Vive le France!

 This guest post is by Dave Tindell.

     I got a phone call from Sue in August. "I'm invited to the Golden Circle," she said. "Can you go to France for a week in October?" Needless to say, my answer was oui. 

    The Golden Circle is highly prized within the Travel Leaders community as a recognition of an agency's hard work and volume, and the organization honors them with an invitation to a special overseas trip. This year, we would cruise the Seine out of Paris, to the English Channel and back, for a week. I got a book to brush up on my French, and realized I had no French to brush up on. English would have to do. 

Sunday-Monday, October 16-17 -- Minneapolis to Paris

    As with all trips to Europe, getting there takes awhile. We flew from Minneapolis to Atlanta on a Sunday afternoon, then took off for Paris, an 8-hour, 20-minute test of endurance. But as it's overnight, nodding off en route isn't hard. You can only watch so many movies. When we arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, it was just after 12 noon. We had an interesting ride to our hotel, Pullman Paris Centre-Bercy, as our driver filled us in on the refinery strikes that were causing gasoline shortages in Paris. Filling stations were jammed and prices were up to the equivalent of $8/gal. 

    After freshening up, we made our way to the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower and joined with some Travel Leaders colleagues and friends for a great dinner and then a climb up inside the tower itself. The light rain and fog prevented us from going higher than the second level, but that was over 100 feet above ground, plenty high for us. 

With so many restaurants to choose from, we couldn't
go wrong--and we got a winner with this one.

My first dinner in France: croque madame, frites
maison and mesclun, with a glass of chardonnay.

Finished in 1889, the Eiffel Tower
is almost 1100 feet tall, and when you're
right below it, you believe it.

The view from the second level was great,
even on an overcast, rainy evening. 

    

    The long day of travel was starting to wear on us, so Sue and I got a cab back to our hotel and turned in. We were excited about the next day, when we would board the Tapestry II, one of the newer ships in the extensive fleet of Avalon Waterways. Avalon cruises on four continents, and we were excited about our cruise. The entire complement of passengers would be composed of Travel Leaders agents and their companions, along with TL executives and representatives from partner companies. There would be about 100 of us, and we were all looking forward to the trip. 

Tuesday, October 18 -- On the Seine to Vernon

    The latest round of French labor strikes had extended to the transportation industry, which included the crews who operate the locks on the Seine. So, although we set sail from Paris around 3:30pm, we were told that our planned arrival the next morning in Vernon might be delayed. The planned morning excursions would be moved to the afternoon...except for the one I'd signed up for, a hike to a castle. That one wouldn't be held, but Sue's trip to Giverny and the home of the impressionist painter Claude Monet was still on. 

Before checking out of our hotel to go to the boat,
we were distracted by this hirsute fellow, featured
in numerous portraits in the lobby. 

On board Tapestry II, we were finally
underway from Paris!

As evening approached, the Seine began to
capture us with its charm. 

Although not as picturesque as the Rhine or
the Danube, the Seine is no slouch when it
comes to scenery along its banks. 

    

Wednesday, October 19 -- Vernon and Givenchy 

    The strike was settled earlier than we anticipated, and we made it through the locks not too far behind our original schedule. Sue and I shot this video in the lounge as we approached a lock: First night on the Seine.

    The Travel Leaders folks had a business meeting in the lounge this morning, allowing the rest of us a chance to get in some reading in the stern lounge or conversation up on the top deck. Lunch was a treat: authentic French crepes, prepared by a special chef brought on board for the event. From start to finish, it took him one minute to create one of these delicious morsels.

   

    We docked in Vernon and the Monet excursion, including Sue, departed on its revised schedule. I availed myself of the on-board fitness instructor for a workout on the top deck. Sue had a great time touring the home of Monet (1840-1926).  

       The first shopping excursion of the trip was in the nearby village of Giverny, and Sue took advantage of it to find a new chapeau. 

    I had my workout and a stroll through downtown Vernon, and then the Monet bus returned. We prepared to sail for our next destination, and the talk over dinner this evening was excited, because we would be coming ashore and boarding buses for a trip to Normandy and the D-Day beaches, which for many of us would be the highlight of the trip. 

Thursday, October 20 -- Normandy

    Not too many Americans today have living memories of the D-Day invasion. What happened in northern France on June 6, 1944, was the climax of the biggest military operation in history. Tens of thousands of American, British and Canadian troops, along with some from other Allied nations, fought their way ashore along the wide beaches of France's northern coast, going up against entrenched German troops who had been occupying France for four years. 

