Paris, Caen, and Bruges

Hey everyone!

So it's been awhile since I've been able to sit down and write about my trip, but I've finally got a solid Internet connection and some free time, so here goes!

Last time I sent you all an update we were just getting ready to take the Chunnel to Paris. When we got there, we found out we were staying in a super sketchy hotel, complete with bedbugs and creepy concierge workers. But we made the best of it, and we spent most of our time exploring the city anyways, so no big deal (except for those who experienced the bedbugs firsthand, bummer). Highlights included spending a full day in the Louvre, watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle, having an impromptu dance party on top of the Eiffel Tower :), dinner on the steps of the Sacre Couer, walking through the Musee d'Orsay, and climbing the Arc du Triomph. Overall, an awesome city, despite the huuuuge language barrier.

After Paris, we travelled to Caen, which is just inland of the Normandy coast. Our next couple of days were very sobering. We visited the Caen Peace Museum, which is full of powerful exhibits and memorials for WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and 9/11. We visited the German and American WWII gravesites and Omaha beach, where part of the D-day invasion took place. We even walked the cliffs at Point du hoc, where there are still giant craters from artillery fire and ruins of Axis bunkers. I learned so much about what a huge sacrifice so many soldiers made so that I can live in a world free of tyranny and oppression.

Today we arrived in Bruges, Belgium, where we will spend the next few days before traveling to the Netherlands. This marks a huge landmark in our trip, because from here on out none of us have any idea of what to expect until we end up in Germany in about a month. We have also reached the point in the trip where none of us speak the native language (which happens to be some strange dialect of Dutch, in case you were wondering) and so we will be relying heavily on guesswork and hand gestures for the next few weeks.

I love hearing from those of you that I have talked to since I've been gone, and I look forward to running into others of you on Facebook chat, AIM, or Skype. God bless!!!

Ryan