NORMANDY - France 2014 - page 427

only, these guides may do half-day trips: Paul de Winter, Normandy Sightseeing Tours,
Vanessa Letourneur, Edward Robinson, Eva Ruttger, Victory Tours, and Mathias Leclere.
Working with Your Guide: Request extra time attheAmerican Cemetery toseethe
excellent visitors center. Don't be afraid to take charge of your tour if you have other spe-
cific interests (some guides can get lost in battle minutiae that you don't have time for).
Many tours prefer to pick up in or near Bayeux, and a few levy a small surcharge for a
Caen pickup. While some companies discourage children, others embrace them.
Scheduled Tours
The following guides accept individual sign-ups for their scheduled departures.
D-Day Historian Tours arerunbyPaulWoodadge,apassionatehistorianandteach-
er who takes your learning seriously. He offers regularly scheduled tours in his minivan
severaldaysaweek(€85/day)andalsogivesprivatetours.His“BandofBrothersTour”is
excellent (tel. [phone], www.ddayhistorian.com , [e-mail] ).
Paul de Winter is clean-cut, serious about teaching, has a PhD in military history,
and has written a book titled Defeating Hitler . History buffs will be happy, but so will
others as Paul's delightful wife and driver, Fiona, helps balance the conversation (€70/
half-day, €95/day, 6-person maximum, private tours available, www.dewintertours.com ,
[e-mail] ).
Normandy Sightseeing Tours delivers a French perspective through the voices
of its small fleet of licensed guides. They take individual sign-ups and private groups
(€45-morning tour, €60-afternoon tour, €90-all-day tour), and will pick you up anywhere
you like (for a price). Because there are many guides, the quality of their teaching is
less consistent—guides David, Olivier, and Karinne get the best reviews but only do
private tours (tel. [phone], www.normandy-sightseeing-tours.com , fredericguer-
[e-mail] ) .
Vanessa Letourneur and her colleague Sabrina are capable, likable French natives
who can guide anywhere in Normandy. Vanessa, who worked at the Caen Memorial Mu-
seum for years, offers half-day tours from Bayeux or Caen for €60/person (mobile 06 98
95 89 45, www.normandypanorama.com ) .
The Caen Memorial Museum runs a busy program of half-day tours covering the
American and Canadian sectors in combination with a visit to the museum. This option
works well for those who have limited time (see museum listing on here ). The museum
hasmanyguides(somegood,somemediocre)andismorelikelytohaveavailabilitywhen
others don't.