France

We woke up early in Heidelberg to catch a train to Paris for a day trip and then, after our day tour of the center of Paris, we would catch a train to Cherbourg, where Melanie's parents are currently living and serving as missionaries.

As we were dropping our rental car off, I got stung by a bee/wasp for the first time in my life. All my life I had feared being stung by a bee, but I was disappointed in how little it hurt. Luckily, I am not allergic. It remains a mystery of what bit/stung me (or what I ate) and caused my upper lip to swell up while we were at the Oregon coast after Jason and Julie's wedding.

The train from Heidelberg to Paris was fast and smooth. It would've taken five hours plus tolls in a car and then the hassle of parking, but it only took three hours and no tolls by train. We arrived at Paris East train station, locked up our luggage and then got around using the subway system.

We got out at one end of the Tuilleries Garden (too lazy to look up spellings) and went to the l'Orangerie Museum to view Monet's Water Lilies exhibit. We weren't permitted to take pictures of it, but it was beautiful. The canvases are long and seemingly continuous and wrap around the walls in a figure eight shape. It was very peaceful and settling to observe and sit. On the lower floor, there is a large collection of impressionist and modernist painters that we enjoyed viewing.

Then we walked through the long garden Tuilleries towards the Louvre

From there we made our way to the left bank via Pont Neuf...



To check out Notre Dame.



That was our day tour of the main part of Paris. We got back to the station and caught a train to Cherbourg where we would stay with Melanie's parents for a couple of days.

Cherbourg is a port town on the English Channel. It was a major sight for the allied invaders during WWII and is not far from many of the D-Day landings. It is a small town with a lot of fresh ocean air. That Friday, we woke up and took a drive along the coast to a small town called Bar Fleur to get tour and get some good sea food. I got a big bowl of steamed mussels. They were meaty and tender. Very delicious. Melanie ordered fish and they sat the whole thing in front of her.

And then we walked around the small town for a little. We got back to Cherbourg and took it easy for the rest of the day, which was nice.

The following day, we went into the center of Cherbourg and toured around the market, picked up some baked items (in my view were the best baked items we had in our entire stay).







In the afternoon, we went to the Cherbourg Aqua Museum, which had an aquarium that Beck loved and a nuclear submarine to tour:





The next day we attended the LDS Branch in Cherbourg and then packed up the car for a drive back to Paris with Melanie's parents.



Along the way, we stopped at some WWII sights. Cherbourg is in the French state of Normandy where much of the D-Day invasion occurred. Driving east back to Paris, you pass by and through towns that you read about in WWII history books. I have always wanted to visit this region. It is green pasture land as far as the eye can see. Parachuters dropped into the fields and marshes throughout the region amid heavy German fire. And troops stormed beaches by the thousands, pressing the Germans into retreat and submission. Here is a picture of Omaha beach:

And some of the monuments and cemetery located on the bluff above the beach.

These were incredible sights. We made our way back to Paris to an apartment rental we would stay in. We'd tour some other parts of Paris with Melanie's parents the next day, then fly to Rome the following morning.