places to see??

hello!
i'm going to Europe in 2009, and trying to plan early for great WWII sites to visit! i was thinking about Bastogne, Pointe Du Hoc, Arnhem, and the like, any recommendations!???
thanks!!

 

Some of my favourite places in Normandy (to name but a few) include the gun batteries at Merville, Azeville and Longues-sur-Mer, Pegasus Bridge, St Mere Eglise and the Moissy Ford area.

A friend of mine has just returned from a trip to the area around Calais, he recommends a visit to the V2 site of La Coupole, very interesting i'm told.

The Tiger tank at Vimoutiers is a must see ! anther:

 

What are your particular interests?
Would your Dutch ancestery lead you to Holland?
Where do you plan to fly to first?

I've always wanted to go here. I will one day.
Fortissimus : Eben-Emael - Le plus puissant fort de guerre d'Europe - Belgique

 

i forgot about this post! those sound like great places to see, and yes i'm going to try to get to the tank!!! that thing is pretty cool!

wessex: i'll most likely fly into London as from chicago it seems to be the cheapest most direct flight, but that could change, i was thinking of heading south from london, i understand there is a neat British site somewhere down there with tunnells and such, where they had a base of operations, then take a ferry maybe over to france and visit Normandy, and maybe Pointe du Hoc, the beaches, then head north to Paris, and on to Bastogne, Malmedy, and then work my way north thru Holland until i get to my relatives in Groningen, NL. have you been to any of these and what you recommend adding or deleting, i will only have at the most 3 weeks, possibly 2. so any help you can offer would be great!!
thanks!!!!!
btw, Eben-Emael does look really interesting

 

isn't there a war museum in Groningen ? Talking with member Stevin in the past years did think he mentioned at least one in the area. Well check with local authorities is your best bet.

while in the Ardenne there is many a place for exploration besides Malmedy and Bastogne, check the net for museums at the "hot spots"

 

bigfun,
You're talking about Dover Castle aren't you?
Dover Castle and the Secret Wartime Tunnels : Kent : South East : View properties : Properties : Days Out & Events : English Heritage
I've been around there a couple of times.
It is a superb place, sat on the cliffs above the Harbour.
Sounds like you'll be doing lots of driving, sure you want to do that on vacation/holiday seeing you do that for a living?
By the sounds of it you'll be spending some days doing nothing but driving.

It took me about 6 hours to get from Calais to Caen, including tea & toliet breaks.
You'll like French motorways, they are nearly empty. Don't forget they are toll roads though. Factor in the tolls into your spending money.


Edit: Thinking about this I reckon unless you have to visit the UK you'd be better off doing a fly-drive straight to France. For a start it'd be a LHD car. Ferries and Eurotunnel can be expensive unless you pre-book too. I'm not sure how hire-companies are in the UK about taking a car to France, I haven't done that for years.

 

With 2-3 weeks at your disposal, you'll need to be very selective and organized about what to visit - otherwise, as WW quite rightly says, you may spend a lot of time just driving.....

 

Flights into Amsterdam are usually cheaper than London
- even more so when you factor in the cost of going back and forth over the chunnel.

Secondly - Euro trains are THE way to go. Cheap, fast, really relaxing, scenic.
- BYOB (aka bottle o' wine) and nice Euro lunches and you will arrive home with all the stress washed out of you.

Next best? Rail & Drive passes. These passes give travelers a set number of days of car rental to mix in with a set number of days of train travel.

A surprizing number of towns will have tourist guides waiting at the train station ready to show Yanks and Canucks all they could possible wish for. (Often elderly vets whose tours are just AWESOME.) First class. No joke. Little if any rip-offs. (Ask around first if possible.) If not, there is usually a tourist info site right near by. So factor in local tourist guide packages and occasional car rental (when not available) to the train's cost and you will still end up way ahead of the game.

Back on task:
There is a train station right at the Amsterdam Airport.
That takes you right into the main terminal in Amsterdam (no slouch of a town to visit) which will get you anywhere in Europe lickety split (300 kph on the ICE express! Yikers!)

