Day 11: D-Day

We figured today would be a bit nuts.

Today was our D-day adventure. We were to leave Paris at 7:45 am, pass through Caen, arrive in Bayeux, and find a bus to Omaha beach and Point du hoc. Then, because we couldn't find a hotel anywhere nearby, we were going to catch a 5 pm train to Mount St. Michel 2 hours away.

Here what actually happened. We woke up at 6 am and caught our morning train and when we arrived in Bayeux at 10 am we were told there were no buses or any way to the beaches today without a 65th anniversary ticket. We remembered seeing signs to the celebration on our transfer at Caen, so we decided to take the next train back. We asked anyone we could find about getting to the beaches without a ticket and met the same denying respone in Caen. So at noon, dejected and feeling we wasted a day, we went to a nearby cafe (as the next train to Mt. St. Michel was hours away).

As we drank our coffee, we noticed some more buses pulling up and thought we'd give it one more try. A French bus driver suggested we look for an American embassy woman. We saw a lady in white running around seeming to have some authority. After several attempts to interrupt her, we finally got her attention and asked for tickets. She quickly asked if we were American (us - 'yes') and what state we were from (us - 'Wisconsin'). She responded, "Wisconsin's an ok state, here's two tickets, you can get on the last bus with me but we have to run to drop off your bags. Follow me!"

She took off running in heels and got us to a baggage room, asked our name and scribbled a bag tag for us, then hurried us back to the last bus. We boarded with her, with nothing but what we had in our pockets, and two invitations. Then we embarked on a 45 minute police escorted bus ride.

We made it to the memorial cemetery by Omaha beach for a ceremony with the French president, Canadian and British prime ministers, and Obama, and about 7000 invitees. We had a few minutes to look around the cemetery and out to Omaha beach, but were directed back to our seats for a long 4 hour ceremony.

It was boring at parts (particularly those in French), but it was cool to see the presidents land in their helicopters, Obama's speech, the 21 gun salute (BIG guns), and 3 flyovers (4 US, 4 UK, and 4 French jets). All the while, we were getting colder, wetter, and hungrier (we left in such a rush that we never ate, so by 7 pm all we had that day were 2 breakfast bars, water, and some crackers).

The one true negative to our decision to take the tickets is that we missed the last train to Mount St. Michel, where we had already booked and paid for a hotel. We figured our best bet was to take a train back to Paris. We arrived at 9:30 pm (still light out) and wandered around the train station's neighborhood looking for wifi or a hotel. Within a half hour, we found hotel that was suitable, we dropped off our bags, and went to the nearest restaurant and ate the best darn lasagna ever (it wasn't that great, but we were very hungry).

So that was our D-day adventure, we never thought we'd be in a police-escorted bus with embassy folks or see presidents/prime ministers on this trip. Now, back in Paris, we'll get some rest and hope for a more easy going day in Lyon tomorrow.