From Paris to Normandy in a thousand words or less…ha!
If you are just stepping in to the Journey today, Russ and I fulfilled a bucket list item for both of us this September with a trip to Normandy that included a few days on the front end in Paris. I recounted some of those earlier this week, so if you want to catch up just click on the “Previous post” arrows and scroll on back.
Otherwise, today we begin the Normandy portion of the travel log. I can’t think of a better way to do this than just day by day. I have had a couple of random people tell me that as they are reading, they feel like they are there. That is my goal. I pray constantly as I select my words and photos that you will experience a touch of what we were able to see and learn and understand.
I also pray fervently I am not boring you to tears.
So with prayers lifted, let’s begin.
As I mentioned yesterday, getting from our hotel in Paris back to our tour meet up at the Charles De Gaulle airport involved us figuring out the Metro. Our daughter Sarah and dear friend Dina had expressed supreme confidence that we would do fine. I believe they both had higher expectations than we felt we had the skill set to accomplish.
We decided to consult an administrator at our hotel in Paris and she seemed to be more inclined to agree that this was going to take some divine intervention and a small tutorial on the Metro. She pulled up the route on her computer and wrote out very specific instructions for each of the three changes we would have to make.
The morning of our departure, we gave ourselves ample time and headed off with our instruction sheet clutched firmly in my hand. Russ was struggling with some congestion and deferred to my limited French speaking abilities and clearer head to lead us. Have mercy.
At the Metro station, I went to the attendant to purchase our tickets. At first she was a bit standoffish but answered my questions about what kind of ticket we should get. After paying, she softened and asked if we had our itinerary. I showed her the one from the hotel and she shook her head.
Non!! She began pulling up the schedule and printed off a new itinerary that eliminated one the changes and also got us on the Express.
She took the time to go over each step with me. The printed itinerary had detailed instructions about what signs to look for, where to sit on the train and estimated time between stops. With the aid of some regular Metro users and some fellow travelers headed to the airport, we made it!
You may have heard that people are not very nice to tourists, but again I will say that even when I approached a lady at the first station, she apologized that she speak very little English and flagged another regular commuter over. This young lady knew immediately what was needed and helped us figure out where the middle train would be. They must do this frequently and were very kind.
We arrived safely but I will say that Charles De Gaulle is a confusing layout. The signage is different than what we are used to and while we had ample time to wait for our bus meet up, we were thankful we had given ourselves ample time to get there. I think one of the advantages of traveling outside the U. S. Is just seeing that our way is not the only way and it helps us gain compassion for those who are not born and raised here. It is not easy to be amongst people who do not speak the language you were raised speaking. It is an odd feeling to be immersed in a completely different way of life that works perfectly well for the locals.
I feel I have gone on so long, so will finish with some information about the company we selected for our tour.
Russ learned about Beaches of Normandy from a golf buddy. He and his family traveled with them a few weeks before our departure and all of us can tell you that this is the way to go. The 24/7 guide for our tour was Severine Diaz. She and her husband actually own the company.
Severine was born and raised in Normandy. Both of her grandfathers were POW’s in Germany during WW 2. Her father was only 8 years old when his father was taken away. Every year, growing up, her family would visit the D Day sites on June 6. As an adult, she worked as the Utah Beach Museum for twenty years, serving as the general manager the last seven years. In 2021, she and her husband decided to launch their own tour company. And let me tell you, they are a blessing. The information she would give us as we traveled was always so helpful, and she has the sweetest spirit. She found a place in my heart <3
In addition to her excellent and kind hosting skills, we had the best driver on the planet. Ironically, Charlie speaks multiple languages well, but French isn’t one of them. It was funny when Severine would default to French to tell him something and they both would end up laughing. Charlie is from Hungary and was navigating the narrow, winding roads as if we were in a compact car and not a luxury tour bus.
One of our local guides told us as we were curving around hairpin turns that the roads in that area followed the original deer paths. Hunters wore down the ground that eventually became the roads. And the houses and farms are built right along the edge. There is no urban expansion here, houses are not cleared back to enlarge the path now taken by millions of tourists every year.
Our tour included entry into the best of the museums at each area and local guides or museum guides where it was helpful to have better information than Severine felt equipped to give us. They were all delightful and not only knowledgable but interesting to listen to. We were given “whisperers” so we could hear the tour guides well on the beaches and in crowded lobbies and other settings.
The tour we selected was the six day Band of Brothers tour which covered the four beaches in the June 6 event as well as visits to Sainte-Mère-Église, Bayeux and Mont-Saint-Michel. This option includes staying in the same hotel all six nights. For this trip, the hotel was owned by Mercure, a European chain. It is rated three star, but we would give it five. The food was amazing and while breakfast and dinner were included in our fee, the menu prices were in line with all the restaurants in Paris.
The Mercure at Omaha Beach has a golf course, swimming pool and hot tub, lovely lobby area for gathering or reading and the grounds were stunning.
It is a twenty minute walk to the nearest village, but we were on the go all the time so it was nice to just return to this sanctuary at the end of the day.
The rooms were clean. The showers are interesting to navigate in France. They reminded me of our shower in my dad’s airstream. You want to utilize the hand held sprayer as they seem to only use the tiniest of barriers between the tub and bathroom!
I was a bit leary of what it would be like to travel with a group, but we had the nicest people. You know how human nature is – wherever we are for more than a day becomes our new normal. We would sit with different people at the various meals, everyone became very caring about others and we were all quick to just embrace the journey. We heard their stories as we would wait for meals to be served and we now have a whole new group of people from around the country that we call friends.
Well, before I lose my friends here with my yammering, I will bid you adieu for the weekend. I hope you will come back on Monday. I promise to not be so windy and to use more photos from the Beaches.
Have a great weekend and thank you for being here <3
Tour group we used: https://www.beachesofnormandy.com
Option we selected for our tour: https://www.beachesofnormandy.com/tour/Beaches_of_Normandy_Tour/