Hair pics!

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Hair

Getting my hair done tomorrow... Wish me luck! Will try to post pics soon.
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Normandy and Paris, Day 2

On Sunday we woke up early again and headed to the metro to hop a train to Versailles. It was a good thing we got there when we did; like Rick Steves says in his most recent Europe travel book, Versailles is a "zoo." There were crowds upon crowds of swarming people, and those prone to claustrophobic panic attacks should stay far away from this place.

We got into the already formidable line and checked our bags, stepped back out into the heat and started our tour. We went into the palace first, going into one of the many hallways. There were about a bajillion rooms, each full of frescos and portraits and gilded knick-knacks. There was the Hall of Mirrors; I enjoyed the chandeliers the most--there were a ton of them hanging down from ornate ropes, all in perfect rows down the hall. Then there was Marie-Antoinette's bedroom, which was packed through of pushing and shoving people all trying to get a picture of her rather ordinary-looking stuff. I remember there being several hallways with busts and sculptures of famous people, including Charlemagne, Voltaire, L'Hopital, Descartes, and Russeau. There was another hallway with a magnificent arched skylight that housed a ton of giant war paintings, some of which depicted Napoleon riding his horse.

After this maze of a palace finally ended, we went out onto the scorching hot grounds to see the gardens. It seemed like everybody and his brother had a garden--the king had one, the queen too (probably because they needed to get away from each other from time to time so they could scheme in peace). There were fountains and sculptures and large basins full of stagnant water, flowers planted in incredibly detailed patterns, a musical fountain show (a new installment, no doubt), perfectly trimmed trees, and miles and miles of hedged pathways. It would have been a nightmare to get lost in there; it was a good thing we had a map.

There wasn't time to see the Marie-Antoinette estate, but we felt like we saw plenty of good stuff. We all met outside the palace in front of this big horse statue, and then (of course) sought out the nearby McDonalds for a much needed iced drink.

We headed back into Paris to meet our LBAT friends Abby and Dan, and then headed to Cafe Delmas, a neat little cafe with really tasty ice cream. I am constantly deprived of decent vegetables here so I got a Caesar salad, and it had beautiful thin slices of parmesan cheese and nice cruncy croutons. Abby and I split a strawberry/chocolate/praline ice cream, and it was good down to the last spoonful.

The LBATers split off to go to the Eiffel Tower to watch a movie, and we headed back to the train station, where we saw (gasp) yet another one-legged pigeon! The first one we saw was in front of the Monte Carlo Casino, and we named him "Nubby." Nubby's bretheren pigeon at Saint-Lazare was even less fortunate--he had a stump plus a few mangled toes on his other foot. Maybe he got them caught in those creepy anti-landing spikes that adorn the support beams and store signs of public places... At least he looked happy, pigeoning along like pigeons do.

The train ride back was surprisingly short--it could be that I'm finally getting used to the constant traveling. Too bad there's only a few weeks left. Our next two trips are to Amsterdam for a big music festival, and then to Prague.

Sorry for not posting pictures yet! They will be up soon--my internet is out in my dorm and it's driving me up the wall...

Normandy and Paris, Day 1.5

This weekend, we made a pilgrimage to Normandy and then came back through Paris to see Versailles and meet up with some of the French LBATers for dinner. It was peaceful kind of weekend, full of walking and observing. Our train got into Paris Friday night so we met Abby near the LBATers' place for a quick bite to eat. Somehow we managed to make ourselves believe that the metro closed at around 2:30 AM so we were thinking of things to do out on the night scene (we're a bunch of nerds so it'd be kind of funny), but then Abby looked at us like we were crazy and stated that she thought the metro closed at 1... When the culprit who mentioned the incorrect time was finally questioned, his response was, "Oh yeah, I just made up a number," and we all had a good laugh.

