Fin

1/27/10

Casie:
I can’t believe I am here and I can’t believe I am going back to the states tomorrow.
Learning about WW2 on this trip has been….well I can’t really find the right words for it. It’s opened my mind to how real the war was and how lives of many different cultures were affected and some are still affected by it. It linked us to a world in the past and that’s pretty incredible. I see war in many different perspectives now. This trip has made me more conscious of what is going on in the world and as obvious as it is, we do need to be reminded of how important it is to be conscious of our surroundings. It is very necessary that we never become numb.

As for travelling with my classmates, I have loved it. I never would have gotten to know some people had it not been for this trip. Imagine, even though we go to the same school and may be mutual friends, I never would have gotten to know some really beautiful people that can keep me laughing for hours. I am going to miss our hectic days of rushing each other out the door and travelling together.

9 countries
Battle history
Accumulation of more than enough souvenirs
Awesome people: Hunt and Karen Tooley
3 weeks
New friends

Seen 9 countries.
Trekked battlefields.
Packed and ready to give souvenirs
Still awesome people: Hunt and Karen Tooley
3 weeks finished
Close friends.

Thanks to everyone who went on this trip.
Thanks to all the places we saw.
Thanks to you for reading our blog and keeping up with our lives.
You are awesome and I wish many travel adventures for you.

Cheers,
Casie

Becca:
So I guess this is it for the blog. It has been fun. Thanks for following us around Europe for these 3 weeks. I could never have imagined how emotionally and physically draining this trip could be, while at the same time providing me with so many beautiful memories that will continue to renew me for years to come. I am so incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to see the things I did and learn what I have learned, all alongside some of the best friends anyone could ask for. Lessons of humility and thankfulness. Old and new friendships, odd pairings and ones that make perfect sense – they have all been wonderful and make JanTerms special.

I keep saying it but I don’t think I could have asked for a better trip with better people. It was so enriching and fun and spontaneous and planned, all at the same time. The course was called “War in the Heart of Europe.” One thing is for sure – Europe has my heart.

Happy travels, my friends,
Becca

London- last day

1/26/10
Casie:
Today was our last day. My friends and I decided to have a loose plan and just wander about London to our destinations. I just wanted to see London and take it all in. It’s strange this feeling that tomorrow we will leave all of this.
We will leave getting on the bus early in the mornings, museum trips, sight-seeing, getting lost, snacks, wonderful coffee breaks, metros, trekking on to another country. We are leaving all that and I don’t think we want to.

We went to a market in Covent Garden and wandered about some shops, which is never good because that means more spending. However, we did enjoy a bit of window-shopping after we met our quota for spending. Then we took a break and had some tea in a café nearby and wrote postcards. It was such a relaxing day. I loved walking in the streets of London and seeing the people.

To top the night off, we had fish and chips and strongbow cider at the pub for a classic London meal. Then, another musical…Les Miserables.
It was stunning and even better the second time seeing it. The set, music and musicians were impeccable. This theater was much smaller and intimate. I absolutely loved it. It was a classy evening and just a perfect conclusion to our trip.
That musical has my heart.

Good night London. Cheers.

Becca:
Last day in London. Sigh

Today was beautiful. No rain, thank goodness. I shopped quite a bit today…but when in London, I feel that you must. I don’t know the next time I’ll be back here…such a sad thought.

It was a hat shopping, tea sipping, postcard writing kind of day, and a fish and chips eating, Strongbow drinking, Les Mis singing kind of night. A perfectly perfect end to our wonderfully wonderful trip.

London-third day

1/25/10
Casie:
The Imperial War Museum is by far one of my top museums visited on this trip. There were so many exhibits:

World War 1 and 2
Events after 1945 that covered so many countries like China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Africa, Ireland, etc…
Crimes against Humanity
Holocaust and Auschwitz
Displays of Aircraft and rocket ships

There was just so much and it was all so interesting. We spent about three and a half hours there and it was well spent. I was very impressed with museum and it was free as well! I really liked how they included history of other countries such as Vietnam. I think it is important to realize how war and its repercussions in other countries as well. We saw a video in the Crimes against Humanity exhibit. It was a hard movie to sit through but I liked how it explained a fairly biased view of those who enforce ethnic cleansing and those are suffer from it. It is a frightful ideology but it’s even more frightful how easily we could fall under it.
It is scary to think how things can turn out when we think in terms of “us versus the others”. Many of those types of dictators really believe in a world without harm and the only way to solve that is to exterminate the others.

