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Arrived home late last night to happy pets and a dirty house. Almost spent the night in Boston, but a kind United ticket agent took pity on us and found us a way home. (Thank you Nikki!) Kat and Mark picked us up way past Kat's bedtime. Stayed up late tidying up and then woke early. Met Kat for an early catch up meeting, bought groceries, tidied up some more, communed with the pets, sorted mail and got to thinking about our adventure of the last two weeks. Today, I was thinking about landing in Paris and our time in Normandy and remembered some favorite moments:

• The look on Annalise's face when we arrived in Paris.
  
• Picking up the rental car and getting stuck in the lot while we read the manual and figured out how to get it in reverse from the drawings. Backing up and driving away feeling victorious.
• Driving out to Giverny to see Monet's garden and discovering irises in shades of copper and bright blue and the deepest purple I've seen, just on the edge of black and luscious poppies of all shades, and the pool of waterlilies or "nympheas".
  
• Continuing on to Briqueback, but getting turned around and stopping in at a little cafe to get directions and ordered a sandwich at the counter. We forgot that holding up your first finger means "2" in Europe, (they start counting with the thumb) so he brought out two, but when he realized from our expression that we just wanted one, he insisted on us taking both and charged us for only one even though I tried to pay him for both. We met kind people like him all over the country and we got much better at ordering.
  
• Arriving in Normandy, where the roads are narrow and the cows are fenced in by hedgerows. (We later learned that hedgerows are strong enough to stop Sherman tanks.)
  
• Staying at La Lande, our B&B in Bricquebec, a farmhouse turned into a cozy home full of books. The hosts are British and all of the guests except for us, were too. We had some great discussions over breakfast and dinner. Speaking of dinner, the food was amazing, starting with salad or soup, then a main course, followed by an assortment of cheeses, followed by dessert. Good wine throughout the meal.
  
• Touring the D-Day beaches with Ted, our B&B host and a historian. Seeing the remains of the barges brought over from Britain for the attack and realizing what an amazing, crafty, serious plan the allies had. Stepping into a German tank bunker, seeing the fields, still marked from the bombs, now covered in crops of hay.
  
• Driving the narrow country lanes with Ted and learning how the tanks struggled with the hedgerows and the paratroopers with the flooded fields. Walking the beaches of Omaha and Utah, and coming away with a new understanding of the difficulties that the 82nd and 101st Divisions met when dropped onto thousands of German soldiers. I didn't realize that the Nazi's were having an "invasion exercise" when the Americans arrived, losing our advantage of surprise. Most of the tanks sank, and the boys just kept coming to the beach, though they had to know the odds were terrible. I began to understand more of the brave, patriotism of that day.
  
• Visiting Sainte Mere Eglise, the first town liberated by the American Paratroopers, the "82nd Airborne". The story of the town is told in the movie, "The Longest Day", when John Steele's parachute catches on the church steeple, where he hangs, and is eventually captured, then rescued. He became a town hero after the war and his family still visits the town on D-Day.
  
• Visiting the American cemetery. The graves are arranged in no particular order, generals next to privates, names from every state of the union mixed in with the unknowns, over 6,000 clean white markers, some with crosses some with the star of David. Immaculate grounds, fresh flowers, men with WWII caps and medals on their jackets.
  
  
  
• Visiting the German cemetery. There are 6 names on each marker, the bodies of 6 boys in each grave and over 10,000 Nazi's are buried here. No fresh flowers, simple, unkempt grounds. Remembering that all the WWII soldiers were just boys and young men, even the Nazis and as Ted said, "they all had mums." Proudly remembering the time Ronald Reagan came here, despite criticism from Americans of both parties, because he wanted to recognize the total cost of war.
  
• Hearing stories I'd never read in history books: The paratrooper who took back a German stronghold all by himself and visiting the tiny, simple old church where it all happened. An article from the Birmingham newspaper tells the story of the soldier and how he was awarded the Medal of Honor. The brave French resistance efforts. The French villages who were torn between reistance efforts and the presence of the Nazi soldiers.
  
• When Ted pulled out three silver forks and a silver bowl with the initials AH that his father, a WWII photographer picked up from the remains of Hitler's bunker.
  
• Visiting the town of Bayeux, wandering into a shop and down the stairs to the basement annex that was built in the 13th century.
  
• Going for a run on the last rainy morning in Normandy, hearing the sheep baa-ing as I ran past, seeing a mare and colt, the fresh air, the wildflowers.
  
• Driving around the little towns and country roads with Annalise, being amazed at what a good navigator she is and what a great travel team we are. Talking a lot and telling each other stories, relaxing and having fun with each other.