April 26, 2019 Serenade TA - Is it LIVE, or is it Memorex🤔

[L454S]

Crossing more open water heading for France.

 

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

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

[Sea Dog]

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.

[heatherb1958]

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 .

[Fun2snorkel]

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. 

[John&LaLa]

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

[Milwaukee Eight]

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+? 😇

[John&LaLa]

Cruise Compass Day 13 - LeHavre, France

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

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

[L454S]

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

[purduemom1]

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. 

[John&LaLa]

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

[mcgore83]

Absolutely beautiful! You are so blessed to be able to capture and share these memories.  Thank you!

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

On the road to the American Cemetery

 

There is no shortage of private museums and surplus tanks in the vicinity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

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

 

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

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

[John&LaLa]

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

[Bailey & Sophie]

 

My uncle stormed Normandy. He was in the first round of men. He never talked about it.