Questions for our British friends

[Nelberto]

Having been to the D-Day beaches/museums and cemetries in Normandy three times now i can tell you there will be NO language difficulties.the vast majority of visitors to these sites are english,american,german tourists so the staff we met all spoke very good english as they take guided tours in english for the non french speaking visitors.I highly recommend a visit it's stunning.here's the U.S cemetery at coleville-sur-mer

[Buck-cherry]

Thinking about it, there must be loads of little places about if you look. For example, near Coventry there is a little private museum with planes outside rusting away, and also a military aeroplane graveyard, in a secret location (which, if you use your loaf is pretty easy to find ).
Also, the airfield at Wellesbourne, there is a small, but really interesting museum there, run by volunteers, open on Sundays and Bank Holidays detailing its role in the war. There is also a Vulcan bomber sitting there, I think they were hoping to get it airworthy again, but after the trials and growing expense of the other one, I think the project has been abandoned. Still worth a look, there are loads of little aerodromes and interesting stuff to see, we miss it because we see it every day, it becomes invisible.

[Buck-cherry]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

P47's got a radial engine,p 51 inlne,if it had pointy nose it was a mustang.

He he, I was holding onto my ears and shouting "WHOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!!!", rather than trying to ID the engine!! I think it was a Thunderbolt....

[sanddevil]

Often overlooked, rather unfairly, is the Army Museum in Chelsea, London. http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/

I used to live a stone's throw from the museum and would go regularly. I never saw more than 10 or so other people in there at the same time. Quiet, and very handy for the pubs in Chelsea!

[Clouddancer]

[QUOTE=Rangertom1357;1201076]Again, a really big thanks to all for the great info...

I've bookmarked all the links your offered and will be now planning out the trip over the next few months.

I'd still really like to get over to the D-Day beaches... My biggest problem in spending a few Days in France is the language barrier. I could get by if I went to Germany ( I was there when I was in the Army in the 80's) but unlike most of my fellow Yanks, I don't expect or demand everyone speak English everywhere I go when I'm out of the States... When in Rome, don't be Greek.


There would be no point in expecting the French to speak English. Even the ones who can speak English wont, & if your French is passable, they will still treat you with disdain.
However the staff at the museums & graveyards in Normandy are used to many nationalties, & are extremely helpful & courteous

[sintrovert]

Originally Posted by Rangertom1357

A great big thanks to all!

Looks like York is definitely on the agenda now...

York is a cool city. Some nice architecture there. Worth going to the dungeon.

I'm from a city not far from York, called Hull. To be honest, I hate the place but it does have a few things that could be of interest to tourists.

Wiberforce House: http://www.wilberforce2007.com/index...erforce_house/

William Wilberforce was the guy who basically led the movement to abolish the slave trade in the UK.

You say you're a WW2 buff... Hull got heavily bombed during the war, and there's still one building half standing that's been left as some kind of memorial. It's closed off because of safety and stuff, but it's kinda eerie and interesting. http://slb-geog.hull.ac.uk/memorieso...ages/im011.jpg

As far as a pub goes, this place is one of my favourites: http://yeoldewhiteharte.co.uk/

Check out the button for Plotting Parlour under the History section.

There used to be an army transport museum about 10 miles from here, but that closed. Shame really, it was interesting.
Whatever you do, have a good time

[Rangertom1357]

Originally Posted by Clouddancer

There would be no point in expecting the French to speak English. Even the ones who can speak English wont, & if your French is passable, they will still treat you with disdane.
However the staff at the museums & graveyards in Normandy are used to many nationalties, & are extremely helpful & courteous

Yeah, I got that general impression when myself and a few buddies attempted a weekend trip to Paris in 1986 when I was stationed in Bad Tolz, Germany...

[Buck-cherry]

I'm surprised, I think it must be something to do with the way people speak to our French pals.
I've never had a problem anywhere I've visited in France, but I always start the conversation by apologising for my crap French, and they soon relent and we converse in English. Deference to their obvious global superiority pays massive dividends, you have to come across like you are very sorry to trouble them as opposed to treating them as savages who would give their left nut to be British or American. Enquire, rather than assume they speak English, and strive to make yourself understood if they say they don't. They will soon bore with that and miraculously speak passable English.

My tip would be to find the younger people, they have been brought up watching English-speaking satellite TV and can speak flawless conversational English.

But don't forget to learn a few key phrases, and importantly, pronounce them properly, rolling R's etc. Remember to thank them for their help, even if they were NO help, you might be coming back the same way in 10 minutes, and you then can go and get more directions/advice from your new best French buddy. He will definitely remember his English by then and will be more than happy to use it, just to see the back of you.

[haroldeye]

For heavens sake don't try and speak their language.

It encourages them to be impertinent.

[rick ace]

for details of one of the great secrets of WW2 visit Bletchley Park or station x as it became known. This is where the German enigma codes were broken and meant that the allies often knew what the Germans were planning in advance. Some of the site is still in development but the wooden huts are pretty much as they were at the end of the war. There is a copy of the colossus reputedly the first programmable computer as well as an original enigma and lorenz coding machines. It is the sheer complexity of the task they undertook that is mind blowing and the fact that it was not until 1974 that this secret location was revealed.
Bletchley park is 5 minutes walk from Bletchley station which is 1 hour on the main line out of London Euston.
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/