Hotel Bristol

The small church of Saint-Laurent

by Pavlik_NL

Can't tell much about this little church that I saw dedicated to Saint-Laurent in the centre of Caen. I liked it's baroque facade and it's pastel colours, as I saw it from the park in which we played with Ilja.

Sword Beach

by Ewingjr98

Sword is the easternmost of the five D-Day landing beaches. It was attacked by the British 2nd Army along with paratroopers & glider troops from the British 6th Airborne Division who landed earlier in the morning. Allied casualties here were very light, suffering only 600 dead, wounded, or missing after landing 29,000 soldiers on the beach. By the end of the day, all major objectives of Sword were accomplished except the planned linkup with the Canadians at Juno to the west.

Capitol of Basse Normandie, risen from the ruins

by Pavlik_NL

"Historical centre of Basse-Normandie"

Caen has seen it's troubles in the world and yet, walking around this capitol of Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy) you hardly notice that. The city is full of monumental historical buildings and breaths an ancient atmosphere. Already in Roman times, Caen was an important regional centre. With the birth of the Viking colonie Normandy it's importance grew, as it became the capitol of this land. Here the duke of Normandy, among them the famous William the Conqueror, found their home in the robust castle that still determines a part of the city.

"Caen, twice from capitol to ruins to capitol again"

Already in 1346 the town saw it's first misfortune, when King Edward the Third decided to make a profit by plundering the town. At that moment Caen was the largest and richest Normandian town and got out of the battle a wrecked, plundered and burned town. Many thousand of it's citizens killed, but ... the castle miraculously held out and was not conquered. More then 600 years later, Caen again gets destroyed. During the Battle of Normandy, the fighting around and in Caen are extreme and fierce. This centre of road and rail connections is important to both Nazi and Allied forces, leaving the city liberated yet devistated after June 1944.

"The day before the Tour de France hits Caen"

Our visit to the wonderful city of Caen, was at the day before the Tour the France (2006) would hit the Basse-Normandian capitol in full force. Already the town was dressed up with lots of flags and banners, predicting a extreme hectic day when the cyclists would arrive. Roads were cleaned and there was a unusual business throughout the town. Nothing compared - of course - to the thing that would rage over Caen the next day, as the Tour de France always is a huge spectacle attracting thousands of bicycle-fans from all over Europe. Cities pay enormous amounts to be taken into this first of all bicycle sport events.