May 21 to May 23, 2004: We took the train from Le Havre to Paris, then the RER (regional train) to Charles de Gaulle to meet up with Carol Garlinghouse (Jan's Stepmother who joined us for 10 days). This was Carol's first trip to Paris, and we intended for her to see as much as possible in two days.
At first it looked like there had been an accident on the train lines and we were going to be late in meeting her plane, but finally the connections worked out and we arrived at nearly the same time that she did. We then took the RER train back to Paris and checked in to our usual Parisian hotel the Hotel du Ministere. After dumping all the bags, we started our grand foot-tour of Paris. Carol had brought some cards that featured “great walks of Paris” so those came in handy at times. We walked to the Louvre, toured the Left Bank, hit the book stalls, Shakespeare & Company bookstore and ended up at the Left Bank for dinner. The feature of the night, besides a great meal, was the guy breaking plates over Steve’s head. That night we went to a Bach piano concert at a nearby church. On Saturday we tried to go to Fauchon's for breakfast, but the prior night they were without electricity so they couldn’t bake any croissants. Bummer, Fauchon's has the best croissants in France
We checked out the stain glass dome in the Galleries Lafayette, tried on lots of hats, then went to Montmartre to watch the artists and do lunch. That afternoon we got on the train and headed to Steve's prior inlaws for a great dinner. After hours of drinking and talking (mostly Steve and Jacque in French), we caught the last train to Paris. It was a very quick intense trip, but Carol seemed to really enjoy it.
(Map 4) May 23 to May 25, 2004: We arrived back to Le Harvre on Sunday afternoon, jumped in the boat and headed across the Seine river to Honfleur. The Seine River starts from the Plateau of Langres, near Dijon and flows through Paris and on towards the English Channel. The mouth of the Seine is guarded on the North by the large commercial port of Le Harvre and on the South by the picturesque town of Honfleur.
For over a century, Honfleur has been the home to painters and artists who have endeavored to capture the interplay of colors from the stone façades of it's building onto the waters of the vieux port (old harbor). As you step into the vieux port for the first time, you instantly know that you are walking into a postcard.
We rested and feasted on seafood and left mid-morning on the 24th for Ouistreham, a short 25 miles up the coast. Ouistreham holds a special place for the French Commandos of WWII. It is here that they first stormed the beach at D-Day to begin the liberation of France.
In order to catch the outgoing high tide, we were up at 3:30am and on our way by 4:00am to pass the infamous D-Day beaches, Juno, Sword, Utah, Gold and Omaha. 06:04 brought a beautiful sunrise on a cloudless morning. By 7:30, we were motoring past Arromanches, and the gigantic remains of the caissons which formed a temporary artificial harbor, code named Mulberry, for the Allies during the invasion 60 years prior. The caissons were built in England, and floated across the Channel and sunk in place to form a breakwater to off-load men and supplies for the invasion. They were built during the first three days of the invasion and were in use less than 10 days total, when they were destroyed by a severe storm. Today, these remnants are the homes for fish and birds.
By mid-morning we were off of Omaha Beach. The American cemetery, with the thousands of white headstones was clearly visible from the water. We decided to inflate the dinghy and "storm the beach" ourselves. The tide had turned at this point and was beginning to flood, hence we moved in as close as we could to the beach, and at one point were touching the sand bottom. We pulled the dinghy several hundred feet up on the beach, but it almost was not enough.
The 60th anniversary of D-Day was a week away and preparations for the remembrance ceremony (and President Bush's visit) were well under way. There was a communications unit of the army setting up a satellite network, gardeners were planting pallets of geraniums and roses, grandstands were being erected and hedges were being trimmed. All in all, it was a beehive of activity.
We had visited the cemetery before. In 1999, we had taken a 3 week motor trip through France and had stopped just before closing. As the sun set over the remains of these 10,000 youths, and the bells toll Taps, it is impossible to keep a dry eye.
One of the most touching memories of this trip however, were the several bus loads of French school children visiting the cemetery on a field trip. Each child had a bouquet of flowers in hand and led by their teachers, went out into the cemetery and placed their bouquets on the gravesites.
We were only visiting the cemetery for about an hour when Steve looked down and saw that the tide was almost at the dinghy. A mad run back to the boat and we made it just as the water was beginning to carry away Jan's boots and float the dinghy.
May 25, 2004: St. Vaast is a small coastal fishing village with a small grocery store that has a worldwide following. This little grocery store has the most incredible selection of gourmet and unusual foods imaginable. It was certainly the topic of discussions of cruisers thousands of miles away. All summer long we reminisced about that grocer in St. Vaast. What a find! We should have bought all our Christmas presents there! Our great purchases that afternoon were Roquefort cheese as well as Roquefort mustard.
Along the wall as you entered the store was a collection of photos from the War that were memorable. They included shots taken in St. Vaast throughout the war, from shots taken from a second story window showing German troops firing to pictures of the arrival of the Americans. As we walked around the town, you could really "feel" these war scenes.
(Map 5) May 26 to May 29, 2004: As we rounded the Pte. de Barfleur on our way to Cherbourg, we were hailed on the VHF by the French Coast Guard. We were sailing along with another English flagged sailboat and someone on the VHF starting calling "le deux voiliers" (the two sailboats). When we answered in English, they switched over to English and wanted to know the usual particulars, last port, next port, registry, etc. We had heard through other cruisers that the French were notorious with their inspections and had a tendency to be quite thorough reviewing documentation. We explained that we were not sailing with the other boat and were just in the same area by happenstance. Our answers seemed to satisfy him, but for the next half hour or so, he continued to try to contact the other English boat, without success.
In Cherbourg that night we met another couple on an HR 36 that had taken delivery of their boat 1 week after ours. What fun to compare experiences. The Mercuire Hotel in Cherbourg has a wifi internet connection so we cross the little channel from where we moored and walked into town to find it. The kids from the rowing and sailing clubs launched their boats in the channel next to us. Throughout France it was amazing to see the emphasis on sailing programs for kids. There must have been a 70 kids that came down for "sailing class" that afternoon.
We walked that afternoon down to the Carrefoure Store at the end of the channel, then hauled all the goodies back to the boat. Carrefoure is the European equivalent to Walmart or Target stores. They carry just about everything you would want. We got a great price for the tins of cookies marking the 60th Anniversary of D Day.
Leaving Cherbourg at 5:00 am on the 27th you shortly pass one of the most notorious parts of the entire English Channel, and that is the Cap de la Hague. The currents are very strong in this area and can exceed 6 knots. When currents are this strong, you will see standing waves and whirlpools and of course, you want to make sure you are going "with the current" and not against it. Steve decided that it was way too early in the morning to have to face such navigational problems, so he went to bed. Jan and Carol navigated the Race of Alderney by themselves and said it was quite exciting. According to Jan, "You should have seen the water boil!" From Jan's notes: "We clocked SOG at 10 knots between 8am and 10am."
By 5:00 pm, we had arrived at the Customs Dock at St. Helier, Jersey. Jersey is one of the Channel Islands which are sovereign countries, but are English Protectorates. They use English denominated currency but it is known as Jersey Pounds and not English Pounds. As one local put it, "Same Queen, different picture." The diesel for the boat was the least expensive we have ever seen - 33.3 pence per liter so we loaded up.