Three parts to today: Utah Beach area, German cemetery, and Monet's Garden in Giverny. Actually, I'll add a 4th part: photos of an old country church.

For the first time since vacation started, I set an alarm clock….for 7:30. I've been getting really good at sleeping in late, and I wanted to have a productive day, hence the 'early' alarm.

The beaches and the areas around them are getting more and more congested as the anniversary approached. I headed to Utah, which is the beach farthest to the west, and about a 45 minute from Bayeux. As opposed to the other American beach, Omaha, where many things went wrong and people refer to it as "Bloody Omaha", Utah was an overwhelming success. (For movie/TV people, Saving Private Ryan is Omaha, Band of Brothers is Utah.) I started at the Utah Beach museum, which was fantastic. Then I took a walk on the beach and checked out a few of the memorials in the immediate area. If you look at the pictures, you'll see a picture of a guy exercising a horse in the water; Normandy is known for raising excellent race horses. Also, for you Band of Brothers fans, I have pictures of a memorial established for d*** Winters. It is located, I'm guessing, close to where he landed, as it was in between Utah and Ste. Marie du Mont. Today Utah is just like Omaha, a beautiful, peaceful beach. These beaches have been left along; there are no houses or developments of any kind, beyond the museums. I haven't gone far into the side where the British and Canadians landed, but I've heard it has been built up commercially.

As I was driving through the country, I went by an old church and just happened to notice the front door was open. I hesitated for half a second, then turned about and went back to the church. There was a man working in his garden next door and no one else around, so I went into the church. If you read my blog on the last trip, you might remember that I went back to my ancestral lands in France and found their villages and churches. However, none of those churches were in use, and they were all locked up tight. That was a huge disappointment; I was really looking forward to seeing the churches they had attended. Finding this open church today made up a bit for the last trip's letdown. Granted, I'm in a different part of the country, and I don't know that this church was built in the same era or under the same architectural style, but it was something. It was a look into a small, (likely poor) country church that has not been touched to appeal to tourists. I took a bunch of pictures. I could not find a cornerstone to know when the church was built, but there was a notch in an exterior wall for a pieta, and in the notice I saw the date 1124. While the graveyard is still used, the church clearly is not.

Next stop was the German Cemetery. I wanted to see it because it is so often compared to the American Cemetery, and not in a positive way. As of now, I'd say the American Cemetery is the most powerful place I've visited. The cemetery is gorgeous and peaceful, and as I've already written, the Visitor's Center experience was very powerful. However, I've read reviews that talk about it being a positive place, and I didn't find that true at all; I don't know how it can be. But it did exude power and a strong sense of "they died heros". The German cemetery gets knocked for being depressing. Seriously….it, like the American cemetery, is full of boys, most of whom were younger than 25. They all died because of one raving lunatic named Hitler. I found them both depressing. The German cemetery is well maintained, too, but it is literally dark. Dark stones, heavy, dark landscaping. It was more "matter of fact"…not as much art, and a very sterile and dated Visitor's Center. However, there are a couple differences that make it interesting….the American Cemetery is next to the beach, you hear the lapping of waves as you walk around the grounds. The German cemetery is right off a busy highway, you hear traffic as you walk around the grounds. The American cemetery is large and spacious and bright. White stones for every soldier. The German cemetery is tight; two soldiers are listed on each tombstone. (There are two theories as to why this is done: 1) The Germans wanted them buried in pairs to each had a comrade with him eternally, and 2) The French gave them as little land as possible, so double graves were the only options.)

After the cemetery, I made the decision to take a road trip to Monet's home and garden in Giverny. It ended up only being slightly over 2 hours each way, and totally worth it. I timed it well, in that the big rush of the day was over, and I still had plenty of time to see the grounds. I blew off the house; I've heard it isn't all that interesting, and it was the garden that I wanted to see (and photograph.) If you view my pictures for the day and you aren't a flower person, I'm sorry. I got it down to just over 100 pictures, but I don't want to cut it down anymore until I see them on a larger screen. The garden is two in two parts: one is just rows and rows of flower (called the "walled garden). It is in the style of an English cottage garden. The second part is the Water garden, which is much more famous since Monet painted in many times. If the pictures post in the order I took them, I first photographed in the walled garden, then I go to the water garden (much better pictures, in my opinion), then I went back to the walled garden, and then I went back to the water garden. Very cool place.

Tomorrow is the third of my 3 'treats' for this trip, the first two being the opera tickets and the French Open. Tomorrow I go on an all-day organized tour of D-Day sites, with the afternoon focused on sites from the Band of Brothers series. Some of the places we will go I've already visited, but I did that because I have a feeling tomorrow will be somewhat rushed. The tour lasts for 9-10 hours; check back tomorrow for a report!