A Look Back at Our European Adventure

    

On March 21st we left our little Motorhome at George's brother Dick's house to start a new adventure on the other side of the pond.  We stopped in Pennsylvannia to pick up our partners in this adventure and then we drove down to Washington DC to catch our flight to Heathrow via British Air.  Carrying suitcases was a new adventure, in itself,  for us after 8 years of traveling in the Motorhome.  Did we pack the right clothes or did we have enough clothes for Europe?  Would all of our luggage fit in the rental cars we had set up in Europe? These and many other questions that popped into our minds as we left the security of our home on wheel, but it was too late to worry, the die had been cast.

 

The one thing we knew we would miss ....the grandkids, they would be in our hearts and thoughts for the next 3 months.

 

  

These two would experience so many "firsts" while we were traveling... it helped seeing the grandkids via "FaceTime"and for the pictures the families shared, we really thank them for sharing their lives with us.  Don't know if we would have had the wonderful experience that we did, if not for Kris, Amy, David and April thinking of us as we meandered around Europe.

 

The four of us, Pat, George, Maryann, and Tom....we could not have asked for two people to travel with that were more compatible with us.  We shared it all... all types of weather, one track roads to super highways, intensely reflective moments, awesome sights, confusion, language problems, we slept in every conceivable type of lodging from a shared room to two bedroom cottages, we tried all the local cuisines, met some of the nicest people and one or two that got up on the wrong side of the bed, through it all we remained very close and, if possible, became closer.

J

This might have had a lot to do with having a great time...Tom and George "tasted" a different beer every night...Pat said they  drank their way through Europe but the ladies also had a drink every night (water counts as a drink).  By the way, every country has a different name for a glass of water, when you order water with your meal,  and some countries don't mind charging more for water than beer.

  

Buckingham Palace, a different view from the Queens park, one of three in London

 

Back in the USA....George, Maryann, Tom and Pat....87 days of living and traveling together... Building memories, having fun, sharing our adventures....thanks Tom and Maryann for the wonderful time we had exploring Europe together!

Thought we would pass on some of the best and memorable things on our travels: (thanks Maryann for your notes, you can now plagiarize my blog).

The Best country we visited.....all thirteen countries were different and each were unique in their own way so this one is a thirteen way tie!

Most Unusual restaurant we ate in: It could have been the  old vegetable storage barn in Weimar, Germany or the abbey at Loch Ness in Scotland but we finally decided that the 500 year old wine cellar in Lancaster, England, that still had the look of the old wine storage caves used by the monks of a bygone era, was a notch more unusual.

The Best beer: Bitburger Pils...we tasted over 30 or 40 beers from all thirteen countries including microbrews and there was no contest!  

The Best Week: Nornmandy observances were so much more then we expected, the villages of Normandy celebrated the 72nd anniversary of D-Day and if you visit Normandy try to be there at least the week leading up to June 6th

Best Day: We all had a best day: For Pat, Maryann and George it was when we visited our ancestral villages, Tom's was when we visited the Jameson Distillary - that should say something of where Tom's mind is...but in his defense, if you every tasted 10 or 18 year old Jameson you will probably agree with him!

Most Unusual tour: the Brno Ossuary (an underground storage of human remains)... We know there are other Ossuaries in other cities but we happened upon this under a church square and did know what to expect.  It was kinda creepy, at first, the way they stacked and placed the skulls and bones.  Yet it was tasteful, reverent, and almost a piece of art.

Most Thought Provoking:  Auswitz Death Camp....words nor pictures can depict the inhumanity of the Nazis toward the Jews!  After visiting the death camps you will come away with how we MUST remember this and how we should never let this happen again. Yet today, we hear of the atrocities that ISIS is doing in the Middle East and are allowing it to continue without a collective united world-wide military campaign to stop it!

