Ten Day: France and Spain

Oh ten day! I think ten day break in France and Spain was where I learned the most about myself, the good and the bad. I learned that I have a pretty good French accent and should maybe start taking French, as a my "Parlez vous anglais" was spoken to many . But I also learned that I am terrible under stress, especially when that stress stems from one of the most sketch hostels I have ever been to. I was also particularly nervous about going to France. After hearing many stories about how the French hated Americans and were terribly rude to people who did not speak French, I was a little intimidated to say the least. However, my experience with the French was actually pretty good, and I did not encounter the stereotypical rude and pompous Frenchman. Leann and I arrived in Paris at night and we were able to see the Eiffel Tower lit up, which was amazing to see. Being in Europe and seeing the buildings and paintings that you used to only see in history booksm or magazines before your own eyes is truly a surreal experience. We ate dinner at a delicious cafe with the Eiffel Tower in sight and we both thoroughly enjoyed the view. The next day we headed off to  Caen in Normandy, where we were able to see the beaches where on June 6th 1944, American troops stormed the beaches in Normandy, the beginning of the end of World War 2. I have always loved history, but I never really thought much about what actually happened in Normandy, but by the end of the trip I would have such a deeper respect for our troops and our country. Leann and I were staying in Hermanville, which is one of the towns at Sword Beach, and we were able to go into a German Bunker which was a really cool experience, especially when we saw and got to go into the tugboat that they used in the beginnning scene of the movie Saving Private Ryan. If anyone reading this has seen the movie Saving Private Ryan, you can have an idea of what this bunker looked like. About a half a mile off the beach, the bunker was used as a shooting point to attack oncoming troops from gaining access to the beach. It was almost eerie as I walked through knowing that I was walking the same stairs that Nazi soldiers had walked over 70 years ago, and had killed thousands of troops who tried to liberate France from the Nazis. After we toured the bunker, Leann and I went back to our hotel which was a 2 minute walk from the beach and enjoyed some crepes. We went to Arromanche the next day, a small town on Juno beach. I was disappointed that we were not able to go to Omaha or Utah beach, where the American cemetary is, but I was still glad to be there and see a piece of Normandy. The town still has the makeshift harbor that was used to dock military ships. Because of the minefields and booby traps that the Nazis had set up for the American, British and Canadian troops, the Allied forces ahad top create a fake harbor, that actually ended up being a sort of road that ran above the water. I'll have to put up some pictures to give everybody back home a visual of what the harbor looked like.