♪ The wheels on the bus go round and round ♫

Last day of the bus tour! It was bittersweet for me. Lol. Unlike everybody else in the group, I wasn't sick of castles yet. They weren't all blending together for me, either. Each one looks so different and has such a different history! But not everyone shares that view with me. Lol. And so I just ignored all the complaints from everybody else on the bus. I was lovin' life (so long as we weren't at the nasty hotels). I guess I just need to do the castle tour again with people who like castles or at least like making me happy/humoring me. That would be way more fun. Lol. Although, I've loved being on the bus with the Le Bras. They're so funny, as I've said before. All their jokes are hilarious! J I think they make up for the complaining fellow classmates.

Our first stop was the Blois castle. Each wing of this castle was from a different time period and a different architectural style, and it was fun to compare all the styles. I really liked our tour guide, too. She was really impressed that we wanted her to speak French. Lol. She was pretty interesting to listen to, too. One of the most interesting things about this castle was that the Duke of Guise was murdered here at the foot of the king's bed! On orders of King….Henri? The….III? IV? I can't remember. One of the sons of Catherine de Medicis, so probably the III.

This was another one of Francois 1er's castles, so there were salamanders everywhere in the decoration. I think the salamander is kind of a weird animal to pick for your symbol. (You can totally see one above the thrones in Ever After, though! That was cool.) It's little and not very powerful. Lol.

Catherine de Medicis had secret cupboards in her study, and I thought that was awesome. Lol. And you opened them with a little lever kind of like a trash can. That sort of thing would be so nifty! I kind of feel bad for Catherine de Medicis. I think she had it rough with the whole Diane de Poitier thing.

Then we saw the huge hall where the balls and big feasts took place. J As I said before, I love ballrooms. This one was cool, because there was a throne that tourists could sit on and take pictures! Lol. Our group had so much fun with that. Lol. Listening to Dr. Le Bras was the funniest part. He made a comment about every photo taken in that throne. Lol. On of my favorites, "Is it proper to show your legs at the court?" and his comments about Ryan "l'abeille" and "ses fleurs".

The last stop on our bus tour was to one of the biggest castles we've seen- Chambord! That thing is a beast! And it was supposed to be a hunting castle. Lol. The funny thing is, Francois 1er only stayed there 75 days in his life. The chateau was surrounded by woods and fields, much more natural than most castle gardens. The grounds were just as beautiful as any other castle's, though. I loved standing on top of the castle and watching the breeze ripple through the green and gold and orange grass.

Chambord also had so many towers! The huge towers were the coolest, though, because inside were the great staircases. These staircases were unique, because they were two staircases intertwined! Apparently the king wanted to be able to sneak down one staircase "unseen", so he'd have one of the intertwining staircases blocked off for his personal use. I don't know how you'd be unseen when you're the king, especially because people would know you were doing something if you had one of the staircases blocked…. But whatever.

This was the home of some of my favorite beds. J The queen's bed was so beautiful! It was blue with white designs. And of course, it perfectly matched the walls and had curtains. Another cool thing was the children's study! It was so cute. J The room was little, and there were two tiny chairs and a tiny desk. J Precious!

After touring the castle, Paris and I stopped for lunch. She got a sandwich (which I'm sick of. Lol. No more sandwiches!) and I got a crepe. Then we both got ice cream. J I definitely didn't need it, but the day was so warm and it tasted so good…. Mint chocolate chip. Mmmmm. J

The rest of the day was spent driving back to Paris and packing. That was stressful! Ah! We had to be under 20 kilos, so we had to leave as much behind as we could. I actually didn't end up leaving that much behind. But the other thing was, we could only have one carry on! Not a carry on and a personal item. One carry on period! I kinda cheated though…lol. I stuffed all the stuff from the bag I was originally going to have as my personal item into my backpack, and then I carried my raincoat and hid my purse, which wasn't fitting in my suitcase or my backpack, under my jacket. Haha, you Easyjet people! I fooled you! J

That was our last night in an Etap hotel… Which didn't even have that great a view of Paris, sadly. But we were too tired to go anywhere. And had too much to do as far as packing went. And we would have had to buy more metro tickets, and that would have been annoying. Lol. I know it sounds lame for my last night in Paris. Lol. But everybody in the group did that. Except Ryan, because he finished one of his walks that night. lol. But he didn't see any of the museums or go inside anything, so it wasn't much of a walk. Lol.

