Beaches landing troops in Normandy

To understand Normandy, the mentality of the French, one must know not only its centuries-old history of ancient cities, abbeys, Vikings, dukes, but also its layer, which is very fresh in the history of France, in the memory of the French and those who came to their aid in difficult times.

It is often difficult to understand the attitude of the French to America, to England, to Canada, but all this lies in the history of relations between these countries. And there is one page of history that has closely intertwined all these countries and united them in memory, in which there is the gratitude of the French, the pride and pain of Americans and British, Canadians.

What is it about, you ask? About sad but bright cemeteries with the same white crosses scattered on green lawns, like huge flocks of white seagulls over the Manche, about powerful Shermann tanks, about beautiful blond guys - American paratroopers, who are called - "freedom descended from heaven," about the battle for freedom that these guys brought to the French at the cost of their lives. Everything, as in our lines, stirring the soul: "Only their proud valor settled in the hearts of others..." of those who, like a young girl walking through the cemetery, suddenly exclaimed to her friend: "You imagine all of them, so many of them, they died so that we now live and walk here." That's what any girl who speaks Russian there, in another country, who also knows this pain, could say, so you, like no one else, understand these people coming here, even if they speak a completely different language, but about the same.

If you come to Normandy not for 1 day, then after cheeses, castles, Calvados and cider, you need to see the places associated with the memory of the Battle of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

I will be happy to be your guide on this trip and we will go with you to Normandy with an unusual excursion, which I love to conduct, because I think these places in France deserve the attention of not only the English-speaking public, which is always in abundance here.

Believe me, this is amazing, in every town of Normandy from Dieppe to Sherburg there are places dedicated to this battle, which here, on the scale of France, is often compared with the Battle of Stalingrad.

To understand and feel the same spirit as the thousands of Frenchmen, Americans, Englishmen who come here every year, you need to see museums that speak more than words. Walk along the coast with the remains of German bunkers, Zots, see the mass of Shermann tanks, go into the buzzing plane that “flyes” over the Manche, feel like an American parachutist who in a few minutes will jump to meet fate. And then look at one of the beautiful military cemeteries. It sounds strange, but cemeteries can be very beautiful, like the feat of heroes who rest under white crosses.

We will go with you to the towns and beaches of La Mancha with strange names for France - Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, we will rise to the height that will seem something familiar, again, as in another story, in another country, in which the same sadness sounds in a beautiful song: "Glowed, falling a rocket like a burnt star, who at least once saw it, he will never forget, he will not forget, attacks furious those near an unfamiliar village, at an unnamed height ..." Believe me, you will want to see that height, even if it was taken by American soldiers, because soldiers who bravely go under enemy fire with their heroism resemble each other.

We will follow the tracks of Saving Private Brian and you will understand why this film is one of the rare American war films that won as many as 5 Oscars.

But we won’t be talking about sad things all the time, I’ll also show you interesting places associated with an old-old fairy tale, a completely different battle. It was so long ago, not in 1944, but in 1066, and then too and here lived the great warrior William the Conqueror, aka Guillaume the Victor. His soldiers were also brave, they also won, but this is as a highlight to the beautiful and touching story of the brave soldiers who finally liberated France from the Nazis in that now too distant 1944.