The day before I started my Euro 2016 road trip in France while I was still enjoying my Paris Perfect vacation rental in the City of Lights, my friend and I took a Normandy road trip. Normandy is best known as the site of D-Day; the massive allied invasion of Nazi occupied France known as Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944. Normandy is a big area and has a lot to see and do. Here’s what we did on a 16-hour Normandy road trip.

We left Paris at 7am in a crappy minivan rental and headed straight for Mont Saint-Michel. Mont Saint-Michel is a gorgeous island commune seemingly floating on water or mud at low tide. It really is stunning to look at from afar and well worth the highly caffeinated 3.5-hour drive from Paris!

You can’t just drive up to Mont Saint-Michel. You have to park is a designated area to make sure they get money from you and then they have a shuttle that runs you up to the site. The only real issue is it doesn’t stop for you to take photos from far away angles so we agreed to walk back, 1.5 miles or so.

Walking into the walled castle/city is a little off putting at first because there are so many tourists and even worse, so many tourist shops selling all the usual crap. I always say that tourists only go to good places; which is true. However, this was a bit much with so many tour groups in a confined space. So we raced around them and climbed up to the top where the cathedral is located.

The views from the top, even on a cloudy day, were pretty spectacular. The cathedral and castle itself were very impressive as we made our way in and down. The tour basically starts on the top and works its way down. In order to get to the top of Mont Saint-Michel, you have to climb a lot of steps and it can get pretty steep so take note of that beforehand for elderly and children.

We were a bit rushed as we had a lot more driving to go and opted to eat lunch on the way out of town after we walked back to the parking lot. This is a good decision because all the restaurants in Mont Saint-Michel itself are ridiculously overpriced. However, the photographs on the walk back were well worth the trip out.

From Mont Saint-Michel to Point Du Hoc is about 1.5 hours drive if you don’t get lost-which we did! While GPS is a godsend, it’s also not perfect. I’ve had a lot of issues with Google Maps on recent road trips in Europe like in Slovenia when I couldn’t find the caves I was looking for and ended up in the middle of a forest!

Taking it back to a serious note, Pointe Du Hoc is one of the most poignant places I’ve visited for World War II memorials and I’ve visited many in Europe and the Pacific. When you first enter there is a video that is a must watch. It will bring a tear to your eye while it explains the allied invasion at Point Du Hoc and how they had to scale the 100-foot cliffs with ladders to defeat the Germans.

I was honored to be in the presence of a WWII veteran who was there with his family. He was in his 90’s and it was his first time back to Normandy. It was heart warming/breaking to watch him and his family, react to the video. I cannot imagine what his eyes have seen and like all WWII veterans, we owe them more than can ever possibly be given.

One of my grandfathers served on the ground in Europe and the other one made helicopters for the war at home because he had poor hearing an couldn’t enlist. I have the utmost respect for the military and think the Greatest Generation is just that.

The whole world owes them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. The only way we do them justice is to learn, pay attention and pass along the knowledge to future generations that these allied warriors saved the world from tyranny. They did what they had to do selflessly, courageously, and triumphantly.

Pointe Du Hoc will always be special to me because I will always share that moment with that man and his family, even though they didn’t even know I was watching. Then touring the battlefield that is so well kept was amazing. It shows you the real challenge the US Army Rangers faced climbing the cliffs and the bunkers that the Nazi’s had behind 3 meters of concrete.

So many lost their lives but it was a strategic necessity as part of Operation Overlord. The American Rangers took Pointe Du Hoc as the rest of the Allies took the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

Only about 2 miles or so from Pointe Du Hoc is Omaha Beach, the site of the largest invasion in military history. It turned out to be the most important achievement in the battle for Europe.

Visiting Omaha Beach for me was surreal. Standing on the beach itself where so many Americans died trying to protect our freedom for generations nearly brought me to tears.

I’ve seen every documentary and movie about D-Day and WWII but when you’re there it’s another story. You put yourself in the invasion and you can’t imagine the courage those boys showed coming off the boats and storming the beaches in what had to be sheer horror.

I can’t even fathom doing something like that and so many saw so many brothers in arms go down. In the end, the Allies invaded at 5 different beaches and it turned out to be the turning point that eventually led to victory in Europe over the Nazi’s.

On our Normandy road trip we also stopped at Gold Beach because my friends Grandfather was a British soldier who landed there and survived. She was telling me stories that he used to tell the family and again, I just have the utmost respect for that generation of Americans, British, Canadian and every other nationality that fought on the side of the Allies. We owe them so much and I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be here if the Nazi’s had won the war.

By the time we made it to the American War Cemetery atop Omaha Beach it was about 4pm. If you’ve ever been an American War Cemetery then you know how powerful they can be. I’ve been to them in Tunisia, Philippines and of course Arlington, Virginia but nothing comes close to the power of Normandy.

You walk around in silence staring at graves of people you never met. They are perfectly placed so they look in unison like good soldiers. The setting is beautiful, right above Omaha Beach. There are monuments all around but there’s no noise. It’s a respect that people show the glorious dead and to me that is the way it should be.

There is also a fabulous Visitor Center with a museum that is a must visit at the Cemetery. I learned so much about the battles, the planning, the delays, the deception caused by misinformation to deliberately confuse the Germans, and about Eisenhower himself. It was a hell of a day and I urge all Americans to visit Normandy at some point in their lives and pay respect to the glorious dead.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord” is written at the bottom of the above statue.

The Normandy road trip concluded in Paris around 11pm with a trip to my favorite restaurant in Paris, Le Relais de Venise l’Entrecote, for some much needed wine and food after an emotional day. A great day it was and I will never forget my Normandy road trip.

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