Day 28 (Saturday, June 10)

We woke up around 8 and decided to wander over to the race site so Jonathan and Ben could pick up their packets. The city of Caen is very pretty, and it looks pretty much like all the other mid-sized French cities I've been to. It took us about 45 minutes to get over to the race site, and Jonathan and Ben got their packets and long-sleeved shirts. I really don't know why they did long-sleeve; it was pretty warm weather. I checked to see if I could register for the race, and they told me "non!" So, I figured I would just bandit the race and run it anyway.

After picking up our packets, we made our way to the tourism office. They showed us how we could do a tour of the Normandy beaches, so we got on a train and went to a nearby town where the tours started from. For 34 euro, we got a 4.5 hour tour of Omaha Beach, the American Cemetary at Normandy, an authentic German artillery position, and Pont du Loc (the sea walls that US Rangers scaled in order to take over a German artillery position). We also got a free museum pass for the D-Day museum at Allomanchee Beach. I learned that after the allied forces took Allomanchee Beach, they built a harbor in just 2 weeks actually on the ocean. It was amazing to see the ingenuity they used during that war.

After touring the Normandy coast, we came back to Caen and had a great dinner at a pizza-ish restaraunt. I got a combo where for 14 euro, I got an appetizer pizza, a trio of pastas, and a big bowl of ice cream for dessert. By then, it was already 10:30, so we just went back to the hostel and went to bed. I got the floor again. :-)