The night was interesting, though, because Paris and I were staying on a floor with all French high school students. A kid without a shirt on knocked on our door a couple times before he finally realized that we weren't anyone he knew. That kid should not go shirtless…. Just saying. And Paris said that while I was in the shower, there was this ear-piercing scream from somewhere down the hall. Weird… Why we got separated from the group and put with a bunch of teenagers, I don't know. Lol.

♪ And I slept in castles and fell in love because I was taught to dream… ♫

We continued our quest to plow through some of the Loire Valley's most famous castles Thursday, starting at the fairytale palace of Chénencaux. This was the home of Henri II's favorite mistress, Diane de Poitier, but was taken away from her by Henri's wife Catherine after his death. Despite some scandal in its past, the castle is absolutely gorgeous. It's built on top of a river, which I think is so cool! The French Resistance used the castle to carry information and people out of occupied France into the free zone during World War II.

The gardens around the castle were so beautiful! I love the castles that have beautiful flowers. J I think it makes them even lovelier.

One of my favorite parts of the castle was the ballroom! Or gallery…but I think they said in the brochure that it was used for balls sometimes. It's the section on the ground floor than spans the river, so you can look out the windows and see water right in front of you on both sides! Too bad there was no one to dance with. L The room was pretty empty when I went in. Even though it would be totally American-tourist to start dancing in a historical monument, I totally would have done it! I want a ballroom when I grow up. Lol. I think I'm just dancing-deprived, probably.

Another cool part of this castle was that they had the kitchens open! In most castles you don't really see the behind-the-scenes stuff. Just the king's bedroom and the council rooms and ballrooms and stuff. These kitchens were so big! I'd love to have a kitchen that big. Maybe. Lol. Actually, it's probably a little too big for me, now that I think about it. They had a room for preparing the dishes, a room for cooking the dishes, a room for washing, a room for the servants to eat, a room for storing everything. And each could fit at least 10 busy cooks!

And I always love the beds…. I don't know what it is about a four poster bed with cool curtains, but I'm just fascinated with them! This castle had a couple really cool ones, too. (Although I think my favorite bed was either at Versailles or at Chambord, which is coming soon!) There was one room that was completely black, which was really interesting. I guess some queen or noble woman lived at the castle after her husband died, and she painted the whole room black with white designs. She made the castle into a convent, actually. I liked the room because the bed and the walls matched so well. Lol.

The only disappointing part about this castle was that they were doing work on the façade, so the whole thing was covered! :P The covering had a picture of what the façade looks like, but still. It's not as cool to take pictures of a picture of a castle, especially when you're actually there! :P Oh, well. I guess that's what the return trip is for, right? ;)

Also, I totally found my dream house! Just in case anybody is interested. I found what I want my little French cottage to look like that I'm going to have when I'm old. J I just wanted to let you know, in case anybody reading this really should know about what my dream house is. The only thing it's missing is shutters, but those can easily be added. J This little cottage is part of the farm that sits just outside the castle grounds and is right next to a flower garden! J Me gusta!

The next castle we went to was Amboise, where Francois 1er lived. He's the king in Ever After! So, technically that whole movie would take place in this castle, because this is where Leonardo Da Vinci was invited to live, and actually where he's buried. But in the movie, they totally use a different castle. It doesn't look anything like Amboise. Sad day.

The other sad thing about this castle is that most of it was destroyed because some architect didn't think it was stable…or something like that. L So there's only a small portion left. It's definitely a cool portion, though. On the back side of the castle was a huge circular porch where you could look out over the river and the rest of the city. Also, there was this huge ramp at one end of the castle so you could ride a horse all the way to the top of the tower! How cool is that? I want to ride a horse to the top of a castle. Lol.

The chapel that held Leonardo Da Vinci's grave was cool. The architecture was really pretty. And seeing his grave! It was so weird to think that one of the greatest minds in history was buried right there. From the wall you could see the house he lived in while he was in France. That was also pretty cool. I wish I could have gone to it, but there definitely wasn't enough time.

We ended the day's journey in Blois, where we ate dinner at a café right next to the Blois castle. The dinner was okay. Lol. I swear, I've had more fries in the month and a half I've been in France than I have in three months at home. Gross! :P Although, they definitely don't put as much salt on them here. Which is good, I guess. I'm so sick of fries, though! We also had chicken, which was okay. Nothing really special. The dessert was good, though. Lava cake. Yum! But I feel like that's kind of American too, because my mom's made it several times. Nothing really French that meal. Lol. Paris liked it, though. J And I had fun, because we sat at a table with all girls and we had the girliest conversation ever. J And that's always enjoyable. Girly talks are essential, whether you're single, dating, engaged, or married.

