Versailles: a bunch of mirrors and light fixtures

Château de Versailles: cool to see once, but I don't plan on ever going back. Laura summed it up well with: "selfish pricks and tiny dicks... welcome to Versailles". She was not a fan of the -er- less than flattering statues of men. Most of the group loved it, but I really just wasn't a fan. The hall of mirrors was rad, but that was about it. The best part of the day was lunch! I got penne pesto and a beer (that I decided to drink out of a straw, don't ask). I got a lot of strange looks walking around the gardens with that. Oh what would Louis XIV (or whatever stupid numerals they are) think!? I'm not a fan of the french then, and I'm not a fan now... just saying. I only brought my 50mm lens (my zoom lens isn't working right at the moment) so it was a challenge getting certain shots being at a fixed zoom.

Opera Hall

A picture of Matt, taking a picture of Shanan, taking a picture of a chandelier

Hall of Mirrors

Looking out Marie Antoinette's window to the gardens

The never-ending gardens

the long climb to the top

Ah yes, the Eiffel Tower. On Monday, after the Louvre, we had a delicious group picnic in the park below the tower (apparently we will never get tired of baguettes, meat and cheese). Then it was finally time to ascend the tower. I was all for taking the elevator (hey, broken back over here!), but the line was 10x as long as the line for the stairs. Plus the stairs option was about half the price, and we're all extremely thin on cash. Even though I was already exhausted, and even though I had a WWII paper due that night that I needed energy for, and even though I really really didn't want to... I agreed, nay I was convinced (coerced), to make the climb. 728 steps later, we were on the second level. From there, we had to take the elevator up to the very top. IT WAS SO WORTH IT! The view was probably the greatest view I have ever seen of any city. We were climbing up around sunset, and we got to the top just after the sun had passed below the horizon (aka, the best time possible to take pictures). We stayed up until 9pm when there is a light show on the tower for 5 minutes on every hour. Ian Clark fake proposed to Laura Shank and convinced a bunch of people around us that he was serious, so funny. After we climbed down, we found some savory crepes and went to town. All in all, best night in Paris thus far. (and yes, I did finish my paper... eventually)

view out the top of the elevator

view going up the elevator

breathtaking

Arch de Triumph

looking up from the first level, on the way down

Arriving in Paris

Thursday was probably the most fun day of the trip so far. We left Bayeux (after seeing the awesome tapestry there) and made our way to Paris. We stopped by Monet’s gardens that he planed with the sole intention of painting them. We were extremely pushed for time, so our intent was to go through the gardens fairly fast and get to Paris. Unfortunately, Aaron got lost when he went off on his own (…) and we were delayed almost an hour. To make up time, James (our Scottish bus driver), booked it to Paris ridiculously fast. Somehow, we still made our dinner reservations right on the dot (with way too many almost accidents). 

We had an amazing french dinner, and the best créme brûlée I have ever had! Our restaurant was right across the street from the tunnel that Princess Diana was killed in. The then boarded a river cruise around Paris. Gabriel timed it just right for a perfect evening. There was a beautiful sunset half way through the cruise, and even a rainbow thanks to the slight drizzle. It was so picturesque, a perfect night in Paris. Towards the end of the sunset, we made our way around the river to the Eiffel Tower. We hit it at the perfect time, it was all lit up, but it was still light out enough to take pictures. It was a perfect night with friends in such a beautiful city. This was the point of the night where it really hit me that I’m in Europe! Having been to the UK multiple times, it wasn’t the same as seeing Paris for the first time! I’m no fan of the French, but they sure do know how to build an awesome city.

During the night, I decided to only take black and white pictures while in Paris. I’m only using black and white film, and even digital pictures I’m only going to edit in black and white. I feel like this is the only city that this can work for. I’m here for eight days so we’ll see if I can stick to it.

an ode to James

Our super rad, awesome, out of sight, very Scottish bus driver James has left us. He drove us this past week from London to Paris. He was such a funny guy, and entertained us for our hours of driving. He had us individually come down to the front of the bus where he interrogated us over the mic for the entire bus to hear. He came with us to sights and participated in basically everything we did. I bought him a pint on his last night with us, and the next morning he let me drive the bus around! 

Le Mont St. Michel

This is real life Minas Tirith

Le Mont St. Michel is basically a cathedral and city build onto a rock. During high tide it’s an island, and during low tide it’s sitting surrounded by sand (and quick sand). I had somehow never heard of it before we went, but it was so rad. I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings the entire time.

Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial

The American Cemetery was even more humbling than the beaches themselves. I have never felt more proud to be an American. The overwhelming feeling I had in the cemetery was thankful and grateful to the men buried there. I looked at the 9,387 headstones and imagined each one of them as a soldier standing on the greave ready to give his life. It was the most humbling experience. 

Beaches of Normandy

I have been looking forward to visiting the beaches of Normandy for years! It was a surreal experience walking the beaches of D-Day. We went to Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, and Pointe du Hoc. It was a gnarly experience. I want to try to put to words what I felt on the beaches, but it’s extremely difficult. I mainly felt grateful and humbled.

Utah Beach

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

Pointe du Hoc

dead Germans

This was a very bone chilling moment of the trip. We went to a German WWII cemetery. When the Nazis started evacuating from France shortly after D-Day, they left all of their dead soldiers. The French then buried them, and the result is multiple German cemeteries in Normandy. I know that most of the men buried were just pawns and following the orders of evil men. But I know there were some important officers there, and I could’t escape the fact that this was a Nazi cemetery…