U.S. President Barack Obama returns home Sunday after sightseeing with
his family in Paris, following a ceremony Saturday marking the 65th
anniversary of D-Day - the allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France
during World War II.
The Obamas visited the Pompidou Center modern art museum Sunday
morning. They had gone to Notre Dame cathedral Saturday evening, then
dined near the Eiffel Tower.
Earlier Saturday, President Obama joined French President Nicolas
Sarkozy and other leaders at a solemn event in Normandy. Mr. Obama told
those gathered at an American cemetery the world will not forget the
deeds of allied soldiers who landed on Normandy's beaches.
Mr. Sarkozy called on European nations and the United States to
continue in that spirit of unity in the face of today's global threats.
The prime ministers of Britain and Canada (Gordon Brown and Stephen Harper) and veterans of the invasion also took part in the ceremony, at an American cemetery next to one of the D-Day landing sites.
More than 150,000 U.S., Canadian and British Commonwealth troops landed
on the beaches of northern France on June 6, 1944 to help liberate
Europe from the Nazis.
The U.S. president's trip began earlier in the week in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. He then traveled to Cairo, Egypt, where he called for a "new
beginning" in relations between the United States and Muslims around
the world.