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!
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