Normandy 2Days Trip Landing Beaches and Mont St Michel from Paris

There are no words to describe how amaing this trip was! It was two packed and extremely well organized days in Normandy and Brittany. Our tour guide was very informative regarding the history, culture and architecture of our locations. The highlight was visiting the beaches of Normandy and learning the details of D-Day. This is a trip every American should make.

The weekend was excellent. On the first day visiting Rouen and Hornfleur was well timed for grabbing delicious French food to eat and seeing the wonderful towns.Our guide Amelia was so knowledgeable as we walked along with her. Visiting Omaha beach and the American War Cemetery was also well timed, but we were glad of being just a small group as you have to move quickly to stick to the schedule and make the most of everything. We stayed overnight at the Mercure hotel in Caen and the meals were delicious. On the second day the walled city of St Malo was a real highlight…and I have never seen so many patisseries with such delicious wares! Again our guide was extremely knowledgeable and kept us to time for our visit to Mont St Michel. What was not clear was how many steps you need to walk inside the monument. Up hill all the way and 300 steps so keep that in mind if you have knee issues! We also became so full of interesting information about Mont St Michel that perhaps less detail may be more appropriate for future times. The difficult part is the 5 hour or more drive to get back to Paris. Of course it is a long return journey, but I don’t think that is clearly explained in the beginning information. ( and perhaps just a small thing, but I wished the front bus window had been cleaned so we could see well out of it. The side windows were lovely and clear) The tour is still a great way to see and learn about things that I could never have seen myself.

We spent the first half day touring 2 cities and their cathedrals, Nothing of WWII mentioned. Just talk of architecture and history. We went to the Normandy cemetery, but again only stayed about an hour. We later made it to Omaha Beach, but didn't stay long enough to explore the area. WE did visit the canons on Juno Beach. Day 2 we went to St. Mont Michal and an old walled city, which was nice, but nothing talked about how they related to WWII. Went to the German gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer. But I have to say the tour guide was excellent and very knowledgeable. She had answers to all the questions and was friendly and easy to talk to, I just thought the tour would have been All about WWII.