Day 22 - Europe 2010

We took a while getting going in the morning because, again, we were happy to be taking it slow.  I was pretty cold and my scarves weren’t cutting it so we finally found a store with a large selection and great prices.  We spent a while there getting me some sweaters and socks and I was happy to have some warm options.

It was already afternoon by then and we really had nothing planned in particular.  I had a map showing major sites on it so I just looked at that and headed to places that looked interesting.  Some of my favorite days have been spent just walking around so I was happy to do just that.  We went to Dublin Castle but we’d seen enough palaces that I wasn’t all that interested in going inside.  We then passed by a big church that looked cool but, again, we weren’t up for paying to enter.  We were just there to look and get a feel for everything.

Then I actually had a really neat experience that was quite unexpected.  We passed another old church and I would have gone right by the entrance but Nick saw that it was free and suggested we check it out.  OK why not?  So we looked around and I went ahead and read the information on it.  It was an old Catholic church from about the 1200s or so and has been in use since then.  We looked at their tiny museum and on our way out we went to the little garden area where are buried some Dubliners.  On the wall of the garden was a big stone tablet and a name stuck out to me: Molyneux.  That is the name of my great-grandmother on my father’s side.  Huh, how interesting.

So I decided to mention it to the girls working at the front and they told me that they had some information on the Molyneux family from back in that time, around the 1200s and later.  Really?  But they were closing soon and had books of information to look through.  So they got my email and said they would send me what they found.  Or I can stop in when coming back to Dublin at the end of my Ireland stay.  They were so nice and helpful and I got excited to happen upon some potential family history that could be sitting here unexpectedly in Dublin waiting to be found!

We went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral after that.  Again, we did not go inside but just went to the cute little park there and sat on a bench.  We actually picked some clover there in the park because Nick thought it would be awesome to have clover from St. Patrick’s cathedral!  Indeed!  It was really a very pleasant evening.  The weather was warm and sunny and it was nice to be there with the fountain flowing and nothing to do except wait for our awesome Riverdance performance.

We stopped at a diner to eat and I ordered a salad that was pretty much terrible.  It was one of those salads with greens topped with blue cheese, walnuts, and apples, which I usually love.  But they used some sort of hot dressing on it that didn’t go at all with everything else.  The taste was so bad!  I never complain about a meal at a restaurant but I wanted to tell them about it just so they would know, in my opinion, that this salad is just a bad idea overall.  I’m no food expect but I was practically force-feeding myself to eat it!  Anyway, they just took it off our check so at least I didn’t have to pay for it.  Yuck!

But then it was on to our show!  Yay!  The theatre was one of those old-style ones with the different balconies going up.  That was fun and I was really happy with our seats.  We were on an upper balcony and had a very good view of the stage.  I was worried the theatre would be really big and the performers would be specs but it wasn’t like that at all.  I could see their faces well enough.  So I was happy with that.

The performance started and I immediately started to wonder if it was a rip-off.  I thought this only because the sound of their feet hitting the floor was so loud and sounded more like a recording.  I thought how lame it would be if there was no band and they just played the soundtrack and went out there and did their thing.  As soon as I thought that, this cover lifted and showed the band behind the dancers and I was like, “Okay then, they just have a really good sound system set up here.”

Riverdance was not what I expected.  In addition to the Irish dancing, there was a flamenco dancer and some tap dancing as well.  The whole story was about the Irish encountering dance in other places.  Still, it was captivating.  The flamenco dancer really owned that stage – again I felt that twang of bitterness that we had to skip Spain – and I could feel her passion for the dance.  She was beautiful with her flame-colored skirts.  And the tap dancers were incredibly talented and it was fun to watch a dance off between them and the Irish.

Of course, the Irish dancers were incredible.  It was most fun to watch the main guy who had such a genuine smile on his face throughout the show.  It’s no wonder when you can dance like that.  His feet were flying so fast I was waiting for them to slip off his ankles and fly into the crowd.  I especially liked watching the guys with their tapping and jumping.  It’s fun how they use the tapping of their shoes to add to the music.

