A visit to Juno Beach

Today was a quiet day for us.  We went shopping for groceries as we are finding that eating out here is just too expensive.  It may have a lot to do with the fact that this area seems to be very touristy and this weekend is some sort of holiday here in France with lots of people out and about.  In trying to find a place for lunch today we found that you almost always needed to have a reservation to get in.  Also, our timing is not adapted to European meal time, as between last night looking for a place to have supper and lunch today, we were finding that places were not open or just closing.  We were lucky to find a grocery store open today to buy provisions as they are not normally open on a Sunday, even in the larger places.  Today because it is a holiday weekend some were open for 4 hours.

After we were provisioned up we just went driving and eventually endred up at Juno Beach - were the Canadian forces landed on D-day June 6, 1944.  We were interested to learn that of all the various forces landing, the Canadian contingent was the only one to actually achieve it's adjenda for that day.

There is a house on this beach called "Canada House".  It was the first house to be liberated,  It now has a small museum of the Canadian's landing on June 6, 1944.  The same family who has owned the house since 1930 still lives there and offer tours by donations.  We tagged on to a tour that was just starting.

Many of the houses in the community had already been destroyed before June 6. This one was not, because it served a useful purpose to both the Germans and the Allied Forces.  For the Germans it was a good vantage point to see the beaches where landings were anticipated.  The family had been evacuated early and the house was empty when the German troops set up a stronghold within the house with machine guns and various other armoury,  For the Allied Forces and the Canadian Expeditionary Force particularly, the house was a reference point which they could see miles out to sea and indicated their landing point.

This is "Canada House" as it was in 1944

 from the landing craft - original photo

 prisoners of war - original photo

This is Canada House today

This is an actual uniform that was worn by one of the soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces that liberated the house on June 6, 1944.  He returned in 1994 and donated it.

This is one of the machine gun bunkers the Germans had set up

Juno Beach today is the scene of much gentler pursuits - here is something of what was happening

Fortresses were being built, messages were being sent

this one in rocks

this one in seaweeds

Little beach/change house ready and waiting

A game of Petanque or Boules being played on the green behind the beach houses

A memorial created to the Canadian liaison officers

Loved all the different shapes of houses and can't get over how narrow some are

This one has a thatched roof

a double spired church off in the distance

both spires are different

There is color everywhere

Massive lilac tree in bloom

This picture does not really show the true color - it was a deep dark burgundy

This is a heavy infestation of mistletoe

As you can see, we do not take the highways, rather, we like to wander through the towns and country side

This was a strange outcropping we saw today, not sure if it is natural 

or was man-made

That's all for today - off to Mont St Michel tomorrow