And we stayed at an Etap!!! YAY!!!! And this Etap had the shower and toilet together! *sigh* It was amazing. I loved it. J After dinner we watched Ever After with Beth, which was really fun. J I'd wanted to watch that movie the whole time I was in France. Well, at least after going to the Louvre. And then I really wanted to watch it after visiting Amboise. And we did! J That movie's awesome. I might make Jeff watch it with me when I get home. Even though I'll probably talk his ear off the entire time. Lol. Oops. J Apologies in advance….

“She has a tower?”

No, not exactly, but she'd like one! J Maybe someday… But Angers certainly had plenty of towers to spare!

Angers, or at least the Angers Chateau, has something like 17 towers! It's crazy! But so cool, because you can walk around the entire wall and can walk on top of all the towers. Granted, the towers aren't that high, but the walls are so thick that this would have been one of the hardest fortresses to break into! Should you and your army be in the neighborhood and looking for a fortress to capture, this would not be the one at which to try your luck! Despite its great military reputation, the fortress is a gorgeous safe haven for legendary gardens and tapestries.

Angers is home to an old chapel from the 11^th or 12^th century. The wall has a couple painted sections, but other than that it's pretty bare. I liked it, but I liked the outside of the castle more.

Walking along the wall was amazing! You could see the whole city, including the river. I love views from castle walls. The city surrounding a castle usually as so many old houses and shops, with tiny, winding streets paved in cobblestone. Each house is different and they all look hundreds and hundreds of years old. It would be like stepping back into the Middle Ages, were it not for the cars careening around corners and honking wildly. (Ok, that's an overstatement. Sometimes. But a lot of people drive crazy around here!)

My favorite part was the flowers. Flowers and bushes grew everywhere! All over the rock walls, in the garden, in the courtyard. The garden of the castle has been there since medieval times, and people still tend it today. It was in these gardens that one of the kings of France (I think) wooed a girl named Fleurte (or something similar to that) with "flowery" language, according to our audio guide. The French named this flowery language after the girl it was directed to, which came down through the years as the verb "flirter" which I assume is where we got the word "flirt". If the audio guide is to be believed… It may or may not be an accurate source, you can never tell. But anyway, bottom line is I was in the place where flirting started. Lol. Or at least was named.

Another amazing part of the castle was the bathrooms!!! Maybe I was just a little nice-bathroom deprived, but I thoroughly enjoyed the restrooms at Angers. They were very clean for being castle restrooms. (Restrooms I saw in Paris were gross!!! Even in museums!) And the sinks were a work of genius! Instead of having to touch a disgusting faucet to turn the water on and off, thus getting your hand all dirty again right after washing, you worked the sink with a little lever by your knee! The downside was you couldn't really adjust the temperature, but the water wasn't very cold! I loved it. Sigh. J And the soap smelled so good, too!

The other cool part of Angers was the tapestry that outlined the Book of Revelation from the Bible. There were so many tapestries! And each was so detailed! I loved seeing all the symbolism they used. And I thought it was funny, because these tapestries were made during the 100 Years War, and in a lot of the devils scenes or wicked scenes, they had English kings or English soldiers. Lol. The tapestries were so well-preserved, it was hard to believe some of them were made several hundred years ago.

The next stop was Langais, a cute little chateau where Anne of Bretagne married…Charles something, king of France to unite Bretagne with France. It wasn't a splendid castle, but it was definitely one that felt more like a home than a fortress. You wouldn't actually get lost in that place. Lol. Unlike so many castles… I liked it because it showed a lot of the everyday life at that time. There was a room with a bunch of children's stuff in it that I thought was so interesting! They had a medieval highchair and a medieval walker! Lol. Along with a cradle and things like that. Who knew they had walkers in the Middle Ages? That tour was also fun because we all went around together as a group and somebody from the group read a card about each room we went to. Following the tour, we took group pictures and walked around the ruins behind the castle.