And the music, I thought, was the best part.  There were some singers with amazing voices.  I love that Celtic feel.  The violinist came out on stage a few times to play and I thought her fingers were going to bleed.  I don’t know how anyone can play that fast, all while pacing around the stage and with a huge smile too.  Then there was the drummer who had quite a set up and was back and forth from one thing to the next.  He also had incredible enthusiasm and I enjoyed watching him feel the beat.

My favorite thing of the whole show was the solo bagpipe player.  OK, I actually do not know what it was but it sounded very similar to a bagpipe and had the little air sac, though the guy didn’t use his mouth to play.  Anyway, it was absolutely beautiful and that instrument touched some deeper part of me.  I just felt this sense of completeness at hearing it, as if everything beautiful and peaceful had been wrapped into that song and that instrument.  It reminded me of simpler times as if I’d lived them.  I honestly can’t find words to describe those moments but I did not want it to end.

So we went home very happy with the performance.  That was an unexpected experience that was well worth the expense.  Thank you, Dublin.

 PHOTOS:

We started out going across the street from our hostel to this large sculptured hand.  I always wanted to know what it would be like to be in a huge hand.  Now I know.

This is a statue of Molly Malone - and some leprechaun dude who probably charges you for pictures - who we looked up to find out she is a woman from an old Irish song.  Just a girl who sold mussels and fish in the streets and died at a young age.  OK then.

 

Here is a view of what is called Christ's church in Dublin.

And another view of the church.  You had to pay to get in and we opted out of it but we did pass by an old door of the church and heard someone jamming on the organ.  It was pretty funny actually.

This is the stone tablet I was talking about in the garden of this medieval church!  You will have to look at it enlarged in order to see the names and text but the name Molyneux is on there a couple of times.  Maybe they are my ancestors!

There is a sassy sass head sitting on a bench in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.  Maybe you know her.

Another view of St. Patrick's cathedral.  The weather was great and everyone was enjoying the little park there.

We thought this sign was so funny.  Sorry to change the mood here but the poop is seriously on it's way out!  Nick said, "So instead of poop on the sidewalk you put up signs of poop.  Classy."

So at the diner with the nasty food, we did at least have a wonderful time sitting at the bar in front of this old music box.  We had such a blast making faces!  Check it out, I look pretty scary.

I mean, this went on for a good fifteen minutes.  We were highly entertained.

They wouldn't let you take pictures or film of the show but here is something before it started!  I was getting so excited!  The show was so fabulous!  I want to see it again!

Day 21 - Europe 2010

Sometimes small mistakes can have huge consequences.  Nick forgot to set the alarm!

We had gone to bed at 1am and were supposed get up at 5am in order to take the bus to the airport in time for our 9:30am flight.  I had asked Nick if he had set the alarm before going to bed and he made sure to do so.  He set it for 5am but forgot to actually turn it on.

So, I woke up thinking it was a bit lighter than it should be and checked the clock to see that it was 6:30am!  OH NO!  We jumped out of bed and were out of there by about 6:50am.  We ran to the metro and arrived at our stop around 7:20am, running to the bus station not knowing when the next bus would leave.  We got there at 7:30am and the ticket guy told us the next bus wasn’t leaving until 8:00am!  That would get us to the airport around 9:15am, definitely not enough time to check in and get on our plane.

So we had two options.  Take the hit and pay for another flight or take our chances having a taxi take us to the airport.  There were taxis right there, probably waiting for poor souls like ourselves, so we piled in.  I tried not to look at the meter and watch our money drain away with each mile but instead focused on the time and wondered whether we would make it.  I know the driver was trying to hustle and am pretty sure he was going faster than any legal speed in the states.

We arrived around 8:40am but it cost us… drum roll please… $160!!!  Yes, that was incredibly painful and a terrible consequence for not setting the alarm.  I wonder whether it would have been cheaper to buy another plane ticket!  Sheesh!  But at least we were there, though with not much time to spare.  Our tickets said our gate closed at 9:00am!

