Cherbourg and the American Cemetery in Normandy

The English Channel is rough! Started the morning rocking and rolling on this ship, and gave this history nerd a new appreciation for what the soldiers landing in Normandy on D-Day experienced. I have a special appreciation for World War 2 history and the opportunity to visit one of the American landing beaches, code named Omaha along with the American cemetary and Pont du Hoc, is one I couldn't pass up. My regret is that I couldn't stay longer and I definitely need to go back and stay longer to take it all in. We docked in the port town of Cherbourg, an important naval town in France and home to the submarine industry. I shot these pictures as we came into port.

I took another guided tour to these important sites in the history of the second world war. My only disappointment is that I couldn't stay longer. Our first stop was the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, in Colleville-sur-Mer. There are 9,387 headstones of the soldiers who gave their lives in the assault on Europe.

No matter how many pictures or video you've seen of the site, nothing can prepare you for the neatly-manicured lawn, with row after row after row of white crosses and Stars of David. Our guide told us to only spend about 10 minutes in the cemetery, to ensure there would be time to take in the visitors center. That didn't happen. There is simply too much to see and I wanted to see it all. The names of 1,557 soldiers missing in action also are inscribed in the memorial. Two of the Niland brothers are buried here; this is the family on which the movie, Saving Private Ryan, is based. General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of the president, also is buried here, next to his brother, Quentin, who was killed in World War I. The cemetery is a beautiful tribute to the Americans who died fighting the Axis powers.

At the top of the hour, the chimes sounded and the carillon began to play "This is My Country," a song I hadn't heard in years, followed by the national anthem. I wasn't really paying attention, messing with my camera and phone and when I realized what was playing, I stopped and looked for the American flag. All around me, everyone had come to a standstill.

When I checked my watch, I had a small amount of time to check out the visitors center. As I race walked through, I saw all manner of exhibits and videos that I will have to go back and experience.

I reluctantly headed to the bus to head to the next stop on tour, Omaha Beach.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is one of the oldest capitals in Europe. After returning to the city from Dragor, our tour became a whirlwind, and I took a whole lot of pictures out of the window of the bus. Some turned out pretty good, but I can't necessarily tell you what's what, with the exception of Hans Christian Anderson's little mermaid statue.

After the official tour ended, I had some time to wander the city on my own. So here are some pictures of a beautiful city where I want to spend more time.

And finally, for all you Little Mermaid fans out there, here's one more of Arial's ancestor

Dragor, Denmark - a fishing village

Our first stop was in Copenhagen. As we approached the harbor, I noticed these windmills and went out on the balcony to take a few pictures and watch the city come into view.

While it wasn't one of the reasons that inspired me to pick this trip, I was interested in seeing the city. Now, I have a new love! I signed up for a guided excursion of Copenhagen, and I had a moment of panic on the bus, when the guide began by greeting everyone in German. I thought I'd ended up on a German-speaking tour, which would make a long day. Fortunately, it was bi-lingual and Hans, our tour guide, switched back and forth.

We started by driving out of the city to the Danish fishing village of Dragor. It looks like a it could have come out of a fairy tale. Many of the houses had thatched roofs.

Hans told many stories. One, that he tried to tell very delicately as we walked among the houses, was about the meaning of seeing two dog statues in the window. If the dogs are facing out, it means the husband is at sea and the wife is looking for company. If the dog statues are looking in, he is home.

I also got to indulge my history nerd-ness, when he shared that some of the 7000 Danish Jews rescued from the Germans during WW2 escaped from the harbor in Dragor. Approximately 400 were captured. The evacuation was done in less than 40 hours.

We also got a peek at part of the Oresund bridge which connects Denmark to Sweden. This bridge goes to an artificial island, where it turns into a tunnel.

All too soon, it was time to board the bus and go back into Copenhagen.

Bon Voyage!

Following a good night's sleep at the Courtyard Marriott (America really is everywhere) in Hamburg, we headed out for the port city of Kiel, about an hour away. We trooped back to the airport for our pick up.

As we rode along, one of the funniest things was when we'd realize we were listening to something in English. It would take a moment, and sometimes we'd be singing along and realize the song playing was something we knew, including '80s singers like Taylor Dane or something from Motown. The local station the driver had playing alternated every other song in English. We arrived in Kiel and checked in.

