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.
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.
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| With so many restaurants to choose from, we couldn't go wrong--and we got a winner with this one. |
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| My first dinner in France: croque madame, frites maison and mesclun, with a glass of chardonnay. |
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| Finished in 1889, the Eiffel Tower is almost 1100 feet tall, and when you're right below it, you believe it. |
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| The view from the second level was great, even on an overcast, rainy evening. |
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.
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| 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. |
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| On board Tapestry II, we were finally underway from Paris! |
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| As evening approached, the Seine began to capture us with its charm. |
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| 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.
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.
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| Highway billboards are allowed in France, but we didn't see any on the A13 to Caen. It was refreshing. |
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| 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. |
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| Many of the bunkers, with their barbed wire fencing, are still largely intact. |
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| The Germans had six artillery emplacements at Pointe du Hoc. This was one of them. |
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| 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. |
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| On our day at the site, dozens of French schoolchildren were here on a field trip. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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| 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
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| We embarked on a bicycle tour led by Isabel, in the red pants. Very knowledgeable about the city, a great guide. |
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| The building on the right, originally a 19th- century sea captain's home, was one of the few to survive the war. |
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| 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. |
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| The Le Havre beach has no sand, just millions of rocks and pebbles. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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| Ste. Maclou Church, finished in 1521. |
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| The famous "Leaning House" of Rouen. A fine example of Norman architecture, it leans on the outside, but not on the inside. |
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| 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. |
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| A rest stop in a square, surrounded by some of the best medieval architecture we've seen in western Europe. |
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| Saint-Ouen Abbey Church, dedicated in 1126, formerly a Benedictine monastery. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| After the tour, we dined here. Being in France, we ordered pizza, of course. |
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| Kim Gorres provided this photo of herself with two of her besties, Bonnie Haley and Sue. |
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| Needless to say, we'd never had a dining experience like this back in Wisconsin. No cheese curds, though. |
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.
Being on the top deck was not without its thrills, like this one: Low bridges!
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| There are 37 bridges across the Seine in Paris. |
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| The most famous bridge is probably the Pont Neuf, and it's the oldest, finished in 1578. |
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| 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. |
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| Also part of the Palais is the Palais de Justice, which houses the Court of Appeal, France's busiest appellate court. |
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| 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. |
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| A side view of Notre-Dame. |
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| 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.