Dinner was so fancy that night! We had at least four courses. Appetizers, which were a bunch of little quiches and toasts with chicken or tuna (we couldn't tell which) and cream puffs with some sort of fish and little pieces of bread with some sort of meat and tomato on it. And the bread they gave us for in between was fresh! Usually restaurants, even nice restaurants, give you bread that isn't so out-of-the-oven fresh that it crinkles when you squeeze it. The juice was really good to, even though I would have liked it a little sweeter. I didn't love the salad course, but I ate it all. Lol. It was a sandwich made of thin, cracker-like things (more like wafers with a bunch of seeds and stuff in them) with shrimp and a salad stuff in between. It wasn't nasty, but it definitely didn't make my list of stuff to try recreating. The salad part was good, though. They had chips made from some sort of squash and sweet potato? I'm not exactly sure. They were purple and orange. For the main course, we had veal (adding to my list of unusual meats, at least for Americans) and potato pancakes and a dumpling and a squash puree. It was ok… A little strange, because it was all in a cinnamon sauce. (At least, I think it was cinnamon. Maybe brown sugar, I can't remember.) I ate everything except the puree. I ate a couple bites of that, but….it tastes kinda like sweet potatoes, and those make me gag. Lol. Like, I can't make myself eat them. Not just I really don't like to eat them, I can't eat them. They don't go down my throat. Lol.

Then dessert was awesome! It was really thin pistachio cookies with orange crème and strawberries in the middle and a scoop of raspberry basil ice cream. The basil was kinda weird, but I liked it.

We stayed at a Premiere Classe hotel, which wasn't so premiere classe, but hey, we had our own bathrooms and the shower was even in the same room as the toilet, which made the bathroom really tiny, but that's ok. Lol. I enjoyed it. And we had internet! Another huge plus…7

Fortress in the Clouds

Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. :P We left the comforts of the Etap Hotel (with its stand-up showers, close bathroom area, and windows in the shower door) to face the elements as we trekked to the second most-visited sight in France (after the Eiffel Tower)—Mont Saint Michel.

Mont Saint Michel is actually not a castle, even though it looks like one. It started as a church dedicated to Saint Michael and built on a huge rock in the shallow water near the coast of Normandy. (Well, it used to be Brittany, but then a river changed course and now it's in Normandy.) Some monk or abbot or somebody had a dream that the rock was the place where Saint Michael defeated a dragon (like in the Book of Revelation), so he built a church there. Then it was expanded and a huge wall was built around the rock to enclose all the houses and shops that had been built around the church. Apparently it's the only stronghold that the British couldn't break through.

I loved walking through the city! All the little houses are so close together and the streets are tiny. It looks like you stepped into a city that's entirely stuck in the Middle Ages. There aren't even any cars! It was a little bit of a hike up to the top, but I enjoyed it despite the cold. I loved the fog that was everywhere. It made it so romantic. J So many things in France are vachement romantique! No wonder it's the most-visited country as far as tourism goes.

Mont Saint Michel served as a monastery for a long time. It is still home to monks and nuns, because it continues to be a huge pilgrimage place. It's supposed to be a sort of modern-day Jerusalem. (At least that's what it was in medieval times.) People still trek barefoot through the water to get to the fortress to go to the church. Standing atop the huge courtyard at the top of the monastery, you can see lush fields and tons of water. The mist just added to the beauty, I thought, rather than detracted from it. But I guess I'm just a romantic like that, as I said before.

The church and buildings surrounding it were beautiful too. A lot of them had moss and ivy growing over the stones, which is disgusting to some people but I think adds to the effect. I love the contrast between the stone and the greenery. There were so many different styles of architecture, too! This is why I love castles and other places like Mont Saint Michel. They take so long to build, that a single building can have three or four different styles of architecture. You see a union between Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance architecture. It's so crazy to me to think that these structures have lasted through so much. They were around for both world wars, the French Revolution, all the political unrest France has endured, so many kings. Many bear marks from the passing times, like all the heads of sculptures of Christ being broken off during the Revolution, but the buildings still stand, monuments to the faith and strength of those who built them.

Something interesting I learned from our cool tour guide at Mont Saint Michel, all the workers laying stones carved a number or letter into the stones they put in, because they were paid by the number of stones. You don't usually hear a lot about the actual workers who built the fortresses. Usually you hear about the architects or the nobles who commissioned the building.

