Thoughts from Karen Brown

I have asked my fellow KUMC travelers to send me some of their favorite memories and pictures from the trip.  Karen Brown sent a wonderful story about our concert at Lorraine.

Group picture of The American Salute Chorus at the Lorraine Cemetery

"I was surprised how much the concert at the Lorraine American Cemetery touched me.  I was expecting to be touched more by the other concerts and not this one.  Boy, was I wrong!   Before we sang, the director of the cemetery told us the story of three service men buried at the cemetery.  These were very courageous men!  He then read a letter that one of them had written home to his parents shortly before his death.  The letter really touched the hearts of every parent in the group.  As we started to sing, a few rain drops fell.  The thought came to mind that God was shedding his tears for the service men, too and appreciated our songs of honor for them.  The sun then came out for the rest of the concert.  It took me several songs to get my composure to be able to sing again!  There were very few people in attendance, so I felt that the concert was for the fallen soldiers and for our chance to honor them.  After the concert, the rain fell in earnest for a short time.  It was very, very moving!"

 

"We saw Rick Steves at the Eiffel Tower.  I don’t know if I was more excited to see Rick Steves or the Eiffel Tower!!"

I want to thank Karen for contributing her stories and pictures to the blog.  I hope some of our other travel buddies will send some things as well.  Stay tuned!

We're home!

We arrived home safely yesterday evening.  Thank the Lord for safe travels and a wonderful trip.  Thank him also that our trip makes us appreciate home even more.  It is good to be back in the USA.

Now that I have a good internet connection, I have gone back and posted some pictures of our time in France.  If you have some time, take a moment to go back and see them.  We have also been told that there will be a "Journeys with Joe" Shutterfly account where all members of the group will be able to post pictures.  When I get that link, I will update this post.

Also, if anyone is interested in ordering a professional video that was made of our adventure, please let me know and I will send you the link for that.

I think this will probably be the final post for this trip.  Thank you all for your support and for following the blog.  I have enjoyed telling the story.

Normandy on the Fourth of July

It was early morning when we boarded the bus to ride to Normandy today.  We left the hotel at 7:45 in the morning because it took roughly 3 hours to drive to the location of our last performance.  The countryside of the region of Normandy is very beautiful – much like the countryside of Georgia.  The buildings here are somewhat new in that almost all of the old buildings were destroyed during World War II.  Still there is much to see.

We learned that Normandy is home to Camembert cheese, a lot of apple orchards (the apples are used to make a type of brandy called Calvados), and Joan d’Arc, the patron saint of France.  We passed Cannes (home of the famous film festival).

The American cemetery is a sight to behold.  Thousands of white stone markers (crosses and stars of David) line the ground distributed equally and lined at perfect angles.  We did not get the same pre-concert information as we did when we sang at Lorraine, but we did have a longer opportunity to walk the grounds and reflect on the meaning of such a hallowed place.  The cemetery is on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach.  The rise is steep and on D-Day, the Germans were situated along that rise firing down as the Allied Forces landed on the beach below.  We cannot begin to understand what bravery it took for those men to land on the beach, cross under fire, and scale the steep incline in order to overtake the enemy several days later.  While not all of the graves at the cemetery belong to men who died during that battle, we did see many markers with the date, June 6, 1944 scattered throughout the grounds.

Before we sang, we were treated to a small concert from another group that is traveling with Harmony International.  This group is from Covington and Conyers and their tour is taking them to England after they leave France.  Once they finished three of their songs, we sang several of our pieces.  Then both groups combined to sing some of our more moving pieces.  Fantastic!  Our final prepared piece was The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and we were told it was heard and enjoyed at the other end of the cemetery.  Following that, Joe Martin encouraged everyone (singers, instrumentalists, and audience alike) to sing our National Anthem.  Imagine singing the Star Spangled Banner with over 200 people on Independence Day at the site of one of our most important and meaningful battles!  Without the bravery and sacrifice of the men who stormed Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, the world would be a much different place.  I cannot tell you how meaningful this experience of visiting the cemetery was for me.

