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| Clock art at Gare St. Lazare |
The day after the Kangaroo joined us we flew to Paris. Or, rather, we flew near Paris and took a bus the rest of the way (after a rather shady looking Frenchman tried to offer us a lift). From the moment we arrived it felt as though we were lost - it was also a far cry from the Paris I remember from 7 years ago.
Together we negotiated the metro system to get to Paris Gare St. Lazare where we intended to catch our first InterRail/EURail train to Caen. We didn't know about the "social action" (aka: a strike) which had started a couple of days earlier. After queuing for ages to get their passes validated, the Bear and Kangaroo were ready to go. Unfortunately, we had missed our train so we decided to have a late lunch nearby instead.
After filling up on burgers, fois gras, and French desserts we were on the next train to Caen - which just so happened to be packed so full we spent the 2 hour journey sitting on the floor.
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| D-Day posters at the train station |
It was a relatively uneventful evening after that, which I believe C & J spent the majority of asleep. The next morning we caught a bus to Courseulles-sur-Mar, a little over an hour away. We were lucky enough to catch the bus with a lovely French woman who gave us advice and helped us find our train back to Paris, as well as making sure we knew when to leave in order to catch said train. This did, unfortunately, leave us with less than two hours to spend in Courseulles, but at least we had the opportunity to visit the Juno Beach Centre.
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| Map of the planned invasion |
The centre was inspiring. It was built around the information and history of the Canadian forces who took part in the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. We didn't make it for the anniversary itself, but we did our best to be there as close to the time as possible. There were still many commemorative decorations around - it was so strange to see so many Canadian flags in France!
Outside the centre there is a memorial garden with plaques and names for all those who gave their lives during the operation; inside they have a wonderfully informative and interactive exhibit about the history leading up to the landings and Canada's role in the war.
The entire experience was moving. I come from a military family, although (to the best of my knowledge) none of my family participated in either war. Despite this, the knowledge gleaned from our visit and the life, experiences and repercussions laid out before us was extremely emotional and informative.
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| Field of poppies nearby |
I would definitely recommend a visit to the Centre for anyone who is interested in Canadian war history. There were other museums nearby as well - it was a rather long stretch of beach - but we didn't have time to visit them; however, I am sure there is much available for the inquisitive mind.
After our visit we hopped on another bus and made our slow way back to Paris.
'Til next time
~Crown
