Home Sweet Home ... plus Cheryl vs. the Loch Ness Monster

Wow. I'm sitting in a living room, in a house, in Courtice, in Canada. I didn't have to make my own meals today, I got to drive a car, and didn't have to pay for the public bathrooms. It is so nice to be back in Canada, and yet so strange. Paris, and really all of Europe in general, is now a part of me, even if it's only in memories, pictures and journal entries. A part of me will always be that baguette-eating, Notre Dame visiting, French-speaking, world-traveling student. There were many mixed emotions as Justine, Shailene and I waited in the Paris airport overnight, endured a long layover in London and passed the time watching movies on the 8 hours flight to Toronto. (The fact that I didn't sleep for 46 hours might have played a part in that.) We were excited to see our families and friends and be taken care of for a little while, but we were sad to leave the place that we've been calling home for the past 4.5 months. It was a strange, overwhelming feeling to walk out of the plane, hear Canadian accents, and eagerly search the crowd of people to find our parents. And so now we are home and dealing with a bit of reverse culture shock, but all in all, it's a good feeling.

To summarize the last couple weeks that I had on the other side of the ocean: Exams were about the easiest thing that I have ever written! I feel like this was almost a gimme semester - the worst thing I had to do this semester was write a 3 page essay. All of our conference exams were only out of 20 marks, so 100% of the grade for those courses rested on 20 marks. And yet, I feel pretty confident about it! Our grammar exam was huge and took a full 3 hours to write, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting (though my grade might tell me otherwise).

After exams were done, I had a few days to visit all of my favourite places in Paris one last time before flying out to the UK for my 10 day vacation. My favourite place in all of Paris is Notre Dame, so I climbed the stairs of her towers, walked inside of the cathedral one more time, and spent some time in my usual spot in the garden across the street, just gazing at the gothic beauty. On May 31, I packed up all of my stuff, handed in my key to my residence, and walked to the metro stop for the last time.

But I couldn't be sad long, for I was going to Scotland - a place that I've wanted to visit since I was about 9 years old. I flew into Edinburgh first and spent hours in the magnificent castle fortress, climbed the ancient volcano to look over Arthur's Seat (another volcano), sit on the green grass and journal in the open air, and ate more scones than I probably should have. I loved Scotland! I had no rain that week, an odd phenomenon for that area, and I loved gazing over the glens and lochs from the hills and from the castle.

Next stop was Inverness in the highlands. Okay - so there's this tiny little town named Drumnadrochit that I've wanted to visit for years after hearing about it in a movie (not mentioning it was a Scooby-doo movie...). It's only about 25-30 minutes from Inverness, so I took the bus out of the town and up the River Ness to the famous Loch Ness and into this tiny town. Being on Loch Ness and dipping my feet in its cold, deep waters was amazing! I walked through Drumnadrochit, visited the Loch Ness Centre and learned all about legendary Nessie, and then walked the 2 ish miles out to Urquhart Castle, an old ruin overlooking the loch. The walk was one of the best parts of Europe, I think. I was surrounded by grazing sheep, broom bushes and green trees and hills, and Loch Ness lay constantly before me. God was my traveling buddy that week, and I got to spend some time talking to Him and thanking Him for the incredible journey that I was on (and have been on in general over these few months).

Upon coming to Urquhart Castle, my camera was snapping non-stop. The castle was so old and in so many ruins and had so many amazing views and photo opportunities. I kept scanning the loch for Nessie, but she happened to evade my sight that day. As much as it's only a legend, it was fun to imagine an ancient sea monster gliding through those waters. I had planned on going swimming in Loch Ness, just to say that I'd been swimming in the same loch as Nessie, but it was freezing cold and there was really no place to swim, so I just waded in and let my feet go numb. It was difficult to leave that place and take the bus back to Inverness, since I had wanted to see it for so long and I was finally there. But the next day turned out to be just as lovely and I discovered an oddly-shaped log at the end of the island in River Ness, completely hidden from human view, and I sat there for a good 3 hours, listening to the rapids, watching the birds darting back and forth over the water, and journaling whatever decided to come into my head. It gave me time to sing praises and pray out loud and just be completely alone - something that is impossible to do in Paris (where you are constantly surrounded by people and man-made noise if you're outside). It was a beautiful day in every sense of the word.

