Lunch at the beach

Our full day tour continues with a lunch stop on the way to Utah Beach at a family owned restaurant, Chez Arsene. All of the buses met up for lunch together so it was a full dining room. We all grabbed seats at shared tables and ended up enjoying a delicious meal with two other couples. Being a smaller ship, we often ran into the other couples throughout the rest of the cruise and got to chat even more.

The owner gave a brief history of their family restaurant and then launched into an explanation of the planned multi-course menu they served this afternoon. The restaurant was also part of a Bed and Breakfast called Domaine Utah Beach. Everything prepared for us today was sourced farm to table either by the family's own harvest or other farms local to the area. 

Everyone was served red wine and water but the option was given to request anything else to drink. I tried a sip of the wine but didn't like it. I stuck to drinking water until I accidentally grabbed the wrong clear pitcher pouring myself a glass of sparkling water by mistake. 

Our starter course was described as a salmon tartare but it also had a sweet marinade with pickled garnishes on top. I surprised myself with how much I liked this dish.

Our main course was a beef bourguignon cooked in a rich brown gravy with carrots and mushrooms. A healthy serving of rice completed the dish. This was such a hearty warm dish with everything cooked to just the right tenderness.

Our dessert course featured the sweet apples the area is known for turned into an apple pie seasoned crepe with a caramel sauce drizzle. Not being a big fan of apple pie, I found this to be way too sweet. Even Dad who loves to snack on apples found this to be too sweet as well.

Overall, we found the food to be a good representation of the local cuisine. We left feeling full from lunch and from the good company. We all headed back outside for some fresh air and to look around the grounds until it was time to get back on the bus.

Our next stop on the tour was to the Utah Beach Landing Museum. We were given free time to explore the museum and had the option to venture down onto Utah Beach itself.

There is a tradition of bringing up shells from the beach to be placed at the foot of this sign marking the entrance as a tribute to the soldiers.

Our final stop of the day was Sainte-Mere-Eglise to visit the Airborne Museum and to see the statue commemorating Pvt. John Steele, the paratrooper whose parachute got caught on the church steeple. The church and statue are across the street from the Airborne Museum. Pvt. Steele was left hanging there for several hours before he was captured and eventually escaped.

I was reading the signage in front of the church and admiring the barrage of pigeons lining the grounds when a woman who I thought was in our tour group stopped to talk to me in French about the pigeons. I used the limited French I'd been learning for this trip to reply that yes, there was an amazing amount of the beautiful birds. She either approved of my French or thought what I really said was amusing because she smiled and walked past where our group was holding down the curb waiting for the bus. Another lady in our group (in English) complimented the woman's outfit and was met with a nasty scowl before the local French woman walked away down the road. It's always a good idea when traveling to a foreign country to take the time to learn some of their language. If nothing else, it's always helpful to know how to ask where is the bathroom or when a sign posted reads "Do not use. Out of Order!"

The Airborne Museum is built as a series of buildings with themed exhibits made to look like aircraft hangers. Paved walkways connect the buildings so you can view the exhibits in order of the numbered buildings. It can take a little figuring out though to find your way if you don't want to visit every building.

The view of the church steeple sculpture from the museum grounds:

The informational displays have both a French and an English text.

This building was devoted to giving the visitor the experience of being on a plane full of paratroopers about to jump. There are multiple sensory experiences such as light play with some things in shadow, engine noise, officers yelling out orders, and talking between the soldiers. It is quite the immersive experience. There are warnings posted for those who are bothered by loud sounds and effects like strobe lighting. 

Fredericka briefly pointed out the German cemetery as we started our way back to the ship. Each of these tours were designed to include one cemetery visit. No one bothered to push for it when she suggested we simply drive by instead of stopping for a visit. I think everyone was ready to nap on the bus ride back. While we had been away on this tour all day, the Viking Radgrid sailed from Vernon to Rouen. The dock in Rouen required the bus to park at street level in an alley. We had to make our way down a dark steep crumbling tree covered stone staircase, walk about 100 yards to where another set of steps led us back onto the ship. Mia was waiting just inside the ship entrance and came rushing over when she saw me stop at the bottom of the second stairs to reach back and help Dad. She insisted on helping him walk down the stairs matching step for step. Once inside, Dad headed straight for our cabin while I answered Mia's questions about how well we handled the tour. She was saddened to hear that Dad couldn't do at least part of the path. Mia was also surprised to hear that Fredericka did not give any heads up about the shorter path option.

