Normandy

Visiting Normandy was extremely important to me while I was planning my trip. I actually rearranged my time in Paris and London so that I could make the jump to Normandy and be a part of this tour company's American Highlights tour. World War II has always fascinated me, and the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy was not only the largest amphibious invasion in the history of the world, but it marked a distinct turning point in the flow of World War II, and it may have been the most vicious and brutal battle the Americans saw in the Atlantic Theater. The stories, both at the macro and micro levels, are unreal. The drama, from privates first class all the way up to Eisenhower, FDR, and Churchill, is palpable. Making the decision to go was a major gamble. If the invasion failed, as the Canadian invasion of Dieppe had failed in 1942, the blow to the British, American, and Canadian armies would have been extreme, and the blow to our morale may have been devastating. The propaganda message would have bolstered German spirits for months. The Russians, knowing that a western front would not be opened soon, would have felt down-trodden and exhausted as they had been throwing their men at the eastern front by the tens of thousands for years, using the sheer size of their population as their greatest means of resistance.

Thankfully, and I really mean that, the invasion was an incredible success. Despite heavy losses, we shattered Normandy's stretch of Hitler's "Fortress Europe." The Allies gained a strategically invaluable foothold on the Continent to complement their superiority in the air, and from there we surged forward and spent the next ten months liberating western Europe as we pushed through Nazi forces until we met the Soviets in Berlin, where the eastern and western fronts finally converged.

The historical significance of D-Day cannot be overstated. For instance, there were two Swedish men on my tour. When I asked them what interested them in the D-Day tour, it essentially came down to the fact that but for D-Day, they would likely be living in a Nazi- or Soviet-controlled country, as one of those forces likely would have controlled the whole of Europe eventually.

But for me, D-Day is not just about its historical significance. The invasion of Normandy says something about the very fabric of America. This trip has made me extremely grateful to be an American, to be able to live and work in the United States, and to have the opportunities I have in my home country, but no experience over here has made me more grateful for my nation than today's time on the Normandy coast. These men, most of whom were 18-25, jumped out of planes into the darkness of night, lit only by the moon and German tracer bullets and anti-aircraft shells. They stormed beaches where Nazi guns were shooting large-caliber bullets to the tune of 32,000 rounds per minute--at Omaha Beech, over 500 bullets per second were roaring down from the fortified guns and toward our landing craft. With sheer bravery and determination, they pushed the Nazis back and had taken over many important towns and beaches within 15 hours, after Hitler had spent four years fortifying this section of the French coast. At the US Cemetery in Normandy, there is a sculpture that represents the spirit of American youth rising from the water, and that really captures what we did on June 6, 1944. We started with a few thousand that were out-gunned and in poor fighting positions, and within days, we had opened a viable western front that was so critical to defeating Germany (only having an eastern front with Russia was not guaranteed to be taxing enough to make Nazi Germany fall--only two full-fledged fronts guaranteed US-Soviet success). Within weeks, the Allies used those beaches to bring thousands of tons of equipment and almost two million soldiers onto the Continent. Hitler had had his way with western Europe for long enough. Now, the fight for Europe was on, and on our terms. The rest, as they say, is history.

So, the story. Originally the invasion was planned for the spring of 1944, and then for earlier in June. Eisenhower finally made the call to go for June 6 because of the combination of an advantageous break in the weather and a full moon. For months, the Allies had been placing a huge volume of false chatter and intelligence into the stream to make Hitler believe that Patton would lead the invasion into Calais, a spot in northern France that was a straight shot from England. To aid that illusion, ports were filled with any old boat the Brits could find, and citizens were told to wear what looked like military uniforms. Then, vast fields were filled with wooden and blow-up dummies of planes, tanks, trucks, etc. Thus, when the Nazis flew over to take intelligence photos, it looked as if there was a giant mass of activity to confirm the theory of the impending Patton-led invasion. The Nazis feared and respected Patton after his North African success, and they thought he was coming for them in the north. They were wrong. In fact, it was not until deep into July, a full month after the Allied invasion of Normandy, that the Germans realized that D-Day was the real invasion and that there was no great invasion coming in the north.