My final stop was Belfast in Northern Ireland. I spent ages in the Titanic museum, walking where it was built and where it was last docked and taking my time through the museum itself. But other than that, I didn't find a whole ton of things to do in Belfast city, so I took a tour bus up to the northern coast - to Giant's Causeway. Google image it. It's like nothing you've ever seen before! There are pillars of rocks all over the place, looking like they've been purposefully placed and causing the landscape to be unique and even more beautiful. We stopped off at various places along the coastal road on the way up there, including a couple castles and the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge - which was awesome to walk over even though it was super foggy, but that almost added to the beauty of the cliffs and seas there. Driving through the Irish hills was just sheer beauty and I don't understand how anyone can look at creation and not believe that it was carefully formed by a loving, involved God.

And so here we are, at the end of my European travels. It's been a challenge, a blessing, a learning curve, an eye-opener and really, just overwhelming. I can't really describe how it feels, what the best thing was, how the journey was or made me feel. Europe is a part of me now, or rather I'm a part of Europe. Canada is a beautiful country, has a beautiful name and has the most difficult flag of life to draw, but it's home. Europe, specifically Paris, is a beautiful continent with so much variety and deep history to discover. It's name causes an overflow of mixed emotions - ranging from extreme dislike to absolute love. The red, white and blue of France is more familiar to my eye right now than the Canadian flag. I'll miss the busy metros, the boulangeries, picnics at the Eiffel Tower and walks past Notre Dame.

But now I'm in my home and native land and Paris remains on the other side de l'océan.

What happens when you have to wait

So we're in the middle of exams, but that's not really worth mentioning - save the fact that they are the easiest exams of life and I can't believe that I spent an entire semester in France just to take such short exams. (The French only have exams out of 20 marks.)

Yesterday a few friends arrived from Canada and Sara was going to go meet them under the Eiffel Tower and I was going to meet them afterwards at Notre Dame. I got a text from Sara saying that they still hadn't shown up (like 30-45 minutes after they should have) and so I headed out to keep her company at the Eiffel Tower. Of course, chance would have it that as soon as I got there, I got another text saying that they were on their way to Notre Dame. So I hopped on the RER and got to Notre Dame before they did.

I waited. And people-watched. And waited. And pigeon-watched. And waited. I make it sound like I was there longer than I was, but I waited about 30 minutes and got one more text saying that they were going to be late. So I waited and heard the super annoying sounds of an ambulance siren. You think it's bad in Canada? Try those in Europe! You expect it to fade after a few seconds, but this siren got louder and louder and the ambulance pulled up in front of Notre Dame where I was waiting. Three men got out and cut in front of the super long line of people waiting to go into Notre Dame and the next thing I know, the gates are closed and everyone inside of Notre Dame is evacuated. Guess we were going to go into Notre Dame that day after all. I finally spotted the girls and it was wonderful to see Stephie again after so long! I sadly only got to spend a half hour with them before running up the street to my phonetics class.

I went to Shailene and Cheryl's place after to study some more and while I was there we got a phone call from Erin. Someone shot themselves in Notre Dame. .................................. It was one of those frozen moments. If the girls had been on time today, we would have been in there when it happened. Who knows what we might have seen and experienced. No one else was killed, but the horrid thought remains. We read up on it online and learned that a 78 year old man (who was against homosexual marriage - a huge debate that has been a news item and street demonstration topic all semester) had gone into Notre Dame, laid a note on the altar and took his life. They still had mass yesterday evening, not 4 hours after this happened.

So what do we do with this? My gut reaction was to pray. God, thank You that the girls were late and we didn't have to see or hear this happen. God, this sucks. People commit suicide in Paris everyday - on the metro, at the Eiffel Tower.. - and the news doesn't even make the slightest mention about it. God, Your world and Your people are broken and it has somehow become so normal that people don't bat an eye at a new story. God, how on earth are we supposed to help, make a difference, change it?! God, Your heart must be so broken. God, please show us how to go forward. And please, God, please don't ever let these stories just become another story that we hear about, say "That's horrible," and then move on. If we truly want You to break our hearts for what breaks Yours, then please show us what to do about all this, or at least, Holy Spirit, what to pray about. And God, thank You for Your timing and for making us wait.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.