We were supposed to meet our group at the Tower of London at 2:30 that afternoon. We had stayed at the museum much longer than expected and were in much need of a break. Hurrying along, we found our tube stop and got on, then realizing we were going the wrong way. So off we go, and waiting for our tube stop some more. We were not going to make it on time but instead of being a bum on a log about it, we just laughed and realized it happens. These things happen on trips and all you can do is laugh unless it’s your plane ride home (which I am kind of debating about “missing “ it? ☺). We eventually made it to the Tower and walked around. It is still magnificent from the outside. So we were there, just not in there.

However, the highlight of my day was WICKED, the musical. This was my first performance to see in London. I was jumping up and down like a little kid the whole way there. Finally the songs didn’t come from my Ipod instead from the stage!
It was spectacular!
The sets, actors, and music just blew my mind away. I was still dancing on clouds after that night. This music has songs that I share with my close friends like “For Good” with my B and “Popular” with my music buddy David. We blare them in the car and sing our little hearts out all the time. So it was really special to me.
I still can’t believe I saw it. I had such a wonderful time.

Wonderful theater London.
Cheers.

Becca:
Honestly, today started off pretty badly. I woke up and was incredibly sore and kind of dreaded having to go out into the city on the wet, cold, gloomy day. But, it was Imperial War Museum day, and I love the Imperial War Museum…so off we went.

Once we arrived, we wrangled up a wheelchair so my legs and back wouldn’t have to work so hard against the weather, and set off to explore this gigantic museum that covers all of the topics that Casie mentioned…so much to see. I had visited it last year as well (one of the reasons I was so excited about the London Theatre JanTerm, besides loving the theatre, was the amount of time I would get to have to explore World War II history in the city), but it was great to make it back and see some of the things I missed the first time around.

I think my favorite thing we saw was a Crimes Against Humanity movie. It was very powerful, detailing different types of injustice against people, in a very graphic and moving way. Genocide is a relatively new creation…the 20th century was the first time in mankind’s history that people began to attempt to completely wipe out another ethnic group. We have confronted this issue throughout our entire trip, as we studied the organized massacre of the Jewish people. There was a decisive shift in the allocation of casualties during the last 75 years. In the past, 90% of fatalities were military, with only 10% of them civilians. Now, 90% of deaths are nonmilitary. And interestingly enough, think about the number of actual declared wars the world has been involved in in the past century. We have been in “peacetime” a huge part of it. “We’re making war out of peace…”

Again, this museum took me back to that quote that I heard at Versailles. “The art of government is closely associated to the art of war.” The two are inextricably linked, and the visual that this museum provided of the major wars and conflicts throughout the 20th and 21st centuries illustrated this in a profound way.

After leaving here, I had to go back and lay down at the hotel…London and I have amazing potential to be best friends, but it would have to give up some of its rain. We are still discussing this. I wanted to be feeling well for Wicked…..AH-mazing. I saw it last year on my London Theatre Janterm, but not with Casie. And this is our musical. So needless to say, we were gonna make it happen. It was phenomenal and made my heart swell to bursting. Last day tomorrow.

London-second day

1/24/10
London, U. K.
Walking tour and Museum
Picture: Me, Robert, Lion and Becca.

Casie:
London is the calmest city I have visited so far even though there are a lot of people. There are people of all kinds of cultures and it is so cool. Imagine 3 shops right next door to each other consisting of a Gelateria café, Maharaja Indian cuisine, and American fried chicken. Isn’t that crazy? I never would have thought that about London.

We had a tour today with our professor and looked at some main sites in the more known areas of London such as Trafalgar square.

Trafalgar Square:
This square was the main site of the cinema where they have movie premiers as well as plenty of ticket booths to purchase tickets for musicals and plays.
White Hall Street: center of government and historical center
Parliament square: Westminster’s Abbey, Big Ben, London Bridge and statues of important figures such as Churchill and our very own Abe Lincoln.

There was a WW2 memorial for women. Hunt talked about how the topic of women in WW2 is becoming a more important subject and I am glad for that. Close by stood another memorial, Cenotaph. It stands in remembrance of November 11, Armistice day. Schools still have a 3-minute silence time for that day to remember the date.
I think that is important and awesome that schools still celebrate that in history.

My favorite moments:
I have very many but mainly I loved looking at the sties, buildings, and people. Seeing London is very much like seeing Rome for me. Everywhere you look, it is so beautiful and my eyes have tried to take everything in. I had fun climbing the huge granite stone lions with my friends at Trafalgar Square.

