We were now on our way to Paris – our scheduled trip of 11 hours due to get us to Paris around 09:30. As our bunks were already in position there was no seating in the cabin so we all went straight to bed.
It is amazing how you can nod off to sleep in a train sitting up but try going to sleep lying down, swaying sideways as the train goes round corners, jolting back and forwards as the train speeds up and slows down, jumping as carriages are coupled and uncoupled as parts of the train head in different directions etc etc.
At one point in the night – mainly due to the constant announcements from the platform announcer at the station we were stopped at – I thought we had been stopped at the same place for a long time. But eventually we were on our way.
After the broken night, we all jumped in unison as a loud alarm started to sound intermittently in our cabin about 06:45. As we scrabbled around trying to work out whether we may have kicked a wrong button in our tossing and turning, we realised there was a lot of noise in the corridor as others had the same alarm going. The train was still chugging along so if there was a problem the engine driver didn’t know or care about it !
After a few minutes the alarm stopped and half dressed by now we half relaxed. Then an announcement – first in german, then french, then english – we were “currently” running 1 hour and 20 minutes late. So there had been a problem during the night.
Our “cosy” cabin – bunks put away and now sitting out our delay
Not long after this and as we put up the bunks so we could sit down, the train stopped again for 10 or 15 minutes before crawling into a station. Another delay whilst the locomotive,which had broken down, needed to be changed.
We finally arrived in Paris just before 11:00 and just over 90 minutes or so late – however it may not be a regular occurrence as the conductor gave all the passengers a form to fill in for compensation from the train company due to the delay – I think from the german I could decipher it was 25% of the fare for delays up to 2 hours.
We quickly found a taxi as we had to get from Gare de Est station where the train had arrived to Gare de Lyon station to collect our next hire car – we had tried to call Avis to let them know we were late but could only get a recorded message. We arrived at Avis and there were about 6 people waiting and 1 attendant. After about 10 minutes with 1 customer the attendant indicated there was another “new” Avis shop in another part of the station near where the car actually was so we headed over there. Another wait and finally around 11:30 we were in a car (this time a Renault Megane) – now about 2 hours late.
The traffic in Paris was bedlum and we edged our way along in the traffic for a while before finally making some headway on the expressway. So now to our first stop – Giverny and Monet’s Garden. With all the traffic it was after 13:00 when we arrived – and being warm and sunny, and the Good Friday holiday, so had a million others. We walked from the carpark to the garden and joined a queue that wasn’t moving and after some “will we or won’t we” we decided “we won’t” and instead went looking for some lunch.
Lunch near the entrance
to Monet’s Garden
Amongst the crowds we did manage to grab an unsuspecting table and some baguttes and instead sat looking at a garden in front of the building in front of Monet’s Garden.
Off again along the motorway and soon after the sounds of sirens were followed by an ambulance and a police car weaving in and out of the slowing traffic – which was soon slowed further to a crawl. The time ticked away as the lanes of the freeway merged into one and we then passed a few cars which had rear ended each other causing the delay.
At last past this we headed on toward Caen and the first part of our Normandy sights. But traffic congestion was to slow us again as the road we needed to turn into was also an access road for all the others to Caen so we crawled along again.
Pegasus Bridge
FINALLY at about 16:00 we reached Pegasus Bridge
– an important D-Day target in the early hours of June 6 for British troops who landed in gliders in darkness near the bridge and attacked and drove the germans back across the bridge and then held the bridge until relieving troops arrived later that day.
The old bridge (picture) is now in the museum but the new bridge in its place was built as a replica. Across the other side of the river from the real bridge is a cafe – Cafe Gonderee – that was there in 1944 and it is still owned by the same family.
We drove on not far from here to a little town called Ranville which has a Commonwealth War Cemetery. Last November a local farmer found the remains of a Spitfire plane, which had been shot down during the war, in the marshes along the coast. When they dug it out they also found the pilot.
F/L Henry Smith next to
F/L TRB Anderson
From the identity of the plane they were able to identify the pilot as an Australian RAF pilot – Flight Leiutenant Henry “Lacy” Smith. He was buried with military honours last week – 19 April 2011 – and we went to pay our respects. There were many wreaths at the site – one from the “Government and People of the Commonwealth of Australia”. And fittingly the headstone is next to another Australian from the RAF – a “T R B Anderson”. Liam left a note of respect on behalf of his Air Force Cadet Squadron 318.
A “back road” aka Pierre’s farm !
With our destination still hours away we had to severely curtail our planned site visits. We headed on from Pegasus to Ouistrahem at the month of the river and drove along the coast – past Sword, Juno & Gold beaches. With the weather so good there were still cars and people everywhere as if it was the middle of the day. The whole Normandy area is little lanes and cross roads and the GPS had a bit of a problem picking up our location sometimes. At one point whilst trying to avoid some traffic we were almost driving through farmer Pierre’s crops (see picture)
We called ahead to our destination to let them know we were running late and ended up having dinner in a cafe in Carentan – another major location after D-Day where the 101st Airborne were involved in action. Driving around the little streets and with the old stone buildings you could almost feel the atmosphere – without the terror thankfully ! For anyone who watches “Allo Allo” – I swear Leclerc and his wife walked into the restaurant while we were having dinner !
La Fiere B&B
We finally arrived at La Fiere B&B around 20:00 – with the sun setting – and the location of our B&B is just stunning. After introductions to our hosts Rodolphe (French – “with an outrageous french accent !”) and Vivienne (American) – we had a bit of a wander around the lovely place and then hit the sack as with all the disruptions of the day we were very very tired !