United Kingdom

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

We took a World War One and World War Two Battlefield tour with a company called Trafalgar. The bus tour began in London and would finish in Amsterdam after fourteen days. The tour followed some of the major routes of WW I and WW II. After touring London for two days and seeing some of the sites including the Imperial War Museum we headed to Portsmouth, England.

Trafalgar bus coach tour of WWI & WWII sites

We enjoyed the two-hour drive to Portsmouth watching the scenery along the way.

View on our way to Portsmouth, England
 We arrived at the Portsmouth historic dockyard. There we explored the historic location which was part of the launch of D-Day’s “Operation Overloard” that occurred on June 6, 1944.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard location of part of the D-Day Launch

We went to the ship building school and a dockyard area where ships were being repaired. We walked through the school looking at different aspects of ship building.

Examples of some of the ships under construction by students at the school.

There were displays explaining aspects of ship building.  There was also some interactive activities. One activity was to crank a wheel and race your boat against other people to the finish line.

Boat race display at Museum

There was an area that had a rowing competition activity.

Shelley and Anne in rowing competition at Museum

There was even a station where you could climb the mast of a ship. We decided to skip that activity.

Station set up for people to climb a mast in the Museum

After the Museum we took a short boat cruise around the marina which provided us with some great views of Portsmouth Harbor.

Ray, Shelley, Jim, and Anne waiting for the boat cruise through the Marina

The views of the harbor from the boat cruise were very impressive.

The view from boat cruise in the harbor at Portsmouth

On the cruise, we saw several warships docked in the harbor.

Plastic hull minesweeper  designed to locate mines
British warship docked in Portsmouth Harbor

We came to the 558 feet high Spinnaker Tower located in the harbor.  The tower was built originally as a millennium project, however, ended up costing £36 million pounds,  £12 million pounds over budget. The tower was not completed until 2005 almost six years later than it was scheduled to be completed.

Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth Harbor

Portsmouth was an interesting city and was a very important part of WW II. We enjoyed our time there and saw some very interesting things.

“Ta ta and Cheerio”

United Kingdom

A great day in London

We signed up for a WW I and WW II battlefield tour with a company called Trafalgar tours. The first two days of the tour were in London and it provided us with some time to explore some of the iconic sites.

We walked along the Thames River and enjoyed some of the iconic views.

View of Elizabeth Tower “known as Big Ben” in London

We walked for several kilometers along the path near the Thames River. Along the way, we saw the Westminster Palace, a beautiful building with great architecture.

Elizabeth Tower in London
Westminster Palace in London
Another view of the Westminster Palace in London

All along the road that followed the Thames River, there were some great architectural buildings. Some of the buildings we recognized while other we did not.

View along the Thames River of some of the beautiful buildings

We walked for about an hour along the streets of London.

Wellington Arch in London
The Gates near Hyde Park in London

We went to Trafalgar Square and stopped there to admire the location and take a few pictures.

Trafalgar Square in London
Shelley and Ray in Trafalgar Square in London
Fountain in Trafalgar Square in London

We saw some interesting monuments on our tour through parts of London. There was a unique large bronze horse head statue.

Bronze horse head statue in London
Lion statue at Trafalgar Square

We went the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards.

A view of Buckingham Palace from the garden area

There was a very large crowd of people gathered there to watch the changing of the guards.

Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace in London

We walked along the Princess of Wales Memorial Walk and decided to take a picture of the plaque.

Ray and Shelley’s foot with the Princess of Wales Memorial Walk plaque

It was a very enjoyable day exploring parts of London. There were so many interesting things to see.

“Ta ta and Cheerio”

 

United Kingdom

Unique Indian restaurant in London

While we were in London, the four of us decided to look for a good Indian restaurant. We were told by our tour director to try the Masala Zone Covent Garden. We walked to the restaurant which was located not far from the Royal Opera House and the Covent Garden Market.

The front of the restaurant was unassuming and fairly normal looking, however, when you entered the restaurant it was uniquely decorated. Inside the restaurant, they had different types of dolls on display.

