Trip to Europe

My youngest son takes an international trip every year. This year he has asked me to go with him to Europe in June and attend the 70th anniversary of D-Day commemoration. We plan to also visit Paris, London, and Berlin. Since this trip will be primarily an unguided (just he and I) WW2 related tour, I would like to hear from any of you who have been, about places and sites related to WW2 that we shouldn"t miss seeing. Museums, battlesites, etc. We plan on staying about 2 weeks. Sorry this isn"t exactly tractor related, but the YT site is one of the best for getting information of any kind.

Napoleon's Tomb in Paris

I'm sure that you will be visiting Normandy, we hired a guy that the hotel referred to us to tour the beaches and inland a little. There is a good little museum in Bayeaux. Don't miss Point du Hoc. In London there is the Imperial War Museum, and I would highly recommend the Air branch of it which is maybe fifty miles north of London.

i know that it is ww2 that interests you more, but 2014 is 100 years since the start of ww1, there will be lots of things on for that anniversary... might want to include a few of those too... My dad took us to the normandy beaches when i was about 14, i still remember that trip... Imperial war museum in london, and in dorset there is a tank museum
imperial war museum

Berlin WW2 related sites:

1-Topography of Terrors (Museum)
2-Checkpoint Charlie

Kinda Disturbing but Interesting Sites:

3-Jewish Memorial and Museum

And just a short ways North of Berlin.....

4-Town of Oranienburg....home of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp....I believe this was the first CC in Germany....the "bad" ones are in Poland..but this one will raise the hair on the back of your neck....

Don't forget to drink some of the good beers available as well! Have fun.

Tim

(quoted from post at 12:00:53 01/15/14) Berlin WW2 related sites:

1-Topography of Terrors (Museum)
2-Checkpoint Charlie

Kinda Disturbing but Interesting Sites:

3-Jewish Memorial and Museum

And just a short ways North of Berlin.....

4-Town of Oranienburg....home of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp....I believe this was the first CC in Germany....the "bad" ones are in Poland..but this one will raise the hair on the back of your neck....

Don't forget to drink some of the good beers available as well! Have fun.

Tim

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You should try to see the monuments at Bastogne. And do try to see one of the concentration camps.

Rick

My brother in law Benny DeFuentes was there on the beach at Utah I think he in the second wave. Said he didn't want to go back was also in the parade of Paris he was driving the truck and when he saw all those girls climbing in the back he jump out and told the other guy to drive. Was captured crossing the Rhine and spent 6 months in a POW camp. Almost starved to death he said but a German Sgt. Liked him and would sneak sandwiches in to him. They lived on carrot juice for some time.
Came out real thin and never put the weight back on.
Be sure to walk the beach and see what these guys had to face. I have always wondered why they would land at one of the most defended places on the coast. It cost a lot of lives doing it that way. But Generals were gung HO and wanted to make a name for themselves regardless of the cost in lives.
While touring the cemetery be sure to go though the German cemetery too these guys were just there because they would have been shot if the weren't that was one that should never have happened except for a few nuts at the top who wanted to rule the world.
Walt

Disabled Vet

(quoted from post at 09:56:31 01/15/14) My youngest son takes an international trip every year. This year he has asked me to go with him to Europe in June and attend the 70th anniversary of D-Day commemoration. We plan to also visit Paris, London, and Berlin. Since this trip will be primarily an unguided (just he and I) WW2 related tour, I would like to hear from any of you who have been, about places and sites related to WW2 that we shouldn"t miss seeing. Museums, battlesites, etc. We plan on staying about 2 weeks. Sorry this isn"t exactly tractor related, but the YT site is one of the best for getting information of any kind.

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try to see the american cemetery @ margraten in holland the graves are adopted by families there the place is immaculate

If it was me, I'd probably spend a lot of time near Paris. Of course visit the Louve and Tuleries, but Notre Dame cathedral and the Versaille Palace are not too far away, and Monet's gardens are close by also. My dad flew C-47s out of the WWII airfield at St Andre D'Leure, so that would be on my must-see list, even though not much of it is left (a road cuts right thru the old WWII runway). I'd also go to the Dordogne region of France and visit some sites from the Hundred Years war. And drink wine, of course.

If you drink beer, try Monninger bier out of a glass bottle. I did, came home and gave up American beer, tastes like cow p here. Cant find Monninger bier here in the states.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/dover-castle/wartime-tunnels/operation-dynamo/

If you find yourselves here in Dover on the South East Coast try to visit the wartime tunnels below Dover Castle.
Ray

(quoted from post at 09:56:31 01/15/14) My youngest son takes an international trip every year. This year he has asked me to go with him to Europe in June and attend the 70th anniversary of D-Day commemoration. We plan to also visit Paris, London, and Berlin. Since this trip will be primarily an unguided (just he and I) WW2 related tour, I would like to hear from any of you who have been, about places and sites related to WW2 that we shouldn"t miss seeing. Museums, battlesites, etc. We plan on staying about 2 weeks. Sorry this isn"t exactly tractor related, but the YT site is one of the best for getting information of any kind.

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The "D Day" landing beaches are an absolute must see.When you stand on the beach and look up at the cliff you'll wonder why many more troops wearn't lost.Walk through the cemetery,look at all the monuments in the area,say a prayer and thanks.As a bonus it's a. very pretty region

The problem there was the bombing failed to wipe out the Germans in that area this happened on the morning of D-Day

My best buddy's dad was with the Canadian troops at Normandy. He made it to the beach and was machine gunned. He survived and I remember asking him somewhere around 1972 what all the little puckered scars were from and he wouldn't talk about it. He's long since passed now but I try to honor his memory on Remembrance Day.