The names of the guys on this trip are:
Bernie Sise, old H-46 bud from San Diego, Delta Airlines
Dan Smith, F/A 18 guy, friend of Bernies
Clint Smith, 81 year old Dad of ^^^
Mike Adams, SUPO from one of Bernies ships
Mike Pullman, helo bubba from SD, also was at KP for a couple of years, Cal Maritime grad
Mike Brandenburg, USNA 87 United Guy P3 friend of Pully
Scott Sullivan, Sully old VT friend at SWA
John Quilinan, Q, old dear friend at Delta
Dutch Peale, old VT friend, at Delta
Marcus Maryk, old dear friend from years ago, at United
We left the Chateau this morning saying goodbye to Omaha Beach, 3 nights here and it slept 14 with a large kitchen and gathering room, 5 or so bedrooms and living rooms on the first and second deck which doubled as sleeping quarters. We were sure to clean it up nicely before departing on our final day of touring.
We were out at nine thirty and headed up to see the large gun battery overlooking the Mulberry’s that made up the Atlantic Wall that Hitler had erected. There were 5 very large guns in the turrets, mostly intact. Built by Polish prisoners during the WWII build up, only one was destroyed by Naval gunfire. The German soldiers did not except D DAy and were caught by surprise on June 6, 1944.
Next, our convoy of 3 cars headed to the town of Arromanches, which is nothing but the quaintest of seaside villages that has a sea wall overlooking the Mulberries, which was a WWII temporary docking system with prefab construction that concrete was poured into. It did not last through the first storm that hit the area.
On the way out of Arromanches, we had a very pleasant meal at the Hotel de Normandie, the special of the day was mussels, beef bourguignon, and an apricot tart.
Now, we had our final leg of driving which proved to be most exciting. My other driving passengers laugh that I fall asleep in the car, but what the........3 hours of driving.
Made it close to metro Paris, and saw graffiti for the first time, the traffic began to get congested. Like really congested. We were again, thankful for GPS and it saved us on multiple occasions. But the circles of traffic, the drivers, bicyclists, and scooters was nothing short of hazardous. Again, how in the world did people get around in France prior to GPS Arch de Triomphe especially where about 5 or 6 lanes of circular traffic converge creating the wheel of death, and cars are all about zigging within and without. Felt like a Jason Bourne movie turned Inspector Closeau.
The rental car drop off was equally sketchy, we were not ever sure if we dropped it off at the right place, 6 floors below the ground on a spiral that was tight and narrow. Seemed to be right though, and we were on the Metro subway next, as 10 of us made our way onto a couple of transfers to the Hotel Melia.
There we checked into a very nice hotel, and went on a walk about intending to stop at the Hemingway bar in the Ritz, but it was packed. Splitting up, 9 of us went to a nice little French cafe and bar where we were accommodated into the narrow table section and served a very nice meal. On the way to dinner, the Eiffel Tower lit up with sparkling lights, which is the apparent schedule on the hour for 5 minutes each time.
The masters of navigation Marcus, Dan Smith, and Dutch
No comments:
Post a Comment