We stopped by a tiny sandwich shop after the tour to get lunch and escape the rain and cold. Paris and I huddled with a couple other girls from the group eating delicious sandwiches (the most like an American sub I've tasted in France!) when the shop owner's good friend sauntered in for some wine and a chat. We were huddled by the window in the back, which was right where the friend positioned himself. He started talking to us, asking us where we were from and what we were up to. Then he started making fun of his friend, who took it good-naturedly while helping more customers. Lol. The friend was so funny! I think he made a couple of crude jokes, but I didn't catch the meaning, which was good. He talked to us about so many different things! Everything from the weather to the oil spill to Robert Redford. Just the way he spoke was so animated! Lol. He moved around a ton too. And probably down at least three glasses of whatever wine he was mooching off his shop keeper friend. So funny! He had to go after a little while, because I guess he owned a restaurant nearby too, and so ended our enjoyable lunch. I was so surprised, because I actually understood a lot of what he was saying, and he was speaking really fast! J

While we waited for everyone to go down to the bus, Paris and I stopped in some of the souvenir shops and I bought a box of cookies, which apparently are a specialty of that area. They were so yummy!!! Oh, man… And then we stopped on the way to our next stop at a little shop where they actually make the cookies. So we got free samples and bought huge bags of cookies. Sigh. So delicious.

Our next stop was St. Malo, where we almost lost Paris for good. Lol. Not really, but she fell in love and we almost couldn't get her back on the bus. St. Malo is a town that used to be a fortress, but got destroyed during World War II. After the war, they rebuilt the city almost exactly the way it had been before. It looks like a really old city, but a lot of the stuff isn't really that old. A wonderful beach was right next to the fortress, and that is where we almost lost Paris. Lol. Bio majors. ;) This place was cool, because there was a little fortress on a pile of rocks a little ways out from shore. You could get there just walking on low tide. Beth and I walked around a bit and took a bunch of pictures while we waited for Paris, who was exploring all the rocks. Then we wrote some stuff in the sand before going up to the city wall and walking along that for a while. Paris went out to investigate a 1930s swimming pool built of stone and sitting in the middle of the water.

That night, we checked into the worst hotel I have ever, ever stayed at. It made me realize more perks to traveling with my dad. :P We didn't even have our own bathrooms! Ugh. And bathrooms are so important to me… L I can't tell you the importance of having a nice bathroom! Or at least a decent one. Or even just having one at all. The entire floor shared the showers and the toilets, and there were no sinks near the toilets! You had to go back to your room if you wanted to wash your hands! AND there wasn't even any soap in the bedrooms! Ugh! No te amo, Formule 1 Hotel! And there wasn't any internet, either. Wasn't too happy about that one, although I think the bathroom thing was more important to me. It made me grateful for Etap hotels… And I never thought I'd say that. Ever.

Although, the dinner almost made up for it. It was sooooooo good! First off, the restaurant looked so cool inside. The plates were cool blends of red and clear glass, and the whole room had a cool Asian/modern Euro feel. The bread was pretty good, but the dishes! Oh, man. The first course was a thin layer of tender salmon on top of the flakiest pastry I've ever tasted. TO DIE FOR! Then we had chicken that practically fell apart when you touched it with a fork and boiled potatoes in a mouth-watering sauce that was kind of sweet, but I couldn't tell what was in it. There was also a baked apple with the main course. For dessert, crème brulée! And the most delicious crème brulée I've ever tasted. The top was perfectly crisp, not burnt, and the crème below was so sweet and smooth. I really want to learn how to make that stuff. Sigh. Project for the summer! J (As if I don't have enough already, lol.) The dessert also came with little Madeleine-like cookies shaped like seashells.

I started a list of all the foods I want to try to recreate. Lol. Lucky Jeff! He gets to be the guinea pig for my cooking. ;)

Memorial Day at Normandy

Five AM is just too early to get up… But we did it, because we had to finish packing and drag all of our luggage, every possession we had in this country, from Boulogne, on the Metro, to the professor's apartment at Ecole Militaire. Ugh. Lol.

So we said goodbye to the Devarennes, which was actually pretty sad, because they were so nice and so friendly to us, and embarked on our trek across the city with way too much to carry. Luckily, Mr Devarenne gave us a ride to the Metro station. (Which was so nice, because he usually doesn't get up until about 7.) That saved us so much time, but also meant that we got to Ecole Militaire really early! Lol. Which I guess was okay. The Metro wasn't too bad either. I thought that it was going to be packed, because usually the roads in the US are really busy at that time of day. It was pretty empty, though. That was happy. It would have been so hard to cram our suitcases on the train if there were a lot of people. And we got off at Motte Picquet station instead of switching trains and riding to Ecole Militaire, because dragging our bags up and down more flights of stairs didn't sound that appealing… We just walked from Motte Picquet, which is only about a 15 minute walk, and it goes right past the Eiffel Tower, so it was enjoyable.

