Many Portsmouth residents travelling to France, will get off the ferry at Ouistreham and then journey on to their continental destination without ever stopping to visit the town of Ouistreham. However, there are lots to see and do there, from the Musée du Grand Bunker and the historic D-Day beaches to the delicious sea-food menus at the many restaurants.
Ouistreham is also fortunate to have a young, dynamic and ambitious mayor, M Romain Bail, who, 2 years ago conceived the idea of creating a Centre for Franco-British Relations. M Bail is ably supported in this project by Lesley Coutts previously Head of Department at Caen City Council’s Europe and International Relations Department and a good friend of the Caen-Portsmouth Friendship Group.
The project is gathering pace and M Bail is aiming to open the centre in 2019, the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Following the announcement of the appointment of the architects and the interior designers a launch and presentation was planned for the end of November 2017.
An invitation to such a presentation at the British Embassy in Paris is not something that arrives in our email box every day and at first I dismissed it as an expense we couldn’t really justify with Christmas looming. However as John and I had last visited Paris 20 years ago to celebrate John’s 50th birthday we thought that, with his 70th birthday now only a few months away, perhaps we could “push the boat out” and have a short City Break to revisit the beautiful city of Paris.
Following tight security to enter the British Embassy (although having left my passport in Portsmouth I managed to get in with my PCC senior bus pass) we were able to view several of the public rooms in this historic building originally bought in 1814 by the Duke of Wellington from Pauline Borghese, the sister of Napoleon.
Above: An image of the interior of the British Embassy in Paris.
We also ran into Simon Frost, who now lives in France but was previously a committee member of the Caen-Portsmouth Friendship Committee and remains a great supporter of our group.
Above: Image of Terry Hall and Simon Frost in the British Embassy in Paris.
We were thrilled to represent the Group at the launch and learn more about the proposed project. The building will nestle into the sand-dunes of the historic Sword beach and work is due to start in August 2018. The 3 themes of the centre will be Franco-British Commerce, Culture and Conflict. For example the theme of Conflict will cover the One Hundred Years’ War right through to the post-WW2 “Art of Peace”. We will update our website as the project develops and more information becomes available.
Apart from forgetting my passport, John tripping as he boarded the Eurostar and almost being ripped off by a “ticket tout” in the Metro, we had a wonderful time and managed to find time to visit many of the sights and museums of Paris.
Above: Image of John Hall by a painting in one of the many Parisian museums visited.
Given our advancing age I don’t think we should wait another 20 years before we revisit Paris.