The D Day Landing Beaches

On our first morning in Normandy we tried the breakfast supplied by the hotel for 7 Euros and it was really pathetic - there was one cereal on offer - some kind of coco pop that even Alan, who never wastes food, was unable to eat. So it was a croissant for me with tea (good choice with the tea) and Alan had dry bread rolls and jam and coffee that was unspeakably awful. It was the most terrible greeny grey beige colour and milk made no difference and Alan said that it made Starbucks look and taste like gourmet coffee. He thought they might use the leftovers to resurface the road later!

You may be interested to see the outside of our room - it is the little attic in the roof on the third foor and the only thing cute about it is the pottery cat climbing on the roof - these are very popular in Normandy and are rather cute but no I can't bring one back in my suitcase for my cat-loving friend!

After breakfast we went for a walk on Sword Beach - very brisk weather (code for bloody freezing) and came back along the road and bought some lovely fresh fruit from a little roadside stall. The strawberries here are just beautiful and quite cheap.

After calling back at the hotel we set out in the car to explore right along the D Day Landing Beaches and there was quite an air of expectation with many tourists like us reading all the history signs (as much as we could considering almost everything is in French). I know we are in France but they don't even give out tourist brochures or maps with an English translation - which would probably help people from many countries. Of course, even if the Tourist Information Centre happens to be open there will be nobody there who can speak a word of English either! Some of the beaches still have the remains of the German gun batteries where they tried to defend against the D Day landings.

We are wondering how France keeps going because all the shops seem to be closed most of the time - we think that they must close for a couple of hours in the middle of the day in the small towns and villages.

Along our route past Gold Beach, Utah Beach and Omaha Beach we stopped and looked at vintage army vehicles of all kinds driving by and saw a big American camp set up in one little village. We found lots of beautiful little places called Something sur Mer and it was equally windy and cold in each one.

During our tour we stopped at a beach and ate our lunch of fresh fruit and afterwards we headed for Arromanches where the first landings took place and even after all this time the remains of the Mulbury Harbours built by the Americans are still there. The views from the cliffs there are spectacular and there is a 360 degree multi screen movie theatre where they show a film with a combination of old and new footage cleverly woven to make a wonderful experience.

In an attempt to have three meals in the day and not be too late home we tried to get dinner around 6.15 at one of the little villages but were looked at scornfully and told dinner is not served until 7.00 pm! So we decided to use the time driving closer to home and finally we found a nice hotel around 8.00 pm and had dinner - but of course the French make so much of the food thing it all takes forever so we did not finish until quite late. Everything is a big deal, with every cup of tea or coffee having little nibbles or chocolates.

I have decided I really don't have any French blood in my veins, despite supposedly being descended from William the Conqueror, the most famous Norman of all.