We got to Ecole Militaire, and nobody was there. No surprise, seeing as it was 6:35 and we weren't meeting until 7:15. Lol. Oops. Carre Four wasn't even open yet, so we couldn't get breakfast. We sat outside waiting for everybody for at least half an hour before anyone showed up. It wasn't very cold, and we were pretty tired, so it wasn't too big of a deal. I think we should get points for being the first ones there.

After everyone who lived in the city got to the apartment, we left on a huge, hot pink bus to pick up the group members who lived in the suburbs. I was planning on at least trying to sleep on the bus. That didn't happen. :P This bus is worse than a plane or a car. Lol. It's comfortable for just sitting, but even if you have a whole row to yourself, you can't sleep. Or at least I can't. So uncomfortable.

With the suburb students on board, we headed for Normandy on the northern coast of France, bidding goodbye to the city of Paris until Friday.

We stopped in Bayeux first to see the legendary Bayeux tapestry which recount the conquest of England by Guillame le Conquerant, who happens to be an ancestor of mine, so that was cool. The tapestry is actually more of an embroidery…it's not a real tapestry. It was used as a tarp to put over weapons being shipped to Paris during the Revolution, but somebody saved it and it's still all the way intact.

After the tapestry, Paris and I ate at the cutest little crêperie. We sat outside next to a little stream lined with willows. J Loved it! And the path leading up to it was cobblestone and windy. *sigh* So romantic.

So…at the restaurant they had an offer which let you get one crêpe salée and one crêpe sucrée and a drink. The first crêpe had ham and cheese and eggs on it and was wheat, and the other had chocolate and powdered sugar on it. For the drink, the only two options you had were café or cidre. We weren't really sure what cidre was, so we asked the waiter if there was alcohol in it. He assured us that there wasn't, that it was "just like apple juice" (only he said it in French), except he added at the end the word "legere" or something like that, which means "very little". Well, we didn't catch that, so we ordered cidre and were really excited for some nice apple juice. Then the waiter brought it out…and there were lots of little bubbles and it smelled funny. And we were so disappointed. Because obviously there was alcohol in it. L And the cups were so cold. And it was a little warm that afternoon. *sigh* So I just asked for a carafe d'eau so we could at least have something to drink with our meal, even if the water wasn't that cold. The crêpes were delicious though! I'm totally making some when I get home. The waiter was a little disappointed when we didn't drink the cidre. He didn't quite get it when we said we didn't drink alcohol at all.

It wasn't until we were on the bus that we realized that it was Memorial Day. We'd been talking about how it was a pity we weren't going to Normandy a week later so we could be there on the anniversary of D-Day. I think it was just as cool that we were there on Memorial Day, though. What better way to honor the men who died for our freedom than to visit their cemetery in France?

We made it to the memorial, and for the first time in a month, stepped onto U.S. soil. Cool, huh? France gave that land to the States for the memorial, which means that everything is in English first, and then French, there are free bathrooms that are nice, and drinking fountains! Drinking fountains in France! I wasn't thirsty, but I had to get a drink, because there's no such thing as a drinking fountain in France.

We watched a couple cool movies about some of the soldiers who died at Normandy. I think sometimes people forget that these soldiers were people just like us. They had families and jobs. They were students who left college because they wanted to serve their country. Many had young wives and young children. Some had children they never lived to meet. So many of them were about the age of my friends—early- to mid-twenties. I thought about what it would be like if all the guys around my age left to go fight in Europe. Only a few of them would be professional soldiers. How many would return? There were stories about families who received multiple telegrams announcing the death of loved ones at Normandy. It would be hard losing one family member, but losing two in the same week? Maybe the same day? I can't even imagine.

We walked out of the visitors center onto the path that led to the cemetery. From the path we could see the beach stretched out in front of us. The water was so blue and the sand so smooth. Not very many people walked on the beach, despite the wonderful weather and the beauty of the beach, probably out of respect for what took place there almost 75 years ago.

Before going down to the beach, we walked to the memorial. Standing on the steps of the monument, a vast field of white crosses lay in front of us. Each had an American and French flag, and some had little flowers. We walked through the rows and rows of grave markers. Some had names and states. Others just stated that a fallen comrade lay there. There were so many. The rows of crosses just kept going and going. There were several Jewish markers, as well. That was cool to see.

