Normandy and England are tightly bound by their shared history, modern and ancient.
Yesterday I went to see the Bayeux tapestry, the 1000 year old depiction of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings, and the Battle itself. The tapestry is about 70 meters long and very colourful. The battle scene is quite graphic, with the Normans trampling on beheaded Saxon bodies.
On a walk around Bayeux cathedral, where the tapestry originally hung, I came across another memorial to fallen English soldiers of a much more recent time. Memories of the D-Day landings are still very present in Normandy. The landscape is dotted with cemeteries of soldiers, the number of grave stones is astonishing. That so many young men from so many countries lost their lives in such a short space of time is staggering. The debt Europe still owes them is humbling.
On Thursday I saw a British veteran sitting on a Bench by Gold Beach, looking over the sea where the British troops landed, overcame the Germans and then dragged in a working port that had been constructed in England. Today children play on the merry-go-round and build sandcastles on the beach where the remnants of the port remain. Tourists eat ice cream while walking up the picturesque streets.
At first it seemed incongruous that such activity should happen at the spot where so many lost their lives. But then that's what they fought for, that people could live normal lives, free from the terror of Nazism.
Hopefully the cemeteries will remain so lovingly cared for for a long time.
Yesterday I went to see the Bayeux tapestry, the 1000 year old depiction of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings, and the Battle itself. The tapestry is about 70 meters long and very colourful. The battle scene is quite graphic, with the Normans trampling on beheaded Saxon bodies.
On a walk around Bayeux cathedral, where the tapestry originally hung, I came across another memorial to fallen English soldiers of a much more recent time. Memories of the D-Day landings are still very present in Normandy. The landscape is dotted with cemeteries of soldiers, the number of grave stones is astonishing. That so many young men from so many countries lost their lives in such a short space of time is staggering. The debt Europe still owes them is humbling.
On Thursday I saw a British veteran sitting on a Bench by Gold Beach, looking over the sea where the British troops landed, overcame the Germans and then dragged in a working port that had been constructed in England. Today children play on the merry-go-round and build sandcastles on the beach where the remnants of the port remain. Tourists eat ice cream while walking up the picturesque streets.
At first it seemed incongruous that such activity should happen at the spot where so many lost their lives. But then that's what they fought for, that people could live normal lives, free from the terror of Nazism.
Hopefully the cemeteries will remain so lovingly cared for for a long time.
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