Today wasn't such an early day but it has been a long day. We docked at LeHavre, France at 7:00 am. We had booked a private tour of Normandy. Our guide was Mathias with DDay Guided Tours. He was a wealth of information. In fact, it was information overload. It took us an hour and a half to get to our first stop. All along the way he was giving us a history lesson. I never was much for history so a lot of it (most) of it went right over my head. He said his family had lived in the area since the 1600's which I thought was interesting. He also said that during World War II the Germans came and stayed in his grandparent's house and they had no choice but to let them. They were farmers. At some point his grandfather fought in the war.
We first stopped at a German cemetery. He wanted us to see it so we could later compare it to the American cemetery. There were over 20,000 graves there. Most are buried at least 2 to a grave. There are over 200 unidentified German soldiers buried there.
After our brief stop there we went to Pointe du Hoc. There we got to see some bunkers the remains of German artillery battery.
From there we went to a restaurant to have a bite to eat. The food was fresh and homegrown. You all know that I don't like tomatoes. Well they served me a salad with a whole tomato on it and I thought I would try it because when I went to St Petersburg several years ago I tried tomatoes that were out of this world. I thought that perhaps I just didn't like American tomatoes. Well I tried it and it was really good. I also had quiche and some dessert with fresh peaches and fresh whipped cream.
After lunch he took us to Omaha beach where we got out and walked a little bit while we got another history lesson. By the way, he even taught us history all throughout lunch. He really loves his job and said he reads all the time to learn more about this.
After this brief stop we went to the American Cemetery. It was much nicer than the German cemetery that we saw earlier in the day. I don't remember how many are buried there but it was quite impressive. He said this is the most visited U.S. Cemetery visited right behind Arlington National Cemetery.
This was our last stop and then we had another hour and a half drive back to the port. When we got back to LeHavre he drove us through the town so we could get a brief look at it.
Once back on board we had to check on our dining arrangements since we still had not been told when we could eat in the dining room. We have talked to the Dining Room people the first day, our cabin steward the first day and the Concierge this morning. They all told us we would be told something today. We were expecting a voice mail when we returned, but there was nothing. Mary P called Guest Services and explained it to them and the apologized and said that we could go to Chops Restaurant (steakhouse) at their expense. There is normally a $30 cover charge for this restaurant. We were able to go there at 6:30 and the food was very good and the service was good also.
After dinner we went to the 9:00 pm show. The group performing tonight were Tenors Unlimited. They had a great show. I wouldn't mind see them again, but the only way I could do that would be to go to the 10:45 pm show tonight. They are getting off the ship tomorrow. Maybe I can catch them on another ship sometime.
Tomorrow we have an early day. We will be docked in Portland (Dorset), UK. We have a ship excursion booked and are going to Corfe Castle. While there we are planning on meeting one of our friends that we have met on Facebook playing games. She lives about 10 minutes away. We look forward to meeting Diane.
While in Portland, the Paralympic Sailing events are going on. We hope to see some of them from the ship. From looking on-line, it looked like they would be right where we are docking.
I will try to get more pictures posted in the next few days.
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