To the Tower Then Off to Normandy

Situated in the very heart of the city, the Westin Paris Vendôme sits between the Louvre and Place Vendôme.

We were super excited to finally be in France and so the 35-minute pre-arranged van ride from Charles De Gaulle Airport to the Westin Paris Vendôme Hotel seemed very quick indeed. This historic hotel is conveniently located in the first arrondissement on the rue de Castiglione at the corner of the rue de Rivoli and facing the Tuileries Garden. It opened in June of 1878 as the Hotel Continental, and was intended to be the most luxurious and comfortable hotel in Paris at the time. During the First World War, it was used as a French military hospital. The Hotel Continental remained the largest hotel in Paris for decades and played host to any number of Russian Grand Dukes and celebrities during their stays in the French capital. During the Liberation of Paris in 1944, bedsheets were hung from its windows as cheerful flags of surrender to the welcoming allies. The hotel was renamed the Inter-Continental Paris in 1969. It became The Westin Paris in 2005 and was fully renovated in 2007. It now boasts 428 rooms and suites mixing traditional and contemporary decor. The suffix Vendôme was added in 2010.

The weather, the food and the camaraderie were all in sync on the Summer Terrace with its central fountain.

Although we arrived mid-morning, I was pleasantly surprised our queen-bedded Junior Suite on the fifth floor was available for an early check-in. These accommodations included a small sitting room with sofa, desk and television which was separated from the sleeping room by a long hallway containing good-sized double closets and a number of drawers. The bathroom was quite small though and the ceiling sloped to a degree that made showering somewhat challenging. Once we had an opportunity to freshen up after our overnight flight, we met up with our friends for lunch in the recently opened Summer Terrace. This is an open-air restaurant in the hotel’s center courtyard that has the most delicious club sandwich. It proved to be perfectly paired with their tasty fries, both accompanied by a nice glass of wine. We frequented this spot on several occasions and were never disappointed in the food or in the service.

The Eiffel Tower's rapid construction (2 years, 2 months and 5 days) represented a then unparalleled achievement.

While four of us had been to Paris previously, we wanted to be sure and see all “the sights,” as two in our group had never before visited the city. We relied upon the Guest Relations staff at the Westin for all advance arrangements and I would particularly like to compliment Yingxi Huang and Elena Fraile. These two ladies patiently answered all my seemingly never ending e-mail questions and made all the requested bookings which greatly enhanced our trip. So, let's begin. Following lunch, at the Summer Terrace, we met up with Gigi, our guide who took us to the world-famous Eiffel Tower. For over 130 years, the Eiffel Tower has been a powerful and distinctive symbol of the city of Paris, and by extension, of France itself. It was built to be one the main attractions at the Paris World’s Fair in 1889, which focused on the vast constructions in iron and steel that were the great industrial achievements of the day. First called the 300-meter Tower, it soon took the name of the man who built it, Gustave Eiffel. The Tower opened to the public the same day as the World's Fair, on May 15, 1889. Controversy over the Tower raged in the art world before and during its construction, but thanks to the audacity of its architecture and design, visitors and Parisians alike immediately fell under its charm. More than 2 million people toured it in the first year alone! it impressed the entire world by its stature and sweeping design and symbolized French know-how and industrial genius. We were impressed as well, marveling at the stunning views afforded by this unique tourist attraction and monument known around the world.

Stained glass windows in the Angoville-Au-Plain church pay tribute to the American paratroopers of June 6, 1944.

At 6:30 the next morning, the gentlemen left for a private Normandy Beaches tour given by Jozef Prihoda. His company, Private Trip, offers other tours as well, including those of Burgundy, the Champagne Region and the Loire Valley. Jozef had a heavy foot and we covered the 193-mile journey in about two and a half hours (including time out for coffee and a croissant). We talked non stop about D-Day and he appeared to be impressed with our knowledge of history. Our first stop was Angoville-Au-Plain. On June 6, 1944, American paratroopers quickly seized this small village in close proximity to the jump zone. About thirty German soldiers surrendered. Two American medics belonging to the 2nd Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Kenneth J. Moore and Robert E. Wright, settled in the small village church two hours after first touching the ground in France. They hung a white flag with a red cross at the door. With the medical equipment they managed to recover from their release zone, they treated the wounded, both American and German, insisting that all weapons of war must remain outside the church. In total, eighty soldiers and one child were cared for by the two paratrooper medics. Moore and Wright received the Silver Star for their action in the Church of Angoville-au-Plain. Even today, some 78 years later, we could see the wooden benches in the church still bear the unmistakable traces of blood from the wounded who were treated during the first days of the fighting.

