paris je t'aime: my parents came to visit!!

So this could potentially be the longest post. ever. I haven't been updating the blog that much recently because last Friday my parents came to Paris! I've been hanging out with them all week, and we went on a few day trips as well! So. Sorry not sorry! But.. Here's a little recap of ALL we did!

So Friday my parents got here! I was so happy for them to be here! They were staying at the Hotel Regina.. which is a fantastic hotel. It's right next to the Louvre so basically prime time in Paris. I went over there Friday (once I woke up! haha)

view from their hotel room!

We walked around a bit.. through the Louvre courtyard..

yay!

and we also went a boat tour of the Seine. Same one I went on my first day here! Might have been the second.. oh well.

We went to dinner and then went to bed early because the next morning we had to make an 8 am train to Normandy!!

We had a private tour guide, Christophe, pick us up at the train station and tour us around the beaches. That was probably the best thing we could have done; since there isn't much actually on the beaches it was awesome to have someone tell us exactly what happened, when, and basically narrate the story for us. Christophe was awesome too! He seriously knew everything about everything; down to exact dates. We went to Utah beach, Omaha beach, and the American Cemetery that was there. There are 3 other beaches, but since we only stayed for the day, we only had time to see the 2 American ones. It was awesome. Totally unbelievably.

Utah beach.. those islands in the background were the first official "free" french territory during WWII

and the little raft thing was once used to make a floating ramp from the boats to the land

old German bunker on Utah beach

pont du hok.. US Rangers scaled those cliffs with Germans shooting at them from the top.

amazing.

in the weeks leading up to D-Day, US air strikes went over the beaches and dropped bombs. the craters are still there today! wild.

US Memorial Cemetery

The cemetery was pretty amazing. Teddy Roosevelt Jr. and his younger brother are both there. Teddy died a few days after D-Day in Normandy, (from a heart attack, not from battle! He was even on the front line going into the beaches!) and his brother, who I believe died in WWI, but don't quote me on that, was brought to be buried next to him. US tax dollars pay for this cemetery, and its considered US soil (not quite as strong as an embassy, but still, kinda cool). There are about 10 cemeteries like this; I had no idea!!

Omaha beach.. amazing how such awful things happened on such beautiful places.. kind of unreal.

We ate lunch at Cafe Roosevelt, and the core of it used to be a German bunker. US troops took it over and used it as their "landing base", directing the landing of lots of troops in the few weeks after D-Day. The original 40 something men that stayed there for longer to direct the landings signed the walls. On the 50th anniversary of D-Day, 2 of them came back to the cafe and the room was being used for storage, but they found their signatures. That had to be amazing.

original signatures

So now, whenever any veteran comes to the restaurant, they let them sign the walls. I thought that was pretty awesome.

newer signatures!

So... basically Normandy rocked. It was simply stunning. I have sooo many pictures on facebook too so check those out!! :)

Sunday I did some school work, then met my parents at around 4ish. We just walked around because it was gorgeous outside! It was their whole trip! Super lucky for them! We walked around towards Notre Dame and had dinner near St. Michel area.

family!

Paris seriously looks gorgeous this time of year, like more so than normal. The leaves are changing colors and its just so pretty!

notre dam at sunset!

Night photos!

I didn't have school Monday because it was a bank holiday (All-Saints day!) or Tuesday because I never have class Tuesday! We were going to go to London, but the high speed train was about 600 dollars per person.. so we didn't do that. Instead we went to Reims, France, (actually pronouned "rah-ance", who knew!) which was amazing! It's in the Champagne region of France so we got to tour a few Champagne Houses, Taittinger and Mumm. YUM.

riddling of champagne bottles!!

sooo much champagne!

yay!

all of us at the champagne tasting!

Riems also has the Notre Dame du Riems....

And Basilica St. Remi, which holds the tomb of Remi, who baptized King Clovis in the 5th Century.

Remi's tomb

interior of the basilica! (I lit it up for 2 euros for 10 minutes!!)

So Riems was awesome too! It was really nice to get out of the city, even if it was just for a night!

Wednesday and Thursday I had classes all day, so Nance and Bruce went to the Louvre and then to Versailles, and I still saw them for dinner!

Last night, Friday, we went to the Eiffel Tower!! Well first we went shopping and it was a total FAIL because Louis Vuitton was sold out of the bag I wanted and Christian Louboutin was out of my size in the shoes I wanted! rude. But the Eiffel tower was pretty awesome!! We had dinner at the restaurant on the first level!!