Normandy & Paris on D-day and B-day

What a day to land in Le Havre!! For those who went to go to Normandy, it is D-Day--the 64th anniversary. It is also Kathy Teske's Birthday--I won't tell you which anniversary it is for her and we went to Paris.

The French Government was up to their favorite tricks--obstructing things and being hard to get along with. They would not clear us for immigration so we sat in a holding pattern in the Explorer's Lounge for more than an hour and a half. This really put a damper--in more ways than one on our excusion for the day. It is more than a 2 hour drive to Paris from Le Harve so that cut into the amount of time we could spend exploring Paris. It was also a little cloudy and overcast.

Linda and Steve C., Jerry and Kathy T, Deanie and I got on the bus for the Paris Highlights tour. Vicki and John took the Paris & Seine River Cruise excursion. All the others went to Normandy. We all went somewhere today, the last full day of the cruise. It was a little overcast as we drove out of Le Harve which lies at the mouth of the River Seine. The river used to flow all the way to the sea, but it has filled in with silt and we were driving over the riverbed. You could see the limestone that was cut by the river when it was running in that area. Very interesting topography.

The tour guide kept us informed of interesting pieces of information on the 2 hour drive. I took several pictures from the bus and, little did I know, that was the way most of my pictures of Paris would have to be taken that day. With the time crunch, we did not get to make very many stops.

Our first and most exciting stop was the Eiffel Tower. It was cloudy, cold and windy when we got there but nothing could drown my enthusiasm of seeing the Eiffel Tower for my first time. It is amazing and a very beautiful sight. As I have thought several times on this trip, but will say now. One day or a few minutes is not the way to see some of the most amazing sights in the world. I think the Eiffel Tower needs to be viewed from all angles and all times of the day and night. I would have loved to have seen it all lit up with the lights of Paris at night. We did, however, take the obligatory photos from the overlook and then we got back on the bus. Deanie was excited to find a place to buy popcorn and a coke. We enjoyed munching on that as we drove around Paris.

We stopped for lunch at Chez Jenny. It is a quaint, large restaurant. They were set up for us upstairs. They did a good job of serving us all lunch. Just before dessert was eaten, Linda got EVERYONES'S attention so that we could all sing "Happy Birthday" to Kathy. Kathy had the best way to celebrate her birthday this year. After lunch, we walked around some of the shops in the area and then got back on the bus to see more sights. We drove past the Arc de Triomphe, we drove over the River Seine a couple of times, drove past the Louvre and then by Norte Dame. Like I said before, it was quite disappointing to see Paris Highlights from inside the bus but I guess it is better than not seeing Paris at all.

One of the tour buses had broken down, so we had to rendevouz with it and pick up some passengers that needed to go back to the ship. We headed back with actually no time to spare. It was past time for departure when our bus pulled into the dock. There were other buses later than ours so we weren't the ones to hold up everything. We made a hurried embarkation and then went to pack bags.

Cruise lines have things down to a science when it comes to keeping organized and getting people and luggage off the ship and reunited. All of our bags, except for one you can carry, have to be outside the stateroom door before dinner. Each bag has a colored tag to indicate when and where you will disembark. All of us going to London had gold tags. Rushing to pack is probably what caused me to leave my olive oil under my bed. The last tears about that!!!

Dinner tonight was sweet goodbyes to all of the wait staff. It was the last time we will have dinner with them. The tradition is to serve baked Alaska--and I thought that was only on Alaska cruises. The junior waiters parade through the dining room with blazing mounds of baked Alaska. It is always a fun way to end a wonderful dining experience.

It was then to bed to get ready for early rising and getting off the ship in Southampton.

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