Cruisin' around Europe - Portland, United Kingdom & La Havre, France
Tuesday, May 7th - Wednesday May 8th, 2024
Our next stop was Portland, United Kingdom. The port on this peninsula has major historical significance, including being a major embarkation point for Allied forces on D-Day in 1944. It has one of the largest man-made harbours in the world. Most of the coastline which includes the Jurassic Coast, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Dexter, Max and I explored Portland Castle and the town of Portland. They both wanted to try McDonald's in the United Kingdom. Sounds novel, but McDonald's, unfortunately, is basically in every country that we visited. The kids are excited to see it every time, but I just roll my eyes. . . I would rather enjoy the local cuisine and eat local.
Scot and Zoe went to the Tank Museum in Bovington. They took one of the tours from the ship. Scot used to build model tanks as a kid, so it was cool to see all the different tanks! He said the museum had a LOT to see and they couldn't get through the whole museum if they stopped to read all the signs. But in the 90 minutes that they had for the tour, they saw plenty!
On the last full day on the cruise (May 8th), we stopped in La Havre, France. Most of this town was bombed and leveled during WWII. Auguste Perret was the architect who helped to rebuild the city. He had a vision to rebuild the city in concrete. He personally designed City Hall and the Church of St. Joseph, but his firm designed most of the other buildings. The style of the city has a very modern feel to many of its buildings. One of the major landmarks is his modern Church of St. Joseph's. In an area of the world with numerous cathedrals and churches that are hundreds of years old, this church was built in the 1950's and has a very contemporary look and feel. Despite this, it still stands very majestic and, for lack of another word, historical.
