During the second week of January, we drove to the Normandy area of France. We stayed at a B&B that is about 400 meters from the Gold Beach area where the troops from the UK landed on June 6, 1944. The UK troops came up the road next to the buildings.  The house was built in the seventeenth century. Our room was on the second floor of the building on the right of the picture.

The girls are helping me check out Gold Beach.

   Arromanches

In the middle of Gold Beach is the town of Arromanches. It  became one of two assembly points for the Mulberry artificial harbors, temporary jetties of prefabricated concrete supports, steel spans, and floating piers that were towed across the channel in sections and aligned perpendicularly to the beach. A similar harbor at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, at Omaha Beach, was destroyed (June 19-22) by harsh storms. Thus, Arromanches became one of the principal offloading areas for Allied troops and supplies until permanent harbors could be repaired elsewhere. The remains of the Mulberry can still be seen in the water. A local museum (Musée du Débarquement) displays artifacts, three-dimensional models, photographs, and film footage related to the Normandy Invasion.

Omaha Beach is a wide sandy beach at low tide. I think the soldiers landed at low tide so they could see the obstructions that were installed by the German army. 

Bonnie is checking out a German bunker that overlooks the beach. Notice how thick the walls are.

This is a view of the beach from the bunker.

This is the current view of the beach from the water.