European Cruise

Pat and Forrest recently returned from a European Cruise around Western Europe with a stop at Casablanca in North Africa. Starting in London and ending in Rome, they enjoyed tours of Seville, Barcelona, Lisbon, Casablanca, Cannes and Florence. However, the highlight was a very emotional day spent touring the beaches of Normany with some veterans who landed there years ago.

Hurricane Isabel almost derailed everything. A week before departure, Isabel was a catagory 5 hurricane predicted to hit Charleston the day they were scheduled to leave. Then Isabel veered off toward Washington, DC. Unfortunately, Washington's Dulles Airport was their intermediate stop. The airport was closed until noon on the day we left but opened just in time for our 2 pm flight. In fact, Dulles was actually closed when they took off from Charleston but opened while they were in flight. Whew!

One reason for choosing this particular cruise was the opportunity to tour the beaches at Normandy.

Forrest at Graves Sculpture

The almost endless rows of graves are the dominant feature of the Normandy Memorial, just above the beaches.

The entrance to the Memorial is a beautiful tribute to
the many men who fought and died there.

It was hard to imagine fighting ashore across beaches
which were strewn with these "Croc Teeth".

Model
There were quite a few models explaining the landing sites
located so you could see the actual beaches and the model.

TouristTrain
Arromanches was the city nearest the breakwaters.
There was a FREE "tourist train" to see the town.

There are still remnants of the huge breakwater
(seen in the background) and unloading ramps.

Click here to see a page about the "Mulberry Harbors" and the War Museum at Arromanches.

Lunch at Normandy
We ate an excellent French lunch at a Norman chateau
located a few miles inland from the beaches.

Several men in our tour group were veterans
who landed at Normandy and fought to Berlin.

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The almost endless rows of graves are the dominant feature of the Normandy Memorial, just above the beaches.	The entrance to the Memorial is a beautiful tribute to the many men who fought and died there.

It was hard to imagine fighting ashore across beaches which were strewn with these "Croc Teeth".	There were quite a few models explaining the landing sites located so you could see the actual beaches and the model.
Arromanches was the city nearest the breakwaters. There was a FREE "tourist train" to see the town.	There are still remnants of the huge breakwater (seen in the background) and unloading ramps.
Click here to see a page about the "Mulberry Harbors" and the War Museum at Arromanches.