Four of us woke up early Saturday morning to catch our train to Caen while the two brothers went on their own adventure into Paris. Once in Caen, we picked up a rental car and headed up to the beaches after a few scary moments. All the cars in Europe seem to be manuals, and almost all ramps and major turns are busy traffic circles--our driver was a trooper. His most notable accomplishment was surviving my backseat-driving. :)

We trekked up to Pointe du Hoc first, and once we rounded the first corner the scene in front of us came into view and kind of floored me for a second. The whole earth was dimpled with giant craters and shattered chunks of concrete and twisted metal. Grass and weeds had covered most of it by now, and there was evidence of the famed cliffs eroding away, but that place evoked for me what war would be like. All this was occupied by the Germans, and those craters were put there by the Allies decades ago. World War II finally started to feel real, not just a chapter out of a textbook.

The monument that used to stand on the section of cliffs that the Rangers climbed isn't there at the moment because the face of the cliff is being slowly eaten away by the sea. To save this part of the cliff, they've got a big crane and lots of workers filling the holes in with concrete and steel beams. When they're finished with the inside, they're going to cover the work up with real rocks and earth that are already part of the environment so that the cliff looks like it's never been touched. Although they'll have to fix it again eventually, they expect it to last for about 50 years.

We climbed all over that pseudo-hilly surface like little ants. There was barbed wire and steel support beams sticking out of the earth, rusted and bent. Bunkers were like caves nestled down inside the ground, and going into them was like walking into a tomb. It was dark and damp and sad. At the edge of the top, we looked out onto the Atlantic, taking in the view of the cliffs all around and the drop in front of us. It was hard to imagine those 225 human beings scaling those cliffs under heavy fire from the enemy, and easy to imagine that only 90 of them survived. But the amazing part was that they accomplished their goal--they took down the German guns and won. I don't know if I'd ever be able to muster that kind of strength and determination.

Further along the road was Omaha Beach, where they landed for D-Day. As I stood there, I thought about Granddaddy and what it must have been like for him to finally arrive. I am the same age as he was, all those years ago, and I couldn't wrap my head around what he must have seen. I'm really looking forward to reading his letters when I get home. It was amazing to stand on that beach and see the little kids playing and the families enjoying their days in peace thanks to those who helped liberate Europe. Before we left, my fellow American travelers and I scooped up a good 10-pounds worth of sand in a bag and brought it back with us. I've got to bring it home in a used plastic water bottle, but it'll do until I find something nicer to put it in.

The next place we saw was the American Cemetery. After going through the small museum, we walked out to the Spirit of American Youth statue with the words, “This embattled shore, portal of freedom, is forever hallowed by the ideals, the valor and the sacrifices of our fellow countrymen,” displayed along the tops of the surrounding pillars. The reflection pool in front of it was beautiful, lily pads floating randomly and blooming pink. We saw a few graves, one of a man coincidentally named George Washington, and another of an unknown soldier.

The last place we went to was a site where some huge German anti-aircraft guns remained virtually intact. It was strange seeing the peaceful yellow fields and houses across the hill clash with the forbidding rusted guns aimed towards the ocean. We climbed up on one of the gun housings and admired the view, and then got back in our compact European vehicle and drove back to Caen, where we caught our returning train to Paris.

Strasbourg and the European Parliament

Today, we took a fieldtrip to Strasbourg to see the EU in action. They were just finishing up some last-minute discussions, and we got to sit in and put on the nifty translation headphones. It was kind of neat to see all different nationalities stand and speak so passionately, and to be able to hear it all in English almost instantaneously.

Before we went to the Parliament building, the buses dropped us off in Strasbourg, where we walked around for a bit, looked at the massive cathedral, ate lunch at a kebab place, and admired the huge drones of tourist groups and ugly souvenir shops.

The Parliament building was interesting--outside the front there is an abstract statue of two people "embracing" (or less lightly, having sex in a rather erotic position) that somehow is supposed to be interpreted as the "union" of European countries.... The only explanation for this we could come up with was, "Well, this is Europe...."

The building is kind of like a big arena; outside it looks like a cylinder, but inside it's a hollow oval shape, with windows looking inwards. We got to listen to a French representative talk about the basic principles of the EU, and we learned that she voted to keep Turkey out of the EU for now since she thinks it'd be better to strengthen the EU internally before growing again. The big room where all the representatives go is in this giant wood-paneled globe (it reeks of the 80s) inside the building. That's where we went to listen to the last of the discussion, which focused on North Korea's human rights issues and on pressuring China to pressure North Korea to fix these problems. It was an enlightening experience, and I was glad to have it.