So we had to check in and then go through customs.  This is where Nick and I got kind of irritated because the guy checking passports was going really slow.  There was one guy who was checking EU papers and his line was going twice as fast as the passport guy, who was small-talking with every person who went through.  When it was finally my turn, he looked at my picture and did this thinking face, looking at my picture and then at me again and again, like he was making some joke that he needed to really ponder whether the picture was me or not.  I gave him a hurry up sign and pointed to my watch.  I know, how rude am I?  But our gate was closing in two minutes, we still had to go through security, and I was not about to pay $160 for a taxi ride just so we could miss our flight for Mr. Bucket Face passport guy to do his jokes!

So we made it through everything and lucked out because they were just beginning to board.  Nick was asking if I was excited yet, since I had expressed a lot of excitement the day before about going to Ireland, and I said I would be excited when I was actually sitting on that plane.  But I eventually did and we eventually arrived in Dublin and considering we woke up an hour and a half later than we should have, I considered it lucky we were there at all.  Still, I could have done without the $160 taxi!

We got to our hostel which was actually quite nice.  The people there were very friendly, the place was clean, the location was fantastic, the rates were much cheaper than anywhere else we’d stayed, and finally I had free internet with a good connection!  YAY!  So we made use of the internet for a while, went out for some lunch, and then came back and took a huge nap!  We were so tired, what with lack of sleep the night before and our chaotic morning.  Plus, for once, we didn’t really have a to-do list and it felt nice to just relax and take it slow.

In the evening, we went out for some dinner and to walk around.  Dublin is refreshingly small but also a bit scrubby.  There’s a bit of a litter problem and for whatever reason the f-word is extremely popular here.  I don’t know if it’s just not as bad of a swear word here or what but the guys especially use it quite heavily and quite conversationally.  So it’s a bit shocking to be walking through the streets and here that left and right.  Whoa, okay.

We do enjoy English, however, and that we can finally fully communicate with the people.  Still, we can only understand about half of what they say, their accents are so heavy!  So, just like in other places, we usually have to ask them to repeat themselves a time or two before we get what they’re telling us.  Most people have been very nice and friendly.

It was interesting to walk through the town.  It reminded me a bit of Munich, with some modern elements with some of the old mixed in.  We stopped by Trinity College and walked through the grounds there.  We happened upon a cricket game and stopped on a bench to watch.  It looked like it was just wrapping up though, so we didn’t stay long.

We saw an ad for Riverdance on one of the lightpoles and thought we would go to the theatre there and ask about it.  We didn’t know if it would be playing when we were there because we had been given information about events in Dublin and didn’t see anything about it.  But when we stopped in we found out that opening night was THE NEXT DAY!  How cool!  I couldn’t believe it!  I had wanted to see Riverdance, or Lord of the Dance, since I was in high school and I hadn’t expected an opportunity to see it while in Ireland.  It cost a bit but I didn’t mind.  I was so glad for the opportunity and couldn’t wait until tomorrow!

From there I wanted to walk along the river and head toward the ocean.  It was a bit of a walk but we enjoyed seeing some of the unique architecture in Dublin, including odd buildings and bridges, and I enjoyed the photo opportunities.  See the photos for more details on all we saw on our walk.

We actually never made it to the ocean because our way was blocked off.  Oh well, it was fun anyway, and we were especially enjoying not having to rush anywhere.  We had one more stop for the night and that was the Arlington Hotel where they have free live music and dancing every night.  So we stopped in and really enjoyed it!  The band played some traditional Irish music and I was tapping my feet and really feeling it!  The dancers came out but we didn’t have a great view – the place was pretty packed - so I wasn’t as into it.  Still, it was fun to have a preview of our Riverdance show.

We went back to our hostel happy to be in Dublin and looking forward to the next day.

PHOTOS:

Almost all of the signs here are written in a second language, which the locals call Irish.  I learned that they take it in school from an early age but only about 3% of the population is fluent.  Interesting how they accommodate that anyway, or encourage it I suppose.

Here he is playing cricket, though it looked like a pretty informal game.  Even if the pitch rolled on the ground, the guy took a swing at it.  Interesting.  I don't know anything about the game.  I don't even know if it was cricket, actually!

Here I am at the Trinity College, showing off another of my new scarves.  Hey, I live in Hawaii and never get to wear them so just let me be excited about it, okay?