Carpe Diem..and something about exams

We're down to less than 2 weeks left in Paris. That's really odd to write and even odder to think about. When I think back on this semester and all that's happened, it's a whirl of emotions. There have been some really, really challenging days and weeks here. There have been some incredible weekends and weeks of vacationing and seeing more of our Father's world. There have been days when I felt like throwing in the towel completely and days when I felt like I couldn't make any mistakes. There have been periods of time when I couldn't focus long enough to spend more than 60 seconds in prayer and there have been times of dancing around my empty room in worship. Times when God seemed silent and times when I could hear Him as if He were physically beside me. There have been moments of deep longing to go home and moments when I was actually able to fully grab hold of the experience that I'm living. And now that we have only 2 weeks left here, I'm scared that I'm going to go back to Canada (all excited to see everyone and have things to back to normal) and then wish that I was still in Europe. How does one really bottle up a moment and not pass up the opportunity of the present?

The catch phrase this past week has been 'carpe diem' (seize the day - for those of you who have never watched 'Dead Poet's Society'). Why not go out to the Dutch store and buy a bunch of goodies? Why not get some face masks and wear them around like crazy-looking clowns? Why not do this, or that, and don't forget that other thing! Sara, Rachel and I were walking back from the metro last night after one of our glorious soirées chez Cheryl and Shailene with all of the girls. It was one of those perfect nights - it was warm with very little breeze, the crescent moon was shining full force, the sky was clear, the city of lights was ablaze, the streets were quiet and we could just barely pick out some stars amidst the light pollution (or was it an airplane, or a bird, or a helicopter? ;) ). We stood in the middle of our street and threw back our heads to look at one of the clearest night skies we've seen all semester. We thought of laying in the street like they do in 'The Notebook' and just enjoying it. There's something magical about times like that, when one of the busiest cities of life just stops for a moment and breathes ever so softly, when you can slow down for a moment and really appreciate the city that's around you, when you can take a deep breath and not smell cigarette smoke or sewers, when you can close your eyes and imagine all of the countless stars up there that you just can't quite see. How do you bottle up a moment like that? How do you make that last?

And then there's reality. Exams start next week. We're not overly worried about them, and yet we have no clue what to study for most of it. The French only make tests and exams out of 20, so our entire mark for our conference classes rests on 20 points. That's a little nerve-wracking, and yet it can't be that hard, right? We have a long weekend as well this weekend (not due to lovely Queen Victoria, but due to it being Pentecost Monday) and we've planning out study sessions. It's sunny outside right now and the park might just be the best place to study today..provided I don't get distracted. Because it's hard not to get distracted when you only have a fortnight to enjoy this place we've been calling home for the past 4 months.

Traveling the world

There's an excerpt from a work by Montesquieu that we studied in class this semester about a Persian who travels the world and ends up in Paris. He says that even though they occupy the same green Earth as the Persians, they are completely different people. I've realized in all of my traveling (especially the 4 different places that I was these past two weeks,) that the world really is huge and the way that we live is all so incredibly different.

You've already heard a bit about our trip to Rome and Venice, so here's the brief rundown of the Cheryls taking on Dublin and London!

Dublin was by far the best trip to date (in my opinion)! Okay, so Dublin itself is cool, but not where I'd like to spend the rest of my life, type deal. Our first day there, we wandered around the city..which really isn't that big. We met some Anglican ministers from Newfoundland in front of Christ Church Cathedral and talked with them for a bit. We thought that they were Irishmen at first since their accent was so thick! Cheryl and I were both on a budget, so we didn't pay to do much in Ireland, so that meant that we enjoyed the cathedrals from the outside, which was okay since there were beautiful gardens everywhere and gorgeous smelling tulips that we stopped to smell! We sat in the gardens outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral for quite some time, enjoying the sun when it peeped out, Cheryl whipped through two books and I made sure my diary was up to date. It was nice and relaxing. We then wandered through St. Stephen's Green and saw the bridge fom the movie "Leap Year", that we had watched before we left, and we meandered down Grafton Street - the busy, touristy, street performer street.

