Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Herro!
Im typing this from the Foyer's library and have a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower! I think I've mentioned this, but I can't remember...the eiffel tower lights up and sparkles on the hour after night fall! It's a great view!!
Friday, I took a day trip with my awesome roomie Leslie and a couple other kids from the group. We traveled to Caen in Normandy to visit Omaha Beach and the American cemetery. The morning was pretty much fraught with peril! Our train left the station (located on the other side of Paris) at 8:45. I am sorry to say that we got there at 8:46! So we had to wait until 10:10 for the next train. Then, after a pleasant 2 hour train ride to Caen, we had to hop on a different train for a 25 minute train ride to Bayeux. After getting to Bayeux, we took a 20 minute bus ride to Omaha Beach. I feel like an expert traveler now! Especially becuase the only thing we planned was the train ride to Caen. We basically flew by the seat of our pants for everything else! Spontaneity is great (albeit chaotic, haha) and everything worked out :)
So after the rather hectic trip to the beach, we finally arrived! Hooray! It was a lot different than I had pictured. I thought the beach would be deserted except for a WWII memorial and tourists with cameras. It was surprising to see a beautiful beach with people laying in the sun, swimming in the occean, and little French kids building sand castles. It was very difficult to imagine D-day happening in such a beautful place! After playing a bit in the water (I have now dipped my toes into the English Channel!)and walking in the sand, we decided to go up to the American cemetery. To get there, we had to climb some hills in which (I think German) bunkers had been built. I took several pictures that have little orbs in them! I didn't see any ghosties with my eyeballs though.
The cemetery was overwhelming. I thought there was just going to be a memorial with a list of names or something, but I was wrong again. There were over 9,000 tombstones, each with the name of an American soldier who died in WWII in the D-day invasion. Several of the graves were for Jewish soldiers and instead of a cross, their stones are the star of David, which I thought was nice. Also, there were numerous stones that didn't have names...they just commemmorated a soldier who died and no one knew who he was, or becuase they only found an arm or something. It was extremely sad! I'm already an emotional person and seeing the names of thousands of people who died while fighting on a beautiful beach made me tear up a little...ok, cry a lot. I'm glad I got to see it, but I was definitely a little depressed the rest of the day!
Saturday was much more cheerful! Leslie and another kid and I went to Giverny: the town where Claude Monet lived! We toured his house and his gardens, then walked around the town and had lunch. Monet's house was super cute! There were a lot of Japanese paintings on the walls, which were cool and the color scheme was magnificent! Tons of blues and yellows. He had really cool cabinets and a HUGE kitchen with like 20 different size copper pots. His gardens though were absolutely breathtaking!!! There were a TON of flowers and trees and some beautiful foliage. We walked through his gardens and arrived at his pond where numerous waterlilies were growing. I actually got to see Monet's inspiration for all of his beatiful artwork!! It was awesome! You should check out the pictures on my facebook.
We also had lunch in Giverny and all I wanted was grilled chicken and french fries, but that item happened to be on the kids menu, so I had to order the adult version and I was very disappointed for probably the first time ever that I can't pass for 12! The waitress brought out this weird kebab with pieces of bright yellow chicken. It was the driest chicken in the world! It was good with a lot of ketchup I guess, haha. But twas a very strange meal. After lunch, and walking around some more, we hopped back on the bus to Vernon, where we took the train back to Paris. A great day overall!
Today was an extremely lazy day! I woke up at 10, did homework pretty much all day in the Luxembourg gardens (which was super fun! because there were a ton of people to watch and the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing). Leslie and I went to a panini stand for lunch then went to a gelaterie afterwards where I had the BEST GELATO EVER!! I had a little cup, half nutella gelato and half raspberry. YUM!
So yep, that's been my weekend pretty much! I emailed Katie and Dad, and got to talk to Mommy, Jeffy and Colton via skype today, so I'm a little less homesick, which is nice :)
I must leave you now becuase I still need to read the first 200 lines of a medieval French play!

Bon Soir!
Briana