TRAVELING IN STYLE : Correspondents’ Choice : PICNIC PICKS

Five Times correspondents from around the world describe their favorite picnic spots in (or just outside) the cities they have covered.

THERE ARE PRETTIER PLACES IN FRANCE. THERE ARE CERTAINLY more cheerful spots to picnic. But for Americans visiting Europe, there is perhaps no more moving site than the military cemeteries and beaches on the Normandy coast, where the 1st U.S. Army Division launched the Battle of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

Omaha Beach, as the beaches have been known collectively since that date, is 175 miles northwest of Paris, a three- to four-hour drive. From here, the steep, chalky cliffs of the Contentin Peninsula appear insurmountable. The heavy surf and strong currents are reminders of how landing craft were forced off course that day at great human cost. The thought is chilling, and the cold wind off the English Channel is bracing--so wear sweaters even in summer. A simple, spare lunch of Camembert or Pont-L’Eveque cheese, bread and apple cider on the beach (the market in any village along the way can supply these local products) will give the visitor a chance to reflect on the terrible sacrifices made here nearly 50 years ago.