Fun in France

Saturday we drove to Paris, which was Nancy and Don's first time in France. We did separate things on Sunday: Nancy & Don explored Paris while Jacob and I visited Versailles (Jacob's first Versailles experience). Then Monday we drove up to Normandy to visit the World War II D-Day beaches. We got home super-late Monday night exhausted but had a great trip!

(Photos: Versailles; uncle & niece in a bunker at Pointe du Hoc; all 4 of us at Omaha Beach; Nancy and Don at Pointe du Hoc; Don, Jacob, & Rachel in a bunker at Pointe du Hoc)

Louvre'n it up

Monday and Tuesday Mom, Joye and I spent time in Paris, and we had a great time! We had a whirlwind day Monday, when we visited the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Arc de Triomphe/Champs Elysees. It rained most of the day, sometimes heavily, but we had fun anyway!

For dinner that day we had these amazing crepes. Yes, that was our entire dinner (well, plus some hot chocolate), but it was filling and fantastique. Joye said she had died and gone to heaven, and Mom and I totally agreed!

Tuesday we spent the day at Versailles, where the weather was crazy--sometimes violent downpours with violent winds, and other times hot, bright, muggy sunshine! But we enjoyed our visit to the palace, gardens, and the Marie Antoinette estate.

J'aime Paris!

This past weekend was my third trip to Paris, and it was magnifique! I went with Cheria, whose husband works with Jacob, and we met her friends Vicki and Diane (who are sisters) in Paris. I really missed Jacob, but I really enjoyed my traveling companions. Here they are at the Eiffel Tower.

Below is a photo of Notre Dame Cathedral, taken from a cruise along the Seine River. I got to see the inside of the Cathedral this time, which was beautiful (but the photos are a little too dark to include). We were there Sunday morning during mass, which was interesting.

When I was in Paris in June with Nick, Emily and Joel, we went to Versailles but only had time for the gardens, which were fabulous. We wished they would turn on all the gorgeous fountains; on this trip to Paris I saw the Versailles fountains running!

We also went inside the Palace, and the rooms were the most luxurious I've ever seen--or even imagined. Here are photos of the chapel inside the palace, and Cheria and me in the Hall of Mirrors.

One of my favorite parts of Versailles was the Marie Antoinette estate, where she lived to escape palace life. She had a miniature village of her own (Hameau de la Reine), and those cute little buildings were unexpected on the grounds of a palace. But I really enjoyed it.

This is a little tangential, but we discussed the opulence of Versailles and decided that the French populace was totally justified in being outraged at the excessive consumption of the royal family while the French people bore the economic burdens of Louis XVI's debt. As we looked at the gorgeous interiors of the Palace, Cheria said: "I would have beheaded her." Me too.
The metro stop for the Rodin Museum had a couple of Rodin statues. (I know, I'm silly.)

I have so many incredible photos of Versailles, so I'll close with the recently restored Royal Gate and and example of the gorgeous ceiling paintings throughout the Palace.

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.