    It was touch and go. A turn in the weather, a different decision by an American or a German general, and it might not have succeeded. Who knows what would've happened then? But history tells us what did happen: at great sacrifice, the Allies succeeded, and less than a year later the Germans surrendered, ending World War II in Europe. 

    Today we came ashore at Caudebec and boarded buses for the ride to Normandy, the region of France that saw some of the war's fiercest fighting. The countryside was much different than it was around Paris. Soon we arrived at our first stop, Pointe du Hoc, where one of the invasion's most famous battles took place. 

Highway billboards are allowed in France, but we didn't
see any on the A13 to Caen. It was refreshing.

Pointe du Hoc divides Omaha and Utah beaches, where the
Americans landed. Here we look west toward Utah, with the
remains of German bunkers dotting the landscape. German troops
counterattacked from their garrison not too far from here.

Many of the bunkers, with their barbed wire fencing,
are still largely intact.

The Germans had six artillery emplacements at
Pointe du Hoc. This was one of them.

The guns had to be neutralized if the invasion was to succeed.
A bombing raid in late April left craters that are still visible,
but the strike took out only one of the guns.

On our day at the site, dozens of French schoolchildren
were here on a field trip.

Half of the Rangers' landing craft were
supposed to come in to the left of this point,
the other half to the right, but a navigational
error led all of them to the right, making
them easier targets for the defenders.

The cliffs to the east of the Pointe. US Army Rangers
of the 2nd Battalion came ashore and climbed these
cliffs, hand over hand, to engage the Germans 
on the top.

Sue inside the German command bunker, from where
artillery spotters called fire missions back to the guns.
Today, cruise missiles would take out every German
bunker and gun easily, but in 1944, it was up to 
the Rangers, who did it hand-to-hand. The unit
suffered 70% casualties in two days of fighting.

    At Pointe du Hoc, we got a taste of the immense scale of the invasion, and the terrible casualties suffered by both sides. That would be hammered home at our next stop, the Normandy American Cemetery. 

    The cemetery covers over 170 acres and is the resting place of 9,387 Americans who died during the invasion and in the following weeks before the liberation of Paris. In addition, over 1,500 men who are still missing are memorialized here. All told, over 2 million troops from 13 Allied nations came ashore on these beaches from June 6-August 21. Over 30,000 Americans were listed as killed or missing during what was code-named Operation Overlord. British and Canadian losses were also high, and the defending Germans suffered even heavier losses, with some estimates as high as 530,000 killed, wounded or captured. 

We weren't allowed to walk among the headstones, but I got
this shot from the path along the perimeter. The cross with
the gold face, with the wreath to its left, is that of General
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the oldest son of our 26th president. 
Ted Roosevelt, a decorated veteran of World War I, was the
only general officer to come ashore with the first wave on
D-Day. He was later posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for
his actions on Utah Beach, directing traffic for incoming landing craft,
men and vehicles, often under fire. He died of a heart attack on
July 12, 1944. To the left of his cross is the one marking the grave
of his youngest brother, Quentin, who was a fighter pilot in World War I.
Quentin was shot down and killed on July 14, 1918.
At the family's request in 1955, Quentin's remains were re-interred
here, so the brothers could be side-by-side for eternity. 

   
    Our last stop of the day was Omaha Beach itself, where some of the fiercest fighting along the wide front of five different beaches. The vastness of the beach was surprising, giving us a scale that no movie could match. Most of us had seen Saving Private Ryan, so we knew what had happened here on that bloody day. 78 years, 4 months and 14 days later, it was peaceful, but solemn. 

    With dusk approaching, we boarded our buses for the ride back to the Tapestry II, which had cruised downriver to the port city of Le Havre while we were on our tour. All of us were deeply moved by the visit to Normandy, and it was the highlight of our trip. But, there was much more to come. 

Friday, October 21 -- Le Havre

    Le Havre is the most important port city in France. It was in 1940, too, which is why it was bombed by the Germans before they occupied the city, and why it was bombed again by the Allies in 1944 after D-Day. The rationale for the British attack, we were told, was because the Allied command figured that to take the city block-by-block would be very costly for our side, so the French civilians paid the price. Over 80% of the city was destroyed, thousands of civilians were killed, tens of thousands left homeless. But once the Germans were gone, the French began to rebuild. It took them ten years, but they got it done, largely with concrete. 

