Blogs from Lower Normandy, France, Europe - page 6

Day 17 This part will be expanded and the pictures captioned and text added when I can gather all the information about the sites. We saw so many things yesterday, that it all runs together. I will pull it together and edit the blog when done, but wanted to get this posted so anyone checking on it doesn't wonder what happened. I don't want to get it wrong, and do a disservice to the brave souls from the Allied Forces that fought to make Europe Free. We saw Colleville Bluff, the American Cemetery, Omaha and Utah Beaches, the Memorial at Vienville, Point-du-Hoc, Sainte-Mere-Eglises, Iron Mike Statue, Pont-de-La Fiere, the Dick Winters Monument, Sainte-Marie-du-mort and the Bayeux Tapestry.... read more

We met up with Chris and John for lunch at Catoret for lunch and on the way stopped briefly to see the paras Memorial at Friers Bridge.... read more

Bon jour from Cherbourg France. This is actually our 3rdport in France during the whole vacation, but last night we received a message that we had to turn in our passports for Immigration to see before we would be allowed off the ship in Cherbourg. But it was easier to comply than to argue, so David ran them down to Passenger Services late last night. This morning we got up at 6:30 because we needed to be in the Wheelhouse Bar by 8:00. We got dressed and went to the breakfast buffet in the Horizon Court. Apparently there were more people in the late night nightclubs than the early morning buffet, so we had an easy time of finding a table and had a quiet breakfast. We discovered our dinner waiter (Rolly) was in charge of ... read more

Well, what can I say. Today was a very long exhausting day. Left Boston at 7:10 pm, arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport at 7:20am, local time. The flight itself was very uneventful, arriving early, so we thought "Great". Not so fast, as we waited in line for 1 1/2 hours to get through immigration, then on to the car rental agency, which took another hour. So we didn't get on the road until 10:00am. Thankfully, our car is equipped with GPS, so we easily maneuvered through busy traffic, and arrived at our first stop, Giverny, to visit Monet's home and gardens. It was not disappointing, as the flowers were spectacular, and his home interesting, and filled with reproductions of his works. After a very delicious lunch of filled crepes, we headed off to Bayeux, where ... read more

We decide that today (Monday) is the day we'll head to the D-day beaches. We're going to follow the advice given by good 'ol Rick Steves and work our way East to West beginning in Arrowmanches. We get an early start. We have no idea how many tourists are in the area and I would like to get a few places in if it gets crowded. I wish we could be alone. I have a feeling that the emotions might be a bit overwhelming. We arrive in Arrowmanches and there are only a couple of cars in the lot closest to the Landing Museum and the Tourist Information Center. We head into the TI first to get any tips they might might be able to offer and set out on a 10 minute walk to the ... read more