D-Day: June 6, 1944 [A Visit to the Beaches of Normandy]

Today we are taking a bus from the ship docked in Rouen to the Normandy D-Day Invasion area. It was about a two hour drive. When we signed up for our cruise we learned that Viking River Cruises has a recommended reading list which also includes a list of films. This list is related to the area that you will be cruising. So I ended up reading D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen Ambrose before we left for our cruise. After reading the book I was really excited about this part of our trip and I was really looking forward to our trip today.

We were up at 5:45am and met Deanne and Dave in the dining room for breakfast at 6:30am. After breakfast we stopped by the cabin got our things and then stopped by the reception desk for our cards before heading out to the dock and our buses for the drive to the beaches of Normandy.

Looking toward Juno Beach

At 7:45am the buses left Rouen and we started our journey. During the drive I read a little, journaled and took pictures. I thought we were stopping Caen and at Juno Beach but all we did was drive through Caen and then past Juno Beach. I was a little disappointed about not stopping but it turned out to be okay. Our tour guide gave us a little history about the area and the bus driver drove slowly so we could take a few pictures.

Gold Beach Breakers

Eventually we made our way to Arromanches and Gold Beach. Juno Beach was invaded by Canada and Gold Beach was invaded by the British. In Arromanches we visited a D-Day Museum and watched a short film. After that we had a short period of time to walk around the town and visit the beach.

German Bunker

Then we walked a short distance to a restaurant for lunch. We didn't have a choice in what we ate, they just brought us a meal. It was a quick lunch and then we had a little more time to shop and tour the town. Then we met back at the bus and continued on to the American Cemetery. Before getting to the cemetery we made a quick stop at some German bunkers. These are located west of Arromanches at Longues-sur-Mer. Here there are four 150mm navy guns. From the batteries the soldiers couldn't see the beach but there was a lookout where someone would related coordinates of the enemy to the battery. These were impressive structures and it was obvious why these survived the bombings.

The American Cemetery is located Colleville-sur-Mer, France and sits overlooking Omaha Beach.We arrived at the cemetery and our guide gave us some history and then we had some time to walk amidst the immaculate and orderly grave markers.

Entrance to the American Cemetery

At 2:30pm they asked us to meet at the Spirit of American Youth. They held a small ceremony for us - they first asked any Veterans in the group to step forward, then they played the National Anthem, then they played Taps and finally we had a moment of silence. Being in the cemetery was emotional enough but with the ceremony I don't think there was a dry eye in the area. Once the ceremony was complete we had some free time. Deanne and I went in search of a letterbox. You can read about the letterboxing part of our visit at D-Day Letterboxing. After a little letterboxing we did some more walking around and looking at the markers.

The American Cemetery is a perfect memorial to our Veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. It is in a beautiful location and is tended with respect and dignity.

Wall of the Missing

There are two buildings at the edge of the parking area. One is the visitor center and the other is restrooms. From the parking area and buildings there are three walkways that lead into the cemetery. There are two outer walkways that lead to the edges of the cemetery. One of which leads to an overlook for Omaha Beach. The center walkway leads into the Memorial. You first enter into The Garden of the Missing. It has a arced wall with a list of soldiers that were missing. They updated the wall at some point and added some bronze rosettes next to names whose remains were later recovered. From the garden you ascend either stairs or a ramp into the the Memorial. There is another arced wall with columns at the front where you enter and on either side are covered areas with maps of the D-Day invasions. In the center of the Memorial is a statue called The Spirit of American Youth. It is positioned to overlook the graves of the soldiers. In front of the Memorial is a reflecting pool and gardens and then the graves are set out in ten sections. There is a center aisle containing a chapel and some statues. What I can't describe here is the emotion and pride that is present all around. I felt that the choice of markers was especially well done. The crosses have softer curves and flares and aren't so rigid. Then there is the diversity where soldiers were honored with stars of David. I was also moved to see markes for unknown soldiers. They had the most wonderful sentiment on them . . .

HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY

A COMRADE IN ARMS

KNOWN BUT TO GOD

When we left the cemetery we traveled to Omaha Beach. Here we got to walk on the beach and see a couple of memorials and the flags of the Allies.

D-Day Memorial on Omaha Beach

After reading the D-Day book and seeing images from the invasion it was odd walking along such a beautiful beach and enjoying the most incredible view. It made the information and images I had in my mind all that more emotional. I think we had about a half hour to contemplate things before we had to return to the bus.

I think the day tired us all and the bus ride back to the ship was very quiet. I did get a little journaling done during the drive. Once back at the ship we showered and got ready for dinner. We skipped the happy hour and daily briefing today. Dinner was fantastic and relaxing. After dinner I spent some time in the library editing pictures. I did this because I felt Thomas deserved to have the cabin dark and quiet to get some sleep. But now it is time to get to bed, it has been an emotional and busy day.

The Ally Flags (From Left to Right) - United States, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Great Britain, Canada, Norway and France

Giverny, Claude Monet and Vernon

Sometime between 6:30pm and 7:00pm last night our ship left the dock at Le Pecq to begin our journey along the Seine River. We cruised the Seine through the night. Sometime around 2:30am I woke up when the ship entered a lock and there was a loud noise and the ship shook a bit. So I got up and opened the door and watched as the lock filled and then we passed through. After being awakened I had some trouble getting back to sleep. So I spent some time editing pictures and reading a bit. I finally got to sleep at 4:00am and then was up again at 7:00am. I woke up excited since today we are going to Giverny to visit Monet's House and Garden. He is in the top five of my favorite artist (in no particular order my five favorite artists are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Claude Monet, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Giuseppe Sanmartino). We met Deanne and Dave for breakfast at 7:30am and then returned to the room to get our things for the morning. At 8:45am we boarded the bus and took the short 10 minute drive to Giverny. The bus parked in a large lot on the outside of the grounds and we all gathered off to the side of the parking area and broke into smaller groups for our tours.

Our group started in the water garden area. Our guide really gave us some good information and stories about Monet's life as she guided us through the gardens. We were happy and surprised to see so many of the flowers in bloom.

One thing I didn't realize was that there are two bridges in the water garden. From Monet's paintings I guess I only thought that there was one bridge that he used in his paintings. It was amazing to feel like I was walking in one of his paintings. The Foundation that runs the house and gardens has done a great job in keeping the place as authentic as possible and when you walk through the gardens you can see Monet's paintings.

From the water garden, we made our way to the flower garden. I was astonished to see the quantity and quality of the flowers and plants in the garden. I was also grateful that we were visiting at a time when the flowers were still in bloom. I could have spent the entire day just walking around the garden, admiring the flowers and sitting on benches and reading. Once we got through the gardens we had time to do a self-guided tour of the house. The outside of the house is beautiful, decorated with flowers & vines and just aesthetically wonderful.

The inside of the house was surprisingly plain but still lovely. The rooms, halls and stairways were small and narrow but remained functional. The exception to all of this was the kitchen. It was larger and more decorated than the rest of the house. I remember seeing pictures of the kitchen painted in bright blue and yellow and that is what we saw. But I guess I have never seen pictures of the rest of the house because nothing looked familiar. At this point we had some free time. We did a little shopping in the gift shop - I only ended up getting some postcards although I found a book I liked but didn't feel like spending €49,75 (which is almost $55.00) for it. We left the gift shop and decided to walk the town and try and found some letterboxes.

From Monet's house we walked down Rue Claude Monet and headed for the church and cemetery.

When we arrived at the church we first looked for Monet's grave and once we found it we took a few pictures and then we went in search of a couple of letterboxes. You can read about it at Giverny Letterboxing. After our letterboxing exploit, we went into the church to look around.

The church is called Église Sainte Radegonde and is simply designed and I thought beautiful. After about 15 minutes we needed to head back to Claude's so that we could meet our group and walk back to the bus. We arrived at the meeting spot and found that we were early so we found a bench to sit on and relax and enjoy the area. I made some notes about the day in my journal and then took a few pictures. Then we saw people from our group gathering so we walked over and joined them. A few minutes later our guide walked us to the bus and we headed back to the ship.

