Bonjour! and an emotional day in France on July 10th

We had a time change, but at 4:45 A.M. British time, music started blaring on the boat.  5:45 was our meeting/docking time...we got off the boat, grabbed our luggage, and met our new coach driver and his double-decker bus. 

First stop:  Flunch, for breakfast!  The students may have been a bit surprised by their first French breakfast:  croissant, baguette, butter, jam, orange juice, and coffee/tea/hot chocolate.  The bread is SO GOOD! 

From breakfast, we headed to Caen Memorial Museum...in Caen, France.  It's a museum on WWII.  There is a great presentation on the story of Hitler's rise to power and why...then the story of the war and it's devastation.  We saw a video (15 minutes) on part of the D-Day invasion from the German and Allies perspectives. 

Lunch was from the Museum...then we picked up our guide and took off in the coach for Pont du Hoc, which is between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach.  At Pont du  Hoc, Germans built batteries for guns and the Allies were intent on destroying them.  The Allies had a plan for 3 regiments (D - E - and F) to scale the wall and attack..but the current took them further down and they ended up closer to Omaha Beach.  When regiments A - B - and C arrived, there were no guns there because the Germans had moved them up!  The Germans, not wanting the guns visible, were putting them in these holes with tops on them...so they would be disguised.

From Pont du Hoc, we headed to Omaha Beach.  We didn't stay long, just long enough to take some pictures, for most of the delegates to collect some sand, and for some of us to think about those who have served to protect our country.

Next stop was the American Cemetary...and a ceremony of laying a wreath.  We had four delegates who were chosen to lay the wreath:  Emily, Emilee, Jeff, and Drew.  We had previously told the delegates that if they wanted to be one of the ones to lay the wreath, to either come talk to us telling us why they wanted to be the one or to write it down.  From these conversations and reading their letters, those are the four we chose. 

You'll see from the pictures that there is a large statue in a semi-circle.  Our delegates made two lines facing each other, then our four representatives walked up with the wreath and layed it down.  Our National Anthem was played (emotional)...then TAPS (highly emotional)...

We were then escorted to a spot where many go for meditation...it overlooks Omaha Beach.  We were then shown Teddy Roosevelt's grave and a beautiful little chapel.  From there, we had some free time to roam around.  It's such a beautiful place...with 9387  of white crosses all lined up (think:  Arlington National Cemetery).  These crosses, of course, are for our soldiers who died.

 The ceiling in the chapel

After dropping off our guide back at the Caen Memorial Museum...we made our way to Lisieux, France, to a sweet, sweet, old hotel.  After dinner, our delegates had some free time to explore the area...in groups, of course!

Then we settled down into our rooms...and it was the end of Day 12!