On the road (2) – beaches, castles and chateaux COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Your dinner looked delicious Cheryl. Your room looks really nice too. What a wonderful first dayy you and Mark had and the sights are beautiful. More please.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Sunday 6 June – part one: will I ever be in a fit state to walk?
I was up early – around 6.30 – so set to work on finishing up writing up the trip report from last night. Once that was done, I had some time to catch up on the boards and finally get all the photos from yesterday on to CD. My lovely laptop had decided yesterday that it didn’t want to play, when it came to burning CDs, which was not what I needed.
We got going very slowly, mainly because I was like an old woman this woman. I woke up and my back was killing me, to the point where I was walking around crooked over. I could not straighten up at all! : I had commented to Mark yesterday as we got to Sword Beach that my back was hurting, but it did seem to improve later in the day. I guess not after all. I took some painkillers and put some muscle gel on my back, which luckily I’d bought with me, just in case I had any problems with my ankle.
For those who don’t know, I have a weak ankle from a couple of incidents a few years ago, where I strained my Achilles. About two weeks before this trip, I fell coming out of a Tube station in London and the ankle gave way, so I was hyper-sensitive about anything happening to it again during this trip, to the muscle gel, pain killers and even my crutch came with me. Just as well.
Finally, I got to the stage where everything was starting to work and was having an impact and I could just about straighten up, so we got ready to head out.
Once we got going, we checked out and headed out of Port en Bessin. It had been a beautiful place to stay and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
A van outside our hotel
We decided to head to Omaha Beach, as we hadn’t made it there yesterday. I had just been far too tired.
We tried to programme the American Military Cemetery into Tim on the way, but he was having none of it. Fortunately, it was on our way and easy enough to find, so in we went. It turned out to be the best possible decision we could have made.
As well as taking us through the cemetery, you get to see the beach below and, from here, you could appreciate how hard it must’ve been for the men to get up from the beach below, as you look down from where the Germans would have been watching and waiting. As you walk in, there are some very good tributes in stone.
Then you pass the visitor centre. I was immediately put off going in there by all the security checks. I guess it’s understandable enough, but even so, I didn’t want to go all through that. :
We walked instead down towards the cemetery and got some views of the beach.
It was so quiet out there today, not like all the beaches that we saw yesterday, packed with people. Somehow, it seemed very appropriate on D-Day itself that they were now empty.
We heard the familiar sounds of the American national anthem and then the Last Post from a ceremony taking place at the main memorial. At first, we didn’t want to intrude, but so many other people were going in there that we joined them. I was pleasantly surprised by to find that it wasn’t all Americans there, with a number of French as well.
So sorry to hear you were achy that day Cheryl. I hope you feel
better. It looks like you picked the perfect time and day to see Omaha Beach. Wonderful pictures as usual. More please.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Sunday 6 June – part two: some sobering and very moving sights
The ceremony was just coming to an end and, as we took some photos of the cemetery laid out before us, there was suddenly a sea of people heading towards us. We let the crowds clear and then got some photos. It was such a perfect day to be there, as we got to see veterans (admittedly swamped with people) and all the wreaths that had just been laid. Many of them were from the French and some were from the British as well.
It was very moving, but I must admit not as moving as if it had been a British cemetery. I immediately decided there and then that we should go to one of the British ones later in the day to pay our respects to those from our country who had given up their lives in this war.
We walked through some of the graves and you just couldn’t begin to comprehend even from these photos, just how many there were. The rows seemed to go on forever and it was a very sobering sight. Perhaps the saddest I felt were those that were unknown. It must’ve been even more heartbreaking for those families left behind at home to never know what happened to their loved ones.
We headed back down towards the beach again and watched some of the veterans that we had seen earlier going down to the beach with flags in hand. It was a really moving sight.
I would have liked to have stayed longer, but my back was really starting to play up by now, so Mark kindly took command of my camera to ease the load on my back.
From there, it was back to the car and then off towards Bayeux. As we got to the car park, we knew that we had done the right thing, coming here so early. The place really was packed now.
On the way out, we saw some parading soldiers....
... and I stopped to get some photos of some cows nearby:
Cheryl, you captured it so beautifully. I got chills and tears in my eyes looking at the pictures. Just amazing.
Your next topic says " a real taste of France" and I laughed because I was thinking maybe that's what one of those cows were thinking as you snapped his picture ( the second to last picture).
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 2
Likes (Received): 7
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 1
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
Just getting to start your TR Chezp (oil spill duty and everything) - but did anyone else see this little bit of Disney Magic on the first day of your trip? Mickey's on the floor!!
Completely understand the Baltic cruise costs - I had wanted to do the Baltic, but ended up on the transatlantic instead due to the costs. I think the estimate I had just for the cruise was 15,000 before plane rides, excursions, etc. And that was just not doable for this group. Enjoying your TR (as always).
Again - amazing pictures. You always make me feel as though I'm there and since this is one of the places I would love to see in person, I appreciate it
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
Cheryl, you captured it so beautifully. I got chills and tears in my eyes looking at the pictures. Just amazing.
Your next topic says " a real taste of France" and I laughed because I was thinking maybe that's what one of those cows were thinking as you snapped his picture ( the second to last picture).
Looking forward to more.
I know - I actually wondered if he'd been sampling some French wine, by the look on his face!
Just getting to start your TR Chezp (oil spill duty and everything) - but did anyone else see this little bit of Disney Magic on the first day of your trip? Mickey's on the floor!!
Completely understand the Baltic cruise costs - I had wanted to do the Baltic, but ended up on the transatlantic instead due to the costs. I think the estimate I had just for the cruise was 15,000 before plane rides, excursions, etc. And that was just not doable for this group. Enjoying your TR (as always).
I love the little Disney touches - and I was wondering if anyone would notice that. They do sell Disneyland Paris very heavily at the Eurotunnel terminal.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 31,940
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 2
Likes (Received): 7
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 1
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 0
What moving installments for your visits to Omaha, Juno, Sword beaches. Brought tears to my eyes thinking of the ultimate sacrifices made by those men (some where boys) - and your photos of the cemetery were wonderful. Thank you for reminding us of significance of that day - so few in this country acknowledge it any more.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
: I had commented to Mark yesterday as we got to Sword Beach that my back was hurting, but it did seem to improve later in the day. I guess not after all. 
Melanie
.
Katie's graduation
They do sell Disneyland Paris very heavily at the Eurotunnel terminal. 
Linear Mode