Best food dish: We had fantastic meals in every country but the two dishes that stood out above all the rest were: Clam chowder in Dingle, Ireland and French Onion soup in London 

Since we stayed in many different lodgings and believe that there was only one place we stayed that would not rate at least a 3 star, we broke the "Best" into categories : 

           The Best..... Hotel/Resort:  Ballykisteen in Tipperary, Ireland was just a little better than the Abbey at Loch Ness, Scotland 

                                Bed and Breakfast:  The Grove in Oban, Scotland, this was probably the nicest B&B we stayed in and it was by accident that we                               found it at the last minute.  The owner, Karen OBrien should be the Innkeeper of the Year and she said that she actually has a nicer B&B a couple miles away

                                Rental: Kate's Cottage in Stow-in-Wold, England, our first two weeks in England set the standard and tone for our entire trip.  Kate's Cottage is a standard all cottages should strive to emulate....and Kate was a perfect hostess!

One of the lasting memories we will take from our adventure, and we built many great memories, will be how nice people were to us in every country, including France.    

     

The Thing we Missed the Most:  By a unanimous vote: OUR FAMILIES AND OUR GRANDKIDS!!!!!!!!

The Event we Most Appreciate:  No one was injured in our automobile accident in the Scottish Highlands

Throughout our travels, we would see constant reminders of European history: the medieval times, the religious impacts, the Nazi and Communist subjugations and occupations, the stories of how countries struggled, adapted, prospered and failed.  The story of Europe is etched in the many monuments, churches, cathedrals, abbeys, castles, manors, old and new buildings, the mountains, valleys, beaches, the farmlands and pastures.  The villages, cities, and countryside are unique and a story of their own.  We loved our adventure but it would take thousands of visits to know and understand the lands we call Europe, we were fortunate to be able to have a glimpse into their lives and history.  The four of us now have a storehouse of memories that will forever bond us together.  One final thought comes to mind...for all we've seen and done, there is no place that compares to the USA..we have freedoms not enjoyed in any country, we have so many natural and man-made treasures, and we have a salad bowl of diverse cultures and people who make this country great.

We also can not tell the story of our travels in Euope without paying a special thanks to the many Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy the life we have now.  To all the men and women of our military services both active and retired....Thank You!  Also thank you, the readers of this blog, for your interest and comments.  It was in large part because of your comments that made us sit down periodically to reflect on our travels. 

I

 

Normandy - The 72nd Anniversary of the D Day Landing

Seventy two years ago the United States, Great Britian, Canada, along with forces of the free French launched an unprecedented naval attack against Nazi Germany.  It was not in defense of their countries, it was in defense of freedom for the millions of people in Europe that were invaded and subjugated to the Nazi regime.  Seventy two years later the people of France still mark this event with celebrations starting in April and lasting to September in cities and villages throughout France.  We were fortunate to attend a few of these memorials, celebrations and observances in the 8 days we spent in the Normandy beach area.  Our thoughts, our commentary, our pictures can not adequately tell the story of the sacrifices, bravery, and events of the days surrounding the D Day landings, we can only provide a glimpse and our impressions of this history changing event.

We started our adventure rather naively thinking that we would walk on the beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword; see a 

Bfew monuments, attend a wreath laying ceremony and call it a day.  Little did we realize the appreciation, the magnitude and enthusiasm of the French.  They have reenactments of the WWII military camps, hundreds dress in period clothes included military uniforms and 1940 era dresses and suits, they host parades with vintage military vehicles including, jeeps, old staff cars, 2 1/2 ton trucks, half tracks and different types of troop carriers, they have nightly dances with 40s music, and daily picnics and festivities, there were also many parachute reenactments with soldiers from various countries from the WWII vintage C-47 and C-54 aircraft.  In our 8 days in Normandy we stopped by the many many monuments, we stood in silence at the American, English, Canadian and German cemeteries, we observed where the troops came ashore on the Normandy cliffs and beaches, we visited  various museums dedicated to all aspects of D Day and to the American, English, and Canadian military, we witnessed several city and village celebrations, we saw the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall including the German pillboxes, observation points, gun implacements and bunkers, attended the numerous parades, plus we talked toWWII vets and current members of the American military who were supporting the events everyday!  Everyday was a new adventure and new memories that will last the rest of our lives.

