In Remembrance: The Beaches of Normandy
We selected this Uniworld trip because it included a visit to the beaches of Normandy, where so many gave their lives in the name of freedom. For those of us with fathers who fought in World War II, this visit was emotional and very special. It didn’t matter what part they played in the war or if they were part of the Normandy Invasion.
It was a long day to and from our port where the SS Joie de Vivre was docked in Rouen. Our all-American group was visiting the three American sites. It was cold with grey, cloudy skies and somehow seemed appropriately somber.
We began at Utah Beach and the nearby village of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, where an incoming American paratrooper was famously caught on the steeple of the church. A monument to him is permanently in place as is the beautiful stained glass in the church commemorating the airmen. The Airborne Museum was crowded with French children and their parents during their fall break. The three parts of the museum provided very visual representations of the invasion and the men who fought and died. Ultimately the Americans freed this village from Nazi occupation.
Our next stop was Pointe du Hoc, where so many Army Rangers lost their lives scaling the cliffs directly into German fire. The information reported by the surviving Rangers about the location and condition of German artillery was key to making the landing a success.
This invasion took three years to plan and being here, it’s hard to comprehend the scope and details. It’s also hard to believe they kept it a secret. So many things went wrong, from the bad weather, missed landing site, tanks sinking, and thousands of lives lost – it’s a miracle they prevailed. But they did prevail, and as we all know, it was the turning point of the war.
We concluded our tour with a visit to the American cemetery and the landing site of Omaha Beach. The cemetery is a beautiful, magnificently maintained tribute to the men who died here. Families were able to make the choice of bringing them home or burying them where they died. Forty percent chose this cemetery, which also honors those missing in action.
I didn’t realize until our visit that all these sites are American property, having been given to the U.S. by the French government. The individual who manages the cemetery even has diplomatic status.
At Omaha Beach, Uniworld arranged a ceremony at the base of the beach-side monument and gave us each a perfect white rose. To begin, a bugler played our national anthem. As we turned and faced our flag, we joined in song and the man standing behind me had the most beautiful voice. One of our guides read a letter she had sent a former Uniworld guest. It was an absolutely beautiful, moving, tribute from a French woman in thanks to Americans. I can’t begin to describe it here. I don’t believe there was a dry eye among us. The bugler played taps and we had a moment of silence before placing the white roses as we wished. We walked ours out as far as we could into the tidal area.
Rouen is the capital of Normandy and a pretty big city with almost half a million residents. After being severely bombed during World War II, much of the town, including areas along the Seine, has been rebuilt in a very functional, concrete style. Fortunately, much of the Old Town and the main cathedral were spared damage, and we took a walking tour of that area.
The medieval area is filled with half-timbered houses, combining oak and terracotta for a storybook effect. You can see that some of the buildings have shifted as neighboring structures disappeared over the centuries. They are leaning, windows are out of kilter – there must be a fairytale somewhere about quaint houses like this.
A centerpiece of the district is the gorgeous lunar clock. It was made by the same company that created the famous clock in London’s Big Ben.
Joan of Arc was burned at the stake here. I did not find her monument to be particularly photogenic, but her story was engaging.
The cathedral is massive and has foundations from the 4th century. It took hundreds of years to build. For me, it was like seeing visuals ripped from the pages of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth.
We continued walking around and exploring the area on our own. I tried to find some of the local earthenware, and since I was disorganized, I failed! We can’t seem to get enough of baguette sandwiches and French pastry, so we grabbed a quick lunch before heading back to our Uniworld riverboat.
After dinner on board, we walked back to the Cathedral for a special evening performance. We listened to the wonderful St. Evior choir, an international group of 14 women and 10 men accompanied by organ and oboe. It was a very special experience.
BTW – I will never master the guttural French pronunciation of this city.
If you like this post you may enjoy other posts from Normandy: Monet’s Giverny and A Voyage Through Normandy.
A highlight of this Uniworld river cruise is a stop at the Village of Giverny where Monet made his home for many years and painted his famous water lilies. (I could not get the right effect in the pic above with my camera app, but at least it’s a bit artistic!)
His love of color is evident everywhere. The pink and green home he shared with his large family is so inviting, with its vividly painted rooms and large cheerful blue kitchen. Of note, no original paintings are on display here – only reproductions.
His gardens were massive—much larger than I had imagined, with thousands of flowering plants blooming in tiered patches of color and disappearing paths.
A riot of color is displayed within a scene of organized chaos.
The Gardens
A second garden features the famous pond with his iconic water lilies. A few were still blooming, even though the gardens will now close for the season. Monet would spend hours in his small boat painting them in different light and conditions.
Before he had money, Monet did much of the garden work himself. It was one of his passions. Today it takes a staff of five to keep it up. The dozens of dahlia varieties were impressively amazing! Fliting around were birds, butterflies, and dragonflies, even at this late fall date.
Monet led a complicated and interesting life and I enjoyed learning more about him. His world was a palate of color – filled with his love of flowers, art, good food, and his family and friends.
Back on the Uniworld SS Joie de Vivre, I enjoyed a lecture about the Impressionist movement, and the artists who inspired it and, along with Monet, created such beautiful imagery.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like A Voyage Through Normandy.
We have embarked on a river cruise to Normandy, France, sailing round-trip from Paris on the Seine. From the moment we set foot on the Uniworld SS Joie de Vivre, we knew we’d made the right decision. The ship is beautifully appointed with French décor and the food and beverage service embraces the best of locally sourced wines and foods. The staff is wonderful – calm, organized, competent, and thorough.
For the next few posts, I will share a little info about our ports of call and some pictures of this wonderfully picturesque, part of the world.
First Stop: La Roche-Guyon
We woke up to a foggy morning, with a chill in the air, and a swan floating around outside our cabin. A very short walk led us to the Château de La Roche-Guyon and its imposing position over the Seine. Classified as a Historic Monument, the keep and castle were built and added to for ten centuries. From the Middle Ages through the 18th century, various building styles and materials have created the impressive structure seen today. At this point, family has returned and since the pandemic, the current Duke and his young family have inhabited the second floor of the Château.
Rows of pear and apple trees are augmented by flower and vegetable gardens providing a deceptively tranquil setting for what would become a center of the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. This area of France was occupied more than any other, and the castle was taken over as a command center – housing none other than the Desert Fox, General Rommel, for six months.
Built right into the area’s chalk cliffs, the Château’s unique bunkers were expanded and used as a vital Nazi operations center, and housed facilities for radio broadcasts spewing propaganda. We needed to use the flashlights on our cellphones as we entered the dark, cold bunkers. They are always 52 degrees, and if you touched a wall, you would be coated with chalk dust. I found it very claustrophobic. Currently, the castle features an exhibition about the Monument Men (now of movie fame) who rescued stolen artworks the Germans hid in salt caves.
We climbed steep stairs to the largest dovecote I’ve ever seen. Thankfully now empty, with over 1,000 cubbyholes, it could hold more than 2,000 doves (or pigeons). Once a sign of affluence, the birds were used for food, feathers, and even the sale of their droppings (imagine that job).
The day had become sunny and we were back on the river.
The famous Esther tapestries (two of which are shown above) were made for the Château by the same artisans used for Versailles. In private hands for years, the French government bought them from designer Karl Lagerfeld and returned them to their original home. The expansive room they call home was used by Rommel as his imposing office.
The original fortified Castle Keep at the top of the chalk cliff.
