Normandy Tour - Advice Needed

My Own Gray Matter | 5/29/09 | Myself

[Petronski]

Read up on the subject (Stephen Ambrose, Cornelius Ryan, Time-Life, etc.), then rent a car and stay in one of the Normandy villages near the coast. I highly recommend Arromanches-les-bains, and the wonderful Hotel de la Marine.

Buy your Michelin guide and maps and explore Normandy yourself.

Please don’t try to absorb this experience through the window of a coach bus, and for heaven’s sake, remember the first rule of travel: if you try to see it all, you’ll enjoy none of it.

Don’t be a tourist, be a traveler.

[Petronski]

I defy anyone who understands Operation OVERLORD to walk among the crosses and stars in the American Cemetary in Colleville-sur-mer and not be moved to tears.

[Petronski]

Get this fine book:

ISBN 10: 0816031371

[Peter W. Kessler]

I like that idea.

Does it matter that I don’t speak a word of French?

I have read every Ambrose book about WWII at least twice. I own “Band of Brothers.”(DVD) Now, I’m re-reading Martin Gilbert’s “The Second World War - A Complete History.” Very clinical, but complete and accurate. I have, I think, a pretty good WWII library, and I’m always looking to expand and increase it.

But now I’m getting restless to see for myself what I only know through books.

And I want to give thanks; to God and, somehow, every young man who interrupted his life to put on the uniform of Our Nation.

Then and now.

[Petronski]

When I toured Normandy in 1999, my patchy French was enough to get by, and was necessary.

But when we went in 2006, there was a lot more effort to speak English with me although by then my French had much improved. You'll get by. If you want to learn any French, stick to learning your way around a French menu, though many are French/English.

You've already done your homework, that's great. Look at what you can do:

• Arromanches (wreckage of the mulberries still encircle the bay, museum okay, village delightful)
• Drive up the coast to Utah Beach, don't miss the splendid little museum in Ste. Mere Eglise and the film shown in the Musee on Utah Beach...lunch at the cafe just across the way
• Pointe du Hoc (though in 2006 the actual point monument (the Reagan speech) was closed)
• Colleville-Vierville with the cemetary and Omaha Beach (walk down to the beach from the cemetary, beware of wild boar)
• Caen Museum (the original WWII wing is wonderful, just skip the new Cold War wing unless you fancy shabby moral equivocations
• Bayeux Tapestries
• Ouistreham
• There's a fine little museum in a German gun tower to the westerly end of the Norman coast, can't remember the village
• Pegasus Bridge and Museum

Do you see now how engrossing your trip can be if you take it at your own time? Rent a car at Charles de Gaulle and drive right round the Paris beltway and straight out to the coast.

[Peter W. Kessler]

Thanks very much.

[GnL]

Just for the record, the coach bus tours are more than just driving by and looking out the window. All of them, even the 1 day quick ones like I did, give you a fair amount of time to wander the beaches, the cemetery, and museums. Obviously you can’t spend hours in one place but you are seeing these historic places mostly on your feet, with the bus being the means of transport between them.

Smaller tours like Battlebus use small vans with about 8 people and give you more time and more stops. I think you can find a tour to suit your needs no matter who you are. If you do it on your own you must have done your research. That is great. I would just not want to miss something I could have seen and not realize it until back in the States.

Keep in mind that driving in France also can be an adventure. I lived in France for 2 years and had my own car so I know how the frogs drive. It takes a while to get used to the flow and chaos, at least in the larger towns.

[alarm rider]

What a great trip you will have.

Also remember, that some of the WWII battlefields in France were almost the same or near WWI battlefields.

I can imagine that many sons fought on or near where their fathers fought.

Have fun.

Regards,
AR

[Petronski]

My car rental company specifically instructed me to NOT to drive l’Etoile, around the Arc de Triomphe, but otherwise, I didn’t find Parisien drivers any worse than New Yorkers.

In fact, Parisien freeways are safer than Cleveland’s.

As far as Normandy is concerned, driving about is easy as pie. No different than any other rural area.

[Petronski]

In general, always book rental cars before you leave the States, via the internet. It is always cheaper, sometimes VASTLY.

[ncfool]

Wow! Great Thread.

My 84 year old Father wants to make the trip this summer to see Normandy Beach. He has been to France since WW2. But in WW2 he got the the area a couple of months later. His unit was the The 20th Armored Division, Combat Command R
and he was in the 70th Armored Infantry Battalion. The Got to Germany in 1945 and helped liberate some of the death camps. Over the years he has not said much about his experience and I guess its like most WW2 vets that the did what they had to do.

Last Fall we went to DC to the WW2 veteran’s Memorial and he opened up a little more to me about the time spent in the service. His unit help got to the Dachau Concentration Camp and he said the stench was horible and the conditions of the Jews there even more horible.

My Father in the 50 years I have lived never mentioned the situation of seeing Dachau with his own eyes to any of his kids. He and my Mother had traveled to Germany a few years back and revisited the area.

So I hope that this summer I can travel with my Father to view Normandy and then on to Germany to see for myself what made the WW2 Veterans the GREATEST GENERATION in AMERICAN HISTORY!

[ncfool]

By the way I forgot to add that he was an AMERICAN JEW serving US ARMY. Perhaps thats another reason that he never talked much about his unit liberating Dachau.

[Peter W. Kessler]

This is an old thread I started last summer. I have some very good news to report!

I’m headed to England, France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany next September!!!

I scoured the web for battlefield tours, and I think I hit the jackpot:

http://www.stephenambrosetours.com/tours/bandofb-over.html

I’ll have quite a few photos, and many memories of my trip. I’ll do my best to post ‘em here.

Thanks again, everyone, for your input. This, for me, is the trip of a lifetime.

[Peter W. Kessler]

Bump to try to get this thread out of the archives.

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