Nancy!!

This trip is taking way too long to blog about. I'm sorry if you're bored to tears, no obligation in reading this... more for my personal record keeping. One of the highlights of visiting France was being able to visit people from my mission days who are near and dear to my heart. This is Angelique and her husband, Hevri. We met her as missionaries, she was 25 and was searching for a church and was totally interested in our message. She was one of those people that was just ready. She was baptized and continues to be a faithful member along with her convert husband of 3 years. He is EQ president, she is in YW's and they have a little girl together.

 

We ate at their house and she fed us a bona fide full course French meal. Ben was all confused when they served cheese after the meal. Yeah, it's weird, but awesome. I love cheese. She was so sweet... for the entree she served croques monsieurs, which are toasted ham and cheese sandwiches because she remembered how much I loved them.
The girl on the left is Marine, Angelique's older daughter. When we taught Angelique, Marine was in the throes of her terrible twos. I remember we taught her at the chapel, and one of us would teach while the other would chase Marine around. She is the sweetest girl, in her charming way exclaiming, "Bon appetit!" before each course.

A walk down memory lane...the street I lived on for 7 months

The apartment I lived in for 7 months

We ate lunch at the beautiful Place de la Stanislas where we walked through on almost a daily basis as missionaries. So we found out Stanislas, the statue guy in the middle of the square was the duke of Lorraine and the king of Poland! Weird. Another sign that Ben and I were meant to be.

One of the gates of the grandiose square

And yeah, the guy who took our picture was totally nice, but didn't come close to getting Stanislas in the picture.

Quiche-Lorraine, typical of the region
After lunch we went to the Parque de la Pepiniere, also frequently visited by us as missionaries... a great finding location. At the exact moment that I am smiling in this picture, my wallet was being stolen. Yeah, Ben had just left it on a snack counter and after we took this picture, we realized we didn't have it, ran back and it was GONE! All my id, money, credit cards, everything. So, that definitely put a damper on the day. I did get to fill out a police report at the station with a French officer though, all of it done in French. Kind of fun.

While I was at the station, Ben stayed at the park with the girls and got some great shots.

And the absolute highlight of the day was visiting with this man, Guy Debraine. Do you like Caroline's starfish pose? We frequently visited him and his sweet wife as missionaries. He always made us a homemade fruit tart when we'd visit. His wife was already a devote member of the church, and Guy was the most devote husband and the nicest guy in the entire world, but wouldn't get baptized. He had had all the lessons and been to church, read the Book of Mormon and everything, but for personal reasons chose not to join. So, I've written him every Christmas for the past ten years except this last one. I tried to get ahold of him ahead of time to let him know we were coming to Nancy, but to no avail. He never picked up his phone. So, we decided to just swing by his apartment and I really doubted that he still lived there since I couldn't track him down. Well, I rang the bell and there he was. It was awesome. He was beyond surprised. He is just the same, but was so sad he didn't know we were coming so he could have made one of his fruit tarts. His sweet wife has passed away and he spoke so fondly of her. Really, one of the most high quality people I've ever met.
Later that night we went and visited the church, exactly the same.

Paris!

Three words to describe Paris in July: hot, crowded, and dirty!

I thought Paris was slightly overrated when I went with my parents in 2002. And this time around reaffirmed that. Of course, we were only there for 24 hours. And we didn't get to do any of things Paris is known for like shopping, fine dining, or visiting world renowned museums (remember, we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old). But still, I was disappointed.

First, it was crazy expensive. Our hotel was a budget chain hotel, but it cost 272 euro for the night... that's close to $400! We had to park underground, which was 19 euros for overnight ($30) and then drag all our luggage, stroller, and girls through an underground labyrinth. The hotel was out of hot water. And it was under construction which meant that the girls woke up to the sound of a drill boring into our wall. The subways were disgusting. I kept my hands to myself... didn't dare touch anything down there. I won't even tell you what we found in the elevator... use your grossest imagination and you are probably spot on. And to top it off, when we got to the Eiffel Tower, there was trash everywhere and a huge pigeon flew directly into the side of my head. I'm not joking. The line to go to the top of the tower was so long it was out of the question for us, so Ben just gave me a quick smooch underneath it.