We embarked on a bicycle tour led by Isabel, in the red pants.
Very knowledgeable about the city, a great guide. 

The building on the right, originally a 19th-
century sea captain's home, was one of the few
to survive the war.

Le Havre Cathedral. The tower on the right
survived the war, but the pock marks from shell
fragments have been left unrepaired, as a reminder.

The Le Havre beach has no sand, just millions of rocks
and pebbles. 

St. Joseph's Church was destroyed in the war,
then rebuilt in spectacular modern fashion by
the architect Auguste Perret, who supervised
the rebuilding of the city. The tower, designed to
look like a lantern, is the tallest structure in
the city. Over 6,000 pieces of stained glass, all
formed by hand and blown by mouth, fill the windows.

The Monument to the Dead in central Le Havre, commemorating the French soldiers and
civilians who died in both World Wars. In the background are apartment buildings. The
city fathers made a decision to rebuild entirely new after the war, rather than try to recreate
what had been lost. Concrete was used on a massive scale, because it was available, cheap
and plentiful. Perret insisted that the apartments have tall vertical windows, so as to
allow in more light. 

    After our bike tour came time to shop, and many of our group availed themselves of Le Havre's trendy shops. We made our way back to the boat and had another fine meal, then prepared for the evening's sailing, upriver to Rouen. Le Havre was interesting, but we would find Rouen to be fascinating. 

Saturday, October 22 -- Rouen

    Unlike many French cities, Rouen made it through the war without sustaining much damage, leaving its charming medieval architecture largely intact. We availed ourselves of another bicycle tour and off we went.

Ste. Maclou Church, finished in 1521. 

The famous "Leaning House" of Rouen. A
fine example of Norman architecture, it leans
on the outside, but not on the inside.

Our guide tells us about the Ste-Maclou Ossuary. Unique in Europe,
this was a cemetery begun in the 14th century to cope with the
large number of deaths caused by the Black Plague. The surrounding
building was erected some 200 years later to house more bodies
when another plague roared through the city. A mummified cat
was also on display. Many medieval Europeans feared cats,
considering them tools of the devil, and hunted them down.
This attitude only made the bubonic plague worse; it's transmitted
to humans by the fleas from infected rats, and without cats,
the rats thrived. 

A rest stop in a square, surrounded by some of the best
medieval architecture we've seen in western Europe.

 

Saint-Ouen Abbey Church, dedicated in 1126, formerly
a Benedictine monastery.

Rouen Cathedral, famous for its three spires 
representing three different architectural styles.
It took some 800 years to build. Charlemagne
attended Easter services here in 769. More than
a millennium later, Claude Monet used this
as a backdrop for some of his most famous paintings.

The spot where Joan of Arc was burned
at the stake in 1431, at the age of 19.
The great heroine of the Hundred Years' War,
her crime was heresy--she liked to wear men's clothes.
The occupying English were happy to get her 
out of the way, so any excuse would do.

After the tour, we dined here. Being in France, we ordered
pizza, of course. 

    We'd had a fine day in Rouen, including some great shopping, but more was in store for us in the evening. After returning to the ship, we changed for dinner, and this would be our best one of the cruise, at the Musee des Beaux-arts.

    

Kim Gorres provided this photo of herself with
two of her besties, Bonnie Haley and Sue.

Needless to say, we'd never had a dining experience like
this back in Wisconsin. No cheese curds, though.

    Believe it or not, the day was not yet done. We bused back to the ship for a genuine French can-can show! The can-can is a dance popularized in Paris cabarets as far back as the 1840s, and although the troupe which performed for us was small in numbers, they were high in energy, glitz and glamour. You can see a short video of the performance here: The can-can!

    Well, it had been quite a day. We retired feeling a little worn out, but satisfied that we'd enjoyed Rouen and its pleasures to the fullest. The next day, we would be in Conflans, on the outskirts of Paris. Our adventure on the Seine was nearing its conclusion.

Sunday, October 23 -- Conflans

    

    The travel folks had their second and final business meeting this morning, so some of us availed ourselves of the fine weather and were up on the top deck, taking in the sights, including a trip through a lock and a visit to the bridge, where we were given a demonstration of the controls by the ship's captain. 

    Being on the top deck was not without its thrills, like this one: Low bridges!