PS <==(-: (A Smiley that has Tied One On!)
Yankie Airport security fanatics:
- check out the Amsterdam Customs and Immigration area... a "Nothing to Declare?" sign hangs over a 10m wide, wide-open, unobstructed, unguarded walkway that lets you walk smack dab right into Europe completely bypassing Customs and Immigration ... if'n you're nutso that is...

 

==> Why Yanks and Canucks should avoid driving in Europe <==

- Drive and you will drive yourself crazy, especially:
a) negotiating your way to backwater battle sites (even with a back-seat driver handling maps) and impossible-to-park-your-car museums.
b) Not to forget their whacky tabaccy road regulations! You're about guarranteed to wreck. Understand?
. . i. , Austria, Germany, and Switzerland require an International Drivers License
. . ii. read the Euro road rules / signage well ahead of time... your travel agent should have them, or I'll try to find the link which I've lost.
- - No speed signage, you are expected to know them, country by country! Where they start and stop. Yup. Driving abroad, speed limits in europe, driving in europe, motoring rules and regulations. (for national idiosycracies see their links.)
- - Read: Common European Road Signs
- - - I'll add their nutso lane markings (line painting) when I can find the dang link.
. . iii. you will need to know another lanquage for every new country you drive into to read signs - example those directing you to the "old town" / city center centrum, centro, centre ville, stadtmitte.)
. . iv. prepare yourself for scads of roundabouts jam packed with cars doing 60 kph entering (Yep!!) up to 4 lane roundabouts ... AND...
. . v. (good tip here) Rent a car make & model you are familliar with. Aak! Forget the $$$! I've rented Euro models I never learned how to turn the sirens off / headlights on. On one I never ever found the turn signals... it's owner's manual / dash in Spanish only. Arrrgh!)
==> Train it. Its the only way to go! <==

Hey "bigfun" (edited 9:00 AM PST Oct 9 2007)
Try to rename the "title" of this thread, it just might help make it become one of the "Most Viewed Threads" over the long term. Ie: me thinks its a "good un."

Example:
Tourism "Must see" WW2 European Theatre battle sites
______________
"You have never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3" (-;
Paul F. Crickmore.

 

Wessex:
yep that's the one! thanks!!
no i don't want to spend my vacation driving! you are right!! i was hoping to get around by train? i'm looking at the europass, it seems like they have a train that goes into ALOT of places over there, i wanted to fly into London take a train to Dover, and then catch a ferry over to France, of course i would love to stop at a few local Pub's while in England!
Fred: thanks for the info, no car, just train, and i would edit the title, but i'm not sure how to do that?

 

> Fred: thanks for the info, no car, just train,

Trains go EVERYWHERE. Express trains aka ICE go between major centers while local trains stop at every whistle stop.

> i would edit the title, but i'm not sure how to do that?

Yup: editing is time-limited. No idea why though!
FAQ http://www.ww2f.com/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_vb_edit_posts

 

yeah i think there is a time limit to edit the body of the post, i tried but the title did not come up??????

 

Here in north america, outside of cities, the main economic engine is sport / recreational tourism. - In Europe, one of the main economic engines is history tourism. For many towns it is virtually the #1 industry, and for good reason.

My main interest is bomber command. Visited crash sites in Germany where 60 years later nothing still grows and likely ever will. (Phosphorus incindery bombs.) Grim, but educational way to grasp the stark realism of war. Lost Bombers - World War II Lost Bombers helped me find family / friend's gravesites. That was worth every minute.

WW1 buffs! There are lots of very, very memorable sites to visit on your way through Belgium and NE France. (On my to-do list for sping 2008.) Examples: (many WW2 sites nearby)
:: CWGC :: The Ypres Salient
:: CWGC :: The Battle of the Somme

- My aunt has a book on WW1 in which my Grandfather wrote note after heartrending note such as "I was there."
I am going to take it with me and read the complete story of every battle he endured at the site where it occured.
- A nice way to touch bases with someone who has been gone so long.

