This is a summary of my trip to France from 9/27/15 to 10/4/15. I flew into Paris but since I had been there several times before I took a train straight to the Normandy area. I took an amazing all day tour of the D-Day beaches thru Normandy. One of the most moving things I’ve ever experienced during travel was standing at the US Cemetery over top of Omaha beach where so many of our heroes died during WWII and watched them lower the flag at sunset while taps was played. There was not a dry eye in the crowd and that ceremony is performed every day. I did not know that Teddy Roosevelt was part of the troops that stormed Normandy and that he is buried here. Part of the tour also took us to the church where the American paratrooper was caught on top of the church steeple (that character was played by Red Buttons in the movie “The Longest Day”). What was also amazing to me was that throughout the Normandy area many of the restaurants and shops had signs on their windows (still to this day from 1945) that said “Welcome Liberators” recognizing that Americans liberated them from Hitler and the Nazi occupation. I know some people say the French people in Paris can be a little cold but I found the French people in the Normandy area to be very welcoming and friendly. Also did a day trip to Mont -Saint Michel which is a church on the top of an island with a beautiful setting off the coast of northern France. I then went to the Loire Valley which has some of the largest concentrations of castles in France. I stayed in the small town of Amboise as my hub and did day trips to all the castles. Each castle was more beautiful than the next. That town is the final home of Leonardo DaVinci and is also where he is buried. I really enjoyed the quaint town of Amboise and would highly recommend it. I then did a final day back in Paris before flying home. Enjoy!
The Wandering Italian 