Route to see D-Day sites
 

We are travelling by car from Amsterdam to Mon St. Michel and would like to visit some key D-Day sites. As we are Canadian, some Canadian historical sites would be appreciated. Any suggestions for route and stops?

The route is pretty obvious - it runs along the seashore. I'd recommend stopping in Caen to visit the Mémorial Museum and maybe in Arromanches the WWII Museum. I believe there is a Canadian cemetary somewhere, though I can't remember where - I'm sure the Canadian tourist office can steer you to it

You don't say how much time you have available between Amsterdam and Mt St-Michel. However, en route to the D-Day sites, you really must visit the Vimy memorial (just outside Arras), the Newfoundland memorial at Beaumont-Hamel and Dieppe.

In Basse-Normandie, as StCirq has recommended, the Caen Memorial museum is a must. Caen, along with many other towns was liberated by the Canadians. Make sure that you visit the Canadian Memorial Garden at the museum. There will be guides from the Canadian Battlefields Foundation at the museum who can give you some useful information on Canadian sites in the area. You can also look at their website at: http://www.canadianbattleofnormandyf...on.ca/main.htm

The Canadians landed at Juno Beach, which stretches from St. Aubin-sur-Mer in the east to Courseulles-sur Mer in the west. At Courseulles, you will find the Canadian Juno Beach Centre. It has a very good website at junobeach.org. Just inland from Juno Beach is one of the two large Canadian cemeteries, at Beny-sur-Mer. The other (Bretteville-sur-Laize) is south towards Falaise, but Canadians are also buried in many of the other Commonwealth War Cemeteries, and those without graves are commemorated in the memorial at Bayeux.

In Bayeux, which is probably the best place to stay, you should visit the excellent Battle of Normandy Museum.

The Battle of Normandy was not just D-Day, however, and there are other sites of interest to Canadians which you might want to see, including Point 67, overlooking Verrières Ridge south of Caen, and St-Lambert-sur Dives, marking the closing of the Falaise Gap in August 1944.

This is probably more than you may have time to see, but there is much of interest for Canadians from the Battle of Normandy. To learn more about it, I'd suggest three books: George Blackburn's "The Guns of Normandy", Terry Copp's "Fields of Fire", and Ted Barris" "Juno". Terry Copp has also published an excellent guide to the Canadian sites in Normandy, which is due to be republished this spring.

Many things for the suggestions.

Sorry. That's thanks - but thanks for the many things to do.

The routes to all the sites are well marked, making driving quite easy.