In our recent visit to France, we planned a three-day visit to the D-Day beaches, and in preparation I read a book about that event. However, seeing how much there was to see and absorb, I decided to book a tour with a guide for the first day. Looking at several sites I decided to book an Englishman named Chris Emery, who had received good reviews from many travelers. It was easy contacting him via email and we set up a date for conducting a one-day tour. He sent me the proposed itinerary a few weeks prior to our tour, and gave me a chance to look it over and suggest any changes. Since we are Americans, he planned our tour around the American beaches and sights, which was fine with us. On tour day, we picked him at 8:30 at the Bayeux train station and we went non-stop until 5, with just a short stop in St. Mare Eglise to grab a sandwich. He lives locally in the area with his family, so over the years he has met a lot of local folks who have shared their D-day stories with him. He was ultra knowledgeable about the whole of D-day, and had a lot of anecdotes that he picked up over the years from meeting returning veterans of all countries. As promised, we covered events at Omaha and Utah beaches and Ste Mare Eglise, as well as paying a visit to the American Cemetery. He tailors his tours based on where his clients are coming from, and can customize the tour as well. Chris was a former British Ranger Commando who fought in Iraq and Afganistan, and had a few war stories of his own to tell as well. He is an interesting and funny guy, and has a fantastic memory for the details. Also, he had his Apple Ipad with him and would bring up photos and documents related to the particular site we were at or related to an anecdote he was telling us. He was very organized and interesting, and we were on the move throughout the day. We highly recommend him.
Please sign in to post.