I  know with travel in Europe, sometimes you encounter older structures that don't offer features that allow disabled travelers to visit. However, I do think Viking could have done more knowing that visiting in November would mean traversing these centuries old surfaces to get in and out of the dock areas would be done in complete darkness. They have the control to know when a tour group is leaving and returning and definitely could have prepared more than 2 or 3 crew with small flashlights showing the way.

In case you didn't get enough food pictures earlier, here is the dinner we reported to as soon as we could drop our bags and freshen up in the cabin:

This was supposed to be like a mozzarella stick:

Pork tenderloin with stuffing, gravy, and mashed sweet potato:

Stuffed ravioli:

Croquembouche - I soon started to notice how much pistachio must be in the ship's inventory. They used pistachio crumbles to top most everything and not just dessert courses. Be advised if you are allergic to nuts as this was certainly not the normal garnish for my dessert.

As we headed to bed, I took a peek at my iPhone's health data for today. I'd say I earned all those cruise calories!

Traveled all the way to France to visit Utah

For our cruise, there were two optional excursion choices for today's docking in Vernon, France. The latter of which technically included the next day after the ship relocated to Rouen, France during the day. These were two of the most expensive tours and the ones that perhaps the most people who booked this itinerary were looking forward to attending. 

The most expensive and most time consuming option was called Overland to Normandy Beaches, retailing for around $700 per person, and included a hotel stay. Those on this tour joined the group solely doing the Utah Beach & Pointe Du Hoc 11 hour tour before being bussed to a hotel while the single day tour folks got dropped off first at the ship. The next day for them was spent on another 11 hour tour visiting Omaha Beach, the Normandy American Cemetery, and the Arromanches Debarkment D-Day Museum. This museum featured an exhibit on Mulberry Harbors - the temporary steel roadways that floated on steel or concrete pontoons that were used by the Allied troops to bring in needed supplies. They returned to the ship right around dinnertime on the second day. This overnight tour is listed as Moderate. On the first day, lunch and dinner are included while only breakfast and lunch are included on the second day.

For our first full day in Rouen, France, Viking relied so much on people booking the long D-Day beach related tours (or too tired to do anything) that the only other choice was an included walking tour of Rouen. The walking tour option was repeated for our second day in Rouen where the optional excursion was to Juno Beach. The Juno Beach & Pegasus Memorial Museum was also an 11 hour excursion and classified as demanding. Hence why our itinerary had us docked in Rouen for two full days. 

Those who didn't choose either D-Day beach excursion while still docked in Vernon for that morning, had one included option and one optional choice. The included excursion was an Easy level 3 hour and 30 minutes tour to Monet Foundation Giverny. Notes in the description of this itinerary mention that the Monet Foundation is not available to visit on itineraries before April 1st or after November 1st. Logically, this seems like it would be due to the draw of the venue being that you're visiting Claude Monet's former home and gardens that inspired his impressionistic artwork. There wouldn't be much to see visiting such lavish gardens in the winter. As an alternate, the tour would instead go to Auvers-sur-Oise, a village favored by other artists. The optional excursion was Monet's Garden by Bicycle which is listed as Moderate level and also 3 hours and 30 minutes long. This tour includes several stops along your riverside bike ride including the Monet Foundation Giverny. No disclaimer about dates in the notes for this tour. The tour ends with a stop at the Old Mill where you can enjoy a sampling of Norman delicacies such as macarons, bread, and French cheese accompanied by a glass of cider or apple juice.

