The Beaches of Normandy

One of the most exciting places that I will visit this summer is the infamous beaches of Normandy, the site of the D-Day landing. I wrote an article on the D-Day landings to help you realize how historic this site is.

 4 years after German forces over ran France, and the British expelled from continental Europe, 3 years since Hitler invaded the USSR, 2 and a half years after the US formally entered the war, the Germans were now either halted or retreating on the eastern front, defeated in North Africa, and being pushed up the Italian peninsula. The allies then started stockpiling troops and supplies and launching strategic bombing runs in preparation for the D-Day landings to liberate Nazi occupied France. 



Then the supreme commander of allied expeditionary forces general Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a message to all members of the allied expeditionary force, "You are about to embark upon the great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months". In the middle of the night 3 divisions of paratroopers (2 American and 1 British) had landed behind enemy lines to help facilitate the D-Day landings. Then in the early morning of June 6 1944, 6 infantry divisions, 160,000 Allied troops landed at along a 50-mile (80K) stretch of beach separated into 5 sections of beaches, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. With the support of 195,700 naval and merchant Navy personnel, and 5000 ships this was the largest amphibious invasion in human history and was executed by land, sea and air elements.

In addition to the invasion of Normandy there was a massive deception campaign to confuse the Germans and convince them that the landings would be at Pas-de-Calais because the distance from England was shorter. To do this the allies launched operation fortitude south. The goal of the operation was to convince Adolf Hitler that the invasion will be made up of the nonexistent first United States army group, led by real General George S Patton. It also was meant to convince the Germans that the Normandy invasion was just a diversion from the main invasion. Other successful operations include operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable which involved heavy bombers flying precise patterns to France during the D-Day invasion. The planes carried radar reflecting aluminum strips to create a picture on German radar of an incoming invasion fleet. Ultimately these campaigns were successful in convincing Hitler because he refused to move vital forces from Pas-de-Calais to Normandy until it was too late.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

One of the many world famous sites that I will get to learn about and visit is the Blarney stone. Our delegation will be learning about the legend and tradition that is the Blarney stone during our stay in southern Ireland.

 

  The Blarney stone is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney castle. According to legend if a person kisses the Blarney stone the stone bestows the gift of Gab onto the kisser. This gives the kisser the ability to speak with great eloquence or skill at flattery. The ritual has been preformed by millions of people. But to perform the ritual is no small feat. One must get to the peak of Blarney castle then they must lean over backwards, on the edge of the castle the height of which is high enough to cause attacks of acrophobia, and only then can they kiss the blarney stone.

  The origin of the Blarney stone is somewhat unknown; no one is exactly sure how it came to be. Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, the man whose family ruled Blarney Castle, was involved in a lawsuit. So he appealed to Clíodhna (queen of the Banshees of the Tuatha De Danann and is the goddess of beauty and love and one of the major gods of the country) who told him to kiss the first stone he found in the morning on his way to court. He did so and then went off to plead his case. He was able to plead his case and he spoke with the same great eloquence the Blarney stone is said to provide and he won his case.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgoerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogoch

The long name translates to mean "St Mary's Church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St Tysilio near the red cave."

      llanfairpwllgwyngyllgoerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogoch is a large village on the island of Anglesey, an island very close to the shores of Wales. It has the longest name in all of Europe and has one of the longest names in the whole world. It has 58 characters in it's name (51 characters if you count ll or ch as one letter like the Welsh). Although the name in not authentic because it was renamed in the 1860s so it can have the longest name of any rail station in Britain. As of 2001 the population was 3040.

  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgoerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogoch has a very long history. a settlement has existed there since the Neolithic era thousands of years ago. For most of this time it relied on fishing and agriculture. The area was taken over and ruled by the Romans, only briefly abandoned to consolidate forces to fight off a rebellion in eastern England. When the Romans withdrew their forces during the end of Roman Britain the area fell under control of the kingdom of Gwynedd. Under the feudal system the farmers worked on small farms for the king. The area was then reorganized into the earldom of Uxbridge, then under the Marques of Anglesey in the 16th century. In 1826 it was connected to the rest of Wales with the construction of the Menai suspension bridge and in 1850it was connected with London after the construction of the Britannia bridge. The village went on to become a hub of commerce as railways and road networks bring traders and customers from all across northern Wales.

  There are quite a few famous sites that my delegation and I might see during our visit to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgoerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogoch. One popular site is the train station where many people take photo next to the station sign. Others have had their passports stamped at local shops. And probably one of the most amazing sites is the Marques of Anglesey column which towers at 89 ft (27 meters). It offers a view of the entire island of Anglesey. The monument celebrates the heroism of Henry Paget 1st Marques of Anglesey at the battle of Waterloo