Then we went to the Churchill museum. We got to see his war room chambers. They had rooms for war planning and others for resting chambers so workers could stay late at night and work instead of having to commute. Many described Churchill as a straightforward man and sometimes very short but very loyal and committed to his staff.

My favorite room as well as Becca’s is the MAP ROOM! It is so cool. I felt like I was in on the action planning during the war. It was interesting to see how detailed their maps were. They had graphs made of height, weight and attacks of each bomb and weapons used.

Later on we went for lunch at the pub and I am definitely hooked on the Strongbow cider. It’s ridiculously good! Also, I had the classic fish and chips. Again so very good!
Then we went to purchase tickets for my very first show in London
drumrollllll pleaseeeee…for WICKED! I get to see WICKED with my B!

Cheers friends.

Becca:
Walking tour today of the central city. I love this section of town…so regal. The monuments and type of architecture make me think of DC a little bit. Makes sense that I would love it. Casie already detailed what exactly we saw, and there is only so many times that you want to read that (haha), so I will talk about my favorite part of today….the Churchill War Rooms.

I had already visited these last year when I was in London for JanTerm, and it was one of my favorite things that I did, so I was quite excited to come back and see them again. The audio guide was very informative in detailing the purpose of each room and giving personal accounts from Churchill’s employees and contacts. It was really interesting to see the actual maps that British military officers wrote on and planned strategies for the Allied forces. There was an original Hitler “graffiti” on the conference room map. Pretty cool to see. The best room ever – the Map Room. There were maps and maps and more maps all over the walls with so many different colored pushpins in them marking significant places on the warfront. When I grow up and have my own home, I will have a map and globe room. I’m so pumped. I took a ton of pictures of Churchill’s private room…a bed, desk, and walls covered with maps. Sounds perfect to me.

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to just experiencing London – buying West End tickets to Wicked, eating gelato in an Italian gelateria, and going to a service at Westminster Abbey (one of my favorite places in the entire world). Being in that place is incredibly moving for me, and I was so blessed to be able to see it again, get renewed again. Imperial War Museum and Wicked tomorrow.

London-first day

1/23/10
Imperial War Air Museum
Duxford, U.K.

Casie:
Today we visited the Air Museum and I must say I learned so much about British airspace. I did not think I would be too interested but I was. There were so many models and information on the entire process of building an aircraft. I got to see the progression of how the airplane came to be so successful as it is today. One of the earlier experiments included hot air balloon experiments. I loved reading individual stories of people’s involvement with the aircraft development. A daring lady, Elisabeth “Dolly” Sedgewick known as the “Parachute Queen” was a pioneer balloonist and parachutist. She worked as a waitress and volunteered for the experiment.

We got to look inside the Concorde. It was the only successful supersonic passenger airplane in British airspace history built by Britain and France. December 1971 was its first flight. It crashed in 2007 and then shut down. Max speed was 1,450 mph and weight was 169,000 (empty). It was an impressive plane.

This was a place I knew my dad would have loved. He would have loved to see the hangers, airplane engines, and rockets on display. It was a well laid out museum. I really liked being able to focus on a single aspect of the war such as airplanes. The museum did a good job displaying the complexity and details of construction.
It helped me see that it takes so many members to collaborate and successfully produce weapons during the war. They not only need skilled architects and engineers but also well trained pilots and courageous people to try out the new equipment.

Becca:
Today we visited the Imperial War Air Museum at Duxford (about an hour outside of London). We got off of the Chunnel train and onto a bus to take us here. I didn’t know what to expect for an “air” museum, but was pleasantly surprised. The main AirSpace exhibit had a lot of interesting information in it about the history of aviation and Britain’s role in the industry, which has swelled and contracted in relation to demand for new products, Before World War I, Britain had a very small number of planes, and both world wars demanded more production and innovation in this field. This exhibit seemed to support the view that war helps the economy, which has recently become a controversial view, considering the disruptions that wars create in terms of workers, allocation of resources, and trade. In any case, the wars did help spur on technological advancements that pushed the aviation field to new levels.

One of my favorite parts of the museum was a video that I watched on strategic bombing. It went through the modern wars and discussed different bombing strategies for each war and the progression of conventional thinking. It discussed the Dresden fire bombings, which I had learned about in my Europe Since 1939 class and in the “rolling classroom” on this trip. They were incredibly controversial as the targets in Dresden were cultural targets rather than military ones, and the majority of casualties were civilians, numbering in the tens of thousands. The video went all the way up to the Iraq War and the “Shock and Awe” strategy used by the American military to put a “quick end” to the war. Hmm…

Another cool thing about this museum was that it had information on the material used in aviation products – including polyethylene. I have a special connection to this type of “wonder” plastic – part of my artificial jaw joints are made of it. ☺

Overall, it was pretty cool to see so many different types of airplanes in one place, especially since my grandfather was a colonel in the Air Force and flew during the Vietnam War. I’m looking forward to the rest of London in the next couple of days. Ahhhhh, I love this place.