After the concert, several of us went with Kathy McCranie so that she could show us where her uncle, Ralph Kittle, was buried.  She had the coordinates of the marker and the Assistant Superintendent of the cemetery had been kind enough to walk her over to it before the concert.  At the foot of the cross lay a bunch of flowers.  Kathy asked earlier who might have left the flowers there.  She learned that families from the surrounding area often adopt graves and lay remembrances on them.  For the most part, the French people are truly grateful for what the Americans did in order to liberate France at the end of World War II.

From there we walked down to the beach.  I can tell you the climb back up was not easy in broad daylight on a beautiful day dressed in summer weight clothing and carrying a mere black notebook.  Imagine making it in the early morning under gunfire dressed in full combat gear and toting a backpack and a rifle!

We strolled back to the bus which took us to another area of the beach which has been designated as the marker for the Omaha Beach landing.  We enjoyed a sack lunch and admired the sculpture that was erected to commemorate the D-Day landing.

We headed back to the bus for our trip back to Paris where we will have the final dinner with the entire American Salute Tour.  Tomorrow we wake in the wee hours to head to the airport for our journey home.  Bon soir, mes amies et ma famille.  I will see you soon.

Paris through the eyes of a transplant

My niece, Carmen, studied in Paris for a year.  She fell in love with a city – and a fellow she met not too long before she came home.  So after a year back in the States she decided to return to Paris for her the last summer before completing her final semester at Georgia Tech.  She landed a fantastic job with a non-profit agency, and she is living just outside of Paris.  All that is to say, we had access to one of the best types of tour guides for our free day in Paris – someone who knows the lay of the land, speaks English and French fluently, and loves her Aunt Nan enough to show her the way around.

So after a nice long rest, Carol and I arranged to meet Carmen for a tour of Paris as seen through her eyes.* We arranged to meet at the Metro stop close to Montmartre.  After successfully navigating the Metro (pretty good for a couple of girls from Georgia) to our meeting place, we passed the time waiting for Carmen to join us by (what else?) shopping at the LEGAL street vendors.  They had scarves, jewelry, handbags, les belle chapeaux (pretty hats), and all sorts of fun stuff.

Sacre Couer Cathedral.  The metal scaffolding in front was being built for some kind of skateboarding jump that would be taking place in the next couple of weeks.  C-R-A-Z-Y!

View from Sacre Couer

When we met up with Carmen she led us through the crowded streets of Montmartre to Sacre Couer (Sacred Heart) Cathedral.  This cathedral is perched upon a tall hill so we had many steps to climb, but Carmen assured us that the view would be worth the trip.  The girl did not lie.  From the steps of Sacre Couer, we could see the entire cityscape of Paris.  It was a fantastic view… and the cathedral was not too shabby either.  We walked through and admired the glorious windows and ceilings adorned with magnificent art.  Just beautiful!!

We descended the hill through the art vendors of Montmartre and Carmen told us that this section of Paris has always been where the more artistic folks lived.  We stopped at a few (guess what) shops along the way and Carol fell in love with one store that she still wants to go back and visit because it had cute, useful things that would remind her of Paris.

We hopped on the Metro and headed to Carmen’s favorite park in Paris, Parc Monceau.  Along the way, we purchased some baguettes, some cheese and meats, some fresh fruits, and some – wait for it – French pastries and chocolates!  We also met up with Anita and Will who had been with the group which toured Versailles.  We proceeded to the park, which is the largest in Paris, and had a beautiful picnic under the shade of the trees.  We say families out for Sunday afternoon fun, couples strolling, people sunning, and children eating “barba-papa” [sp?] which means cotton candy.

