Eric’s Journal

After spending several days in the Cotswalds, we headed south to catch a ferry out of Portsmouth. Along the way, we stopped to visit Stonehenge. Our guidebook led me to believe this was going to be a tourist trap, but it turned out to be a pleasant and educational experience. Well, as pleasant as it could be in the ever-present rain. Visitors are able to get an unobstructed and fairly close view, and the audio guide was very informative.

We stayed one night in Portsmouth across the street from the ferry terminal and we had booked the 7am crossing on a fast boat to arrive in France early that afternoon. However, it was extremely windy and our trip was cancelled, so we were put on a slower ferry that left later that morning.

The ferry trip was a bizarre experience. Being from Seattle, we considered ourselves experts on ferries, but this trip challenged all of our previous conceptions. The bottom deck had a car hold, but the seven decks above had more in common with a 1970’s cruise ship. The decor had a Holiday Inn lounge feel, and there were bars, arcades, theaters, and, as it turned out, a karaoke bar. We tried to sit in a quiet area, but a few hours into the trip, a DJ put on some music and announced that due to the weather, there would be no karaoke, but instead there would be a magic show. Then on cue, Mr. Magic emerged on stage and began juggling, performing tricks, and making balloon animals to the tune of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”.

To make matters worse, LeAnn became rather sea sick, despite wearing her anti-nausea wrist bands. The sea was rough, with huge rollers and white caps. She wasn’t able to eat anything, and all we had had to eat was some sort of Danish.

Still, to me it was worth the trouble. The route our ship followed, from Portsmouth to the Ouistreham, was the same course followed by many ships during the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy (as another similarity, the channel was very rough on that date, causing a great deal of sea sickness among the troops).

We have now spent the last several days exploring Normandy. We rented a car and despite our fears of ending up with a tiny, compact Le Car, we got a Toyota Prius! This came equiped with on-board GPS, so we haven’t had to mess around with translating maps.

We’ve visited a half dozen D-Day sites, several museums, and the American Cemetary. I’ll write more about this later when I can publish some pictures. We also saw the Bayeux Tapestry, which is on display just a few blocks from our hotel. We were both amazed at sheer length of this nearly 1,000 year old historical record, and we were captivated by the story it tells. Today, we ascended the many steps of Le Mont St. Michel, and ate fluffy, foamy omelettes for lunch.

Tomorrow, we leave for Paris and will stop by Monet’s garden at Giverny along the way.

Update: view photos of Normandy.

Filed by Eric at 11:18 am under Europe 2007