We walked down to the beach before leaving. It was so quiet and so peaceful. I think it's one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to. It was hard to imagine one of the greatest battles of World War II happened right where I was standing. What happened on that beach changed history, restoring freedom to the French people and protecting the liberty of the rest of the world.

The next stop was at Pointe de Hoc, (le nom m'a fait sourire…je ne suis pas sûre pourquoi…. Peut-être parce-que j'ai ajuté un 's' au fin Lol) where Allied forces attacked another German stronghold. The site has been mostly untouched since the battle, and enormous craters still gauge the landscape. Each is at least 10 feet across and at least that much deep. (I'm not exactly sure, I'm not great with estimating distance.) Foundations of cement buildings can still be seen and barbed wire and iron lace through the gaping holes. It's all been covered with grass now, but the marks of war are still vivid.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about Sister Le Bras! She joined us Monday. I've loved having her along! She and Professor Le Bras are so funny together. Sister Le Bras is from Vietnam, and speaks both English and French very well. (Dr. Le Bras, of course, is French.) I wonder what they speak at home. I know their kids don't speak Vietnamese, but I wonder if they spoke English or French more when they were growing up.

That night, we ate at a restaurant in St…..something. I can't remember. (It was a place attacked by Allied Forces during World War II about the same time as the Normandy invasion. And it's in Normandy, too.) Dinner was a little interesting. Lol. We had an appetizer of pastry filled with asparagus, shrimp, and cheese. I was so full by the end of it! And everybody thought that was the main course. Lol. So we were prepared for dessert when they brought out huge plates of pork leg and fries. It was…interesting. Lol. The pork was still on the bone and still had skin around it…which was kinda gross. And there was tons of fat, which I hate eating. It was cooked in a honey and cidre sauce…which I still can't decide if I liked. It was okay, I guess. But weird. And then we had something like flan for dessert. That was okay, too. Not my favorite.

On the way to the restaurant, we realized our bus driver had no clue what he's doing sometimes. He couldn't find the entrance to the hotel parking lot, even though we were all telling him which way to go, and we had to turn around twice before we finally got to the hotel. We kept going around the roundabouts twice before actually making a decision about which way to go. :P Then when we were trying to find the restaurant, we went around one roundabout twice and parking right in the middle of the roundabout! We blocked the entire thing! And we sat there for like five minutes. Lol. Of all the places to park, the middle of a roundabout!

Well, that was about it for the Monday adventures. Lol.

♪ There's still one place I gotta go! ♫

After spending all night (literally...minus two hours) after Les Mis doing write-ups and a test, I was not very awake for our discussion of political parties in France Thursday morning. :/ To make things worse, we were at least 20 minutes late to class! Ugh... Luckily in Nice we won't have to take a metro to class every morning. That will be nice (no pun intended).

After class we went to Champs de Mars where Paris finished her journals and I took a nap and tried not to get burned. lol. I don't think I succeeded on my arms, but oh well. Hopefully I won't still be a little pink by the time I get home.

We had to go back to the Institute building to do interviews with Dr. Le Bras to make sure we did all of our walks and stuff.

After that, Paris and I hopped on a metro with Beth to go to the catacombs, which unfortunately were closed due to flooding. :P So we had to ride the cursed metro all the way back to the center of town. (It was a long ride, because the catacombs are at the very end of line four.) Then Paris and I went to Invalides to see Napoleon's tomb.

At Invalides, I showed the guy who sold tickets that I was a student in France and showed him my international student card (which usually gets us either free or reduced price tickets). He told me they didn't accept that card, and I had to actually be a student in the European Union to get reduced price. So he made me pay the whole price! I paid nine euros to see Napoleon! Ugh. I was so frustrated.

You see, it just depends on the person selling tickets whether you get in free, I've decided. (I knew I should have gone to the woman whose line opened up at the same time the guy's did.) I've exchanged stories with people from my group, and sometimes Paris and I will get in free to a museum and others have to pay reduced price or vice versa. (And sometimes other people get in free and we have to pay full price!!! >:P ) So I just cross my fingers every time I go to the ticket seller and make sure I emphasize, "etudiante en France".

