First Day of Bus Tour: Omaha Beach, Normandy, and the Bayeux Tapestry
Monday, June 6.
       So far so good. This morning we said goodbye to our host families which was really sad. I gave Lidwine a hug and our mother les bises. Dad wasn't there, so no goodbyes for him in person. I found Lidwine on Facebook though, so not goodbye forever. They were great to stay with for two months. Time went by so fast. Bittersweet. Madame de grande Maison dropped us off at town hall in Croissy where we ended up waiting for about an hour and a half for our bus because of traffic and flooding. We played playground hand games for a while: down on the banks, slide etc. Madame said we were being too loud. Sometimes I think that french people don't know how to have fun. We ended up having to walk to the bus because it couldn't quite reach us because of all that so going on. No big deal. Our bus is huge. There's space enough for all twenty four of us to have our own row and more. I was afraid we'd get stuck with this bus that was just big enough for each of us to squeeze in and hold our back packs on our laps. We're spoiled though. There's even outlets in the walls. I don't think the driver likes us very much. He seems like a very no nonsense kind of a person. I'm sure he's great. We've got all week to find out. We're now two hours behind schedule and might have to skip our first museum. I really hope we still get to see it. We could do it McKenna style like at the British museum. The french countryside is beautiful. Everything is so green all the time. I love it!
       We got to see the tapestry, but that's all we had time for. Its not really a tapestry, but rather embroidery. It's the longest and oldest in the world and depicts the battle that gives William the Conqueror his name. Pretty cool to see. After the tapestry we headed over to the American cemetery in Normandy. This was a very emotional experience for me. What a better way to celebrate D-Day than to be there where it happened. There's a museum portion before you enter the cemetery. The exhibit is very well done, very touching. There's a film that talks about the battle and some of the individuals who fought in it as well as weapons, details of the war, uniforms etc. and soldiers stories before they died. At one part of the exhibit, while you're looking at the display cases and reading about the war, there's also a film clip depicting the battlefield, a voice lists the names of fallen soldiers over a speaker. One by one, and the list never stops. There's a room next to the hall where the speaker is that is dedicated to about twenty soldiers. It shows short highlights of their efforts for the war, their lives and families. I read every one of them. Every one of them died. This was the last room before heading to the cemetery. As I headed out the door, I couldn't help but cry. I'm sure the guard is used to seeing this type of thing. If not, he had a show. These people were real individuals with lives and dreams. They were loved by someone, they were lost to someone, they died for them and they died for us. Allowing that to sink in while hearing the endless list of the dead over the speaker was too much for me. I know it's said all the time, but freedom really isn't free. It comes at a very high cost. My prayer for America and for the world is that the cost won't be for nothing, that we'll always remember their sacrifice and honor it with all our hearts. Death and war is a serious thing. Killing can never be taken lightly or glorified. Allow your heart to feel the weight of each fallen soldier, no matter what side they were on. Each doing what they had to or thought was right. your humanity is what separates you from being the monster that causes these deaths to happen.
         Anyway, the cemetery is very cool. Saddening. There are many unmarked graves of u know soldiers. Each grave the same as the other. I call it the forest of the dead. It's right by Omaha beach. McKenna wanted to get sand off the beach for her mother. We were running out of time to be able to go to the actual beach, so Maddie and I found a path through the meadow near by that went down the hillside and lead to the beach. We ran there, filled maddie's shoes with sand and ran back up the hill side, all in about fifteen minutes, just in time to get back to the bus. The path was quite beautiful and it would have been nice to spend more than thirty seconds on the beach, but we had a purpose that needed to be fulfilled. McKenna was quite touched that we managed to do that for her. She had already told her mom that she wouldn't be able to get the sand for her. Made the sweat and soreness that followed worth it. After the cemetery we went to Brittany where we had dinner, at Buffalo Bills, that seemed to last forever, and wasnt bad, though not amazing. I got my own room at the hotel this time. There's an uneven number of girls, so I got the first night to myself. It was really nice to be able to shower and just relax after the emotionally draining day and not worry about bothering a roommate. I think this bus tour is going to be my favorite part of my time in France. We'll see.

This is our host mother and sister, Veronique and Lidwine. Couldn't get a picture with the whole family unfortunately.

 
We got bored while waiting for the bus, so I did Haley's hair and Maddie (there are two) decided to do some yoga. Fun stuff.

                                             The bus is here, we're on our way!

 
Oh beautiful France.

 
This is Le Bayeux tapestry. Part of it anyway. It took half an hour with a guided tour to walk through it.

 

These four brothers were the inspiration for the film "Saving Private Ryan."

                                                               Omaha Beach.

 

 

 
We had nothing else to hold the sand in and Maddie couldn't run very well in her shoes anyway. :)

                                                  Look how adorable she is. :)

My desk on our bus ride after Normandy. I found some flowers in the meadow. 

This tasted like liquid strawberry jello.

Dinner at Buffolo Bills. We're a big group. This is only about half of us in this picture. The poor waitresses.