SAINT-LO, France (AP) — The landing beaches. The war cemeteries. The museums. The first towns that were liberated more than 70 years ago.
The D-Day and World War II history that is embedded in the culture of Normandy is earning extra spotlight this weekend when the Tour de France opens with two stages in the region.
Saturday's opening leg starts at Mont-Saint-Michel, a World Heritage Benedictine abbey perched on a rock off the coast, and ends at Utah Beach, one of the key landing sites for Allied troops on June 6, 1944.
The first stage also passes through Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where American paratrooper John Steele dangled from a clock tower after his parachute got caught during the invasion, and survived.