"Lest I Forget Thy Love For Me..."

long time, no blog!!! This past week was spent in France and Boy oh Boy!! i have a lot to share....

Tuesday: Ashley and I (my roommate) decided that we would stay up late and then wake up on Tuesday morning and get ready (shower, shave, and all pretty for our travel day)... I woke up to our alarm and turned it off... I woke up again and realized it was 7:05 and that we had to be on the bus for France at 7:15!!!!!! thats right! so we freak out and just do what we can to get ready as fast as possible. We weren't the last ones on the bus though! so we take the one hour bus trip to London and get to the train station and see Dee Snider from Twisted Sister ("We're Not Gonna Take It") which was cool and he was on our train to Paris. We took the chunnel to Paris which took approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes. Got to Paris just to board a bus to Bayeaux which was 3 hours long and was HORRIBLE!!!! our bus driver did not know how to drive and instead of taking time during our breaks to learn how to all he did was smoke. We get to our Hostel in Bayeaux... thats right a HOSTEL!!! and it was gorgeous!!! The outside was beautiful. The inside however was like a child's play land. The large room that we stayed in was named the Peter Pan room. Peter, Wendy, John, Michael, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, and the Lost Boys were painted all over the room... weird isn't even a good word to describe it!! We did a little walking through Bayeaux and saw this gorgeous cathedral that is featured below....


Wednesday: This day was fully devoted to explore the beaches of Normandy and all of the beaches that were a part of D-day (June 6, 1944: 63rd anniversary was one week ago!!) It was very intriguing. Our tour guide was packed full of knowledge about what happened. However, it became a little hard to understand him because of his thick Dutch accent. We went to Arromanches, the American Cemetery (pictured below), Utah Beach, a small church that was used as a make-shift hospital (its in Band of Brothers), German Bunker field that was bombed and Utah Beach. It was so neat to be a part of such a big day in history and hear it from a man who has made it his life to inform people of the truth of that day and as well as connect real life stories to the horrific events of D-day and the aftermath.

This picture is from the American Cemetery . The Statue that you see was made and the meaning is that the American Youth is rising up from the aftermath of D-day.

Thursday: We decided to sleep in. And it rained while we had to walk 30 minutes to the cathedral that is above and I of course did not have my umbrella. So i walked all the way with a sweater on my head and a towel around my shoulders. We took the 3 hour bus back to Paris and went straight to the Arc De Triumphe. We shopped awhile and just to get a literal taste of America we went and ate at Planet Hollywood. We started back for the train and all the way around the Arc de Triumphe was 4,000 Parisians all dressed in white having their annual Parisian White Picnic and I wish I had pictures because it was a mad house. Then we got back to our hotel and went straight to bed because we were ZONKED!!!

I just LOVED this picture!!!!

Friday: We got up so early and went straight to Versailles and spent about um.... 4 hours? That sounds about right. It was beautiful though!!! We toured the entire Palace, the gardens and Marie Antoinette's House. It was gorgeous. From there we went to the Eiffel Tower. I have a recommendation for those going to the Eiffel Tower anytime soon: wait in the line for the elevators!!!! DON'T TAKE THE STAIRS!!!! Thats right... Elle, Lauren, Neil, Ryan and myself all walked up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower and once we got there bought the ticket to the top but those stairs are BRUTAL!!! but it was worth it once we got to the top. Its incredible to see all of Paris from the top of the tower. From there we went on a boat tour. Which was great. THen went back and went to bed because yet again... we were EXHAUSTED.

If you were in the Palace looking outside this is what you would see. Its an absolutely gorgeous place!!!!

The Eiffel Tower at night was better than during the day... but thats my personal opinion!

SATURDAY: We hit the ground running and didn't look back. We got up and went straight to Sacre Cour in Montmatre. Its incredibly beautiful but you can't take pictures inside but its worth the trip out there to see it!!!! Then we went to Notre Dame Cathedral and it was still as beautiful as it was 8 years ago when I saw it. Then to the Louvre and saw the 3 things we wanted to see there (Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo, and The Winged Victory) From there we roamed and I don't know how but we ended up at the Galleries Lafayette, WOOPS! We spent only an hour and a half in there and had to come back to Oxford. The trip wasn't so bad this time. I kind of enjoy taking a train, its a nice change of pace from a plane.

Sacre Cour... breathtaking! A pain to get to but absolutely breathtaking!

This was my favorite by far and away. There was a service going on when we went in. It was just really neat to see such an old church still being used to this very day.

And my pictures of the Louvre weren't that great so I choose not to post them! I'll show them but only by request!

Sunday: we woke up and went to the Church of Christ here in Oxford. Four members make up the church so with the group that went we more than tripled the church. It was so neat to know that there are people in the United Kingdom praising the Lord the same way we do in Texas. I think I always knew that people did but just never really got to experience it. It was a wonderful experience and I hope we get to go back in a couple of weeks (we can't next weekend because we will be travelling on our long weekend to Spain!!!) We sang some of my favorite songs (hence the title for my blog... Lead Me To Calvary) we also sang Holy, Holy, Holy. Our professors talked to us about how uplifting it would be for the congregation if we went and I didn't believe him until I set on the front row and looked at the preacher's glowing face as he looked out and saw almost a full church building. He was beaming. I think he may have been a little nervous too, but who knows. All I know is that if ever in Oxford and looking for a church, you won't find a more humble congregation to praise with.

So that is all I have from our week away in France!

I thought about it and there is a million and one things to say about each day but I narrowed it down so that my blog wouldn't be a mile long. Also, I add the pictures because I feel like it validates what I say as well as proving that I actually went to these historical landmarks :)