Completing our Normandy explorations - Saturday 14, 2015

Sunny skies and we're off to finish on Invasion Beaches explorations, as we drive to the little town of Mere St. Eglise, the site of the first WW II French liberation.  It is here that an Airborne trooper, John Steele, hung, suspended by his tangled parachute, on a church steeple for two hours.  He had been shot in the foot and pretended to be dead.  Eventually, the Germans realized that Steele was very much alive and took him prisoner.  But, not for long!  Steele escaped, managed to rejoin his unit, and continued to fight.

Across the street from the church is the Airborne Museum, which I thought was the coolest museum EVER!  You walk into a simulation of an airborne mission that put chills on my spine!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch in this awesome little town before heading out to see two of the bridges captured by the Americans during Operation Overlord.  Next, we traveled back to Omaha Beach via Draw E-3. 

 It was a glorious, but very chilly day when we happened to notice several guys para-surfing!  

We also visited the Bayeaux Museum, Operation Overlord, and while it was quite nice, after the Airborne Musuem, it just wasn't as thrilling.

Time for a coffee break in another (aren't they all?) adorable Normandy coastal town!

We add one more battery to check out before ending our tour.  Our tour guide, Gisselle, had warned us that many times "bombs" are still found around Normandy, so we were quite careful to stay on the path!

Back to our little hotel for a quick "freshen up" before dinner at the Partner Manager.  Sigh, we're sad to leave this amazing area.