I must tell you of a highlight of the day. Upon leaving St. Patrick's Cathedral and pondering as to what we were to eat for lunch, we came across one of the best signs in the world: a supermarket sold products from TIM HORTONS!!!! We both became super excited and, with goofy smiles on our drooling faces, we basically ran into the supermarket and to the counter at the back where we found a pot of gold containing Tim Hortons muffins, donuts, coffee and hot chocolate. Okay, so it wasn't the best selection possible, nor did it really taste as "Always Fresh" as yours did this morning, but it was heavenly nonetheless.

The next day was the best day so far in Europe!! Cheryl and I hopped on a mini tour bus (14-16 seater) and, with our bus driver and guide Danny, took off for the Irish hills! There is so much to say about this day that it is impossible to explain it all here, and the views that we saw were so spectacular that no camera could ever truly capture what we saw, nor what we felt as we saw it. I could have spent entire weeks at some of the lakes that we saw or in some of the mountains that we drove through. Some highlights of the day: For Braveheart fans - yes, most of the movie was filmed in Scotland, but we saw a huge valley where some of it was filmed in Ireland. For P.S. I Love You fans - we stopped off at the bridge where Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank walk!! We took loads of pictures and tried to remember everything from that scene and had to explain the significance of that place to some German guys who had never heard of the movie (what a shame..). So basically - it was an incredible day, full of God's incredible, breath-taking creation that I wish I could have spent more time in.

Our next stop was London, England. Travel note for those who want to go there: never fly into Gatwick Airport. It's super far from the city and when it's late at night and you have no clue where to go, getting to your hostel in the northwest end of the city (sketchville, really) is difficult and annoying. But after a train, the tube (metro) and a taxi, we finally made it. There, No. 8 Hostel took like all of our money (legit - towel RENTALS were 3.50 English pounds!), and we finally went up to our room. We shared a room with a French girl and an English girl, which was actually super fun.

In England, it rains. So of course it would rain our first day there. But at least it doesn't rain for long/constantly/not a down pour. We saw the Tower Bridge and sang "London Bridge is Falling Down" and "London's Burning", cuz what else do you do when you're within sight of it? We saw the Tower of London, which I returned to later (there having a great tour with a Yaoman Warder and saw the Crown Jewels - including the biggest diamond in the world, which is over 500 carets and I was told not to compare my "tiny" diamonds on my hand to it). Cheryl and I visited Shakespeare's Globe, where his plays took place, but we couldn't go in since there was a play going on at that time. We also went on the London Eye that night. That was a lot of fun - seeing London from high up and spotting all the major landmarks. Highlight from that day: there was a 4D experience thing at the London Eye that our ticket included, so we went and the people next to us have probably never seen anything in 3D, much less 4D, since they got super excited and exclaimed at everything that popped out of the screen. Cheryl and I enjoyed their reactions almost better than the movie.

The next day was full: we had perfect spots to watch the changing of the guard in front of Buckingham Palace, and though I kept hoping that the queen would stick her head out the window and say hi, she never did. We took our time going through Westminster Abbey, seeing the graves of tons of famous people (many that I didn't even know were buried there), seeing where the monarchs are coronated and where Will and Kate got married and listening to tons of interesting history. We snapped some pictures of Big Ben, which was really cool to see, and sat in St. James' Park for awhile, seeing Canadian geese, the first squirrels we've seen since leaving Canada, and feeding pigeons out of our hands. Then we headed off to Trafalgar Square. Neither one of us really knew what to expect there, but we weren't prepared for what we did see. There was basketball stuff everywhere! Some international juniors thing was there and we so watched a basketball game! Then they invited people in the crowd to come onto the court and play Bump. So what do the Cheryls do? They go and play Bump in the middle of Trafalgar Square! That was something that neither one of us will forget anytime soon, I'm sure! We won't mention that Cheryl was bumped out by a kid... but he ended up winning the whole thing, so that makes it not so embarrassing ;)

The bus through the Chunnel wasn't as exciting as you'd think, but hey - I can say that I've been through the Chunnel! And that, my dear friends, was the end of our two week vacation. Now we're into exams - one last full week of classes this week, exams and review classes next week, and then our big, final grammar and oral exams. So close to being done, and yet so much still to do ... like that Art History paper that I'm supposed to be doing right now...