Nick shows off some more of Trinity College in Dublin.  It was a fairly small campus.

Our journey through Dublin began with some interesting messages.  Prison Food?

These kids in wetsuits were jumping from the bridges into the water.  It must be so cold!  Nothing else to do in Dublin?

The old ship docked on the canal there.  I kind of wanted to go on it.  It looked like a pirate ship!  It even has a mermaid on the front!

This bridge was very different.  We figured with the bridge separating the pirate ship from the ocean, it has to lift up, but we couldn't figure out how.

This building was interesting.  Nick wanted to go inside but it was already going on 8pm.  He really wanted to know what it was for!

I also thought these buildings were cool.  I think it's actually a big bank.  As you can see, Dublin has some very modern parts to it.

And Nick ends the day with a smile and s sigh of relief.  Click to enlarge.

Day 20 - Europe 2010

After taking care of our preparations for our next destination, which took a good part of the morning, we headed on out for our last day in Paris.  We headed first back to the Army Museum which we had ditched a few days before but decided to do after all.  There are a few different exhibits.  The first one had a lot of armor and weapons, most of them from the 1500s to 1800s.  It was actually very interesting to see the different designs, especially the detail on some of the armor and the many variations of weapons.  I couldn’t believe how many old guns the place had, some of them nearly as tall as me!  We also saw some pretty cool swords, axes, maces, daggers, and other weapons that I don’t even know the name for.  Some of them look downright scary and I wondered how many of them had actually been used to kill a man.  Kind of a creepy thought.

It took us a while to see everything in the first exhibit so we hurried on through the WWI and WWII exhibit, which looked very informative but was mostly in French.  I saw a lot of students there doing some kind of a project.  What a fun thing to have nearby as a teaching tool.  WWII lesson - go to the Army Museum.  It was really quite extensive and had a lot of videos, items, and clothing from the war.

Our final stop was Napoleon’s tomb.  He is buried inside a huge casket in his own sort of vault in a big marble building with a huge golden dome on top.  Sheesh.  I am not a Napoleon fan at all.  I think he was way too into himself.  He seems like he was one of those insecure guys trying to make up for something.   For all his self-glorification I find some satisfaction in his sharp decline at the end of his life.  I must say I enjoy a good serving of humble pie to those who deserve it, which ends up being a big weakness for me at times.  Nevertheless, there he lies in splendor and I found his glorification so deliberate and overstated that it was humorous.  Surrounding his enormous casket is a circular walkway where you can view his image etched in stone performing one saintly deed after another in an almost godlike form.  Even in death, his glorification continues.  I’m sure he’s happy bundled up in his little shrine.

Anyway, enough about Napoleon.  We went from there to Sacre Coeur – Sacred Heart – which is a Taj Mahal-looking building at the northern end of Paris.  I am not too familiar of the history of the area or the building itself but it’s definitely a top site in Paris.  The street heading up to Sacred Heart is lined with tourist shops and I was pulled in by some really cute scarves!  So I bought two of those to add to my collection since I haven’t been able to find a good sweater, although the weather was quite nice at the moment.

The building is on a hill and there are a series of steps that lead up to it.  Sadly, the beautiful setting is tainted with schmucks trying to rip you off.  I was told specifically about these particular guys at this particular place – more guys from Africa with tricks up their sleeve.  These guys stand right in your path with a big smile on their face and offer you a token of friendship.  They tie these strings around your wrist – a “friendship” bracelet – in an intricate fashion making them very hard to remove.  Then they ask you to pay for it which puts you in a weird position because you can’t easily remove it.  So you either make him remove it or you pay for it and move on.

Well I was having none of it.  As Nick said, I don’t mind someone trying to sell me something but these little tricks to try and guilt me into giving them money are really irritating, including the rose-pushing and the friendship bracelets.  So I immediately waved my hand in his face to move aside, said no repeatedly, and added, “I’ve heard about you guys.”  While I napped on the hill, Nick watched a few victims lose money to those shady guys.  Too bad for them.