When the clock struck midnight on June 6, over 800 allied planes were on their way from Britain to the coast of Normandy. These planes each held a "stick" of 18 paratroopers--elite, well-trained forces that would skydive in at night (each with 150 lbs of gear while the sky was lit up by anti-aircraft fire) and pave the way for the tens of thousands that would hit the beaches at dawn. Despite the fact that many of these men were dropped miles from their objectives, every single strategic objective was completed, from seizing key bridges to taking out important Nazi gun positions. The first town in France to be liberated was Sainte-Mère-Église, where an American flag was raised over the town square at 4:30 am.

At about 6:30 am, 255 Army Rangers reached the shore by boat and, despite gunfire, grenades, and cut ropes, managed to climb the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, within artillery range of Utah Beach, and take out strategic guns that would have punished our soldiers landing at Utah. To this day, the inside of one of the bunkers at Pointe du Hoc is entirely black, charred by clearing it of the enemy using a barrage of flamethrowers. But these Rangers paid for this success with many lives--without enforcements, and holding off Nazi reinforcements for two and a half days, fewer than 100 of these heroic men were able to fight on after this offensive and the ensuing defense of the point.

Utah Beach itself was a great success, and fewer than 200 Americans died on Utah Beach. Omaha, however, was a very different story. The fortifications at Utah were not fully operational on June 6, 1944, but Omaha was fully functional. If you have ever watched the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, that opening scene is a depiction of Omaha. And the Germans were not just shooting straight out at our landing craft--they were smart--they shot the high-caliber guns across the beach such that their lines of fire from different ends of the beach would meet at a point out over the water, creating a virtual wall of bullets (over 500 per second) that Allied soldiers had to cross. Our soldiers saw their landing craft gates drop only to be greeted by a wall of high-caliber fire, mowing them down from front to back. Sometimes, only the last two men in a landing craft of 30 lived to exit the boat, and then they had to get into the water with 100 pounds of gear, make their way to the beach, and then brave the sand, which meant a half-mile run from the water to the rocks. One veteran that told his story to our guide was only one of two that made it out of his landing craft. He said the beach was not littered with bodies, but rather pieces of bodies. He was shot twice while running across the beach. When he made it to the rocks, he was receiving orders from a commanding officer while that officer was killed right in front of him. Sparing some more gruesome details, that man had nightmares about Omaha Beach for 60 years. It was a vicious, brutal, blood-soaked hell. 3,881 Americans died taking Omaha. It took over 8 hours under unrelenting Nazi fire to silence the guns on the hilltops above the shore, but by 3 pm on June 6, the Americans controlled the beach.

(Please view my Normandy album, which highlights some other amazing stories from the invasion of Normandy.)

From the five beaches and several towns taken by the Allies on D-Day, the Allies were able to push forward and liberate western Europe. The French in Normandy have never forgotten what their allies did for them on that day. To that end, Normandy is probably the only place in the world where stained-glass windows in the churches feature Mary with American paratroopers falling from the sky.

Today, the American Cemetery in Normandy sits on a hilltop overlooking Omaha Beach. The French government gave the land to the United States, so when you enter the cemetery, you are on United States soil (i.e., for memorial services, the US president gives the French president permission to land his helicopter, not vice versa). Thousands of US soldiers are buried there, and many of those soldiers died on June 6, 1944. If you are an American and you go to France to visit Paris or see other sites, I implore you to take a day or two to visit Normandy to see these places and visit the American Cemetery. Viewing the thousands of gravestones is life-changing, and when I began to walk them from the sides with the inscriptions, and I could see each of their names, their divisions, their home states, and the dates on which each of them gave their lives, I was overcome with emotion. It's not just a field of crosses and stars of David--it's a field of individual stories, stories that ended here in Normandy, on these beaches and in these fields--and sometimes even in the skies overhead. It is an incredibly moving experience, and one that speaks to the core of what we want America to be--a beacon of light to the world, upholding what is good and promotes freedom, even at the highest cost (as Churchill said of his own people, they value freedom far above their lives). It also reinforces our view of America's Greatest Generation, one that is slowly leaving this side of eternity, but one that Americans should always look to for inspiration and direction in pursuing our ideals. The bravery and sacrifices of the Allied thousands who jumped out of planes and into a firestorm in the middle of the night or stormed the beaches of Normandy at dawn on June 6, 1944 paved the way for the liberation of millions and shaped the free world that many of us know today, and for that, we should all be grateful.

