I'm a bit late in posting this; it has been a year since I got back from the trip. Anyway, last May I went on a ten day college study tour of England, France, Belgium and Germany with an emphasis on the WWII Western front. Our main stops included London and Portsmouth, England; Arromanches, Caen, Paris and Rouen, France; Bastogne, Belgium; and Cologne and Berlin, Germany. Weather for the most part was cold and clear, we only encountered rain briefly in London and a sleet storm in Paris. London was by far my favorite "big city" to tour, reminded me of a clean and pleasant version of New York City. Here are some of the pictures I took:
London: The Imperial War Museum
London-Greenwich: Me standing at the top of Greenwich Observatory where the prime meridian originates - I'm split between the western and eastern hemispheres!
London-Greenwich: the London skyline from Greenwich Observatory. While in London, they were preparing for both the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and for the Summer Olympics
London: Picadilly Circus looks festive. Imagine it 70 years ago filled with American bomber boys
Portsmouth: A seaside town on the English channel. It was a major port for the D-Day Invasion. The atmosphere reminded me a lot of Destin, Florida.
Normandy: A german pillbox overlooking the coast line.
Normandy: Gold Beach
Normandy: Point du Hoc - The site where American Rangers landed between Utah and Omaha Beaches
Normandy: The American Cemetary near Omaha Beach. The picture does not give the scene justice. When I walked around the hedges and saw it, I was hit by the sheer vastness of the site.
Paris: Me standing with the Eiffel tower in the background. Some of our group went to the top, but I did not. While we were in Paris, Hollande was innagurated as President.
Paris: Notre Dame Cathedral. yes, the building is absolutely enormous
Paris: Inside Notre Dame Cathedral.
Paris: The Bastille
Bastogne: One of the most haunting places I've been to. This vantage point shows an American foxhole looking out towards the german lines
Bastogne: This is on top of a memorial dedicated to the defenders of Bastogne. In the distance, the germans held the treeline on the horizon. Bastogne is out of the frame to the right and behind me.
Bastogne: The church of Bastogne (depicted in Band of Brothers as an aid station). In reality, it did not receive any serious bomb damage as was shown in Band of Brothers. Other than that, our tour guide said the mini-series was very accurate to the battle.
Cologne: The Cologne Cathedral. Like Notre Dame, it was incredibly huge. It took three generations of builders to complete. This site also had a Roman archway and ruins nearby. Cologne was very much like the picturesque german town; they drank beer like it was water. In fact, the european waitresses would look at me like I was crazy when I ordered water (was introduced to "carbonated" water on this trip - yuck!). Funny story - a local man was engaged to be married and his friends were raising money by selling home-made sausages and shots of schnapps...how could I resist?
Berlin: The Luftwaffe Headquarters
Berlin: The site where the "Operation Valkyrie" conspirators were executed.
Berlin: A section of the Berlin Wall still intact. The differences in building construction and design of cold-war era west/east Berlin was like daylight and dark.
Berlin: Site of the Fuhrer bunker where Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Now all that is left is this parkinglot.
Berlin: The Reichstag building
This is an assortment of some of my most favorite pictures. I took a bunch more so if anyone has any specific requests, post here and I'll upload them if I can.