The hill is hustle and bustle all the way up to the building, which is actually a Catholic church where they have supposedly had prayer services 24/7 for the past 125 years.  There are guys selling beer and girls in tiny dresses smoking cigarettes and everyone chatting and it’s really quite a zoo.  So it was a big contrast to go into the quiet church where services were being held and choir music was playing.  I actually very much liked the inside.  It was much like Notre Dame with a simple interior lit up by extraordinary stained-glass windows which were especially bright with the setting sun.  And the music helped create a peaceful and reverent atmosphere.  I honestly didn’t want to go back outside into the chaos.

From there we had one final Paris destination – the Eiffel Tower.  We had planned to go up at twilight so we actually had some time to kill beforehand.  So we sat down on the grass nearby with a great view of the tower and ate some cheese.  I had been searching for this cheese – “head of a monk” – when in Paris because I’d eaten it while in Switzerland as a teenager and loved it.  Nick said it smells like stinky socks – it does – but it did taste good.

We could either take the elevator up the tower or we could climb the stairs.  Nick opted for the stairs which was fine because the elevator line was moving very slowly and, for some odd reason, the stair line was very short.  693 steps later, we got to the mid-section of the tower, the highest you can go with the stairs.  The view was pretty awesome, though again, not as beautiful as Florence.  Paris is just huge, making it probably my least favorite city thus far, so many of its important sites are swallowed up by everything else.  Still, it was a fun experience and we got to watch our last sunset in Paris on the tower.

We hung around for dark so I could snap a few night photos and then headed back down.  Just as we were leaving the tower, it sparkled for a while, lights flashing everywhere while everyone oohed and aahed.  It was a great photo opportunity and a great way to end the night.  We didn’t get home until midnight and then we had to pack up and head to bed to start our trip to Ireland VERY early the next morning.

PHOTOS:

It was amazing how much detail they would put on the armor.  That must have been so much work!

I like the stripes.  This is only one set of armor of so many we saw in that museum.

This sword was HUGE!  Nick really wanted to take it - it's behind glass - and swing it just to see how it would feel.  It must be heavy.  Look at my fierce warrior husband with his fierce warrior face.

I said, "That is one FAT sword."  Nick said, "No, Andrea, it's a full-figured sword."

Nick said this is the Michelin Man armor suit.

See the regular gun and then those tiny ones?  Nick was laughing, "Are you serious?" and said in this squeeky voice, "I never give up!  Take that!"

These are some serious axes and spears.  Ouch!

Tomb of the "great" Napoleon.  Bow down before him.

A view of the beautiful Sacred Heart in Paris.

It is so crowded there.  It kind of reminded me of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Here I am with the Sacred Heart showing off my new scarf!

And so begins our Eiffel Tower journey.  We arrived with plenty of daylight to spare.

As we walked through the park, we saw Batman who seems to be out of a job at the moment.  I'm tellin' ya, this economy...

As we waited for twilight, the Eiffel Tower was starting to look pretty cool.

Then we climbed the nearly 700 steps to about half-way up the tower.  Here is a view of the park where we waited for twilight before heading up the tower.

A view of the city, this shows maybe 10-15% of the overall view available.  The big cathedral there is where Napoleon is buried, where we were earlier.

I wanted to include this picture so you could see the Seine River that runs through Paris.  It's quite wide and I love all the bridges that cross it.

Then the sun set and we watched from the tower.  I took picture after picture.  It was beautiful and a great way to end our stay in Paris.

The sun sets in a beautiful sky.  Good night, Paris!

One the sun sets, the tower lights up!

And so does the city!  That orange box in the back is the Arc de Triomph!

After our descent, we saw the tower flash and glitter for a few minutes.  It was pretty neat.

 

Day 19 - Europe 2010

We took another day trip today and despite our lesson with Versailles we still didn’t leave enough time for the inevitable mess of getting to our destination.  We hopped on the Metro heading for the train station but the Metro decided to be broken that morning.  We were sitting inside the Metro car, the lovely hot and sweaty car, going absolutely nowhere.  An announcement kept coming on about something being broken but I couldn’t make out if there was any information on how long it would take to fix.  We kept checking our watches and decided to get off instead of waiting for who knows how long for things to get fixed.

