Rare L454S Posted May 7, 2020 #226 Share Posted May 7, 2020 Crossing more open water heading for France. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 8, 2020 Author #227 Share Posted May 8, 2020 (edited) Today was Pinnacle Lunch I got seated next to Captain Stig, and Laura had Dennis the Chief Engineer on her right I'm guessing it was an accommodation to the invitation debacle from the earlier dinner However one of the more senior Pins decided to move the place card for Dennis and gave us the inventory Manager In the end it worked out fine as we got the Inventory Manager and he was a blast Silly how some folks think they are above protocol The menu was interesting to say the least. The Head Chef procured a lot of local ingredients while in port yesterday, and while I'm certain they were lovely, we just didn't care for it. Captain Stig agreed with our assessment. Now the Chef did come out and describe each course, and where it came from, which was fun. Sometimes it's a challenge to start up a conversation with a few of the Captains I recalled in the staff handout they give you that Captain Stig lived aboard a retired ship that he had restored. I went with that. Unfortunately that was a very old bit of information. But it evolved into cruising into Norway's fijords and that no Royal ships really did a decent job of that. I appreciated the candor. Tonight is Formal night, we had a heavy lunch, and then we found this when we got back to the cabin A lovely seafood plate, it was better than lunch. I hope the Captain got one Luckily Pat could vouch for the freshness, as he was in the cabin when it was delivered They are however, delivering way to many treats Today was also the day that the drink cards were first offered. Day 12, six days left. $75 plus 18% of course, seems like a good value with the amount of time we have left Edited May 8, 2020 by John&LaLa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 8, 2020 Author #228 Share Posted May 8, 2020 (edited) Formal Night and the infamous Cake While I don't recall dinner or have any pics, I do have a few shots of the famous 50th Birthday Cake Royal has been serving an individual cake on most ships to celebrate their upcoming 50th Birthday We had not had one yet, and I was looking forward to it. And as fate would have it, May 7 is Bella's birthday🎂 Happy Birthday Bell🐾🐾 It looks cute, and we had two delivered to our table It was dreadful Heavy, super sweet, and if not for the sugar, tasteless And the lollipop thing was sticky I know some folks adore it, but it was awful. Bella would have liked it. 😉 On the 50th Birthday cruise this past November, we were given a cookbook that has the recipe Try it at home, good luck And here is a QR Code to access the entire book, I think you hold your smart phone over it and click I just tried, it seems to just be an ad. sorry We did get a Formal photo. It's nice This is funny, Laura used her sweater as a wrap, but sh didn't realize it flipped when she did that I think it made quite the fashion statement Total accident, BTW And that concludes Day 12, goodnight Edited May 8, 2020 by John&LaLa 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Sea Dog Posted May 8, 2020 #229 Share Posted May 8, 2020 52 minutes ago, John&LaLa said: Silly how some folks think they are above protocol Sounds Mr. (suite number) from your earlier cruise. What number was that? I can't remember. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heatherb1958 Posted May 8, 2020 #230 Share Posted May 8, 2020 We have visited Cobh many times by ship and have not ventured beyond the town, maybe because it is across the Irish Sea for us and we could do a land based holiday , we have never even caught the train from there into Cork which many do. We did used to have an RV and toured from Dublin down to Waterford . The first time we visited Cobh this building was a bar where we had a Guinness , I think it used to be a bank, it has been closed for many years since we had our pints ☹️. I screenshot because I don’t know how to remove photos when quoting posts 😆. Some Pinnacle behaviour is beyond the pale . I hope they realise that it is noted . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fun2snorkel Posted May 8, 2020 #231 Share Posted May 8, 2020 John - that sweater mistake did look good. There is a humorist Jeanne Robertson from N.C. that has a story about her black pashmina. She ran back to her room to get it and flung it over her shoulders. Found out later she had pulled out her black slacks instead! It’s not that funny written but so funny to watch on YouTube! i am so enjoying this thread. Thanks for sharing. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 8, 2020 Author #232 Share Posted May 8, 2020 32 minutes ago, Fun2snorkel said: John - that sweater mistake did look good. There is a humorist Jeanne Robertson from N.C. that has a story about her black pashmina. She ran back to her room to get it and flung it over her shoulders. Found out later she had pulled out her black slacks instead! It’s not that funny written but so funny to watch on YouTube! i am so enjoying this thread. Thanks for sharing. I can see it being funny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milwaukee Eight Posted May 8, 2020 #233 Share Posted May 8, 2020 11 hours ago, John&LaLa said: However one of the more senior Pins decided to move the place card for Dennis and gave us the inventory Manager In the end it worked out fine as we got the Inventory Manager and he was a blast Silly how some folks think they are above protocol I wonder how they were as D+? 