What did we take away from all of this?  The men and women who fought the war were unselfish patriots who ensured the world would be a better place for all of us.  How did they accomplish this amazing invasion of the European continent, against all odds, with terrible weather, and a German defense that was put in place over a two year span that was designed to stop them?  They had to scale 30 meter cliffs in the face of German bunkers, assault the beaches with German machine guns mowing down wave after wave of the landing forces, break through hedge rows eight to ten feet high, endure fighting hand to hand, securing every farmhouse, church and building in every village; all the while pushing the Germans back and holding on to objectives already captured in face of the many counter attacks.  The individual and collective heroism may never be repeated again in history.  In addition to the fighting we were amazed at the shear numbers of men, vehicles, and supplies it took to accomplish this unprecedented invasion.  We also found a new appreciation of the free French and the resistance movement in France that helped the war effort and were specifically instrumental in the D Day invasion.  We can only imagine the suffering of the casualties, both the thousands of military and the thousands of civilians, that occurred on the days leading up to D Day and the months after the landings.  Just on the Omaha and Utah beaches, Americans lost 2500 men on June 6th and an additional 238 paratroopers.  Can anyone comprehend the destruction and loss of lives these men faced, yet they continued their quest to rid the world of the barbaric Nazi regime.  

We have visited the Warsaw ghettos, the Auschwitz death camps, talked to survivors of WWII and seen the atrocities of Hilter's Nazis in every country we visited in Europe.  We have learned of the sacrifices of not only the men who gave their lives for the freedom of people they never met, but also of the millions of civilians who died as a result of the Nazi atrocities and the war itself.  We can only pray our children and grandchildren never have to face what our fathers and grandfathers' generation faced in the 1930 and 40s.  After seeing the history of Europe, through the eyes of the people of the thirteen countries we visited on our almost three month journey, we say a prayer that we have learned a lesson form the events leading up to WWII and that the freedoms we enjoy will not be trampled on and that this nation will be forever strong enough to stop any power who would again endanger the peace and freedoms that so many sacrificed their lives for in WWII.

 

The monument to the landing forces on DDay

 

Standing in Silence at the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach!  Over 9000 American men who sacrificed their lives in Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion of June, July and August 1944, are buried here in Normandy.

 

A German gun implacement, built as part of General Rommel's "Atlantic Wall", the defense of the northern coast of Europe!

 

This man landed on Omaha on June 6, 1944, these French ladies gave him a kiss to say thank you for his service ...notice they are dressed in 40s period dresses.

 

The 82nd Paratroopers reenactment of the June 5, 1944 parachute drop.  This was a field that was flooded by the Nazis in '44 and where several American paratroopers drowned during the night drop before the D Day landings the following morning!

 

Pointe du Hoc, the 30 meter cliffs, where the 2nd Ranger Battalion landing on Utah beach scaled the cliffs to attack the Germans and secure the beach.

 

Part of a German bunker complex that connected 4 major gun implacements.

 

 One of America's greatest generation enjoying the parade given in their honor,

We left Normandy and it's beaches but will remember forever the sacrifices of so many for the freedoms we have now!  We hope you will have the opportunity to experience the Normandy D Day observance first hand , it was the initial reason for our trip to Europe and it became the best part of a wonderful journey through 13 countries.  As we wind down and prepare for our return to the states we will bring home with us the 84 days of friendship, of building lasting memories, of traveling in four different cars and staying 33 hotels, cottages, or B&Bs, of making new friends, of having one wreck and more than a few close calls, and of course enjoying the people, food, beer and cultures of Europe.   June 15th will be a close to this exciting adventure but with over a thousand pictures and hundreds of stories, it will never be forgotten by the four of us old timers who got the chance to experience one more road trip!