We arrived back at the ship and we had about 20 minutes until lunch was served. So we went to our cabin, washed up and relaxed until 12:30pm, at which time we headed to the restaurant. The lunch today was themed 'The Taste of Normandy'. This included foods from the region and was served buffet style. It was a good lunch - not great but enjoyable. Once lunch was done Thomas and I headed back to the cabin and I worked on some pictures (I took an obscene amount of pictures on this trip).

At 2:30pm we met out on the dock with our tour guides for a walking tour of Vernon. We started with a little talk in a tiny memorial garden next to the docks. There is a memorial to the 43rd (Wessex) Division British Troops for their part in the liberation of Vernon in World War II. From there we walked along Rue Bourbon Pentthievre to Collegiale Notre Dame de Vernon. This put us at the back side of the church. Our guide talked about the construction and history of the church and pointed out different aspects of the building as we moved around to the right side and on to the front. This took us along Rue du Chapitre to Rue Carnot. Here the guide continued to talk about the church. Facing the church is the Vernon Town Hall and to the right were some half-timber homes. We then continued along Rue Carnot to Rue d'Albufera and then to Rue Clemenceau. We were now standing facing the Seine and our guide pointed out an historical mill on the opposite bank.

Then we turned up Rue du Pont and continued on Rue de l'Ange. This put us at a walled and fenced area looking at The Archives Tower. After a brief introduction and history of the tower, we continued our tour walking along Rue Potard and turning onto Rue d'Albufera. Just a short distance down the road we turned into a paved area between two buildings. At the back of the area was a large wrought iron fence and gate. This gave us a different view of the Archives Tower. Then we continued up Rue d'Albufera to Rue Saint Genevieve and then to Place Adolphe Barette. This brought us back to the Cathedral and the Town Hall. This was a great tour and I loved Vernon. Such an amazing town with tons of history and charm. After our tour ended we did some walking around by ourselves. The town of Vernon was having a Fall market or something like that. There were tables set out all over the area surrounding the cathedral. After exploring the town we stopped and went into the church to have a look around. Fifteen minutes later we headed back to the ship. 

We rested for a while, did some reading and I worked on editing pictures. Around 6:15pm Thomas and I met Deanne & Dave in the lounge for a drink and for the daily briefing. At 7:00pm we all headed to the dining room for dinner. The four of us were joined by a couple from Kentucky - nice but a little weird. The gentleman worked as a missionary for years and at first, I was a little leery (a gay couple sitting with a religious missionary) but it turned out to good. The couple was liberal and open and supportive of Thomas and I and our 27 year relationship. The food was also delicious. The evening turned out to be great fun.

After dinner we returned to our cabin extremely tired and happy - today we checked off a bucket list item (Giverny and Monet's Home) and visited a beautiful town. I just finished a blog post and now it is time to get some rest. Tomorrow we visit the town of Rouen.

Paris & the Heart of Normandy

Last year Thomas and I were contacted by some friends to join them on a Viking River Cruise from Paris to Normandy along the Seine River. We jumped at the chance - we have been wanting to take a river cruise for a while now. So this morning we left Santa Fe for our Paris & the Heart of Normandy adventure.

Map of the River Cruise

Our flight from Albuquerque was at 12:10pm so we didn't have to get up early and rush. But as usual for both of us we were up at 6:30am. Which worked out well. It gave us a chance to bring the dogs bowls and food over to Bruce, empty the garbage cans, close the blinds and turn off the air conditioning. It was 7:45 when we decided to leave for the Albuquerque International Sunport. That was a good time for us to head out since it meant we wouldn't hit morning work traffic as we drove through Albuquerque. We arrived at Airport Parking where we left the car and took the shuttle to the airport. When we got to the Delta counter there was no one there so we used the kiosk and checked ourselves in, but there was no one to take our bags (not at the counter and not outside at the drop-off). So we found a place to sit and wait for someone. We only had to wait about five minutes when a gentleman showed up and checked in our bags. Then we made our way over to security. The line was short and the TSA agents were friendly and cordial. In only a few minutes we had passed through security and gotten our shoes back on and we were ready for our trip to begin. We had about two and a half hours to wait for our flight so we just sat and read. Before we knew it they were calling us to board our flight.