😇 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 8, 2020 Author #234 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Cruise Compass Day 13 - LeHavre, France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 8, 2020 Author #235 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Welcome to France LeHavre is the port for Paris, and is very industrial Pat and I are going to Normandy to visit the beaches, and cemeteries of the DDay invasion This will be the 75th anniversary, and may be the last milestone for the few remaining participants. The weather is extremely questionable, and we discussed cancelling, but Pat is very interested and we will press on. We got seats toward the rear where there seems to be more open seats, this strategy often works very well for us. And most tour buses have rear exits, so no need to sit up front anyway It's about a 90 minute drive, so Pat caught some beauty sleep BTW, we picked up touks in Ireland, cause it is surprisingly cool for early May. You can see Pat's in the seat beside him. Scenery on the way, and yes, it's raining The town outside Pointe du Hoc, our first stop The weather has gotten a little better by now Buildings are right on the road. That makes them difficult to shoot from a moving bus Local cemetery Overview of the beach landings June 6, 1944 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare L454S Posted May 8, 2020 #236 Share Posted May 8, 2020 (edited) Good to be docked in France! L454S and Beachammo went the other way from John. We went to Rouen, and the cliffs of Etretat. Edited May 8, 2020 by L454S 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purduemom1 Posted May 8, 2020 #237 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Visiting Normandy beaches is an amazing trip. We visited 6 days after you and Pat were there. Yes, very difficult to take pictures of the sites right next to the road from a moving bus. We had nice weather although windy on there beaches. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #238 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) Pointe du Hoc This is the site of the famed cliff scaling often symbolic with the invasion The 2nd Ranger Batallion was charged with taking out German artillery positions 225 men made the assault and suffered 135 casualties over the 2 day battle It is a very moving place to visit Edited May 9, 2020 by John&LaLa 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgore83 Posted May 9, 2020 #239 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Absolutely beautiful! You are so blessed to be able to capture and share these memories. Thank you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #240 Share Posted May 9, 2020 German Defenses I wish I could describe this stuff better, but it was rainy, cold, and windy. So we broke away from our guide seeking shelter. Even as miserable as we were, it obviously couldn't compare to the day 75 years earlier. Our mood was indeed somber. A mock up of the guns they destroyed This is actually the location of where the Germans moved the real ones. On the day of the battle, they had decoys like this on the cliffs At the end of the day, the real ones were indeed destroyed, but they were not in a position to defend the beaches like they expected 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #241 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) The Ranger Memorial plaque inside the machine gun position from above It gets it's own post I wish I had a better shot Edited May 9, 2020 by John&LaLa 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #242 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) Omaha Beach The weather is improving There are actually folks in the water doing a re enactment I believe Back to the bus Edited May 9, 2020 by John&LaLa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #243 Share Posted May 9, 2020 On the road to the American Cemetery There is no shortage of private museums and surplus tanks in the vicinity 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #244 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial - Colleville-sur-Mer, France The final resting place of 9,387 American soldiers And the names of approximately 1,557 missing in action It overlooks the invasion sites Edited May 9, 2020 by John&LaLa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #245 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves Once again, a solitary picture On the day we were here a high school student from the US was here for a HS graduation project She was responsible for a memorial ceremony and the placement of flags on every unknown soldiers grave It was very moving. We felt fortunate to share her experience 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #246 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) It was indeed a beautiful day, I'm glad we came Let's move on to Arromanches-Les-Bains for lunch More museums We made a quick stop at another artillery site This one actually still had one gun left But it also had some destroyed ones Edited May 9, 2020 by John&LaLa 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #247 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Arromanches-Les-Bains is the site of one of the British landings It is also the site of probably the largest, temporary, man made harbor in history It was crucial to landing supplies for the invasion of Europe Apparently the Germans still held all the deep water ports, so we just made one. Unfortunately, my battery died and I only have one picture. Just another museum and parking lot And it's really not very good, sorry We did have a nice lunch and some French beer, so mission accomplished Apparently we have some extra time, so our guide is taking us to Bayeux to see the tapestries. This was a huge bonus and not part of the tour Passed the British cemetery on the way And another tank 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #248 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Bayeux Some nice topiary knights The cathedral Once again, we didn't go in, but this time it's on me. It was a bit of a hike, I really couldn't keep up, plus I wanted to take pictures of the outside And I also wanted to buy a nice chocolate croissant. I did hear the tapestries were lovely 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 9, 2020 Author #249 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) Time to head back to LeHavre It's about an hour and a half travel time Getting close I'm actually sending Laura screen shots of our progress😉 Just missed a cool hotel The actual city of LeHavre There she is And we're back Edited May 9, 2020 by John&LaLa 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey & Sophie Posted May 9, 2020 #250 Share Posted May 9, 2020 My uncle stormed Normandy. He was in the first round of men. He never talked about it. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now