I used a local tourist guide to go into one little known WW1 battle site a couple of years ago: an old soldier who waited patiently at the train station, waited there for every train which stopped, hoping each time a tourist would stop off who was intent on seeing and learning about the historical sites he was so passionate about. He and his son took me out to the local Canadian graveyard and then the battleground. The son then pulled out a map and and a GPS and we walked through the middle of a farmers wheat field and stood not just where the Canadian Expeditionary Force was positioned, but the exact location where my Grandfather's Regina Rifle Regiment had been marked as located. And there under my feet, mixed in the soil and wheat stems were broken little chunks of barbed wire and hundreds of spent and unspent cartridges. I picked up a cartrige which might very well have come out of my grandfathers gun. One of the best days of my life.

You have a year and a half to plan, "bigfun."
My hopes are your trip will be as memorable as mine.

 

my interests really lie in all things WWII, i just started reading up on it only a year ago, and now i am like a sponge, i want to soak it all in! partly because of my fathers experience as a young boy in Holland, but also just because i find it so fascinating, what these men did for their countries! and because it will most likely never happen again, thank the Lord! so i don't really have any specific war interests, i'm just trying to plan ahead to use my time as efficiently as possible!

 

Youth would do well to join a hostel association before going. (Elder Hostel for us old folks.) Hotels can be fearsomely expensive, especially in prime season. Hostels, while NOT dirt cheap are fun and relatively unexpensive and a great way to meet other youth tourists.

Best time to go to Europe is May / June. Tourist centers have gone 8 months without a pay check so... "locals go out of their way to be nice and helpful."

Next best time is late September through early November. Weather is still great, tourist throngs are long gone.

July, August? Book EVERY hotel room well in advance, phone ahead 24 hrs in advance to confirm and have your room confirmation slip with you when you check in. And still have outs in your pocket. (I have camped overnight on / near some historical sites - having permission / talked nicely to the guards.)
_________________
"When a flight is going incredibly well, something was forgotten." (-;
Robert Livingston, Flying the Aeronica.

 

BASTOGNEHISTORICALCENTER.BE - Historical Account
- Province of Luxembourg, The Authentic belgian Ardennes ! The authentic Belgian Ardennes ! The Land of Bastogne.

Visiting Arnhem - Arnhem Battlefields Tourism

WW2 Battlefield Tours
- Home page: Battlefields of WW2 by Paul Reed
_________________
"Flexible is much too rigid: in aviation you have to be fluid" (-;
Verne Jobst

 

hey Fred!
thanks for the links, this will help alot!

 

Hmm. I think we should lobby Otto (webmaster) to create a new:
"WWII Activities and Hobbies" "Forum" Subheading, Titled:
Forum-Member's Group Holiday Plans / Places to Visit.
(or some such.)

Then move this thread over there.
- (I think its a good 'un.) Why?

It might be nice to organize one or more annual holidays - the focus being on one (+) of the interest areas under discussion here on http://www.ww2f.com/ Then perhaps the next year's holiday could focus on another interest area and/or location... and so forth and so on. An annual event to look forward to.

Thus people who are rapidly becoming fast friends here on this forum could plan opportunities to meet in person. Might be fun, albeit an intense history lesson session, (and emotional for some) especially if some of the real experts we have acquired here join in.

I'm already wondering what dates you might have in mind for 2009, and very well might join you.

> Skipper67 really recommends the atlantic wall museum at Hoek van Holland, near Rotterdam.

Rats! I just came back from Rotterdam. Never even crossed my mind. Blew off half a day in a coffee shop, bored, waiting for my plane.

 

I would really recommend the atlantic wall museum at Hoek van Holland, near Rotterdam. This is an intact Dutch bullwork that was occupied by the Germans in 1940-45 and then became a British base after 1945. It still has the bakery that made bread for 3000 germans every day, the kriegs lazarett for the wounded, cells, weapon storage and the main guns which were confiscated in 1940 have been restored by a private company in the 1990's. This fort is mostly underground and controlled the delta of the Rhine and the Meuse and the entrance of the harbor of Rotterdam. There is alos a rare Gemran Biber pocket submarine on display.

 

hey skipper!
that looks like a great place! thanks, i am liiking it up right now! i found this site about WWII sites, it looks good.
World War II Sites - Netherlands

thanks again!