Germany and Goodbyes

I think the tone of the blog is usually happy and excited, so I apologize for being sad today. Monday morning Jacob and I had to say goodbye for a few months, and it was really difficult. He's currently in Germany, and he'll soon be on his way to "an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia." We'll try to keep you updated on his activities as well as mine this summer. Thank you to those of you who have expressed your support for him.

My little brother Nick arrived last week, and I'm excited to have him here while Jacob is gone. We plan to have lots of fun, so stay tuned to the blog this summer!

The three of us (Jacob, Nick and I) drove to Germany last Thursday and had a fun few days before the goodbye Monday. Friday we visited Trier, one of the oldest cities in Germany and the birthplace of Karl Marx. Nick has studied Marx recently in college, so we went to the Karl Marx Museum, which was really interesting and in the actual house of his birth. Trier is apparently very proud of its son--you can tell by the colorful image of him they display on their city buses.

Also while in Germany we enjoyed some delicious food, including Bratwurst and (lots of) Schnitzel.

Saturday we went to Luxembourg. We enjoyed the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. It was a moving memorial, and General Patton is buried there--not because he died there, but because he chose to be buried with his soldiers. I was particularly moved by a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower etched into the ground:

"All who shall hereafter live in freedom will be here reminded that to these men and their comrades we owe a debt to be paid with grateful remembrance of their sacrifice and with the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live eternally. "

I hope I can have more grateful remembrance...

We also visited Luxembourg City, and then we drove to a cute German village called Cochem. There's a beautiful castle on a hill, surrounded by a quaint village, all set in a picturesque area of the Mosel Valley. We absolutely loved Cochem, including the tour of the castle, which was given in German with a translation sheet in English.

Sunday we visited Worms, another of the top 3 oldest cities in Germany. It's also famous for the 1521 Diet of Worms, at which Martin Luther was named an outlaw during the counter-Reformation. Here's a photo of the Martin Luther monument there.

After the wrenching goodbye, Nick and I drove to Paris where we met up with Emily and Joel again (Jacob's brother and his wife). We enjoyed a great, full day in Paris Monday. Here are a few photos (the Louvre, the Parc du Champs de Mars from the very top of the Eiffel Tower--a little scary, and the Notre Dame Cathedral, which we saw in the orange glow of the beautiful Paris sunset):

Tuesday before we drove back to the UK we went to the Palace of Versailles, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Because we didn't have much time we stuck to the gardens, but we could have spent a few more hours (in addition to the 2 hours we did spend) in the massive, gorgeous gardens.