    With one day left before returning to Paris, we had a number of options as we docked in Conflans, in the western suburbs of the capital. Sue and I chose a bike ride, this one not a tour but a real workout, about 12 miles total along the Seine. Alexander, our Hungarian fitness director from the ship, led the way. Sue and I had been attending his 6:30am yoga classes in the lounge. (Most of the time.) Here's a video I shot along the route: Biking along the Seine.

    It had been another fine day, but we were starting to look forward to the climax of the trip: a day in Paris. We would dock in the city the next morning, spend the day exploring, and then have one more night aboard before departing early Tuesday for the long trip home.

Monday, October 24 -- Back to Paris

    Having already seen the Eiffel Tower up close and personal, we signed on for a walking tour of other Paris highlights today. Another choice was a four-hour exploration of the Louvre Museum, which includes such famous works as Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, but we wanted to do more walking and enjoy the good weather. We saw the Louvre from the outside, including the famous glass pyramid, designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei. 

The Louvre Palace, of which the Museum is the central part,
The original fortress dates back to the early 13th century,
and since then has been the home of many French kings,
the last being Louis XV in 1719.

Pei's creation has become the centerpiece of the Louvre,
literally as well as culturally. The Louvre is the most-
visited museum in the world, with nearly 3 million guests
per year.

There are 37 bridges across the Seine in Paris.

The most famous bridge is probably the Pont Neuf, and it's 
the oldest, finished in 1578. 

Tour l'horloge, on one corner of the Palais de la
Cite, was the first clock in Paris to run on time
set by the king, not the church. It's the oldest
clock in Paris, dating to the 14th century.

Also part of the Palais is the Palais de Justice, which houses
the Court of Appeal, France's busiest appellate court.

Notre-Dame, the most famous cathedral in Paris,
took almost 200 years to build (1163-1345) and
was almost destroyed in 15 hours by the fire of
April 15, 2019. It is hoped that the current
reconstruction project will be finished in time
for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will
be hosted by Paris.  

A side view of Notre-Dame. 

In the Latin Quarter, an example of medieval
gargoyles. Their original purpose was to act
as a drainage spout for rainwater. It is from
the French word gargouille, meaning "from
the throat." From this we get our word "gargle."

    I was especially looking forward to one particular stop: the Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore on the Left Bank of the Seine. The bookstore opened in 1951 and is so popular--and cramped--that a security guard lets people in only when other browsers have left. Aspiring writers and artists can bunk here if they volunteer their labor; over the years some 30,000 have done so. The store's motto is "Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest They Be Angels in Disguise." And best of all, as far as Sue was concerned: there's a coffee shop next door. Sue had been searching for great chai tea throughout our trip, and this shop's offering turned out to be the best we would find in France, although still not quite as good as that prepared by our favorite shop back home, Badger Brew Coffee Loft in Rice Lake. 

    Another fine day, our last in France, was coming to a close. The weather, except for the rain we encountered in Paris when we arrived, had been uniformly pleasant. Our last dinner with our tablemates awaited us. We'd had a fine time with Mark and Bonnie Haley of Bon Voyage Travel in Grand Forks, N.D., and two other Wisconsin couples, Denise and John Petricka from Higgins Travel in Eau Claire along with Kim and Glen Gorres of Travel Now in New Richmond. Our servers during the trip were from Romania, Claudia and Alex, and they were top-notch, as was the entire crew. The ship was beautiful, and you can see more of it here.

    We retired for our final night on board with the sense of anticipation that returning home always brings, but also with genuine regret. It had been a terrific cruise, with wonderful company and first-rate accommodations and service. 

Tuesday, October 25 -- Paris to Minneapolis and home

    Like the outbound trip, the return home from Europe is something you just have to power through. We were up early and off the boat by 6:30am, in the air from Charles de Gaulle not too long afterward and across the Atlantic in about six hours. We changed planes in Detroit and I availed myself of the chance to complete my registration for TSA Global Entry. Sue had been after me to get this for some time, and I had filled out the online application and paid the fee before we departed for Europe. The interview in Detroit took maybe five minutes. From here on out, my trips through U.S. airport security will be a lot less of a hassle, so I highly recommend you check it out. 

    About 21 hours after disembarking the Tapestry II in Paris, we pulled into the garage of our home in northwest Wisconsin. As always, there was a little bit of a disconnect going on--how could we have been halfway around the world just this morning? It was still Tuesday evening at home, and the next day we'd both be up early and back to work. But, as with the end of all our trips, we would be thinking a lot about the great memories of the adventure we'd just experienced.