We would have taken a taxi but all the taxis we saw had no drivers.  Again, they decided not to be working this morning.  When we flagged a few down, they all wagged their fingers at us like they were unavailable.  I did have a bus map but nothing seemed to go where we needed to.  So we decided to walk but, unfortunately, I had no map of the city so I had to try and use the Metro map to guess where we were and where we needed to go.  We were double-timing it and I could feel shin splints in creation as we were rushing through the streets for a good half hour.  But nothing was looking right and when we asked a man for directions to the train station, we arrived instead at our original Metro stop right by our hostel.  All hope of catching our train was gone at that point.

There was another train leaving in about 90 minutes so we went back to the hostel to ask for suggestions.  This girl gave me a map of the Metro in response.  Well, yes, I agree the Metro would be best… if it were working!!!  We did get a little map of the city and thought about our options.  We knew it would be a long walk but we could probably make it to the train station in time if we hurried.  Maybe if we took the bus and walked the rest of the way then we could do it.

So we went to the bus stop but the traffic was terrible and the buses were stuffed full.  We figured even if we could fit on the bus we would still go faster if we walked.  So we half walked half ran to the train station which took us just about an hour, during which we did pass two buses so there ya go.  We arrived with ten minutes to spare and caught our train, everyone else bundled up in their jackets and scarves and us two Americans fanning ourselves and sweating bullets.

I am very glad we eventually made the trip though as it turned out to be one of our better days thus far.  We arrived in Bayeux around 12:20pm and then had to figure out how to get to our final destination: the beaches of Normandy.  We had originally wanted to rent bikes for the day but since we arrived so late that was definitely out of the question.  And a taxi ride would be a good $75.  So we checked out the bus and there happened to be one leaving in about 20 minutes.  Okay then!  That worked out and was a much cheaper option.

Our bus ride was quick – it felt like a rollercoaster and my life flashed before my eyes a few times – and we arrived at the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach around 1:15pm.  That gave us about 3.5 hours to see the place.  I would have liked more time but at least we were there!

For those of you who don’t know, this is the cemetery where American soldiers of WWII have been buried.  There are over 9000 graves here just above the infamous Omaha Beach where many American soldiers died on D-Day.  The whole cemetery is about a half mile long and is filled with row upon row of white marble crosses.

After a quick run through of their museum, we went on a free tour of the place which turned out to be very nice.  The weather, after so many cold days, was clearing up.  It was pleasantly cool and peacefully quiet.  You could hear only the chirping of birds and the soft break of waves from the beach below.  What a perfect setting and a perfect day to honor these men who gave their lives for liberty.

The tour took us first to the wall of 1500 names of men who died in the war but their bodies had not been found, most likely lost at sea.  Just above the wall is a large statue of a youthful man flying up triumphantly out of the water.  The statue represents the resurrection and I was very moved when learning its meaning.  Then you come to the rows and rows of crosses, all perfectly aligned and stretching as far as the eye can see.  The guide stopped by a few crosses to tell the story of the people buried there.  One I found most interesting was the story of Teddy Roosevelt Jr. who was around 55 years old and stricken with arthritis during the time of the war.  Despite his age and condition, he wanted to be on the front lines on D-Day to help give courage to his men.  He actually survived the invasion only to die a month later from a heart attack.  I was moved by his willingness to sacrifice and to give courage to all those young men, many of whom would meet their end on that beach.

From there we stopped to overlook the beach where the guide spoke of the D-Day operation and how many things went wrong.  I actually knew a lot of the details because I taught a lesson on D-Day for my student teaching just two months ago.  Many men died just because the weather was so bad, causing bombers to miss their targets and rough rides onto the beach.

Our tour ended there and we were left to wander.  I wanted to go down to the beach, which I didn’t know was accessible to the public.  I took my shoes off and walked through the sand, thinking of all the sacrifices made there and what a horrible scene it must have been.  After months of training and preparation, many these boys landed only to be quickly shot down.  What a loss and what a sacrifice that was made to liberate Europe.

