On Wednesday we went to Giant’s Causeway up in Northern Ireland – an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns (mostly hexagonally shaped). These uniquely shaped columns along the ocean are the result of an ancient volcanic eruption on the Northern Ireland coast. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
We arrived in Lisieux, France on Thursday night for the 70th Anniversary of D-Day on Friday, June 6. The celebration was incredible. A bunch of important people, from Obama and Queen Elizabeth to the US Secretary of the Army, to name a few, were there. We started by going to a museum to see a 1,000 year old script written on William the Conqueror, followed by a stop for crepes. I had never seen so much busy-ness in a foreign country. The gendarmerie (French military force) were on every street corner asking every car where they were going and who was in the car. The security was very serious. We headed to Arromache beach first for the celebration; the beach was completely covered with D-Day re-enactors, military tanks and vehicles.
After that, we headed to Omaha beach, one of the beaches where the US fought on. We also visited the American cemetery above Omaha, where Obama had previously spoken a few hours before. That night we headed back to town and had a great talk about D-Day over dinner. Needless to say, we were all speechless.
I loved France. It was a perfect time to put my French to the test and I don’t think I spoke English once except to the students with me. I want to go back already! Please mom…
On Saturday, the D-Day festivities continued. We went to Utah beach (another US beach) and a few museums. We also went to a neat festival in the town and grabbed a couple eclairs and jambon et fromage baguettes. We also got to meet the Secretary of the US Army and some secret service. That was definitely neat. It was also nice to see a lot of American military present at the celebration, they had already been there for about a week beforehand.
View from my room in France
Today, we decided to go to Juno beach where the Canadians fought. These beaches were very solemn but had freedom written all over them. Some of the German bunkers were still intact and we got to walk inside of them. There aren’t many times where you can say you’re just hanging out on top of an old World War German bunker at the beach, especially on the D-Day 70th Anniversary. These past 3 days were a blessing.
We took the bus back onto the ferry to England and drove to Swindon, where we will be staying until Friday when we head to London. Tomorrow we’ll be going to Bletchley Park, where we’ll get to see the German Enigma Code Breaker. Very excited!
After the fast train ride we checked into our hotel and headed to the Louvre for a group cultural experience. The Louvre displays sucha wide variety of works of art from all different time periods andplaces all over the world. It’s a bit overwhelming to try to grip theimportance and historical value of everything you see. A few of thethousands exhibits included Michelangelo’s Dying Slave and Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. I really appreciate the effort of Professor Kirton to make the cultural events part of the course. Not only have I learned a lot about aviation, but also I have broadened my global thinking.
Thursday was our free day at Paris, and we accomplished a lot. A group of five of us visited Notre Dame, the Sacre Couer, Centre Pompidou, and the top of the Eiffel Tower. Each attraction was a little different, but I found all of them very interesting. Although they are quite close geographically, the cities of Paris and London feel worlds apart. I love both of them, but I still believe London ranks higher for me. Tomorrow however, we are switching it up again as we fly to Munich to begin our German section of the trip.