- R

Paris

[I recently discovered that coming home makes it easy to become extremely busy again . . . right away. Sorry it has taken me so long to post these last four entries!]

I have to say, Paris took me by surprise. I was excited to see it, because then I would have seen all three of Europe's three great cities--Paris, Rome, and London. However, I was not sure how I would feel about it. For example, I thought Rome was amazing from a historical perspective, but I found it to lack a distinctive charm that would make me want to return for a more leisurely vacation. Paris, by contrast, was extremely charming. I had a great time walking the streets. Today, on my fourth day there, I had no real agenda, so I woke up, had a cappuccino, took the Metro to a park I wanted to see, and spent the day wandering from there. It was really fun to walk a street, look down 3, 4, or 5 ways from each progressive intersection, and then just walk the way that interested me the most.

Paris really is a city of distinct districts and neighborhoods, and each of the 18 "arrondisements" has a different feel. I stayed in the Montmartre neighborhood near the Sacre Couer, and I found this area, formerly inhabited by many famous 19th- and 20th-century artists, to be very charming.

I was pleased with how I planned Paris--I had roughly four days, so I did not need to rush anything. On the first day, I didn't get far, but that was no big deal, I had plenty of time. I had dinner at a little French bistro in my neighborhood, and having resigned myself to trying the signature regional dishes throughout the trip, I dutifully ordered the escargot with a small glass of rouge, for charity's sake. Soon, a steaming plate of garlic, butter, and parsley-laden snails was before me, and I went to work. To eat escargot, you need to hold the shell in a special gripping tool with one hand while you use the other to extract the flesh with a small fork. Anyway, as I'd heard, snails are not bad at all. They don't have much flavor beyond what they are cooked in, and the texture is totally inoffensive--when cooked, it's quite similar to that of most meats. The main thing is not to overthink it. Don't picture your sidewalk after the rainstorm, just eat it and smile.

After dinner, I walked a couple blocks to shoot the Sacre Couer at night. This is a brilliant white marble cathedral on a hilltop in northern Paris, and it can be seen from all over the city. The cathedral is quite new in relative terms (completed in the early 20th century) and it is stunning on the inside (no photos by request). I was very fortunate to peek in during a late-night Friday mass, and there was a beautiful female voice singing in French while many hundreds of votive candles (the most I had seen in any church in Europe) were illuminating the church's interior. Sometimes you are blessed to stumble upon these things while you're traveling, and even though I couldn't take photos, I will have that image for a long time.

Day 2 was very productive. I woke up and had the most incredible pain au chocolat imaginable. It was so perfect. Pain au chocolat is the flaky pastry dough used to make crescents, but it's folded like a rectangle with little chocolate blocks inside. Browned the French way and totally airy and flaky with delicious chunks of chocolate, this was obscenely delicious and texturally astounding. Ok, France, you do win at some things, just not militarily, I suppose.

After breakfast, I took a train out to Versailles, the elaborate palace built by Louis XIV. The palace is absolutely massive, and the gardens are almost incomprehensibly large. They just go on and on for thousands of feet. You actually have to walk over a mile through the gardens to get to Marie Antionette's smaller estate, which is also part of the property. My high school history teacher, Mrs. Patterson, discussed Versailles quite a bit and peaked my interest in it, so it was fun to finally see the Sun King's grand palace.

Fortunately, Versailles did not take as long as I had planned, so I had time to take advantage of more Parisian offerings during that Saturday afternoon (most museums in Paris are closed on Monday, so if I could fit extra ones in on Saturday and Sunday, I was going to). I rushed back to the city and went to the Musee d'Orsay, a 20-year-old museum housed in a former train station. The d'Orsay is very impressive--I (*gasp*) actually enjoyed myself here more than at the Louvre. For one, having been converted from a large major train station, the structure itself is art. The interior is beautifully done. Beyond that, the art is more relevant to my interests than the Louvre's collections, which tended to be older. While I was there, the d'Orsay had a phenomenal Van Gogh exhibition that pretty much schooled the Van Gogh Museum's collection (note--only the last 3-5 years of Van Gogh's work is actually very interesting). The Van Gogh exhibition was totally captivating, and I found myself staring at many of the pieces for long periods of time. Van Gogh's work really speaks to me for some reason--perhaps because it captures a mood more than reality, and perhaps because he found so much beauty and wonder in nature, as do I. Also, I'm a bit colorblind, and I find the bold, whimsical strokes of bright colors to be very enticing--his paintings seem to dance as you stare at them. Also, I learned that one of my favorites, the Mulberry Tree, is actually in Pasadena, CA, and ironically, one of the d'Orsay's premiere pieces, Starry Night on the Siene, is actually on display at the De Young Museum in SF right now (I'll have to go see that at home). Also, there is a really cool piece by Eugène Burnand showing Peter and John's faces when they first see the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. The painting is pretty awesome, both in the mood it captures and in its photo-realism. If you visit Paris, do not miss the d'Orsay.