I wanted to go and put my feet in the water because I wanted to experience as much as I could of this historic place that was pivotal to the ending of the war.  The beach was different because it had two sort of mini-valleys – there may be a technical name for it but I don’t know – running along the length of it, both filled with water.  The first we were able to find a place to cross but the second, closer to the ocean, I had to wade through.  Nick decided to stay behind while I went on my mini-excursion.

I stood there and let the water flow over my feet.  It was cold but pleasant.  It was hard to imagine that in this beautiful and peaceful setting, so many men had landed with their lives at stake.  I tried to recreate the scene in my head, with battleships out in the distance, little boats near the shore, obstacles everywhere on the beach and gunfire coming from the hills above.  I imagined the fear those boys must have felt, completely exposed and riding on luck and God’s grace to get them across that beach.

Well I felt a little bit of fear myself after that.  I’d been looking out over the sea for about five minutes and I turned around to see Nick much farther away than before.  The water between us looked twice as wide as it was earlier.  I yelled over to him, “Did you move?”  He shook his head and I looked at my feet to see water trickling up very rapidly toward me.  The tide was coming in and it was coming in faster than I’ve ever seen.  It was flowing by from the ocean and filling up the little valley separating me from Nick.  Whoa.

I didn’t know what to do.  I couldn’t tell how deep the water was between us and I was pretty nervous about wading through, especially since the beach was littered with jellyfish waiting for the rising tide.  Yikes!  So I walked along the beach to try and find a better spot but nothing was looking any friendlier because the tide was coming in so quickly.  After about one minute of searching, I decided it was better to just go now than wait even longer when the trip across would be even deeper.  And in the meantime, my stretch of sand was quickly disappearing.

So I started across and all the while Nick is bent over laughing at me.  I was kind of annoyed because I really was nervous, taking one step after another not knowing how deep it was or if I would run into a jellyfish.  He took pictures of my journey across and laughed about it the rest of the day, assuring me that my plight was quite funny to watch.  OK, it’s funny in retrospect but it wasn’t so much then.  Seeing myself get swallowed up by the sea isn’t my favorite thing.

After our beach experience, we rushed back over to the cemetery where we had just ten or fifteen minutes to walk through before heading back to the bus stop.  We walked through some of the rows of headstones so we could read the names.  I tried to imagine people standing there in place of a headstone - all these people who gave up their future for ours and all of Europe.  Nick said, “All these mothers had to be told terrible news.”  My heart went out to those mothers, some who lost more than one son on that soil.

As we left the cemetery, I touched every headstone I passed and in my heart I thanked each soldier by name for their sacrifice.  It was definitely the most moving thing I did as my heart was filled with both sadness and gratitude.

It was a wonderful trip and very emotional.  Nick said it was his favorite thing we have done so far.  I asked him why and he said because it had the most meaning.  That it did.

PHOTOS:

The wall with the names of those men lost in the war.  It must be difficult to come to terms with a death when you never get to see the body.

The statue at the head of the cemetery, representing resurrection from the waters.  Fitting for so many men who lost their lives at sea during the war, many of which were never found.

The rows and rows of graves.  It's not something you can easily capture in one photo.  As I mentioned, I tried to imagine people standing there instead of headstones.

Here is the headstone of Teddy Roosevelt Jr. who went to the front lines on D-Day despite the fact he was 55 years old.  He survived the invasion only to die from a heart attack a month later.

There are a lot of graves marked like this, with no name and only a body.  I was touched that someone had left a flower for this soldier "known but to God."

I like this picture.  You see the men who lost their lives with the ocean in the background where the fell and the people walking by who they sacrificed for.  It's a peaceful and solemn place.

A view of the beach from the cemetery.

Here I go on my mini-excursion to put my toes in these historic waters, not knowing I would face my own crisis soon thereafter.

As you can imagine, I was thrilled to be wading nearly waist-deep in jellyfish-filled waters.  I have never seen tide rise that fast.

Nick looks out over the beach from an old bunker.  He was commenting on how beautiful it is there.

Nick found a little fox hole where they would peak out and shoot from.

It was obvious Nick was moved and fascinated by the place with its history and monuments such as this.  So many men sacrificed everything.