It was time to face the fact that our 4-month cruise was nearing its end. It seemed like so long when we got started, and now we were just about done. You go between not wanting it to end to looking forward to being home, and that feeling changes a few times a day. But we're still here, and it was time to be here - in this case, Cherbourg, France.
One of Cherbourg's claims to fame is that it was the next-to-last stop the Titanic made before it sank.
Another, if you can use the word "fame" to describe a movie most Americans - including me - have never heard of, was that it was the setting for 1964's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" starring Catherine Deneuve. Most of the scenes were filmed here as well, including at this shop.
There's also a factory here that makes umbrellas by hand. Not sure what makes them so special, but they're certainly expensive. Zoom in to see just how much. The 55 Euros is just for the cover.
Large, Gothic-style church? Check! This is the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, which has been around in some form since the early 1300's, although this building only dates from the mid-15th century.
The real highlight of the day, though, came about by accident. We had just finished the Cherbourg tour and were having lunch, and were wondering what to do for the afternoon. Jean noticed that a tour of Utah Beach was leaving in just a few minutes. We found out that there were spots open, and sprinted down to catch the bus just in time. We started out in the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, which as you can see by the photo on the right was one of the first French towns to be liberated on D-Day. The photo on the left shows paratrooper John Steele, whose chute got caught on the church steeple as you see here. Many others whose chutes got caught in trees and other places were shot by the Germans, but Steele managed to avoid that fate and was able to rejoin his unit. This was the basis for a similar scene featuring Red Buttons in the movie The Longest Day.
The interior of the church. The photo on the left shows a stained glass window that was installed in 1969 for the 25th anniversary of the invasion. There are also windows for the 50th and 75th.
This is Utah Beach, the westernmost of the spots hit by the Allies on D-Day. You can't help when you stand here to think about the sacrifices made here and elsewhere by our fighting men to keep us free.
Detail of the landing.
As you might expect, and as there should be, there's all kinds of statues
honoring the soldiers who fought that day. Here's just a few.
This building, now a restaurant, was used as a German office command for two years starting in 1942.
From June of 1944 on, it was under new management.
There are German bunkers dotting the countryside all up and down the road.
The one in the upper photo had been right at the shore, but it's now 4 miles inland.
The cannons in this bunker were able to shoot accurately at a range of about 20 miles.
The cruise ship terminal was the same one where the Titanic would have picked up passengers.
The next day was one I had been particularly looking forward to. We docked in the town of Honfleur, and it took a six-hour round trip bus ride to get to Paris from there. It was worth it just for this view.
Paris is hosting the Olympics in July, and there's construction all over town.
These stands on the Place de la Concorde are being used for 3x3 basketball and
other "sports" including BMX biking, skateboarding - and breakdancing.
It was about a 45-minute walk from there to Notre Dame, where they're
expecting to at least have a partial reopening in December.
Me and my buddy just staring out at the Seine river, home of so many book and poster sellers that you wonder how they're all able to make a living. But they were there on our first trip to Paris 25 years ago, and I'm sure they'll still be around when we come back.
The Assemblee Nationale building, the home of the French Parliament. Take a close look
at the colorful statues in front. Did I mention that Paris is hosting the Olympics this year?
You can't go to Paris without having a drink at a sidewalk cafe on the Seine.
Well, maybe you can, but we weren't about to miss it.
This restaurant, also on the Seine but much too nice for the likes of us,
is in the building where the writer Voltaire died in May of 1778.
No need for me to tell you what these are.
We had heard that the crew of the ship had arranged something special when we returned. Here it is.
We pulled into Dover, England for the last leg of the cruise. Of course, this is the Union Jack, the flag of the UK. It incorporates the red cross of St. George for England, the white X-cross for Scotland, the red X-cross for Ireland - and nothing at all to represent Wales. Sorry.
You've heard of the White Cliffs of Dover? Here they are. What we didn't know was
that just across the English Channel in Calais, France, are the same white cliffs.
More shots of the cliffs, with a lighthouse and Dover Castle, respectively.
Our tour was not in Dover, but as we saw when we walked around the town later on, there's not much to see. We went instead to Canterbury, home of the first Anglican church built in England in 1070 We didn't go in, and we heard we may have missed one there - the interior is supposedly spectacular.
Instead of soaking up culture on the streets of Canterbury, we
soaked up a pint while watching an English league soccer match.
Closeup of Dover Castle. Unfortunately, we got there right at closing time.
And honestly, we're not sure if we'd have paid $40 to see yet another castle.
Most of what we saw of London, our next and final stop, we
saw on the ship on the way into port. Here's some of it.
It was a tight squeeze getting through...
Going back to the White Cliffs of Dover, the woman who sang that song and lots of other patriotic songs during WW II, Vera Lynn, just passed away in 2020 at the age of 103. She was made a Dame in 1975, remains beloved in England and elsewhere, and was honored by the naming of this London Transport ferry after her.
The O2 arena, panned as literally and figuratively a white elephant when it was built in the early 2000's, has now become a successful multipurpose venue for concerts and other events.
Our tour on this day was a walking trip around the Greenwich area of London where we were anchored in the middle of Thames River. The highlight was seeing the original Cutty Sark clipper ship, one of the fastest in the world when it was built in 1869. Yes, it's where the whiskey got its name.
The ship itself got its name from the nightgown of the witch in a Robert Burns poem. She chases a farmer and manages to grab his horse's tail before the farmer gets away.
The Cutty Sark is displayed at an amusement park
where families were having fun on a holiday weekend.
Nearby is the campus of the University of Greenwich, formerly the Royal Naval College.
We left the walking tour pretty early on and just walked on our own along the Thames. This is our unofficial winner of the Most Flags Outside a British Pub award.
A couple of times, we used the ship's Scrabble board to send messages to our friends on board. Once
we did it, but the crew cleaned it up before they got the chance to read it. This time, we made sure.
Goodnight London, and goodbye Viking Sky!
And then, it was over. All the planning, all the visas, all the packing, and all the fun and adventures later, it was over. So you might be wondering - would we do it again? We wouldn't do it a second time (some of the people we met were doing their second and third tours!), but knowing what we know, we absolutely would do it all over. We met a lot of fun, fellow travelers, and some of them who live here we expect to continue to see. And we truly did explore the world in comfort - Viking certainly lived up to their slogan. The whole staff on board the ship was great (I'll have to get used to not being greeted as Sir Leo).
We were, of course, disappointed not to get to see Egypt and Jordan, but we've booked another cruise for early 2026 to get to both those places. We're expecting some sort of compensation from Viking for the change of itinerary on this trip which will cover some of the cost, so we'll see how that goes.
As I write this, we've been home for 5 days, and I'm just getting used to US time again. It is nice to sleep in my own bed again, but being taken care of on the ship is also very nice.
Thanks for taking this trip with us! We hope to see you soon, and hope especially that you can make your own travel dreams come true!
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