Back at GTL, we had what was labeled a "BBQ, to celebrate July 4th" which really turned out to be an unorganized mess with not enough food for everybody (that's the general way events happen here so I shouldn't have been surprised). Anyway, I ended up with some free food at least, and now I'm getting psyched up for our Normandy/Paris trip this weekend!

London

For our 4-day weekend trip, we went to London! Initially, we were planning to go to Italy, but so did all the other kids in our program... The train station staff is almost crazy now that we're all scrambling to go to the same places. But London was totally worth the long trip, and we've saved Rome for our last big weekend here.

This trip, we met up with my roommate Abby who is getting her LBAT in Paris this summer. We flew Ryanair from Frankfurt-Hahn and Abbey took the Chunnel. It was awesome to have her with us! Hopefully next weekend after Normandy we will stop in Paris and visit.

We managed to cram in most of the main destinations--usually we got a quick photo as we walked by. We hit Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Little Ben, Saint Paul's, Trafalger Square, Picadilly Circus, the Soho district in general, the British Museum, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, the Hard Rock Cafe, and last but not least, the London Eye.

A little group of us opted to go inside Westminster and the Eye, and to eat at the Hard Rock, and I'm glad to have seen it all. So thank you, Parents, for forgiving the extra pounds I spent for that little extra bit of history. ;)

Westminster was really cool, and I almost liked it better than the Museum. I mean, Sir Isaac Newton's grave was there! And all the poets (minus Shakespeare himself) and other scientists (like Charles Darwin) and royalty--this tiny collection of human beings shaped a significant chunk of the way we see the world today... It was beyond my ability to feel the reality of standing feet away from the dusty bones of such minds and creators.

Buckingham Palace was interesting. While we got there for the changing of the guard, it was hard to really see anything since there were so many people. However, I got some neat videos of soldiers marching around and horses and stuff. It was kind of funny to learn from Mom that the Queen was over in the States while we were in London over 4th of July weekend.

It was really cool and kind of bizarre to see the art and historical artifacts in the British Museum that (for years and years) I have seen in school textbooks. It's always strange to see the real thing after all you had was a photo to go on. It almost desensitizes you (as with the Mona Lisa) so that when you finally see it, you don't know what to think.

The Rosetta Stone was there in all its glory, and I was excited to see the Aztec double-headed turquoise mosaic serpent. The 13000-year-old reindeer sculpture was pretty impressive. But it was crazy to see the almost perfectly-preserved 5400-year-dead guy in his little glass box. I wonder what he would've thought if he'd known that millions of people every year would flock to the UK to get a glimpse of his remains.

The Hard Rock Cafe was intense. Prince's flowy white shirt caught my attention, and so did Madonna's leather jacket. I practically jumped for joy upon encountering Elton John's pink sunglasses on the way to the bathroom. There was a Jimi Hendrix box in the center of the restaurant, and we saw Eric Clapton's guitar over the main bar, the very first guitar ever donated to the HRC.

I was disappointed to miss when the rest of the group disappeared into the Vault underneath the store--there was a lot of cool stuff down there. But I'm happy with stealing their pictures later. :) The food was absolutely delicious. I got a California Burger and a fruit smoothie, and shared the nacho appetizer with the group. I almost had a heart attack, but it was amazing.

The best part was the HRC playing two versions of the Star Spangled Banner since it was Independence Day! The second one was Whitney Houston singing it at some sporting event. It was goosebump-inducing. And everybody (well, probably all the American tourists) clapped at the end. It made me a little homesick...

Right before we got on the tube back to the train station, we stopped by the London Eye, and a few of us went up in it. It was the biggest ferris wheel I've ever seen, right over the Thames and looking out across the whole city. We got some impressive pictures, and then we had to say goodbye to Abby before we headed off towards home. All in all, we got a lot done and it was a great trip.

This week we're taking a GTL field trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. More on that soon. Next week, a few of us are heading to Normandy and back through Paris. Only a few more weeks left! Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Independence Day

~*Happy 4th of July from London to my friends and family back home in the States!!!*~
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