Paris and I weren't going to go see the rest of the army museum, because I figured they wouldn't have much there that I haven't seen in the Tower of London. lol. And while it's cool, all weapons and armor from a certain time period looks the same to me. I guess if we were planning on going to the whole museum, the nine euros wouldn't have been so bad. But we were only going to the chapel where Napoleon's tomb was. :P

The chapel was pretty impressive, though. Not gonna lie. (Although, I don't think it was nine euros impressive...) That little guy sure had a big ego! lol. And a big effect on France. His tomb was massive! Imagine a regular wooden casket, simple but still elegant, blown up to ten times a regular casket size! That thing had to weigh a ton! And it was funny, because right when you walk in, you can't see it. There's a huge circle cut into the ground floor of the chapel right in the center, and there's a railing all around it. You can't see the tomb until you go up to the railing and see the huge thing. I was so confused at first, because I thought, "The guy had a major ego. Wouldn't he have made it so you could see his tomb without going into a little side chapel?" Then I saw the tomb. lol. He didn't even have his name on it! Anywhere! lol. I guess his nephew figured everybody would know him. The names of all the battles he won were tiled into the floor around the tomb, though. And if you went into the crypt so you were on the same level as the tomb, bas relief sculpture of Napoleon dressed as Ceasar covered every wall. It was pretty crazy.

After seeing Napoleon, we went home and crashed. lol. We were both so exhausted! Paris more than I was, probably, because she got one hour of sleep and no nap. But while we were resting at home, we got a text saying a bunch of people from the group were going up the Eiffel Tour! We couldn't turn that one down, and c'etait formidable!

First off, we decided to take the stairs! I thought there would be a lot more stairs. lol. I thought I would be tired beyond the point of being able to move, but I actually wasn't. lol. Mostly because thre weren't as many as expected. However, it is an accomplishment that everybody in the group climbed the stairs from the ground to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. Then we had to take the elevator to the very top (for an extra five euros).

The view from the top is absolutely amazing! And it was so gorgeous at night time, with all the city lit up and the lights reflecting on the Seine. And the Eiffel Tower sparkles every hour! Isn't that cool? You can't see it from the top, but if you're standing at the bottom or just looking at it from across the city, it's awesome. :)

♫ Do you hear the people sing? ♪

I only have three days left in Paris. That's so weird... When I first got here, I felt like it was going to last an eternity. Now it's almost over. We still have one week of bus tours and one week in Nice... But like an old friend once told us, the time is slipping away like gold dust.

Today we did one of the last walks. It wasn't really that interesting of a walk to be honest. lol. We went to a museum and saw more furniture and paintings. Well...ok, I guess it was a little cool. The mansion that housed the museum was the home of some 19th century art collectors. (Or maybe 18th century...I forget which century it was.) They had a bunch of collections of art. My favorite part was probably the music room and the staircase. There was a great hall where guests would sit and listen to the owner play his organ, and a top balcony where the accompanying musiciens would sit. The staircase was very detailed with marble and iron and gold. I thought it was cool, because a lot of the paintings and frescoes on the ceilings, as well as the fireplaces, were actually shipping to them from Italy and other places around the world. They were part of the art collecting the family did.

Nearby the house is a park where there are tons of ruins. The funny thing about these ruins is that they were built to look like ruins. lol. Built in the 1800s. So, not really ruins at all. There are Egyptian looking ruins, Greek, Roman. A bunch. lol. The part was really pretty. It had flower trees and lots of green grass kids could play on.

After the walk, we came home to work on homework, then we went to Les Miserables! Whoa. That is all I can say. I think it was so much more powerful this time seeing it because I've been walking the streets where these little revolution attempts happened. I've been to Saint Michel where the students would have planned their revolutions. I've walked the bridges and the pathways, visited homes, seen the schools. This may not be a true story, but stories like this actually happened.

And it was this revolutionary spirit that made France what it is today. The French are passionate, if nothing else. Passionate about liberty and equality. They want their voice heard. They see it as their right as Frenchmen. And how can they not see it that way? Thousands upon thousands of their countrymen have died for freedom. Thousands. When most people think of passionate French, they think of the suave man in the baret with the handlebar mustache. But they forget the student and common worker with a gun, fighting for rights they know all men deserve.

Of course, the force of the play was helped by the fact that the cast was amazing and the set was almost hard to believe. It's so detailed, you almost feel like you're in the city. And each little town in the play looks different. It's believable.

Basically....go see Les Mis in Paris if you ever have the chance. It's a truly inspiring experience (even if you've seen the play many times before.)