Normandie

Normandie is home to beautiful landscapes and architecture; it inspired art and was also the site of some of the deadliest fighting seen in WWII. The breathtaking Étretat Cliffs are known for their massive limestone cliffs that form natural arches, while Mont-Saint-Michel is a man-made island with fortifications below and an abbey on top that look as though they are part of a fairy tale. Normandy was also the birthplace of the impressionist movement, and Claude Monet's House and Gardens, where he lived and worked for over 40 years, is now a museum, maintaining the home and studio as if he still lived there. So naturally, many of Monet's paintings are of landmarks and other things that can be found in the region. The region was also the site of D-Day and some of the deadliest fighting during WWII. There's a monument and Memorial Museum on the infamous Omaha Beach (where the deadliest battles occurred), an Airborne Museum dedicated to the paratroopers at Sainte-Mère-Église, and the Normandy American Cemetary and Memorial, where over 9,000 US troops who perished in the fighting are buried.