Day Thirteen of a Tale of Two Cities

The trip home was a little stressful. Our flight from France to United States was delayed. So when we finally grabbed all of our luggage at Atlanta we had missed our connecting flight to Knoxville. At first we thought we could hop on a later flight but that didn't work out because there wasn't enough seats left. Then we thought we could get a bus to take us but that didn't work out because we couldn't get a bus. Then we thought we could take a limo but then the weather became nasty. So we ended up spending the night and taking a morning flight home. The picture above is of me the next morning when we finally knew we were going home. 

Day Twelve of a Tale of Two Cities

 Today we went to Disneyland Paris and above is a picture of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

 Above is the dragon that lives underneath the castle. It moves and has smoke steaming out of his nose.

For lunch we ate at Planet Hollywood and in the picture are two of our four leaders.

Day Eleven of a Tale of Two Cities

 Today we went to the Louvre.

 Above is The Winged Victory of Samothrace thought to be created around 190 B.C. It was found in 1863 on the Greek island Samothrace. Her head and arms have not been found, but her right hand has been recovered.

 The goddess in this picture is Nike. She stands for victory and if you look at her wing closely you can see the Nike logo.

 Above is Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived By Cupid's Kiss first commissioned in 1787. This work of art depicts a scene from Lucius Apuleius "Metamorphoses".

                                       

 Above is the famous Mona Lisa. The crowd around her was humongous. It took probably a good 10 minutes to get to the front of the crowd. It also took multiply tries to get a good picture because she is cover with a thick layer of glass.

 The artwork above is Lady Leading The People painted by Eugene Delacroix. It is a picture of a lady symbolizing liberty leading the people in the French Revolution. If you look closely at her face (might have to click on it to make it bigger) you see our own Lady Liberty.

On our way out I saw at a souvenir stand a postcard with the Mona Lisa on it and decided to take a picture of  it since there wasn't glass between it and me this time.

Day Ten of a Tale of Two Cities

Today we started at the Arc de Triomphe. 

The Arc de Triomphe honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary War and in the Napoleonic War, with the names of all the French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.  

Below is a picture of me in front of it.

Below is the thing I am most proud of about the entire trip. I tried escargot and frog legs. Surprisingly I think that the escargot was better than the frog legs.

Next after an art class, we headed to the Eiffel Tower.  

Next are some different angles of the Eiffel Tower. 

Above is a picture of a bust of Gustave  Eiffel.

Here are some pictures of Paris.

Here is a picture of my friends and me from the Eiffel Tower. 

Above is a picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower. The next few pictures show the French sense of humor.

Above is a tarp over a hotel that is under construction. Below is a statue at a four way intersection.

That was the end of our fabulous day. 

Day Nine of a Tale of Two Cities

 Today we went to Versailles

Translated in English this says " To all of the glories of France".

This is one of the two buildings that was once used as stables.

One thing I noticed that Europe has that the United States doesn't have a lot of is, historical statues.

So pretty.

One of the fountains.

Back of Versailles. 

So that you wouldn't get lost in the maze there were different busts to help guide your way through the maze.

I thought this was so pretty, it is part of the gardens.

This is me at the gates of Versailles. 

One of the rooms.

This is a statue of Joan of Arc.

I love taking these pictures it just looks so pretty to me.

The Hall of Mirrors!! You can tell it was busy that day.

I took a picture of me in one of the mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors.

A crystal chandelier in the Hall of Mirrors.

One of the rooms at Versailles, don't you like how the furniture matches the wallpaper.

Recognize her? Yes, it is the Statue of Liberty.  

Day Eight of a Tale of Two Cities

After a sleepless night in cramped quarters on the ferry, we arrived in France. We started our day right away. After a fantastic breakfast we headed to a Caen-Normandy Memorial Centre for History and Peace.

Above is a one of the twelve memorial stones with a Dwight D. Eisenhower quote. The other eleven stones had peaceful quotes. All twelve stones represent the countries who fought in the D-Day invasion.

This statue symbolizes peace with the twisted barrel of the a gun.

Above are examples of the different kinds of stars that the Jewish people would have to wear. Below is part of the ground that is under the museum that has been framed off. Can you see why?  Yes, it is because there are gun shells. 

Some of the stuff found around the museum.

Below is a model of a bomb shelter.

Here are some of the pictures from the Pointe du Hoc. Below is a bomb crater.

Below are the remains of a building.

                                                                        A  bomb shelter.

This is a machine gun slot. I set my camera on the ledge and this is the view.

Now I backed away a step and that is how small it was.

This made my group and me feel special.

Then we went to the The American Cemetery where their are 9,387 soldiers buried.

The straight lines of the headstones.

                                                      President Theodore Roosevelt 's son.

Quentin Roosevelt son of President T. Roosevelt died in World War I. He is the only WWI victim in the whole cemetery. He was buried here because the family wanted him to be with is brother.

Above and below are the two brothers who inspired the movie "Saving Private Ryan".

A fellow Tennessean.

Instead of a cross all Jewish soldiers have the Star of David. Below is the saddest thing ever, the grave of an unknown soldier. There are 307 of these in the American Cemetery in Normandy.