Sunday dawned sunny and still chilly, but we will take the sunshine! The weather has been cold, but luckily other than the first day no rain (or snow!). We had scheduled breakfast with Mylene for 830 to get an early start to the day, but even with the sun shining into the room we didn't wake up until 930. A fabulous breakfast was waiting for us in the sunroom...local cheeses, honey, homemade jam, fruit and of course the requisite baguette and croissants. It was so nice out, that we decided to take Granata for a walk and enjoy the morning. Granata was so excited to go and insisted on carrying her own leash most of the way. Ken tried to get her to sit, chase a stick, etc etc...but he was speaking to her in English and she only speaks French! It was such a nice morning, we wish we could have spent the day relaxing at the farmhouse. But, we had history to experience.  
Our first stop was the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach. There is a fairly new (2007) visitor center which really personalizes the invasion by telling the stories of those who died, and in some cases lived. The entire site is beautiful and serene, which makes it even more difficult to imagine the carnage that occurred on June 6, 1944. We saw several short movies that had footage from the invasion, then refreshed our memories on the specific timeline before going to the cemetery.  
As at Arlington, there are white crosses with the names, state, military branch and the date of death. Those who were Jewish are symbolized by the Star of David at the top of the cross. There are just over 9,000 buried there, with some noted as "unknown". After spending time looking at the names and where they came from, we walked down the path to the beach. While it isn't that steep, it is covered in bramble type bushes that would give any barbed wire a fair fight. So, you make it out of the boats that were sinking and now get to climb a hill covered in sticker bushes while being shot at. Can't even imagine.  
The next stop was Pont du Hoc, where the Rangers took out key German bunkers which allowed the activity at Utah and Omaha beaches to be more successful.   There were huge holes where the bombs hit and bunkers totally destroyed.  Unlike Omaha, there weren't hills here...there were HUGE cliffs. So the Rangers had to scale the cliffs, again while getting shot at from the top.  Out of the 225 that started, only 90 were able to make it to the top.  Those 90, made the most of their time by taking out the Germans that were still holed up.   Truly amazing.
At this point, it was getting very late in the day and while we had hoped to do the Museum at Utah Beach, we were running out of time. So, we did a small Ranger Museum close to Pont du Hoc and learned more about that effort.  
Now, it was close to 6p and we had to drive three hours back to Paris. So, instead of the scenic route, we chose the freeways and hit the road. We hadn't eaten since breakfast, so decided to take a a quick detour back to Honfluer for more crepes.   
The drive to the Marriott at CDG was uneventful, UNTIL I took several wrong turns (GPS wasn't finding the hotel). Luckily with good teamwork, of driving and navigation...we figured it out.  I was ready for a nice glass of wine and Ken, scotch...which thankfully the Marriott gave us for free!  
Early morning tomorrow...and back home.