Arc de Triomphe... you can't tell if I'm smiling so big because I'm at the arc or because I'm out of the subway.
A beautiful street
We walked the length of Champs Elysees and got some great pictures anyway. This is on the way to the Louvre.
And outside the Louvre. Isn't it beautiful? We didn't go in... it was closed, 9 pm at this point. Isn't that tragic? All the way to the Louvre and didn't even go in. I did go in '02 though.
And the Seine. It was pretty too.
Sunset. When we got back to the hotel and put the girls to bed I was feeling blue that we didn't spend much time at the Eiffel Tower, which I was looking forward to the most, and we were leaving the next day. So, even though it was after midnight, sweet Ben suggested I take a cab down there and see it all lit up. I won't tell you what the cab cost, but I'm glad I went. Here's what I saw:
And at 1 a.m. they do this light show that the picture doesn't do justice. It's all lit up bright and sparkly like diamonds. Loved it. Just wish I could have shared it with Benny Boy.

The next morning Ben was in meetings at the embassy, so I walked the girls over to Notre Dame. Again, the lines were so long it was impossible to go in so I just snapped shot of Em to prove we were there. She's pointing to a plane. Yeah, forget the cathedral, more important things to admire.
And I have to say, no matter what city you visit in France, you will never be disappointed by one of these: a boulangerie (bakery). I ate a dang good baguette from this one... hot and crispy fresh from the oven.
And I had to get some cute pics of Em in her little Parisian dress. It's not really from Paris, but it kind of looked like a cute French dress.
So, I'm sorry if I offended any Paris lovers with my not so flattering report on The City of Light... I'm sure it's much more enjoyable in the spring or fall and without children and if you have a wad of euros you want to blow. I'd actually love to go back with just Ben. I mean, it is supposed to be the most romantic city on earth, right? But, I have to admit, I've been to prettier cities in France. More to come....

An Experience not to be Forgotten

One of the highlights of our trip was, without a doubt, visiting the coast of Normandy, the site of the D-day invasion of 1944. I had been there once, nine years ago with my parents, but I think I had a greater appreciation for it this time around. This is Utah Beach, one of the five landing beaches. It's so peaceful there... it's hard to imagine what it was like on the morning of June 6.

What I love about this particular piece of history is that it's the epitome of service, sacrifice, courage, honor, and all that America's supposed to stand for. Not all of our military campaigns have been so cut and dry, but the righteous justification for the D-day invasion is pretty much indisputable.

What struck me the most was that Americans, Canadians, and Britons spilt their blood on the shores of France for people who weren't their kin, neighbor, or even their fellow countryman. Americans laid down their lives in large number to liberate complete strangers living thousands of miles away on another continent. Talk about self sacrifice!
I loved this tribute to the Navy, but it can likewise be applied to all branches of the military...the Navy, Army, Air Force, and Marines that all participated.
At several locations in Normandy I was happy to see the French and American flag flying side by side. These days the French are often the butt of American jokes, and vice-versa, but we have saved each other's necks throughout history. They came to our rescue in the Revolutionary War, and we got to return the favor almost 200 years later. And say what you will about the French, but I personally love them, and I know that at least the older generation has not forgotten America's sacrifice.

For example, when I was a missionary in France we knocked on a door, and a very elderly man answered it. He had to be in his eighties or even nineties. He didn't understand who we were or what we wanted, but when he realized we were Americans he literally began to cry. I mean, real tears. He was crying. He said how grateful he was for Americans and what they did in the war and then he told us to stay right there as he went back into the house. A few minutes later he brought out some chocolate. I was kind of confused, but hey, free chocolate. They haven't forgotten.