Next, I still had a little time, so I went to the Rodin Museum, which features Auguste Rodin's sculptural works, including his famous "Thinker."

After a day of palaces and art museums, I was ready to clear my head a bit, so I did a large part of the sites walk through Paris. I walked from the Rodin, under the Eiffel Tower, to the Arc d'Triomphe, and then down Champs-Élysées, all the way to Concorde. When I got to the Arc d'Triomphe, there was a large French military ceremony going on--probably to commemorate some important surrender or something.

Finally, I went back to my neighborhood and sat down to dinner. On my second evening, I was going to try a French dish that is a bit more my style: steak au poivre, which is steak with a black pepper sauce made by deglazing the searing pan with whiskey. Most fancy American chophouses offer this as an option, but the meat in those restaurants is typically so good that you don't want to taint it with anything. However, a bistro in Paris presented the perfect opportunity to try this French dish, and I really enjoyed it. With salad, frites (French fries), and a glass of Côtes du Rhône, this was a great meal.

On Day 3, I woke up and had a really amazing cappuccino made for me--the milk and coffee were layered, unmixed, in a glass mug. Nice trick, Ms. Barrista. Also, I had another solid pain au chocolat (how I will miss thee, P.A.C.). Then, it was on to the Louvre.

So, you always hear about how the Louvre is huge. People, the Louvre is *beyond* huge. It's a massive palace that Louis XIV left when he moved to Versailles, and he decided that at that point, it should be used to store the royal art collection. Then the French people went all revolutionary, seized all the royal property, banished the monarchy, and decided that the Louvre would be used as a state art museum. So basically, it's a *massive* palace with four floors of art spread over three wings. It took me over three hours to walk all of the hallways (without stopping much), and in that time I saw Liberty Leading the People, the Mona Lisa, etc. etc. etc. Basically, by the time I left, I feared my head was going to explode.

After the Louvre, I could not handle another museum that day. I needed some time to walk around a bit, so I did some more site-seeing and walked to Notre Dame. ND is pretty cool, but to be honest, some of the Cathedrals in Spain and Italy are far more striking, both inside and out. I guess they just don't have Disney animated features going for them . . . .

Later that afternoon, I went to a wine shop to find a hostess gift to take to Lily in London, and this shop in Montmarte, La Caves de Abbesses, has an awesome little wine bar in back where you can sample many of the wines on the sales floor while munching on mixed plates of French meats, cheeses, and nuts. I tried a great Crozes-Hermitage that I picked up for Lily and had a delicious plate with walnuts, generous portions of two French cheeses, and some French cured ham. Add on a basket of amazing French bread, and this became a nice light dinner.

On my last day in Paris, I checked out of my hotel and took the Metro to Jardin du Luxembourg, an idyllic park south of the River Siene. (Side note--I stayed right off of the Metro's Line 12 and thought that was a really great line for getting around the city. You may want to consider that in choosing accommodations since Paris is quite large and many of the points of interest are spread out.) After that, I grabbed a sandwich and took it to Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris, which more than anything took me back to Washington Square Park in New York. Then I walked the streets, sipped a couple espressos on the sidewalk, and caught my train to Normandy.

I really enjoyed Paris, and I could definitely see myself returning here with Jen to relax and, when I'm a bit further in my career, experience some of the city's many Michelin-star restaurants. Until then, "Vive le France!"

- R

Brussels

0-for-2. Brussels was a 5-hour stop I had built in on my way to Paris from Amsterdam, and after less than two hours (including an errand to grab a host gift for Keenan in London), I found myself in the train station's ticket office trying to change to an earlier train. No dice.

I ate a good waffle, though. So I guess there's that.