Once a year, on 6 June, we remember the World War II amphibious landings at Normandy. It's likely we'll not see their equal again.
The other DrC and I have toured the landing beaches and the fortified headlands which the GIs and their Brit and Canadian counterparts had to take, climbing into a hail of fire. The terrain very much favored the defending Germans, and yet the "boys" did the job, took the beaches and the headlands, and pushed on into France.
There's an excellent French museum of the landing nearby, if you go to Normandy I recommend it. Many of the German fortifications are still there to see as well.
While in the neighborhood, go see the unrelated Bayeux Tapestry. If you're expecting lush gigantic fabric hangings with fine gold and silk embroidery, you'll be disappointed.
Imagine instead folks decided to tell the story of the 1066 Norman Conquest of England in storyboard form, and hand stitched the resulting vignettes, in order, onto a very loooong bolt of muslin. There you've got the Bayeux Tapestry.
The "tapestry" was both a great teaching tool for non-readers in its day, and a historical record somewhat biased in the winners' favor, as is most history. In any event, it's a one-off, you'll not see its like elsewhere.
Farther east, Honfleur is a charming small river port, across the mouth of the Seine River from Le Havre. Our river cruiser moored there for a couple of days and we liked it a lot. It's maybe an hour's drive from Omaha Beach.
