de Memoriale du Caen

Caen is a new city and I don't mean in a good way.  That is what happens when a war takes place all around you and something like 75% of your city is utterly completely leveled.  The Caen Memoriale is at the other end of the city from the hotel so the walk through the city gave plenty of time to look at architecture, all of which lends itself to a utilitarian look - the sort of thing you would build when your people need shelter.  In some places bricks from the rubble were used to rebuild to add some character and you can see where extra cement was used to even out the bricks but that is what passes for creative design in this town - a stark reminder of war's destruction.
There are a couple of pretty parks in the city and you cross one, going up and over a highway to get to the Memoriale.  

This museum calls itself a museum for peace and was funded by all the major and many of the minor participants in the war - including the Russians and the Germans.  They tell you to plan on spending 3-4 hours there but you could easily spend double that as they take the visitor through all the major events leading up to WWII and then the war itself.  The story is told with no emotion, just the facts, leaving the visitor to judge as it covers events like the bombing of London and the bombing of Dresden equally.
The second part of the museum is devoted to the battle of Normandy and one learns that Eisenhower expected the battle for the beaches to be tougher than it was (Omaha being the exception) but that he then planned for a relatively easy fight in from the coast.   Of course the opposite happened and it took 100 days to loosen the German grip on this part of France.
The museum also touches on the Cold War and how close the world came to WWIII and makes a plea for peace.
Finally, the museum was built over the German HQ bunker in Caen.  You have to cross a man made military bridge to get to the bunker and when you tour that are you  see the maps and radio gear that made it so hard to move the Germans from this city.

Outside the museum, the US, Canada, Brits and French have built gardens - the British is the prettiest - honoring the many different military branches and part of Great Britain who fought.  The American garden is interesting because the various states donated stones to the monument.

After a visit to the Allied gardens outside the museum, it was time to walk down to the City Hall near the Abbey des Hommes to get see the local exhibit on the "Ete du 1944", the summer of 1944 where the battle of Normandy is told from the civilian point of view, living with the bombing and deprivation waiting for the Allies and finally seeing the Canadians enter the city.