150 Flavours of Gelato

Vacation is awesome! You get to speak English, see different countries, try new foods and take LOADS of pictures. We have two weeks of vacation, which we're in the middle of right now. Cheryl, Sara and I spent this past week in Italy - first going to Rome and then to Venice. Starting today, the Cheryls are heading out to Dublin and then to London.

Italy wasn't quite what I was expecting, maybe just cuz we didn't have the sun that I was hoping for everyday. The first night of Rome we went to the Trevi Fountain. It was super crowded, but we fought our way to the edge of the water and each took out two coins. You know the tradition - throw two coins into the Trevi Fountain and you'll return to Rome and a wish will come true. Who knows if either one of those will actually happen, but I love traditions like that. We ate real Italian pizza that night and to be honest, it didn't taste as amazingly superior to Canadian pizza as I was expecting. I guess after working at a pizza place you become a pizza snob. But it was still delicious!

The next day was full of touring all the old ruins. First stop was the Colosseum. We waited in the mob of people (they really didn't have much of a line there) for about an hour or so and then walked out into the ancient arena. Our first thought: where's the floor? We had expected to see a floor covered in sand and whatnot as they always show in the movies. Instead we saw walls of stone that gave the impression of a maze. The brief moment of wondering if we were in the right place or if they had to fight amongst the mazes of stones was later turned to a face palm moment when we took the tour. The Colosseum was built after Nero died, so the thing is ancient and has been through so much (obviously) so the wooden floor that used to be there is no longer there and all that remains in the centre of the arena is the cells that were under the arena floor that caged the animals and prisoners. It was incredible to see and learn of how much of the Colosseum is actually not there anymore. You would never guess by looking at it that it was once covered in marble and had stores around the exterior and seating to fit 60 000 people. Guess that's what happens to ancient ruins. Also, we learned that there is no real record that the Christians were ever executed there. So now I don't know what to think about it..

Next we climbed up the hill to Palatino, where Rome began. It was really cool to see palm trees next to evergreens and normal trees, to see the old, stone walls, to try and imagine what it looked like in the powerful, ancient world, and to try and figure out what all the rooms were used for in Augustus' house. We passed by the Roman Forum too (where all the government and justice courts and all that important stuff took place) and snapped some more pictures.

We spent the rest of the day people-watching at the Pantheon (which we went in a couple days after). This became almost a daily routine for us. We had been told of a store that sold 150 flavours of gelato not far from the Pantheon. It was like walking into ice cream heaven! So many choices! Who knew that you could make gelato out of Kit Kat, or Lindor, or meringues?! We would each get two different flavours in a bowl and sit by the water fountain in front of the Pantheon, slowly enjoying the cold goodness with a little spoon that looks like a shovel. Also, I had never eaten gelato until Italy. You can find it in Paris too, but I figured that I'd wait to enjoy it in the place that's famous for it.

So that was Rome. We went to Venice next. We stayed in a hotel (cuz it was cheaper than a hostel!) and that was wonderful and translated into dance parties, 20 questions and eating Nutella in the most comfort I've been in while in Europe. We spent a full day wandering around Venice, seeing the gondolas, wondering at the point of all the crazy mask stores, climbing bridges over tons of canals, and sitting on a dock overlooking the Mediterranean and tanning. None of us really knew what all there was to do in Venice, so we just enjoyed it and got lost and ate some more gelato. That's the life! We spent almost 2 hours sitting under a bridge the next day singing worship songs. I think that was one of my favourite parts of the Italy trip. I had prayed that morning that I would see God and  hear Him in all things that day, and boy did He show up! In ways that I wasn't expecting even (which is typically how He likes to work, I think). It was a calming, powerful time to sing song after song in praise to our God. Words can't really describe it. I was glad that we could take that time. It started raining by around noon, and since we had already seen all of Venice the day before, we decided just to spend a relaxing day in our hotel room. It won't be a day that will be soon forgotten.

And that was Venice. I'm looking forward to traveling to Ireland and the UK this week. So much to see, so little time! Arrivederci!