We are flying Delta all the way to Paris and the first leg of our trip took us from Albuquerque to Salt Lake City. The boarding process was surprisingly fast and efficient. We were on a smaller plane than usual - only four seats across (two on each side of the aisle). the flight was mostly good except for a man and woman behind us who talked incessantly and at a volume better used when talking to someone across a crowded room. Also, the guy, who worked or has a hobby in alternative medicine, kept opening different scents that he was explaining to the woman he used in aromatherapy. Unfortunately in that closed space the scents sent my allergies into orbit. I ended up having to take one of my prescription allergy pills to counteract it. Other than that we just read for the duration of the flight. We arrived in Salt Lake City in under an hour and a half.

We were in row 8 so we were out of the plane quickly and made a beeline for the restrooms. After that we needed to get something for lunch. We landed at the 'B' gate area and we needed to make our way to the 'D' gate area for our next flight. So we started walking keeping our eyes peeled for somewhere to eat. We ended up at our gate and hadn't found anything we wanted. So we decided to go to a place just that we passed just before getting to our gate. We had burgers and fries at a place called smashburger. Pretty good for airport food. Once we were done eating we found a place to sit and relax for the next three hours until our flight to Paris (which is 10 1/2 hours). We read, played on the computer and relaxed. Time passed quickly and before we knew it we were boarding our flight for Paris.

They started boarding at 4:30pm and we took off at 5:15pm. We ended up reading from the time we got into our seats until the Captain turned off the seat belt sign when we reached cruising altitude. Then we watched movies - I watched Lincoln and Thomas watched The Jungle Book. During that time they came around with drinks and pretzels and then an hour later we had dinner. I had ravioli and Thomas had chicken. With that we had a salad, cheese & crackers, bread, shrimp cocktail and a brownie. When the movies finished Thomas tried to sleep and I went back to reading. Thomas had a hard time relaxing - he felt antsy and fidgeted for a while, took a stroll around the cabin and tried reading. Eventually he was able to fall asleep for a while. Sometime after 10:00pm (Santa Fe time) they brought us a ham sandwich and cookies. I kept reading (my book is really good - I am reading The Monuments Men) and Thomas watched another movie. Then about two hours before we landed (which was 9:00am  Paris time) we got some breakfast. It seemed that all we did was eat on this flight. I have to admit that I eventually became restless. Being on a plane for ten hours is trying. But with a lot of self control we endured. We landed a little bit early (by that we had wheels on the ground) but it took us almost 30 minutes to taxi to the gate.

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport

It seemed to take forever. Finally we arrived at the gate and made it into the terminal. I think we landed at Terminal 2 Gate B or C but I am not sure. Anyway, we started following signs for baggage claim. We walked and then walked some more and eventually arrived at a train. We took this train from Gate B or C to K. We walked a short distance and then had to go through customs. This was so quick and easy. When we arrived at customs there were two people in front of us. When it was our turn the woman looked at our passports, stamped them and sent us on our way. From this point we found a Baggage Claim board and located the baggage claim we needed to get to for our flight number. So we walked some more. Finally we arrived at Baggage Claim 31. We had to wait about 15 minutes for our bags. I was wearing my FitBit and from the gate we landed at to the baggage claim was .68 miles. I do believe that this is the largest airport we have ever visited. Once we had our bags we exited the terminal and found the Viking River Cruises kiosk and checked in. The man there greeted us and then walked us to a waiting area. He told us he needed four more people and then we could get on the shuttle for the ship. Thankfully we only had to wait ten minutes and we were off. The drive from the airport to the ship dock took us 50 minutes. I tell you I am glad we made it to the ship - it has been a long journey but now we can relax and enjoy our cruise.