So this last two weeks I have been in Europe with 15 members of my Senior class following Easy Company of the 101st airborne division. It has been absolutly amazing and eye opening. First things first. The food. It was so delicious and fantastic. All the crepes and nutella, so yummy. The pastries were also to die for. We visited London, Cantebury, Normandy, Rouen, Paris, Bastogne, La Roche, and Munich. All the cities were so beautiful and my favorite would have to be Normandy. Although we only got to visit Omaha, and I would like to visit all of them someday.
The way I would describe London is, full of tradition. Seriously, those british hold on to tradition like no ones buisness. All thier funky hats and wierd ways of marching. My favorite part of London was all the history behind it and learning what they all went through. During WW2 they were attack by what is called the blitz, the germans would bomb the hell out of London and no one really felt safe. I loved learning about thier view of how things happened in WW2.
Normandy was my favorite. The way the american cemetary is aligned and looks so perfect and serene. It was so beautiful. That was a place I know I could live and just spend time. The beach, so peaceful today but at one time 70 years ago, it was full of guns. There is really nothing else I can say about Normandy.
Paris. The city of love. The city that is competly filthy. It is a very dirty city, but what major city isnt? it was over crowded and beautiful at the same time. The eiffle tower makes everything look so small. That little piece of history that should have been torn down 100 years ago still stands tall. Paris, the city that gave themselves up to save thier own history. The Louvre was an excelent museum. So many beautiful paintings and sculptures. I loved it, along with versilles.
Bastongne, The town that absolutly loves americans. They are so grateful for what the men did over there. The one thing that hit me was that the town was completly leveled, yet they are so grateful that the men of the 101st didnt give up the town. They actaully have a square named after General McAuliffe, you know the famous nuts guy. They also have a resturante named Le Nuts and really good ham.
Munich, well the only real thing we did in munich was go to dachau. Dachau was something else. It was so peacful and so beautiful. It made it hard to imagine that 70 years ago it was full of hatred, sorrow, and death. While I was there looking at this spot where two men were executed a butterfly flew by and landed on the plaque. It was so serene, so odd, and so out of place. Here was this place that was so sad, and a little butterfly is fluttering along. It made me think that there were probably butterflys fluttering along when the camp was in buisness. They didnt know what was going on, maybe a prisoner had the same experiance I did right before they were shot. Maybe they got to see a little guy just like the one I saw. All I know is that I do not want to go back there. It was so overwhelming, maybe I was the only one to feel that, and maybe I was just over tired, but it was so sad.
The trip ended with Munich and shopping. Shopping seems to make things better. It was an amazing experience and I recomend that every willing and able american take a trip to some part of Europe. maybe to get a diffrent view on the second world war like I did, or maybe to just unwind and eat amazing food. All I know is that I am deffinatly going back.
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