Vimy Ridge, Holland, time

So I haven't been doing very well to keep this blog up to date. To be honest, I haven't been keeping anything really up to date, which is a problem since I have so much to write about. I spent a bit of time tonight looking at pictures of our European travels and reminising about all that I've seen and experienced here. And time just keeps ticking onward. I still don't really know how to bottle up moments. Something always seems to keep me from fulling being able to grasp it and lock it away. We've realized that we really don't have that much time left in Paris - we have 2 weeks of vacation starting on Friday, which will be full of travels, and then we have one full week of classes until exams start to eat out our brains. I still have a few things to cross off of my to-do/to-see list for Paris, but at this point, I just have to enjoy living in it. I've become so familiar with this big, crowded, rich city.  I look at maps less and less frequently. I ENJOY getting lost now instead of panicking slightly and whipping out my plan de Paris. I've realized that if something becomes familiar to you, it will become comforting and acceptable to you. And it's always hard to say goodbye.. But that doesn't have to come for a little longer yet :)

A couple Saturdays ago I hopped on a train with Sara and two of our Oxford program friends, Justine and Kim. Off we went to find Vimy Ridge! The platform at Vimy is legit just a slab of ashphalt with no station or signs or anything. We walked into the small town that was completely void of people, open stores or signs of life in general. We followed a few signs for the Canadian monument until we came to a 4-way fork in the road, bearing no sign whatsoever. Thankfully we saw a lady walking her dog, so we asked her for directions. She seemed surprised that we were about to walk there, which we found out why later.

Her directions turned out to be bang on. But it was a super long way. We were 4 girls walking seemingly aimlessly along unknown streets. So what else were we gonna do than to try and hitch-hike! Now, I've never hitch-hiked before, so holding out my thumb to unknown cars was quite the thrill. I don't know if the French don't know what that signifies or if they just though that we were stupid, since the sign was around the next bend, but no one picked us up. We saw the sign that said that the turn off was 250 m up the road. We turned right. We kept walking. And walking. And walking. Turns out, the centre isn't for another about 2 km down a twisting, wooded road. So we definitely worked off those waffles we had eaten earlier!

Can I just say that I love Canada. That road, quite, surrounded by woods, the chirp of an occasional bird, the pile of logs - it was the very definition of Canada. Made me long for the summer even more when I can go into the woods or hop the fence into the corn field and get those guitar calluses back.

Vimy Ridge was incredible! If you are ever in France, I suggest that you go to see it. No Man's Land is only 25 m wide, and seeing how close the enemy lines were was incredible! We walked through the Canadian and German trenches, through the Canadian tunnels and were restricted by an electric fence to go onto the battlefield/No Man's Land. There are huge craters everywhere from the war, and apparently some of the mines and whatnot never actually went off, so no one can go on it. They even use sheep to cut the grass. So basically, live ammunition from the First World War is still buried under the grassy hills on Vimy Ridge!

So as not to make this super long for you to read, I'm going to jump to this past weekend that I just spent in Amsterdam. Finding a hostel was like impossible, so I ended up staying on a boat!! Best choice! The room was tiny and the water in the shower was only cold, but it was cute and welcoming. Captain Lucas made pancakes in the morning and I ate toast with hagelslag!! Been a long time since I've enjoyed that. I went into the Anne Frank house and was really sad that it's prohibited to take pictures in there. I repeat that I love being where history really happened, so seeing the original bookshelf that concealed the door to the secret annexe, seeing the pictures that Anne put up on her wall, walking through the rooms where 7 people hide from the Germans and remembering the freedom that there is in being able to go outdoors and even in being able to write was amazing.

I went to the bloemenmarkt (the flower market), got some Dutch cheese samples, walked the length of the Albert Cuyp Markt (the largest market in Amsterdam), ate stroop waffles from a vendor (which is better than any stroop waffle you've ever had), and tried raw harring. Okay, so I love fish! Like, give me any kind of seafood, more or less, and I like it. I'm Dutch, I like seafood, therefore I should like harring. It's gross. The texture is what got me, kind of squeaking between my teeth in a nasty way, having like no real taste. I shared the fish with the garbage. But hey, I tried it!

