il y a longtemps... mais je vis... et je suis une tante!!

I apologize profusely for my negligence. I am such a lazy blogger. I was going to update on Friday night when I got back from Normandy, but I fell asleep. So I was going to do it on Saturday, but then I got distracted and forgot, remembered and fell asleep. Repeated the process on Sunday... and Monday... Thankfully it didn't happen today. And I don't think it'll happen again, because I just found out that I can use my blog as a journal for my Civ and Paris Walk classes, and that will save a lot on time and stress... YAY!

I've no doubt that you want to hear the logistics behind writing this blog (haha, NOT) but I really must move on.

Thursday, Sutton and I woke up 20 minutes late, which was scary in itself because we had to be on the bus for Normandy at 8 AM or the bus would leave us behind. So we rushed and hurried, skipped breakfast, ran to the metro, and waited.

And waited.

Some of you may not know this, but public transportation (mostly the RERs) went on a strike on Thursday at 8. We had already known about this, but we were leaving our house at 7-ish. Except we were running a bit behind. I took it as some small consolation that there were 100 people at our metro stop waiting, and 2 minutes after we got there, a metro had come by, so we knew the metro had to turn around at some point to pick us up. Right?

Right??

Thankfully, just as I was getting nervous (i.e. hysterical), the metro came 20 minutes after we got there, and we got to our rendez-vous 2 minutes before 8. Phew!

Then we got on the bus and drove for 5 hours. I joined in someone's game, "Name that tune," in which someone recites some lyrics and we have to guess the artist and the song. I did horribly, until someone decided to do the Beatles. I am proud to say that I named pretty much every one of them.

Our first stop was in Bayeux, where the famous, insanely long Bayeux tapestry was housed. This is the museum for the tapestry.

I got really excited when I realized that I knew about it, and I had seen a youtube video featuring it: here. It starts about half-way through, and it doesn't show the last foot of the tapestry. Stupid. Oh, well. It was amazing, but I couldn't take pictures. Sad face. But the incredible thing about it is that it dates back to 1066, or a little bit after that - the Battle of Hastings was in 1066. My point is, is that it's nearly 1000 years old. Dang. To top it off, it's 225 feet long. Did you hear that? TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE FEET!

Here's a picture of a picture of the Bayeux tapestry. Love the colors.

I got a copy of the Bayeux tapestry for 7 euros. Just so that I could look over my favorite parts again and maybe study over it again. It's history and art all rolled into one, and it's really fun to decipher.

Also, here's the cathedral. We didn't have time to go inside. The only thing that I didn't like about this trip to Normandy is that we didn't have time to do anything. We had an hour in Bayeux before we had to move on. I wish I could have seen the cathedral, though. It was so impressive on the outside, and I heard there were some amazing crypts there, too.

The cathedral

Our next stop was at Omaha beach, where D-day happened. There was a buttload of rain, and I got absolutely soaked (since I was so smart that I forgot my umbrella and my coat. I had a sweater and that was it). It was really cold, too, but it was hard to be miserable in the face of so many graves. I felt so very humbled to be here.

The reflection pool. You can't really see how hard it's raining, but it is.

The graves, as far as the eye can see... There is plot after plot of these crosses, and knowing that each one marked the final resting place of a soldier... Sure, I knew it was a big number, but you don't really understand the significance and the sacrifice behind the numbers until you see it laid out in front of you.

This was at the little chapel in the middle of the graveyard. I read this quote (I wish I got a picture of it), saw this word, and my eye was drawn to the little white crosses.

After we finished with the tour guide, Mme. Sprenger told us that we had twenty minutes before we had to be back at the bus. It wasn't much time, but a group of us went down to walk on the beach. "Oh, twenty minutes? That's plenty of time!" ... Not really. It took us about 10 minutes alone to trek down to the beach half-running down the hill, and then the trek to the water line took another 10 minutes. I don't know how those soldiers did it crawling on their stomachs, but I am so thankful for their sacrifice!

Me when we finally reach the beach.

C'est pas moi, but it's a beautiful picture.

Me touching the Atlantic from the European side. Amazing! It was warmer than I expected, considering the dismal weather. And yes, I am as wet as I look. And no, I didn't fall into the water (although I did plow through it at one point to get here).

The beach was so serene, and I felt a little haunted afterward. I really, really wish I could have had more time here, but... c'est la vie.