Paris

Becca:
The drive into Paris was our last official bus travel day of the trip, and I was quite surprised to find that I was sad about that. I went in to this trip hating buses because they make me feel sick, but luckily sitting at the front of the bus has helped a lot with that problem, and we’ve gotten to see some amazing countryside this way. We had to say goodbye to Jean Paul, our trusty bus driver for the last 5 days. He has been awesome – making funny jokes and telling us some amazing stories about people he has driven before. It has been great. Needless to say, we all got attached to him and were very sad to see him leave us in Paris. The bus ride was complete with a private VeggieTales sing along with Kristin and I and some pretty epic Photo Booth pictures and videos. SO MUCH FUN.

Paris…what to say about you? You are quite beautiful, that is certainly true. And your weather was infinitely better than when I saw you last. Thank you for that. That made things a bit better.

We started out the evening with a beautiful boat ride down the Seine River…so pretty. There is something magical about bridges and water and lights. London and Paris have this in common. Oh London…but for now, let me talk about Paris.

On our first full day, my group of friends headed out to Versailles to see the Louis XIV’s palace. It was incredible. Something interesting the headset commentary told me as I walked through the Apollo Drawing Room – “The art of government and the art of war are closely linked.” And it is so true. A country powerful and stable enough to succeed in warfare is most likely to have a strong government and be able to assertive itself over others as well as its own people. I just really liked that statement for some reason, as a total polisci nerd.

As we toured, I couldn’t help but think what it would be like to work/live in a place so full of culture. Do you just get used to it? I think I would have a hard time getting over the awesomeness of some of these places. I mean, I was standing in the freaking Hall of Mirrors. Seriously? A girl born and raised in North Texas was standing in one of the most beautiful rooms in the world where World War I was ended. Come on. You can imagine me freaking out, and not in an “I’m such a tourist” way but in a “this is one of the coolest things I could imagine” way.

We also visited Notre Dame, which I had seen last year when I came to Paris, but it was gorgeous anyway. Again, I don’t think it would get old for me. The pickpockets and scammers would, however. Boo.

The next day, we went to the Musee D’Orsay and had a wonderful time perusing Monets and Van Goghs and Renoirs…it was heavenly. So many beautiful things inside one building. It was really extraordinary. And I found another artist I really enjoy – Degas. Some incredible work.

Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with some friends and wander around the streets of Paris, looking for anything that happen to catch our eye. People watching in cafes has quickly become one of my favorite things to do. Europe is absolutely perfect for it too. I feel like Europeans enjoy their leisure time more than Americans do. We rush. A lot. Sometimes just sitting for no particular reason is wonderful and needed and enjoyable. I want to do it more often when I get home.

On our last night, we went to a Scottish pub called The Highlander and visited for hours with the proprietor/bartender Allison. She was so interesting and had lived such an exciting and random life. I hope to be that interesting to someone else someday. When I go back to Paris at some point, Allison will be on my list of people to go see. ☺

We left our hotel at 6:30 am to catch the train to London. That was really early, but I was glad to going to London. I love Paris, but there is something about London that has won me over. So happy to be here. So, so happy.

Paris-romance, pastries, and Audrey Hepburn

1/22/10
Paris, France
Picture: Me and Becca on a bridge in Paris. Can you see the Eiffel Tower in the background?
Casie:
My first experience with Paris happened at night. We took the metro to meet our class for a riverboat tour on the Seine River. As we walked out of our stop, we found ourselves on a beautiful bridge lined with soft lamps. To the right of us was the Eiffel tower sparkling in the night. Along the streets were boutiques and shops warmly lit as well.
It was beautiful. A grown man would have cried…ok, maybe that is a bit dramatic but it truly was beautiful.
We started out our day with Versailles, known for its Chateau or Palace built in the 17th c and location known for the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This was the home of Louis IV, the “Sun King”. It was the most elaborate place I had ever seen. It is so extravagant decorated with gold trimmings on the exterior and artwork in the interior. Each room was different in style, color and furniture. The famous Hall of Mirrors was sunning and again extravagant. One side is full of lengthy mirrors and the other of windows with decorative artwork and chandeliers draping down. I needed to be in a long black cocktail dress to fit in.

