Trip with F's on a BP. Firsts, family, Food and Fun.

[drron]

One of my favourite things is looking at supermarkets. This one was at the back of a Department store. very good displays.




















Love the cheese sections.

 

[drron]

I was first one back on the bus. I was sitting behind the guide. She turned around and told me she actually appreciated my presence on the tour. More sensible than the usual cruise passengers. I felt good so back to the ship.




We were on Deck 9 which is the one below the Captains Observation post. About half way along.
Lunch at the Japanese restaurant Seishin.




And a nice plate of sea urchin.


Trivia every afternoon. We did reasonably well though another team were often the winners. We weren't alone suspecting some skullduggery.
After trivia I went to the golf putting. The other regulars thought I was a regular player with a low handicap. Truthfully just extreme luck. I won nearly 50% of the time. needless to say I enjoyed it. The worst day when I had 2 holes in 1 plus a 3 putt and came third. First was 3 holes in 1 and second 2 holes in 1 and a 2 putt. Both women.
We usually went to dinner at 1830 - 1900. This night was back in Atlantide. I forgot to photograph the main menu and this is the copy at the entrance behind glass. Sorry.


Mrsdrron had the mushroom tartlet followed by the scallops for main.




I started with the spicy octopus then lobster bisque with sea bass for mains.






OK but nothing memorable. In general the food quality has been slowly declining over the last few years. There was however one dramatic improvement which I complained about after our last 3 cruises. In fact on our last cruise they ran out of cheese after just a few days. I couldn't even get gorganzola in their Italian restaurant. This cruise however in all the main restaurants had a choice of 3 cheeses and they chnged every night. I often hd the cheese as my dessert and usually with all 3 cheeses. This was the cheese menu this night.

 

[drron]

We now set off down the Seine to Honfleur, Over the river from Le Havre.

 

[drron]

Was up very early the next day for a 7am start to my Normandy Beaches excursion. This was one of the 3 Excursions I was looking forward to. Sadly it is the only one that occurred. Saw the sunrise from the bus.






As you can see the weather wasn't the Greatest. It was nearly 2 hours before we approached Omaha Beach. Began seeing some evidence of the war.




Te beach itself looked dreary and peaceful.




Then looking the other side and see what those poor lads had to climb under heavy fire.




Then to the major memorial on the beach.












Though many paid absolutely no attention to the many signs.


Those 3 had been touching the sculptures.

 

[drron]

More from Omaha.








Then back to the bus to head towards the American Cemetery. Past a few small collections of war materials.








The American grave site was impressive but you the realised the enormity of t with the long wall of names.




There are 9338 Americans buried here plus nearly 1600 names of those missing in action on one part of the wall. From Wikipedia.
"The cemetery contains the graves of 45 pairs of brothers (30 of whom are buried side by side), a father and his son, an uncle and his nephew, 2 pairs of cousins, 3 generals, 4 chaplains, 4 civilians, 4 women, 147 African Americans and 20 Native Americans."

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Two of President Theodore Roosevelt's sons are buried here.
Whilst here a short ceremony was held and I had my first interaction with an American woman who I assume was after a new husband. She came up and asked me who died as the flags are at half mast. I just said several thousand.








Maps of the invasion.

 

[drron]

The last of the American cemetery.










And the cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach.








Next the drive to lunch. Campervans usually don't give way even to a bus.

 

[drron]

Lunch was much better than expected Simple food and only 2 courses but very goo quality. Plus free pour whie wine.






I had a little time to walk around the grounds.












And a bit of WW@ history.

 

[drron]

We now drove to the British Museum at Arromanches. Passed an old grand house.






This museum was on the beach where the Mulberry Harbour was constructed.. It was actually Mulberry B and became known as Port Winston. Initially it was planned to operate for 3 months but kept operating until December 1944. There was a second Mulberry Harbour A at Omaha Beach. It was completely destroyed in a severe storm on June 19th. Interestingly the first plans for D Day were June 18 - 20. What a disaster that would have been.
For more about the history of the Mulberries this article is pretty comprehensive.

Winston Churchill’s Secret D-Day Weapon

Allied engineers built the Mulberry artificial harbors and towed them across the English Channel to supply the troops after D-Day.

warfarehistorynetwork.com

The museum contains lots of pictures, some exhibits and a 360 degree cinema with an interesting presentation. So to the display. First a picture of British tourists at Arromanches before WW2.


From the museum you had a nice vie over Gold Beach and the surviving bits of the harbour.






And just a couple from inside the museum.




It was here that a few of thee non Americans became a little annoyed at thir former comrades when one of the Americans said Why aren't there any American flags flying. One brit because it's a B..... English operation here. I didn't notice our Union Jack flying at your Memorial. The brits were also upset we didn't go to the British Memorial ahich is said to be very moving. The 4 Canadians were even more upset tht no Canadian memorials were visited especially as we drove straight past one.

The village outside is now a tourist rip off.






My American follower hd one lst attempt with me asking if I wanted her to take my picture. I declined the offer.

It was a pretty quiet 1.5 hour trip back to the ship.





And soon we were leaving the Seine.

 

[drron]

We set sail for saint Malo where I was lokking forward to visiting Mont Saint-Michael. But hopes were dashed when we got the weather forecast for Saint Malo. Too windy for tendering so port cancelled. Now 2 sea days with choppy conditions for the next 36 hours until we turned south down the French west coast.
Views of Le Havre.

 

[drron]

That night it was dinner in Indochine. First the coughtail.


I had the tuna tataki which was excellent.


Not shown are mrsdrron's starter waterpaper roll and my Tom Yum soup which have been pictured before.
Mrsdrron loved their char sui beef.


Whilst my main was spicy lamb Rogan josh. Glad I said with extra spice. It was fantastic.


For desserts Mrsdrron had the excellent lemongrass and ginger creme brulee.


And I had the forgettable coconut ric puddng.