One more quick one: as a missionary I once had lunch at one of the longtime member's home in Strasbourg. This couple was in their seventies or eighties. They recounted how Strasbourg was occupied by the Nazis and about the night they sat in bed listening to the radio and heard the news that the Allied forces had landed in France. They described how ecstatic and relieved they were as they embraced each other, although it would take almost 9 more months for the allies to liberate Strasbourg.

This is Point-du-Hoc. I couldn't believe what they told us happened here. Point-du-Hoc forms a salient into the ocean and from there you can see Utah Beach on your left and Normandy Beach on your right. For this reason, it was crucial for the Allies to take out a German battery of guns that could fire down upon the invading forces. So, a select Ranger battalion was chosen for the extremely dangerous mission of scaling the sheer cliff walls with hooks and rope ladders. It was a very difficult mission, but they were successfully able to scale the cliffs only to find, once up top, that the Germans had already removed the guns a few days earlier. They encountered fierce counterattacks and their reinforcements never came, so after the smoke had cleared, only 90 of the 225 were still capable of fighting... the rest casualties. Even though the guns had already been moved, their mission was valuable because they were able to take out enemy observers who, by being able to have a good view of both beaches, would be able to call down fire.

AAAND, this story was particularly interesting to me, because my hunk of a husband is a Ranger!!! Yeah, he once scaled the balcony of our family cabin when we were locked out. He could have totally been one of those rangers at Point-du-Hoc. Go Rangers!
The view of Utah beach from Point-du-Hoc.
The view of Normandy Beach from Point du Hoc.

One of the remaining German batteries at Point du Hoc.

Ben met this 6'10" ex-marine (I'm not joking, he was a bald giant!) who was cruising around in this awesome jeep. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of him. He honestly looked like he could take on about 10 Germans at once. But, he let Ben sit in his jeep.
Saint-Mere-Eglise. We didn't get to stay here for more than ten minutes because a liter of milk spilled in the back of the car, right in the parking lot outside this church. Yeah, not one of the happiest moments of our trip. I have a bad habit of not screwing lids on tight and Ben has about had it with all the spills over the past 5 years of being married to me.

But Saint-Mere-Eglise was an important objective point and the first town liberated in France by the paratroopers. If you look closely in the left hand corner, you can see a paratrooper hanging from the steeple.

What was amazing about the little villages along the coastline was that they looked as if they hadn't changed a bit since the war. It felt like you were traveling back in time, except from what I've seen in pictures, the roads weren't paved back in '44.

This was at the American cemetery where a French guide gave us a very interesting tour.

There are close to 10,000 Americans buried at the cemetery, 40% of the fatalities the first few months of the invasion. Of course, not many of the graves were decorated, so to make up for the lack of flowers, they have planted huge rose gardens throughout the cemetery.

The story behind this gravesite, told by our guide, had me crying! The man buried here was killed during D-day, but had been misidentified as a Canadian soldier. His wife, who he had been married to for only a few months before leaving to war, was told several different reports about her husband... he was MIA, he was a prisoner, he was dead... etc. She never got the full story and after the war even went to Europe to look for him. It wasn't until the 1990's that he was correctly identified (a story in and of itself) and by then his widow had moved and couldn't be located. She was finally found in 2004 and was told the truth about what happened to her husband. Since then, she has faithfully come to his gravesite every year on Memorial Day and stays about three weeks. She sends flowers on every occasion (this picture was taken on the 4th of July) and she never remarried. All the employees at the cemetery know her and our guide said she was a really special lady... she said her husband never had more than one wife, and so she would never have more than one husband.

And these two crosses mark the burial sites of the Niland brothers, the brothers who inspired the Saving Private Ryan movie. There was truly such a special sacred feeling at the cemetery, one I've never felt anywhere else.
And on a lighter note, back at the hotel. C loves her toothbrush...
And thanks to my mom for sending this very adequate sunbonnet...
And bath time for the girls!

So now I'm all interested in learning more about D-day. As a history teacher, I at least knew the basics, but this visit made me want to learn all I can! So, now I've started this book:

So far, it's awesome.