Nan's niece, Carmen

We finished our picnic and headed to Notre Dame to see the inside of the cathedral.  We planned to go to mass, but when we saw the crowds and learned that mass was 1½ hours long, we opted for the walk-through tour while mass was beginning.  The organ was playing when we walked in.  I have no idea how many pipes the organ has, but it has so many that we heard the magnificent sound from the outside long before we entered the building.  The crowd walking through was massive so we did not stay long, but we saw the fantastic structure of something built long before the existence of cranes and bulldozers.  The arches were masterfully created.  Accompanied by the sounds of mass in the background, this brief stroll through the crush of people at the cathedral was one of the most memorable experiences of the whole trip.

After Notre Dame, Carmen recommended that we purchase a ticket for the Batobus which is a transit system using boats to make stops all along the Seine.  You can board at any of the stops and leave the boat at any of the stops while seeing Paris from the river.  Sadly, we parted ways with Carmen at this point, but we enjoyed a nice river cruise from the Hotel de Ville to the Eiffel Tower and back to the Musee d’Orsee where we disembarked to walk along the Place de la Concorde back up to the Champs Elysees.  It was 9:30 and we were ready to turn in for the evening so we hopped back on the Metro and headed back to the hotel.
Paris through the eyes of my niece was one of my favorite days of the whole trip.

*I should note that most of our KUMC group toured Versailles on Sunday morning, but as I did not go, one of those peeps is going to need to tell that story.

Our first full day in Paris

The last couple of days were big days in Paris.  The Lord blessed us with fantastic weather that was perfect for touring one of the most beautiful cities.  We started with a bus tour through the city on Saturday morning.  There are so many sights to see!  Our tour guide, Veronique, who joined our bus at Lorraine, was our guide through the city and through the Louvre.  We have had fun getting to know her and she has been very helpful both when we are together as a group and when we need assistance finding our way through the city during free time.  After our whirlwind bus tour of Paris, we stopped at the Eiffel Tower and went to the second level.  It was very crowded, but we got to skip waiting in line because we had an appointment time to go up the elevator.  From the second level of the tower, you can see everything in Paris.  The city is huge!
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Is this a view from the North, East, South or West?  Nan can't remember.

From our vantage points, we saw such landmarks as the Arc de Triomphe, the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, the River Seine, and much, much more.  As we made our way to the ground level, we saw several guys climbing a rope to the upper arch of the inside of the tower and rappelling back down.  We learned that this was a training exercise for the fire department.  It was very impressive.  There were also several “vendors” of little Eiffel Towers and other souvenirs all throughout the ground level.  Their sales technique was rather aggressive and “no” not a word they understood – even when said in French emphatically.  “Vendors” is in quotes because we learned that they are not legally allowed to sell their petite Eiffel Towers, etc. when the police came and all of them took flight very quickly in the opposite direction.

It looks like we are standing right in front of the tower, but it is actually a couple hundred yards in the background.  See picture below...

This will give you some perspective.  When Carol and I posed for our picture in front of the tower, we were standing in the flat area between the two mirroring buildings seen in the middle of this photo.

We left the Eiffel Tower to make our way to the Louvre for a small window of free time for lunch before our scheduled tour of the museum.  Unfortunately, somewhere between our stop at la Tour Eiffel and the food court at the Louvre, Anita was pick-pocketed which bummed us all out.  Her wallet is all that was stolen so she still had her passport.  Fortunately, she was able to alert all of her credit card companies before anything was charged, and she worked it out with Veronique to find a Western Union to access some of her cash.

This was as close as we could get to the Mona Lisa.

Our tour of the Louvre was great, but we all needed much more time than we had.  We saw Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa (from a distance due to the number of people), and an impressive collection of art that our guide told us was acquired in several methods: purchased, presented as a gift, or stolen.  Again, we needed much more time, but our tour ended and most of us needed some breathing room after working our way through the crowds.

So at this time we split into smaller groups and took advantage of an evening of free time.  While some went to Notre Dame, Carol and I opted to walk towards the Champs Elysees thinking it was just past the gardens of the museum.  We were waiting for my niece, Carmen, to meet up with us and have dinner at one of her favorite restaurants… what we didn’t know was how far away the Champs Elysees was from the place we started.  So we walked and walked and walked and walked – and then walked back to the Louvre to meet Anita and Will after they got their money issues straightened out.

