We are headed home, but first...

 ***NOTE:  This is the last posting for our river cruise on the Seine River.  Start reading at the beginning of the posts by clicking: The Seine: Paris to Normandy 2021

 

The suitcases are packed and loaded onto the bus, and as we pull away, the crew is waving goodbye.  This was the last voyage of a short season on the Seine River.  After finalizing things on the ship, some of the crew will transfer to the Christmas Market cruises and some will head to their homelands and wait the start of the cruising season next spring.

 We head toward Paris, where we will spend the night in a hotel close to the airport as we will be flying home in the morning.

But on the way, we will stop at the Peace Memorial in Caen, a state-of-the-art facility that vividly presents the events of World War II, including D-Day.

The museum is located at the site of an important German headquarters during WWII.

There are exhibits that cover the lead-up to WWII and of the war in both Europe and the Pacific.

...accounts of the Holocaust and Nazi-occupied France.

Under the building is a bunker used as the headquarters for German General Richter made crucial decisions about driving the Allies back out to sea from the beaches of Normandy.

And Anne Frank...

Plenty of photos detailing the events of D-Day

Decoys were used to fool the Germans.  This is a photo of an inflatable tank positioned near Calais where the Germans thought the Allies would land.

And far away from the actual Normandy beach landings, aircraft would drop parachute dummies, all part of a hoax to confuse the enemy.

There were short movies to watch...

And a wonderful 360 degree cinema displaying images of "Normandy's 100 Days" projected on 9 screens.

We spent several hours in the museum and only saw a portion of it.  Tickets purchased are good for two days, as there is so much to take in.

By mid-afternoon we were back on the bus headed to Paris.

It's Sunday and the roads are jammed with traffic as people are returning to the city.

The next morning we headed home via CDG airport.  The trip was very enjoyable; we did have to follow all the different rules regarding the covid pandemic--proof of being fully vaccinated, negative covid tests when required, passenger locator forms filled out for the airlines, etc., and of course, wearing masks while indoors and using lots of hand sanitizer.   Those extra efforts were well worth it to be able to travel abroad again.

The Cliffs of Etretat

The next day we are off on an optional tour to the Cliffs of Etretat.  As we leave Honfleur, we get to drive over the Normandy Bridge, which links Honfleur to LeHavre.

After about an hour's drive, we arrive at the fishing village of Étretat, which has become a popular tourist destination.

 Then it's time to ride the Petit Train, which takes us up to the top of the cliffs.

The cliffs of Étretat are part of a stunning coastline along the English Channel.  And we have a jaw-dropping moment as we take in the views.

The cliffs are France's answer to the White Cliffs of Dover.

The arches and stone spire, called the Needle, are seen in many Impressionist paintings.  This was another favorite area for the artists.

The cliffs are primarily colored white to a light grey color, mostly contain chalk and limestone.  The rain we experienced earlier has dulled the white color.

We hike up to a higher point for more views.

On the top of the cliff is the White Bird Monument to mark the last place the "White Bird" airplane was seen.

In 1927, a pair of French WWI heroes attempted to make the first non-stop flight from Paris to New York City, but the plane mysteriously disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic, never to be seen again.

Back down we walked on the beach.  The beach was covered in small stones, which made walking a bit difficult.

A closer view of the arch and spire.

 

By evening we were back to Honfleur, where we chatted with our new friends and shared memories at the Captain's Farewell Dinner.

It was time to say goodbye to the crew that made our cruise so wonderful.  Tomorrow we leave the ship and head back to Paris to fly home, with a stop along the way...

To continue reading, scroll down and click "Newer Post".

The Normandy Beaches

 In the morning, we have a beautiful view of the sunrise over the Honfleur harbor. 

We are on our way for a full-day tour of D-Day discoveries.  The D-Day landings, code-named "Operation Overlord", were the largest military campaigns in recorded history with the beaches of Normandy bearing the brunt of the invasion.  

Beginning at 6:30 am on June 6, 1944, nearly 7,000 landing craft hit the highly-fortified coastline.  Those vessels carried tens of thousands of soldiers from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and many other Allied nations, all of who arrived determined to carry out General Eisenhower's order, "Full victory--nothing else".

We visit the American landing locations, beginning with Pointe du Hoc.  This point of land was the Germans' most heavily fortified position along the Utah and Omaha beaches.

It was here that the Allied forces scaled 328-foot cliffs as they sought to silence German artillery.

The cliffs are so severe here that the Germans turned their defenses around to face what they assumed would be an attack from inland.  The Germans had not prepared for an attack up the cliffs.

 

The US Army Rangers famously scaled the impossibly steep cliffs to disable the gun battery.  Here is a viewing platform on top of one of the remaining bunkers.

There are numerous craters from bombs around the area.  The craters are the result of bombs dropped over seven weeks in preparation for the landings.  This area was a huge German gun battery which could fire as far as 13 miles, covering several beaches.  For the American D-Day landings to succeed, this nest of guns had to be taken out. 

Once the Rangers had climbed up the cliffs they used the bomb craters as foxholes until reinforcements arrived.

Ponte du Hoc Memorial and German bunker

The memorial represents the Ranger dagger used to help scale the cliffs.

Back on the bus, we headed over to Omaha Beach where the first Allied footing was achieved in German-occupied France.  When they arrived on shore, the Allies were met with a deafening barrage of German gunfire.

As Nazis soldiers shot from secure concrete pillboxes built high above the open sand, Allied fighters were mowed down while exiting the Higgins boats and wading to shore.

This memorial was erected in memory of the fallen Allied soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.  Omaha was the most difficult of the D-Day beaches to assault.  Nicknamed "Bloody Omaha", nearly half of all D-Day casualties were suffered here.

A modern metal statue entitled, "The Brave" rises from the waves in honor of the liberating forces and symbolizes the rise of freedom on the wings of hope.

We had time to walk on the beach and reflect, trying to imagine what it must have been like to be a soldier battling his way through the water and onto the beach.

Next, we headed to the American Cemetery located on a bluff above Omaha Beach, 

where 9,386 white, marble tombstones honor and remember the Americans who gave their lives on the beaches below to free Europe.

Our program leaders arranged for our group to lay flowers in remembrance.  The veterans in our group did the honor.
 

"These men came here to storm these beaches for one purpose only, not to gain anything for ourselves, not to fulfill any ambition that America had for conquest, but just to preserve freedom, systems of self-government in the world."  Dwight D. Eisenhower, President, Commander in Chief

After walking among the crosses and reflecting, we entered the Omaha Beach Memorial Museum next to the cemetery.  

The museum traces the story of the US Army's D-Day landing's on Omaha Beach.

On display is a rusted metal obstacle called a "Czech hedgehog.

Thousands of these were placed on the beaches by the Germans to stop and immobilize landing craft. Remember the opening scenes in the movie, "Saving Private Ryan"?

And what I also remember from the WWII movies is the "cricket".

This was used by paratroopers to communicate without being detected, especially in the dark of night as they were walking through the thick hedgerows.  One click = "Are you friend?  Two clicks in response = Friend"

We left the cemetery and museum with these final words.

The bus ride back to the ship was very quiet as we all reflected on what we had seen and learned today.

To continue reading, scroll down and click "Newer Post".  It's off to the Cliffs of Etretat