Viking River Cruise’s Paris & D-Day’s 80th Anniversary Trip afforded us the opportunity to learn so much about the D-Day invasion. The trip originated in London and continued in France and Belgium on land and on Viking’s168 passenger ship, the Viking Radgrid. The experience began in late June, 2024 when Viking representative Hazel greeted us at London’s Heathrow Airport and took us to our private Viking transportation to the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
Orientation the first evening included information about the next few days as well as information about local restaurants and other interesting sites and the chance to meet some of our fellow travelers. During our three days of touring in England with our dedicated Viking guide Ed, my wife Dianne and I along with about 40 others on our comfortable bus visited places associated with the events leading up to the the D-Day Invasion on June 6, 1944.
BLETCHLEY PARK
Our experience/education began with a tour of Bletchley Park in Central England. During World War II, Bletchley Park Park housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) whose mission was to penetrate and break the secret codes of the Axis powers. As our group toured the mansion which served as the headquarters and some of the 58 acres surrounding it, we learned about the importance of this location to the Allied effort. Many historians feel that the breaking of secret Nazi transmissions helped shorten the war by two to four years by enabling the allies to learn the enemy’s planned moves.
Our local volunteer guide, the very knowledgeable Terry Machon, explained that Bletchley Park was perfect for the war effort.
Its location in the country far removed from London reduced the possibility of being bombed. It was near a railroad that featured stops at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. It was hoped that the codebreaker effort could attract scholars from these universities. And it did attract a number scholars including the brilliant Alan Turing who is said to be the father of the modern computer. This group of math wizards was able to break the code and decipher messages from the complex German enigma machine.
CHURCHILL WAR ROOMS
Our visit to the Churchill War Rooms the next day gave us a further insight into the war. Viking arranged for our entry there prior to regular hours. During our private self-guided tour of the facilities , we learned that Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill managed much of the war from this dimly lit underground bunker built in 1938 under the treasury building. During the war, a five foot layer of concrete was installed for better protection, but a direct hit from German bombs would have destroyed the site.
The underground rooms with winding corridors contained a kitchen and private quarters for Churchill as well as a map and cabinet room. The Prime Minister put in long hours in the rooms, but reportedly only slept there twice. Eventually, an encrypted telephone was installed so he could privately talk to US President Franklin Rosevelt.
TOURIST SITES
PORTSMOUTH
The next day we visited Portsmouth, the English port city where much of the D-Day fleet was launched. It is home to the D-Day Museum with its impressive restored landing craft.
We got a taste of the invasion with the opportunity to board a landing craft boat adjacent to the museum. Our guide Susan explained that this landing craft was designed to carry ten tanks to the Normandy invasion. The craft is approximately 180 feet long and has two machine guns. Since its bottom was flat for beach landing, it continually rocked and the 45 man crew were reportedly all sea sick. One can only envision the stench on the boat as it hit the beach.
The D-Day tapestry aka The Overlord Embroidery is the primary feature of this museum. Our knowledgeable guide Katherine Webber told us that this tapestry contains 34 panels and is 272 feet in length. The embroidery tells the story of Operation Overlord, the code name for D-Day invasion. It begins with prewar production and contains depictions of The Blitz, the German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom and ends with a scene of British infantry advancing as German troops retreat across the Seine River in France. Many of the panels depicting the D-Day landing are quite graphic showing blood and death.
THE GOLDEN LION PUB IN SOUTHWICK
The educational part of this segment of our trip concluded on an upbeat note as we visited the Golden Lion Pub in Southwick. There the energetic knowledgeable proprietor told us that this area was the location where Eisenhower and his staff planned the details of the invasion. We were also told that “Ike” and his staff often visited the Golden Lion to unwind. The Pub is decorated with many mementos of the leaders that were there making history. Many of our fellow travelers on our comfortable air conditioned bus ended this educational part of our visit to England as the D-Day planners did – by having a cold beer at the Golden Lion bar.
We learned so much during this phase of our trip. It was well organized with several sub groups that included about 30 – 40 each. Travel and hotel check-ins and outs were well facilitated by our Viking personnel. The knowledge we gained during this portion of the Viking tour was extensive. Watch for future articles about our experiences in France and Belgium on this Viking Trip.
Article by Dianne Davis and Burt Davis Photos by Burt Davis or Dianne Davis
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