Like I said, last week I was in England and France. I left the 23rd of July with a small group from my church and boarded a plane bound for Heathrow Airport in London. I can't explain how excited I was. This was to be my first time out of the U.S. and I was stoked for it to be to Europe. The plane ride was uneventful and long. We landed in London and spent the day sight seeing adjusting to the time change (i.e. a six hour difference) by not long after a dinner of fish and chips (what else would we have?) we went back to the hotel and hit the sack.
The next day we headed out early to the airport to meet up with the other groups from SLU and then head to Stonehenge. And yes, it was a huge pile of rocks but it was an awe inspiring pile of rocks. These stones were massive, at least two or three stories high. It's amazing to think that men, without the aide of heavy machinery set those rocks in place. We had our orientation on a field near Stonehenge where we were introduced to probably the most important tip about travel ever given: If there's a bathroom use it because there my not be one where your going. The rest of the day was spent on the ferry crossing the English channel to France.
Day two was touring the beaches of Normandy. This was such a surreal experience for. I've seen documentaries on the D-Day invasions and seen plenty of footage on the beaches but I never pictured them to be like they really are. Omaha Beach, where the worst fighting happened looked like any other beach but knowing what happened there and how many lives were lost there made it so much more. The truly eye opening visit was to Point Du Hoc. Before the invasion this was a flat piece of land that led to a thousand foot cliff and into the channel waters. The Germans set up defense there and had four huge guns. The Allis had to take this spot. On the morning of June 6, 1944, a battalion of Rangers landed at Point Du Hoc. These men scaled those thousand foot cliffs on ropes, in the rain, while being shot at. The fact that these men held this spot for two days with no relief is amazing. Because of the bravery of these men and countless others, Europe isn't under control of the Nazis. I'm so grateful for their "sacrifice of tomorrows." We learned on those beaches just what and how those soldiers, most the same age as many of us. We learned that dispute the odds or challenges we must overcome when the cause is freedom.
Paris was next. I loved the history of the places we visited. Notre Dame was amazing and in all honesty the first thing that popped into my head was that Disney got the details right. The Louvre was next and I didn't like it at all. The place was amazing. The art was amazing. But all the other thousands of people there didn't make it easy to enjoy. I wish I'd had time to look at all the rooms of stuff there but it just wasn't possible. Next was Rodin's Garden. I loved this place. I may just have been the fact that I went from mass chaos to peace but I loved it all the same. Rodin's famous for his bronze sculptures including the Gates of Hell and the Thinker. The Thinker is somewhat of a symbol of the SLU program. It serves as a reminder that life's decisions must be thought through and not taken lightly. It was awesome to see this statue in person. Of course we saw the Eiffel Tower it's massive to say the least. I didn't get to go up because of time but it was neat to look around at that place.
The next day we headed back to London. This is where my favorite parts start happening. We headed over on the Euro Star, so I have now been over and under the English channel. Once we got back to London we went straight to St. Paul's Cathedral. I can't explain just how much I loved St. Paul's. It was absolutely beautiful. I so wish I could have taken pictures and captured some of the prettiness but it wasn't allowed. St. Paul's has a huge dome and that dome has stairs you can climb up. There are three hundred and something stairs to climb to get to the top of St. Paul's. I climbed them all. It was awesome until I got half way up and remembered I'm afraid of heights and don't like being able to see through what I'm walking on (the spiral stairs in the dome combined those two things). After a very slow climb, I made it to the top. The view was awesome and I'm so glad I went up. After lunch, we went to Westminster. For those of you who followed the Royal Wedding, you'll recognize this as the place where Prince William and Catherine were married. It was neat to be in the place but it was strange being in a church where so many people are buried. The church was beautiful and, being the music nut I am, the organ fascinated me. Everything was very ornate and you could feel the history in the room. We also visited the Churchill war cabinet rooms where Churchill and his staff worked during WWII. It was neat to be in there too.
The next day was graduation and as part of our address, Churchill's grandson was there to speak to us and answer questions about his grandfather and grandmother. I was cool to hear a first hand account of someone so historically important. Our final address was given by Dr. Jay Strack, the creator of this program, and he spoke about always doing your best. I'll have to write a post about that later. After we graduate we headed off to Oxford and hit the town. We got to wonder around for a while and just take in the city before we had a session at the Church where C.S. Lewis attended. I really liked Oxford. It was a busy town but not a busy city, which I liked. There were a bunch of people but it is a university town, what do you expect? Oxford is beautiful and it's the first college I've ever been to that goes back several centuries. LIke I said we had a session in the Church where C.S. Lewis attended. That was neat. There wasn't really all that much left of this day. We ate and then went back to the hotel.
The next and final day was spent in London. We saw Abbey Road, one of the studios the Beatles recorded in, and the cross walk where that album cover was shot. Photos were taken and drivers made mad by the many teens trying to cross an actual street. We then went to the American embassy and walked around in the park in front of it. It was nice there. When then went to John Wesley's chapel and had a session. I had the chance to go in with a small group and tour Wesley's house which I will also have to post about separately. We went to several other museums but in all honesty I can't remember much about them. Our final stop was Windsor Castle. This place was massive and beautiful. It was fun just walking around Windsor and I enjoyed just being able to chill and be a tourist, not that we didn't tour all the other days...Anyway. WIndsor was a nice way to finish off the trip. That night we had closing sessions, but like the other two things, that will have to be another post for another day.
We flew home the next morning and since this is an already long post I won't write any more for your sake and my own.
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