Following check-in, we were directed to Deck 13 to the buffet until we could get in our cabins. And our adventure was off and running.

MSC does some things very well; others not as much. The pickup and check in was pretty smooth; we were surprised to see the notice in the daily bulletin that a daily service charge would be deducted automatically. Not cool. But some other cruisers we met told us to go to the reception the night before we disembark and have it taken off because we want to tip ourselves. It's good to be nice to people. There are ony about 600 English speaking cruisers and about 65 from the U.S. The ship holds approximately 3500 passengers.

A Taste of Hamburg

Let me start by complaining about the exchange rate. It sucks right now for those of us with U.S. dollars. It's a real game trying to decide where to exchange your money, where you'll get the best rate and how much to change. It's a real bummer to hand over $100 USD and get about 80-something euro in return. Heavy sigh. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, we landed in the morning, so we couldn't get into our rooms right away. We decided to investigate our surroundings. First we walked around the hotel and stopped in a convenience store where I bought a Coke Light.

This devoted Coke fan was not pleased. We then took the train and checked out Hamburg's downtown. It's beautiful.

I also took this picture because I was being silly. At first I thought it was a restaurant, but it's a bank. In my mind, I kept pronouncing it Spark Ass. On the train, we saw a little boy maybe 6 or 7, get on with his scooter. After a few minutes we realized he was by himself. As we watched, he pulled out a cell phone and had a conversation. If you saw a kid doing that in the US, someone would call the cops. In our rooms, we discovered the only channels available in English in our hotel in Hamburg are CNN, BBC and financial channels like CNBC and Bloomberg. Some of us are way too addicted to having the television on for the background noise. I'm one of them. We also had these. How did they know I was such a gummy fan?

We had dinner at a resturant the folks at the front desk recommended. As we were eating, local musicians were trickling in and setting up. Interestingly, to us anyway, they sang in English.

As much as it's exciting to see and experience new places, it's also good to see a little bit of home.

Launching My Big50Trip

So the day came that we embarked on my epic journey. We flew from St. Louis to Newark and then on to Hamburg. On our flight to Newark, we had a real chatty flight attendant; he was a hoot. He got to talking about the impending economic collapse that his pastor prophesied. He told us he was a saved and sanctified Pentecostal. From there his conversation was all over the place, including the COGIC convention that happens in St. Louis each year and the clothes that the convention goers wear. I gave him a Missouri lapel pin and we took a pic before I deplanned.

The overnight flight on United was pretty comfortable. I watched Spy with Melissa McCarthy and cackled like a fool. I then watched Avengers: Age of Ultron and Home. I napped a little and we were there! (Well, seven hours later, we were).

Let the adventure begin!

Counting Down to my Big 50 Trip

In eight days, I’m embarking on my Big Trip. I turned 50 nine months ago and for my birthday I decided I wanted passport stamps. So I’m going on a cruise with my mother, the woman who has been like a second mother to me, her daughters (my sisters from another mister) and her oldest granddaughter, who is also my first goddaughter. That’s a total of six. Confused, yet? It will get better. We range in age from my octogenarian mom to my 25 year old goddaughter. That’s going to be an interesting mix. I had in my mind that I wanted to go to Portugal and Spain. My sister,from another mister, who has traveled quite a bit internationally, suggested a cruise. We started researching and found this trip which will start us in Hamburg and take us to Copenhagen, Cherbourg, Vigo, Lisbon, Gilbratar, Barcelona, Marseille. We’ll end up in Genoa. So after a year of preparing, we’re on the countdown to departure. Currently, my life consists of stacks of clothes that might go, things being ordered to go with items in the stacks (that may or not may not work, or even arrive in time)

and lots of lists of things that need to be done in the next few days (call credit card companies, add international plan to phones, etc. etc.). I am constantly checking the weather in all of these destinations, trying to make my best guesses on how to pack for various climates. I've got all kinds of luggage sitting in the spare room, trying to decide which to take.

I've worked in travel for years, and I can't pack worth a ding dang. Anyway, my mind is absorbed with all the minutia that comes before the excitement. In the meantime we’re scheduled to get new carpet at the office, so everyone has to pack up their stuff. I can’t CONCENTRATE! I’m ready to go. #Big50Trip