We stopped at another museum with some possessions found on the beaches that had belonged to the soldiers. Some letters, nicknacks, helmets, etc. It was interesting, but I really wished we could be back at the graveyard. That was even more emotionally stirring for me, and I really didn't get much time to reflect on my feelings.

Eventually we got to our hotel in Sainte Malo. It's beautiful there, and such a relief because we were so hungry. We dumped our stuff and walked around the town. Some people stopped at a pizza place (which was apparently super good), but I wanted something more local, even if it was un peu chère (a little expensive).

The restaurant - super good!

What used to be my dinner. I had a salade de thonier (tuna salad), huîtres, raie aux câpres, and fromage blanc for dessert. This is a picture of the remains of my raie - or STING RAY. (I can almost see Lauren gagging at that one.) It was amazingly delicious, and it tasted a bit like shark. Or should I say, "Just like chicken!" since everything seems to taste just like chicken?

In the morning, we went to Sainte Malo intra berose (I have no idea if I spelled that right), which means, "inside the walls." Think of a medieval castle, and you'll get the basic idea of what this place looked like. I bought my first hat here.

The wall

Me on the wall about to dramatically fling myself off. And I borrowed the coat. As for my shoes - my tennis shoes were still wet and sandy from the day before, so I had to wear my flats. No flipflops. I feel stupid for bringing those since I haven't worn them since the first day.

Me dancing on the wall.


There were so many photo opportunities that I couldn't pass up, and here's one of them.

Just so you know, I took so many pictures, and it's hard to pick and choose which ones to put up, because they're all gorgeous. One of these days, I'll upload on facebook, and you can see them all there. Voilà.

Mont Saint Michel - if you look carefully, you can see a rainbow.

And then we also got to see the Mont Saint Michel. Gorgeous. It was beautiful. I got to sit in the chapel and listen to them pray and sing, and even though I'm not Catholic, I can appreciate it just the same. I cried because it was so beautiful and moving. And the view is stunning. When you're standing up there, looking out across the landscape, you just get this incredibly serene feeling of being on a boat or a desert island out in the middle of the sea. It was just flat out incredible.

The view is incroyable

The figurehead on Mont St. Michel. Moroni is better

And a pretty picture that I really like. This is in the garden where the monks come to think.

Mont Saint Michel was our last trip, and so then we all returned to Paris. For the first half of the drive, everyone was asleep. It was rather amusing to see a sleeping photo of me when I wasn't even conscious enough to protest the picture. But no joke, everyone was asleep. Do you know how rare that is in a group this large? In the middle of the day? I just find that hilarious!

So we got back to Paris at about 7-ish.

And then on Saturday, my host mother took Sutton and me around Paris and showed us all of the churches. It was quite the experience going into all of the cathedrals, not as a tourist, but as a Parisian. And it was very kind of her to do that for us. I'll have to get her a gift for that.

Saturday night, there was a church dance. Pretty fun, but no different from American dances. I met this fun guy named Oliver and talked to him for a bit. In fact, he offered to show me around the Opera Garnier. THE Opera Garnier!!! Do you have any idea how excited I am?? It's the Phantom's Opera, which story started me on this French business in the first place, so going here will be almost like a pilgrimage for me! I can't believe that it's taken me this long to finally plan on going there, though! Just so much to do, so much to see.

Sunday was church, and I understood it! Of course, it's probably because the Sunday School teacher was speaking really slow, and then during sacrament, a bunch of missionaries got up to bear their testimonies. Oh, speaking of which, Elizabeth Smart is in my ward! Or, should I say, Sister Smart. Ring a bell, anyone?

Had dinner with the family, then went to bed.

Yesterday (Monday), got up, went to classes... went to more classes... ate dinner in Civ class... went to ward FHE and played a fun game called Pierre, Jaque, John (or Peter, James, and John) which is a game exactly like big booty. But better. Way better.

And today, I went to class, then I tried to fix this girl's computer, failed, skyped Dad and asked him to help me, and he worked his magic that I can't seem to get a hold of... Did I mention how much I love my dad?

And now I am here typing my blog that I've been typing ever since I got home at 4:30. And it's 11:55 right now. It took a while, and I got distracted by food :) and the new news!! :D I'm an AUNTIE!! I'M AN AUNTIE!!! AUNT JAYNA HERE!! You are now reading the blog of a brand new aunt!

Until next time!