And I found schuimblokken!!!!! Basically my favourite thing of life (like no joke!) and they don't sell it in Canada (that I've seen) anymore, so I got a huge bag of it :D It's basically just like blocks of sugar, but it melts in your mouth and is just delectable!

I also went on a canal tour. That was probably my favourite part of the whole weekend - being able to see Amsterdam from on the canals, with a fantastic skipper (who even kicked off a large group of loud, disrespectful guys), and listening to the info and stories that were told.

Next up: Italy!! Cheryl, Sara and I leave for Italy on Friday where we'll spend the week in Rome and Venice, then Cheryl and I will spend a week traveling to Dublin and London. Let the good times roll!

On the Beaches of Normandy

I love history. I almost took a history minor when I started Redeemer just because I loved it so much. All the studying that I have done of the World Wars always gives you a reminder of what happened in our world not 70 years ago. But I must say that actually walking along the D-Day beaches where the fighting actually took place and walking through the same streets that Canadian soldiers and tanks liberated made it a whole lot closer to home.

5 of us left Paris early on Saturday morning on the train to Caen in Normandy. I didn't learn until later that day that Caen was a huge place of fighting in the battle for Normandy and it took the Canadians a month to get from Juno Beach to Caen when it's only a 20 minute drive away from the English Channel. We took a bus to Courseulles-sur-Mer and walked to the Juno Beach Centre. The day was cold and cloudy and threatening to rain and the tide was out - two things that were parallel to when the soldiers landed on the beach on June 6, 1944. There was a bit of national pride as we saw the Canadian flag blowing in the wind, as well as seeing an entire shelf in the souvenir shop full of maple products! The museum was very well laid out, informational, clear to follow, and the guided tour that we took explained quite a bit. We went outside to the bunker that the Germans had occupied while they protected the coast and I must say, they were stinkin' smart people! Their tactics and defenses were incredible!

Juno Beach is bigger than I thought. Out of the 80 km of coast that the Allies attacked on D-Day, 8 km of that was designated to the Canadians at Juno. Since the tide was out, we walked for a good long time, dogging puddles, across the beach and out to where the English Channel actually started. As dismal as the day was, there was a sort of beauty about it and awe at what the soldiers actually accomplished. These past couple days have made me so much more thankful for our freedom. It sounds like a simple statement, but there is so much weight behind that. Seeing footage and pictures and then the real thing is humbling and sombre.

Justine, Sara and I spent the night at a B&B in town. Cutest little town! Cutest little B&B! They left the key for us, since they weren't around the night we got there. We met Isabelle the next morning. Sweetest lady ever! She showed us a picture of the Canadian soldiers and tanks that were right in front of their house! Crazy to think of that as we walked out that morning. She was so kind and drove us 15 minutes farther west to Arromanches, where Gold Beach is - one of the beaches designated to the British on D-Day. Here we saw huge concrete slabs 2 km out in the water. These are the remains of a make-shift harbour that they secretly brought across the Channel in order to provide supplies for all the soldiers along the Normandy coast. The sheer genius of it and the scale of the task and the detail that went into it was incredible! I suggest you Google it because I had never heard of it before Sunday and there was so much information! The tide was in when we got there but went out again later that day and so we could walk out to one of the closest concrete slabs that helped to make up this road on the water. Kind of intimidating to be so close to it, but so amazing. I'm really not giving any of this trip justice with my descriptions, but incredible is an over-arching word I will use to describe it.

So in short, freedom. We are so blessed! We really can't forget what happened during this dark time, even though none of the fighting ever took place on Canadian soil. We still played an important role in the war and we have freedom because of it. I've thought so much about freedom of all sorts these past few days. I'm free to walk around and run and jump and do what I want because I am not detained in any way and my body is healthy. I'm free to speak my mind and talk about what I believe in because I live in a free country here in France and I come from a free country in Canada. I'm free to live for Christ, free from the bondages of sin, because Jesus has redeemed us and washed us whiter than that cold, white stuff we get in winter, and I'm free from the restraints and burdens that society and media puts on people. And I'm free to write this blog. You are free to read it. We are free to live each day in peace and joy.