Normandy

Since the weather was hot and I hadn't seen a beach in a while, I decided that a trip up north to the Normandy beaches of Deauville, Trouville and Honfleur would be a good idea while I had the time.  So I took the bus up from Paris to Caen, where I stayed a night in a hostel or CIS.  Caen is an unusual combination of the old and the new, with remnants of William the Conqueror's 1060s castle still there, alongside a city totally rebuilt after the 1944 Battle of Normandy.
From Caen I took a day trip via Bayeux to Utah beach, the westernmost beach of the five landing areas of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6 1944. There I saw a tank on the beach which looked completely out of place, but provided much food for thought.  We also passed through the village of St-Mere-Eglise, famous because of the unplanned D-day landing of John Steele, the American paratrooper, on top of the church tower. A parachute containing an effigy of Steele still hangs from the roof.