Louis’s room was located right in the middle of the house facing east, towards the front of the palace. He liked to face the sun because he believed the sun represented life, vitality and strength. I could easily imagine how sheltered the children were from the poor life that existed outside that palace. It’s hard to imagine how such a extravagant place was made and still there was a growing poor community outside the city.

My most favorite part was the gardens. It was beautiful. I could not believe how spread out the landscape was. We walked through the gardens and you couldn’t help but feel charming.

Then we decided to see the Notre Dame. Now unfortunately on our ride back from Versailles, some people tried to pick pocket us. It was the most frustrating and scariest thing. Nothing was stolen but it’s such an aggressive action that you can’t help but get sick to your stomach about it. So if you come to Paris. Be careful please!
They crowd around you trying to get your attention then pick pocket.

Arriving at Notre Dame, I was hoping the pigeons would not fly into my face or dispose of their droppings on my head. As we walked inside, I couldn’t believe I was in Notre Dame. I have always loved visiting cathedrals. The architecture and work put into constructing is impeccable and represents such dedication on the spiritual aspect of it. The cathedral took about 180 years to build! It beautifully sits on an island in the middle of the Seine and you can see it from any angle.

So what else do you do when you have Paris for two days? You cram as many touristy things as you can. A formula which I do not recommend. We decided to tackle the Louvre for that evening which is comparable to “I have finished my three course meal and am now going to eat an elephant.” The end result does not come out well. Further, the layout of the Louvre is very complicated or at least it was to us. I think the security camera men secretly plotted this so that they could watch tourists scrambling around for amusement. Well, we decided to see the major works of art and then leave. It’s a terrible thing to admit but we just did not have the time.
Of course the Mona Lisa was on the list. However, it was not as impressive as I thought especially with the green exit sign glaring on the glass shield covering the painting. There was also a class there sketching sculptures…”Oh, I am just going to the Louvre to sketch today.” So normal. In the end, the Louvre is incredible and I really hope to be back in the future again. You could never spend enough time there. It was nearing the end of the day and all we wanted to be was back at the hotel.

Next day, we set out for Musee D’orsay which houses impressionists work to contemporary art of the early 20th c. The Musee is a restored train station which looked wonderful and it was surely smaller than the Louvre. I really liked how they displayed the artworks. I found many new painters I love and fell in love with old famous ones I never really paid much attention to like Renoir’s earlier paintings and Degas ballet paintings. They also had an Art Nouveau exhibit that I loved especially because it contrasted with the older works in the museum.
Now, drumroll….the Eiffel Tower. How we get to the Eiffel Tower is another story. Paris metro system. This is fun. Took us about an 1 and a half to find this place. Nothing is more frustrating than being able to see this huge tower and having no clue how to get there. Alas, we made it and it was incredible how much taller it got as we approached it. It was never ending. I couldn’t believe I was there. It was incredible.

We stumbled upon some other friends from our class at the tower and decided to go to the Paris Opera house. We took so many pictures in front of this beautiful building with statues of Bach, Beethoven and many others. Unfortunately we decided not to tour because the main auditorium was closed for rehearsals.
So we decided to go to Angelina’s for their famous hot chocolate. This was also the place where Audrey Hepburn loved. There was a line outside the place it was so popular. So we waited, took Audrey Hepburn pictures by the door and then ushered by who we like to call Lumiere to our seats. More on Lumiere later.

So we ordered the famous hot chocolate. They came by with a medium size glass pitcher of this hot chocolate and gave us fresh whipped cream. I video taped this entire tasting session and needless to say we were all thoroughly satisfied. It was soooooo delicious after such a long day. Now, Lumiere. He is exactly what you think when you think older and charming Frenchman. Well, I wanted a picture with him. I just thought he was the coolest person ever. As we were getting ready to leave I figured I was going to do it. So I gave my friend the camera and as we approached I asked, “Pardon, un foto avec vous?” (my attempt at French), he was mundane because he thought I wanted him to take a picture of my friends and I. However, he was like with me? ( very surprised and happy). So I took a picture with him and later found out his name is Phillipe and we made our introductions. So adorable. I have a friend at Angelina’s now. I have a classic French man friend there.

It was a lovely day and evening, Paris. You are truly beautiful. Your romantic atmosphere makes me sick but maybe it won’t be so bad in the future.
Au Revoir!
Bisoussssss!

Now on our last trek to London through the Chunnel!!!! ☺