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April 20, 2016

Wanderlust Wednesday {Normandy Snapshot}

Morning beautiful friends! I'm finally on my trip and hope your week is going well. I realized I never shared my full itinerary and probably won't until we are moving along just because I'm a bit security conscious. We will doing France, Italy and Greece with multiple stops in each country.

We arrived safely but tired in Paris on Monday and I have a whole other post to share with y'all on that. #tiredtravelingistoigh. 

Today was our first full day of exploring Normandy and I thought it would be more interesting to shar.  We headed 20ish miles west to Omaha beach and the American Memorial Cemetary.

The drive through the countryside was gorgeous and easy, making me wonder why we don't use round about a more in the United States.

What we did:

Our first stop was the Museum De Omaha and though it was tiny the detail and presentation was quite complete. Everything had an English translation making the displays more poignant. The movie playing was quite moving and had an incredible amount of day of footage, giving me goosebumps multiple times.

 The walk onto Omaha beach brings on an unexplainable sense of awe. Despite reading multiple books and waching multiple documentaries, nothing prepared me for the vastness of the beach. It goes on and on and if you squint your eyes you can vaguely seen all the ships in the water and the men rushing the beach.

 

We walked along the beach for a length trying to get to the American cemetary, however the beach enterance was closed. Not to be detoured we hike up the hill and found a bunker and another two memorials. The quality and number of memories along the beach is an incredible testament to the valor of the men who's served and the heart of this French community.   

On the walk back to the car I attempted to get closer to the shoreline and muddied up my shoes and pants in the process. It was for a good purpose as I wanted to get some wet sand in our token jar to add to the dry sand from the memorial.   

After the beach we hopped into the car for a five minute drive to the American Cemetary. The place was more crowded than I expected and not nearly as quiet, but it made me smile to see so many people paying their respects to the fallen.    

 

The Cemetary is breathtaking and painstakingly cared for which we saw throughout our visit. My eyes continuously welled up as we walked past the rows and rows of white crosses. You cannot help but be moved in such a sacred space.  

  
 

Since we have another two days in the are we decided to drive home instead of head to Utah beach as originally planned. That is now on the docket for tomorrow.

 Once we were home we tried to snag  a very quick TRX workout before dinner. We are hoping to find a local park because the door frames aren't quite TRX legal. #nofaceplamtsplease 

For dinner we walked around town and picked a random menu that looked good. It was nice to relax after a long day and the food was incredible.

Which brings me to the What We Ate section of our post:   

   
    
   

Le husband & I cannot get enough of the coffee or espresso and could easily blow our food budget on coffee alone. #justkidding #butreallyitsthatgood

Alright, time to hit the hay. The wifi that was awesome last night is acting funky today so I'm not sure how many more posts we'll have here. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

An revior!!!!

9 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous place! And what amazing food! All of it looks incredible!

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  2. It sounds like your trip has gotten off to the best start! And way to go on working out while you're over there! I can't even imagine visiting Normandy and seeing all of the memorials. I'm sure that I would have been in tears too. Enjoy the rest of your time in Paris!

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  3. Wow what an amazing experience so far. Visiting Normandy is definitely on my bucket list.

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  4. oh wow this looks amazing! i know this was like your number one you were super excited to visit. not gonna lie, the food looks the most interesting for me haha and goof job on working out in the hotel room! you're a bad ass. hope the door holds ;)

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  5. Amazing adventures so far! The cemetery looks so beautiful! And look at you getting that workout in on your trip! Have fun and be safe!

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  6. I've always wanted to go to Normandy. Such a powerful place. We went to an American cemetery in the Netherlands, and I had those same feelings you described. All that food looks amazing!

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  7. So glad you made it safely!! Love all the pictures and look at you working out on vaca! You go girl ;) Have a BLAST!!

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  8. 1. I can't believe you're working out. LOL. Love iy!
    2. I can't wait to experience this! Bucket list for sure!

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