Brest and Cherbourg, France

Brest is a port in the northwest part of France, just before you enter the English Channel. The day we were there was May 1, a Friday. It was the May Day holiday in France; there was basically nothing open in Brest. It was also cold and rainy. Brest was virtually destroyed in World War II. The combination of things let us stay on the ship and not go ashore.

Below is a photo of the inlet. This small patch of blue sky is all the blue we saw that day.

The photo below is from WWII taken by a British plane. This is the German U-boat pens built by the Germans after the capture of France. They were used to refit and repair German submarines, the U-boats. The water could be pumped out of the individual pens thus making it a dry dock. The roof was originally 12 foot thick concrete; as the war went on an additional 20feet of material was added to the roof. Only a handful of bombs ever penetrated the roof and they did very little damage to the interior. The second photo shows these same pens today; they are used by the French navy for small ship repair.

The photo below shows some old fortifications, probably gun emplacements, from WWII.

The next photo shows the pier at Cherbourg. The Titanic docked here before setting out across the Atlantic on its one and only voyage. The old terminal is the building on the left. The large gangways used by the Titanic are still present, and appear to be in pretty good shape for being at least 100 years old. The old terminal is now a museum. There is also an old French nuclear submarine that is part of the museum which can be seen just behind and to the right of the newer building.

The photo below show the Titanic gangways up close and the gangplank for our ship being put together, kind of like an erector set.

When they got our gangplank put together we went ashore. It was cold but not raining. This was Saturday May 2, still part of the French holiday. Below is a fresh seafood vendor, at the end of the dock just before you go into the town. It was cloudy and cold, but no rain. The pier is right next to the old town.

It was market day and their were several vendors on the old square. Below is a vegetable stand followed by two photos of a cheese vendor.

Below are two photos of a seafood shop. Notice the size of the sea scallops in the first photo. The crabs kept trying to crawl out of their bin.

The three photos below are of old Cherbourg. I don't know the name of the church.

Shortly after we got back to the ship We saw a passenger being taken to an ambulance for transport to a hospital I presume. I never heard what the passenger's problem was.

As the ship pulled out of the harbor we passed these old fortifications. These date to the Napoleonic wars and were also used in WWII.

 

Cherbourg was one of the prime targets for capture during the Normandy invasion of WWII. There were several ship sponsored excursions to the Normandy beaches. Having been there a few years ago by car on our own, we declined to go this time.

Planes, Trains, Ships, Automobiles, Buses, Taxis and Shuttles

We have just returned from a two month odyssey. I had some technical difficulties while on the trip so I couldn't write while we were traveling. Anyway, here's how it went:

We left home April 18th by car for the airport.

We were driven to Sky Harbor airport in the Jeep by our son, Dean. At Sky Harbor we boarded a plane and flew to Tampa, Florida.

In Tampa we took a shuttle to our hotel.

We stayed in Tampa overnight; the next morning we saw this fellow on the beach outside the hotel.

We then took a taxi to the cruise port.

At the cruise port we boarded Holland America's ship the Ryndam for a transatlantic crossing.

The cruise companies tend to cruise the Caribbean and other warm water areas in the winter. In the spring they send some of them to Europe for the simmer. The cruise to get to Europe is called a repositioning cruise and is sometimes cheaper than you might expect. That's what this cruise was.

The first stop was in the Azores; a view of the harbor is shown below.

Our next stop was Brest, France. The old Nazi submarine pens from WWII are shown below.

Next was Cherbourg. Look at all the lovely, fresh seafood!

Next was Zeebrugge, Belgium where we took a bus to Brugge.

Brugge is a wonderful city, full of canals and old buildings plus the only Michelangelo sculpture to be outside of Italy in his lifetime.

From Brugge we sailed to Harwich, England where we disembarked. We caught a bus waiting on the pier which took us to St. Pancras station in downtown London.

At San Pancras( I always want to call it St Pancreas), we boarded the Eurostar train, which goes through the tunnel beneath the English Channel and lands you in Paris in a little over two hours.

When we got to Paris we were met by an official greeter.

 
We stayed in an apartment in Paris with our daughter, Carolyn, her husband Jon and Gwen. We visited Chartres, Sacre Couer and St. Denys. Then we took a train to Saarbrucken, Germany where Carolyn et al live.









Deutsche Bahn went on strike so we rented a car in Saarbrucken.

We visited many interesting places in Germany and France, including Aachen, Trier, Worms, Speyer, Strasbourg and the Black Forest. I will be doing individual posts on these and other places, as well some of the places on the way to Germany.

The vehicle shown below was at a castle on the Rhine. There was a hotel and restaurant there and I presume they use this vehicle for weddings, etc.

I love this license plate.

When it was time to leave we took a train from Saarbrucken to Frankfurt airport, the rail strike having ended.

We boarded a plane in Frankfurt which took us to JFK, New York.

From JFK we flew to Phoenix where we were met by our son, Dean. who gave us a ride home. Got home late on June 9.  Stay tuned for more posts from this great trip.