Areas of interest in France for the history buff

For those few of us who are still around who remember D-Day and the landings on the coast of France on June 6, 1944, Normandy has to be the most important historical area of France. On that day, I was more than 6,000 miles away at the Navy base on Treasure Island, California, an 18-year-old crew member of a Navy troop transport.

We were about to head out to the Pacific, where we’d land GIs in the Philippines in October 1944, and Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa early in 1945. We knew what was ahead for us, and could relate to the GIs who were just going ashore in Normandy. We listened intently to the news reports and followed the action as the American and British troops fought their way inland.

Although I never got to France during World War II, many school friends and relatives fought there in 1944 and 1945, and too many never came home. When I retired and started on my world travels some 45 years later, I made sure one of my first destinations was France, and particularly the Normandy landing beaches as a start.

We’ve been there three times, and find Normandy both a charming area, with wonderful scenery, hotels and restaurants, as well as a place of great sadness. We’ve strolled among the rows of white grave markers in the American cemeteries. Look, there’s cousin Morty. He never made it off his landing craft. And Wasil, that crazy classmate who was going to open his own Greek restaurant after the war. And Andy from the class ahead of us. He was a paratrooper who earned the Silver Star, but never lived to wear it.

Of course, no historian could ever go to France without visiting the many interesting sites in Paris. On our first trip, our little hotel was across a very narrow street from the Sorbonne, the famed university that dates back to the 13th Century. From our room, we could look into the classrooms, just a couple of meters away, and see students studying, painting and listening to lectures. We also visited the hallowed halls of the school, and enjoyed the outdoor cafes nearby in the Latin Quarter, the city’s hangout for students and artists.

We saw other famous Paris landmarks, including Notre Dame Cathedral (we toured the underground catecombs), the Eiffel Tower (rode to the top), the Louvre Museum (my college History of Art teacher would have never forgiven me if I hadn’t), and the Arc de Triomphe (another cousin had marched through it when Paris was liberated on August 25, 1944).

Because my spouse is a self-taught connoiseur