Dolls on display inside the Masala Zone Covent Garden Restaurant

Even on the ceiling and some of the walls, there were dolls on display.

Trapeze dolls on the ceiling of the restaurant

We did not have a reservation and the restaurant was fairly busy but we were fortunate that they had a table available.

Inside view of the busy Masala Zone Covent Garden restaurant

We sat at our table and enjoyed looking at the different dolls that were on display throughout the restaurant.

Dolls on display from the ceiling of the restaurant
Ray and Shelley at the Masala Zone Covent Garden Restaurant
Jim and Anne at the Masala Zone Covent Garden Restaurant

We ordered an Indian dish called “thalis” which is a traditional Indian dish you share.  The thalis dish was a mix of different foods and included curry plus little bowls of varied dishes.

Thalis dish from the Masala Zone Covent Garden restaurant

The meal and atmosphere were excellent and we really enjoyed the thalis dish. Afterward, we decided to take a walk around the area before heading back to the hotel.

We went and looked around the Covent Garden Market which is a popular spot in London.

Inside the Covent Garden Market

We explored the market and then went to the central square at the market. We came across a street performer from Canada who was doing a show.

Street Performer at Covent Garden Market in London

We stopped to watch for a while before eventually heading back to the Hotel. Overall it was a very enjoyable evening out with friends.

“Ta ta and cheerio”

United Kingdom

Imperial war museum in London

We went to the Imperial War Museum in London and spent several hours exploring the museum. There were exhibits from World War One, through to modern-day conflicts.

Ray at the entrance to the Imperial War Museum in London England

We went into the museum through a large pillar entranceway which opened up into a large interior view of the five floors of museum exhibits.

The view from inside the entrance to the Museum

There were original planes and rockets suspended in the air in the central area of the museum. One airplane that was highlighted was the “Spitfire” which is a British single-seat fighter aircraft. It was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries during World War II.

Spitfire on display in the Imperial War Museum

We walked through the museum and started with the world war one displays and worked our way to the current conflicts in the world. There was an enormous amount of information on each war and also artifacts from each period.

Tank on display in museum

We stayed in the World War two exhibits area of the museum for the longest period of time. We saw artifacts from that period and read about the WWII in detail.

We saw items from vehicles, guns, articles of propaganda to clothing and documents from the war. The overall detail of the museum was amazing.

The Iron Eagle on display was removed from the Reichstag building in the heart of Berlin by the Soviets. That afternoon Hitler committed Suicide in his bunker under the Reich Chancellery.

Iron Eagle from the Reichstag Building in Berlin 1945

There was an American airman jacket which had the B-17 Flying Fortress insignia “Leading Lady” on it. This airman was from the 364 Bombardment squadron which carried out 35 bombing missions.

An American Airman’s Jacket from World War Two

General Montgomery was in command of the Eight Army in Egypt in August 1942. He would visit him men in his Humber Staff Car.

General Montgomery’s Humber staff car 1942

We also came to a section of the museum which was focused on the Holocaust. The museum exhibit focused on the Nazi persecution and murder of Jewish people in Europe from 1933 to 1945. We walked through the exhibit and it was sad to see the belongings of Jews which were killed in concentration camps.

Shoes from the concentration camp

The horror of the war is visible in the exhibits and stirs emotions of sadness and grief.

After viewing the exhibits we went outside to admire the monuments and gardens at the museum. The front of the museum was lined with beautiful flowers.

Flowers at the Imperial War Museum

We stopped to smell the roses along the way.

Shelley admiring the roses at the museum

We came to a section of the Berlin Wall that was on the grounds of the museum. The Berlin wall was torn down in 1990 and a section was removed and brought to the museum.

Ray at a section of the Berlin Wall on display at the Imperial War Museum

We enjoyed the visit to the museum and found the exhibits very interesting and comprehensive.

“Ta ta and Cheerio”

 

Germany

Dachau Concentration Camp

We took a tour and went to the Dachau concentration camp located outside of Munich. The tour began with a train ride to Dachau which was about 20 minutes away.