Nan with Carmen in front of the St. Michel Fountain

Carmen met us and took us to a place where we got the best meal of the whole trip.  We ordered real French onion soup, steak, and an “ooh la la” dessert that was like an éclair with ice cream in the middle rather than custard.  YUM-O! Carol really enjoyed her “French coffee” – so much she got two.  The whole meal was just what the doctor ordered after a long day of walking, walking, and walking.

After dinner we walked up to Notre Dame to see the beautiful cathedral all lit up in the night.  There were street musicians along the way.  Every once in a while a spinning blue light would fly through the air from the ground.  It made me think of a combination of fireflies and fireworks and it was neat against the dark façade of the walls of Notre Dame.  The massive stone towers bathed in the glow of the lights made for an even more impressive display than I ever imagined. 

We would have loved to stay to enjoy more of the atmosphere, but we were exhausted so Carmen arranged for a taxi to take us back to the hotel.  We made it “home” after a full day in Paris.

A view from our room... can you see la Tour Eiffel?

I promise it's there... reflected in those ugly windows.

Leaving Germany... traveling through Lorraine... entering Paris!

Bonjour, Mes Amies!

Today was a full day of travel.  Leaving the hotel in Kaiserslautern this morning, we headed for our time at the American Cemetery in Lorraine.  Interesting side note: in Lorraine, we also had to change buses because German buses do not go to France and French buses do not come to Germany.  Hmmm.  Wonder why?  Anyway, Germany was nice, but we were all very excited to be moving on to France.  Unfortunately, the pictures are taking way too long to load on the connection we have here at the "lovely" Hotel Ibis so pictures will be added to this post after I figure out a way around this little blip.

The cemetery at Lorraine was breathtaking.  Staring across the many graves there, one couldn’t help but think about the sacrifice these men and women made in the name of freedom.  Before we sang, the Assistant Superintendent, Bruce Malone, spoke of the cemetery’s history and purpose.  Mr. Malone was very knowledgeable about military history, and was a wonderful speaker.  He told us that the cemetery is the final resting place for 10,489 men and women who were killed during World War II.  We learned that over 25,800 soldiers had been buried in four temporary cemeteries located in different areas in France.  In 1947, those buried were disinterred and prepared to be sent back to their families in the U.S.  The loved ones were asked if they wanted the bodies shipped home for burial in the States or if they would like them memorialized in the American Cemetery there at Lorraine. Forty percent remained in France.

There are 151 unknown soldiers buried at Lorraine.  The interred include people from all walks of life, soldiers from every state in the U.S., soldiers from other countries who were serving with the U.S., and civilians who served with the U.S. in some official capacity.  Mr. Malone told us some of the stories of the people laid to rest at Lorraine, and he read the final letter from a man who was about 22 years old who had written to his father to tell him the types of everyday things he was looking forward to doing when he returned home.  The letter was penned just 18 days prior to his death and moved many of us to tears.  We followed that with a shortened performance of some of our more somber selections.  We had a little sprinkle of rain while we were singing, but overall, the time we spent at Lorraine was a beautiful and meaningful start to our time in France.

Once we finished, we loaded our different buses and headed for Paris.  The drive was a little over five hours long which put us arriving in Paris during a busy traffic time.  We have seen the Eiffel Tower from a distance, we have checked into the hotel room (which is about one third of the size of a hotel room in the U.S.), and we have had a wonderful dinner.  It is time for bed.

Tomorrow we head to the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

Au revoir!

Family in Christ...

We need to introduce you to some folks we have traveling with us who are part of our extended church family.  Chris and Chrissy Dilday have family members who made this journey with us.  Although we have missed Chris and Chrissy on this trip, we are happy to have had the opportunity to meet their family members and spend some time getting to know these new friends.

Brenda and Mike Ousley (Chrissy's mother and step-father) and Susan Jeffries (Chris's mother)