A replica of paratrooper John Steele hangs today from the church steeple in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, France.

Jozef then drove through the village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. In 1944 this village was occupied by sixty enemy soldiers of the 191st Artillery-Regiment. The Germans used the church tower as an observation post and on a clear day they could see all the way to the sea. Far away from an expected invasion near Calais, they couldn’t know that Sainte-Marie-du-Mont was at the southern edge of D-Day’s ‘drop zone c’. After heavy coastal bombardment by the Allies just after Midnight on D-Day, the first American Paratroopers were dropped in the dark over occupied Normandy. Highly trained, they had the most dangerous mission of all; landing armed but unprotected into enemy territory. Here behind Utah Beach, they were responsible for clearing a route for thousands of soldiers arriving by sea from England. It was a near impossible task. Just two thirds of troops designated for zone c were accurately dropped. A number found themselves landing in and around Sainte-Marie-du-Mont and quickly fighting for their lives with the rather surprised enemy. The paratroopers were easy targets, and Private John Steele was one of the few to survive. He was wounded in the foot by a burst of flak and his parachute caught in one of the pinnacles of the church tower, leaving him hanging on the side of the church. Steele hung limply, pretending to be dead for two hours before the Germans took him prisoner. He escaped four hours later and rejoined his division when US troops attacked the village. Private Steele was awarded the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart for his injury.

Gear heavy US Rangers under heavy fire scaled these very steep cliffs of Pointe du Hoc to eradicate the enemy guns.

Next we visited the Normandy beaches where Allied forces launched the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. Codenamed "Operation Overlord," the Allied landings on these beaches marked the start of a long and costly campaign to liberate Northwest Europe from Nazi occupation. Allied infantry and armored divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06:30 on the morning of June 6, 1944. Over 23,000 men of the US 4th Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach, the westernmost of the assault beaches. Strong currents swept the first wave of troops into a more lightly defended sector of the assault area, some 2,000 yards south of their original target. By the end of the day, the 4th Infantry Division had advanced approximately four miles at a cost of about 200 killed, wounded or missing. Omaha Beach was the most heavily defended of the assault areas and casualties were higher than on any other beach. Preliminary Allied air and naval bombardments failed to knock out strong defense points along the coast and the Americans had difficulties clearing the beach obstacles. Despite these challenges, the Americans were able to gain a small foothold on the beach by the end of the day. Halfway between the beaches, at Pointe du Hoc, 225 US Rangers completed a costly assault on German gun emplacements at the top of the cliff that threatened Utah and Omaha Beaches. They were the first American unit to accomplish their mission on D-Day—at a cost of 145 lives! By the end of the day, the Rangers were holding onto a small pocket on the heights of the Pointe, and the Germans were counterattacking. Eighty Rangers held out for two days until help arrived. Gazing at the tranquility and the beauty of these beaches during our visit, it was hard to fathom how horrific the sights and sounds of that fateful day must have been for those young men involved in the historic Allied assault.

The hallowed ground of the American Cemetery and Memorial sits on a bluff high above the French coastline.

Our day ended on a sombre and respectful note at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. It was established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The site of the cemetery, at the north end of a half mile access road, covers a little more than 172 acres and contains the graves of 9,386 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the “Wall of the Missing,” in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial, are inscribed the names of 1,557 service members declared missing in action during Operation Overlord. Nineteen of these names bear a bronze rosette, meaning that the bodies were later found and identified since the cemetery's dedication in 1956. France has granted the US a concession to the land, meaning the cemetery is an American territory within the nation of France. The Cemetery and Memorial are meticulously maintained. Together, they are sobering and eerily beautiful.

Jozef returned us quickly and safely to Paris where we rendezvoused with the ladies for dinner later that evening. I’ll tell you more about the balance of our stay in Paris in a future post.

Until next time…safe travels.