly German fire from above as Allied bombs were blasting the defenses above.

Point du Hoc is still cratered from the huge bomb blasts and incredibly there are still intact German bunkers which withstood the bombs.  We were able to go into one of those bunkers and look out the port....wondering how many Americans were killed from this vantage.  (The picture below is taken from inside the bunker looking out through the gun portal.)

Next we visited the Utah beaches.  Here the coast is more gradual so our troops didn't have to climb cliffs to acheive their goal thus making the victory here much easier than Omaha.  However, the landing didn't occur without loss of American lives....many of which happened when paratroopers landed in marshes that were thought to be dry land.  In fact, they were marshes with tall grass growing in the water.  Many paratroopers drowned here in the tangle of their silks and equipment.

As I said, this battlefront is huge.  We drove 30 and 40 minutes between locations.  During the drive you see monument after monument dedicated to acts of valor and sometimes dedicated to acts of kindness.  Sometimes the monuments are decided to a battalion and sometimes to an individual.  It's clear that the French remember what happened here and the cost in American lives.

Our last stop was at a small church built in the 1100s.  Here, Monte, Aleta and Mona met the Mayor of the village and we learned the story of this little church.  In June of 1944 two American paratrooper medics set up an aide station here where they cared for 80 injured troops and a local child.   The church was then captured by the Germans and the troops continued to care for the injured, including Germans.  Druing this time all the stained glass windows of the church were blown out.  In the subsequent years those windows were replaced.  Imagine our amazement as we looked at this stained glass window in this 12th century church.  

There is a common perception that the French don't like Americans.  We have never encountered any dislike in any of our visits.  But most of all...not this one.  Here the Americans are deeply appreciated for the sacrafices they made for the French.  It was all summed up for me the night after we visited Normandy.  At the Moulin Rouge we sat with a young French couple.  He spoke English and we found that he had recently visited Normandy.  We commented on how somber the battlefields and cemeteries were.  He said, "That's not my word for it.  My word for Normandy is "wonderful."  It is so wonderful that so many from so far away came to save my country and my people."  ...I can't add to that.

Our visit to Normandy was incredible.  We learned so much and we felt even more.  However, one thing was very disturbing.  The four other Americans on the tour were in their 20s and 30s.  They knew virtually nothing about WWII.  And, it appeared by their comments and questions that they learned nothing.  We all fear that many Americans are like this, more focused on their iStuff, video games and petty politics than the reality of what real evil can do in this world if left unchecked.  We need to make sure we remember the evil that almost took over the world in the 1940s, otherwise we fear it may happen again.

Let us not forget.