Friday - Paris to Caen

If it weren't for one particular alumni director who managed to sleep through every attempt at waking him, the group would have left at 7:45 this morning for the long drive to Normandy. But we left at 8:05, and fought the traffic getting out of the city before somewhat clear sailing to Caen.

The Caen Memorial Museum was our next stop, and it was an impressive facility. A couple of folks commented on how interesting it was to see a history that we Americans think we "know," but that is a bit different when seen through a different set of eyes. For instance, this museum spent a great deal of space detailing the French Resistance, the partitioning of France during the Vichy years, and life under the occupation. In the photos above, that's a Britsh Typhoon fighter-bomber on the left: a really menacing airplane; on the right, in front of an Omaha Beach memorial, is Chris Gardocki, the former Steelers and Clemson punter who happens to be on the trip with us this week.

The next stop of the day was at Pegasus Bridge, the drawbridge over the Orne River just a few miles up from the beach. It was the objective of the British and Canadian paratroopers and glider forces, and it's a much-celebrated aspect of the Normandy invasion. Most unbelievable was to see how close to the bridge the glider pilots were able to land their plywood and canvas aircraft. The lead glider stopped just 47 yards from the east approach of the bridge, and the glider troops took their objective in just a few minutes. Had they not been successful, an entire German panzer division could have crossed into the morning's bridgehead area and pushed the British and Canadian amphibious forces back into the English Channel. It's really a remarkable story. Here we see the Bruce Dardens in front of the original bridge structure, which was replaced in the early 90s but is preserved at the musuem just a short distance from its original location.

Caen is a city of perhaps 250,000, but it doesn't feel that large when you're in the city center. It's a pleasant town, and appears to be very livable. When Montgomery failed to take the city in the opening days of the campaign, and in fact was still unable to break through after a full month, he grew impatient and decided that the way to dislodge the German defenders was to bomb the place to the ground. It's been a sore spot in Anglo-French relations since then, as the "liberators" from across the Channel laid waste to one of France's historical jewels. Miraculously, many ancient churches, the two abbies that were established by William the Conqueror, and William's castle itself managed to be spared. Save for these wonderful landmarks, Caen is a very new-looking city, which is kind of a shame since the older architecture is just so beautiful.


The good news in Caen is that the beers that were costing us 8 Euros in Paris last night are only 2.50 here. A group of us enjoyed a couple of drinks on the sidewalk this afternoon, out in the sun by the river, before tonight's excursion up to Guillaume's castle. Gorgeous!