The train ride was emotional as we thought about the thousands of people forced into boxcars and sent to this concentration camp in the 1930’s and 40’s. It is hard to the terror they must have felt.

The train ramp at Dachau concentration camp

We arrived at Dachau and walked through a park-like trail before arriving at the main gate of the former Dachau Concentration Camp. Along the trail, there are information boards about the camp.

Trail towards Dachau Concentration Camp

We arrived at the main entrance of the camp. The entrance was through a gate arched in the centre of a building with a watchtower on the peak.

Entrance to the Dachau Concentration Camp

The iron gate which has the inscription  “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free).

The iron gate bearing the notorious slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free)

We entered through the gate and saw a very large area which contained several buildings and large rows of rectangular gravel areas. On the right was a long building which was now used for the museum.

Museum building in Dachau Concentration camp.

Inside the museum, there were numerous rooms with displays and information about the camp.

Inside the Dachau Museum

We walked through the museum and read the information on how horrific it was. It was difficult to imagine just how much pain and suffering occurred in the building we were walking through. There were displays of images of prisoners and the living conditions they endured. It was a very emotional time walking through the museum and to see and read the terrible things that were done there.

After going through the museum we went into the yard of the concentration camp. This was also a surreal experience walking down the former rows of where the barracks were.

The gravel where the prisoner barracks were in Dachau Concentration Camp
Rows of bases of former prisoner barracks in the camp

There were rows and rows of barracks with a central road. Along the central lane were rows of trees of both sides.

Central road lined with trees between the prisoner barracks

We walked the central road and it was very long and hard to imagine the size and horror of all the barracks.

Museum image of the prisoner barracks in the 1930’s

We walked the length of the barracks then headed to a small barbwire gate which was off to one side of the camp. All along the perimeter of the camp was an area with a strip of grass and ditch before the barbwire fence which was electrified during the operation of the camp

The area along the perimeter of the concentration camp with grass, a ditch and electrified barbwire fence.

We walked through the gate to an area of the camp that was separated from the remainder of the camp.

The gate area to the separate section of the Dachau Concentration Camp

There was a brick building secluded in an area away from the remainder of the camp. This building was used to incinerate prisoners of the Nazi regime.

Building used to incinerate the bodies of people killed by the Nazi regime in the camp.

We went into the building and it was very emotional for us. The rooms were divided into a process used to remove their property, then their clothing from the victims before they were killed.

This is the room where the victims were told to disrobe to get ready for the “supposed” shower

They were then moved to the “shower” room and were gassed until they died.

Mock shower room used to gas the prisoners

They were then stacked in an another room and other prisoners would be forced to move them to the incinerators and burned. Victims were stacked three at a time in each incinerator and the ashes removed to the rear of the building and disposed of.

Incinerators of the Dachau Concentration Camp

We went outside to the rear of the building and came there were two monuments behind the building marking the thousands of victims buried in unmarked mass graves.

Incinerator room at the rear of the building

Here we saw the monuments for the thousands of victims buried in an unmarked mass graves.

Jewish monument for the thousands of dead at Dachau Concentration Camp
Monument for the thousands of dead at Dachau Concentration Camp

We then walked down a trail into a wooded area behind the building.

Trail behind the incinerator building in Dachau Concentration Camp

We saw a plaque which identified the area where the Nazi’s would use their pistols and execute prisoners.

Pistol range area in Dachau Concentration Camp where prisoners were executed

There was a wall at the other end of the pistol range where the prisoners would be killed.

Wall where prisoners would stand and be executed at Dachau Concentration Camp

The visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp was very emotional. The sheer realization that we were in the very location that this horrendous atrocity occurred gave us overwhelming feelings of sadness, heartbreak, and extreme grief. It was important to see and to remember that tyranny can happen and the high cost of freedom that has been paid.

“Auf Wiedersehen und einen schönen Tag”

Life is too short to wait for adventure!