The optional tour we chose to do, Utah Beach & Pointe Du Hoc, cost $269 per person. This full day tour required us to be on the bus by 7:15AM. On our way to dinner the night before, we ran into Mia and her tour guide friend, Fredericka that she had chosen to assign to lead our group. Due to being November in France, it is still dark at 7:15AM. The Viking crew did their best to stand at various points on the dock with flashlights directing people where to walk to find the buses. A short set of about 10 wide concrete steps was required and Mia was out there at the base of the steps doing her best to swing the flashlight back and forth to point them out to each person. Unfortunately, the flashlights were the only light aside from the ship's lights from common areas so it was a lot of look while the light was there and then try and remember as you climbed the steps. Mia stepped up to help when she saw Dad walking with the group and offered to carry the water bottle he'd grabbed upon leaving the ship. Needing to stay at her post to help everyone, I (who had been a bit further behind in the crowd) suddenly heard in my ear in the otherwise complete darkness "I'm putting Dad's water bottle in your jacket pocket" before Mia retreated back to the bottom of the stairs. They warn us repeatedly about pickpockets but I think this was the first experience of a "put-pocketer."

This tour required a long bus ride so we made a few visits to truck stops throughout the day for bathroom breaks and snacks. I had grabbed a double chocolate muffin on the way off the ship (which tasted stale by the time I tried to eat it two hours later) and made a breakfast out of the muffin, the Viking provided water bottle, and a mini can of sour cream and onion Pringles from the first truck stop. The cut out in the bus seat tray for water bottles worked much better to hold the muffin while we flew down the curvy roads. It also makes for a great way to secure your cane or else you'll be chasing it for the whole ride.

Our first stop was to Pointe Du Hoc where members of the US 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled a 100-foot cliff under fire to seize a German battery and help secure the Utah and Omaha beachheads. Fredericka had told us during the bus ride that she would be leading the group along the entire walking path but would be giving us a heads up when we'd reached a point to turn around or circle back and save us from the more demanding parts of the path. Once we arrived at the site, there ended up being a long walk from the parking lot along a paved road just to reach the true promontory that had the actual walking path composed of gravel, dirt, and occasional built in steps. By the time she had led our group to the start of the path to the promontory, Dad tapped out from attempting the path at all and instead went ahead along the paved road to the museum/visitor center. I, despite feeling the effects of this cough and cold that our fellow travelers shared on day 1, followed the group onto the path fully anticipating tapping out myself when our guide pointed out the promised turn around point. 

There were a few informational signs along the paved road leading from the parking lots to the visitor's center. 

Starting along the path following our guide.

Several areas were roped off with chicken wire style fencing to keep visitors solely on the paved path.

The built in steps leading us down to circle a stone structure - this was more like rope between posts to serve as a makeshift railing. Definitely not for anyone who needs to hold on to something while they maneuver steps.

Steps on the way to circling around the front of the monument pictured above:

The view of the monument from the bottom of the stairs:

It felt and looked like we had walked the entire path already before Fredericka finally yelled back at my straggling self to ask how Dad was doing. I told her that he'd long since opted to head straight for the visitor center. She joked about how glad she was that she didn't have to worry about him then and the rest of the group laughed. I did my best, at a much slower pace, to follow the group but it wasn't until the very end that I could catch up to her when she was telling everyone that they could now wander and look around or make their way up to the visitor center/museum for the remainder of our time on site. Guess her version of "place to stop so you don't have to go all the way" went off the cliff because I certainly would have appreciated the option to not walk as far. 

On the walk from the cliff to the visitor center:

By the time I caught up with her where she stood to point out the pathway back, making that long walk with everyone else was the only option. Looking back, it's nice to have the experience of walking the entire path to remember, but at the time I spent the entire walk back having to stop, cough, and catch my breath repeatedly before I could continue. I was so ready for a rest by the time I joined Dad at the visitor center. 

The museum itself was very small and was mostly devoted to watching an informational film. We did have to go through a bag inspection on the way in. I spent the rest of the time on site reading the informational signs on the walk back to the parking lot.

Still to come in the next post...lunch at a local family owned venue and a visit to Utah Beach.