Warning this is a very long post! Over Memorial weekend we randomly decided to head up to Normandy France, Our friend Daniel's dad was here in Europe visiting while Daniel was on extra duty so couldn't hang out much with his dad. Andrew had met him last year, anyways he had rented a car and ready to go up to Normandy, so he asked us if we wanted to go with him which we did and had alot of fun considering it was us three, kinda funny!Tolls are crazy here in France, once we entered France we had to stop literally almost every hour to pay tolls which we had a 7 hour drive, so ya not fun it's pretty crazy!Here we are at our hotel we stayed in Caen which about 45min. away from Normandy, it was a cute french city we walked around a little but most everything was closed since it was Sun.This is the view from our hotel so you can see a little of what Caen looks like, it was really hot when we got there but the next morning we woke up to a huge rain and thuderstorm!Enjoying the nice weather since Germany has been having such horrible weather lately, it will be nice and sunny one day and then the next day cold and rainy!Jim and AndrewHere is a random castle we saw while driving through Caen i couldn't get the whole castle in the pic it was HUGE!
This is looking down onto Omaha beach in Normandy we had a chance to walk down to the beach which was sad to be walking down the beach and thinking of the soldiers who lost their lives and how the ones that survived ever made it up the hill so far from the beach!
Omaha beach there were so many soldiers that died and they say the water was red for miles from the shore and to this day every once and a while a helmet or something will wash up from shore.On our way down to the beach we saw an American couple from Florida we stopped to talk to them, he had tears in his eyes as he told us his grandfather had lost his life here in Normandy, we definatley all had tears in our eyes.
Jim was also extremely thankful for the soldiers, he was so grateful to see his son since he got he got back Iraq. His son Daniel one of Andrew's good friends was injured downrange he recieved a purple heart which is a very high recognition, we are so thankful he's ok!Here is the memorial just up from Omaha beach for all the American soldiers that lost their lives.I guess you can say i appreciate the troops more now since Andrew's decision to join the military it's not easy and they really do sacrifice so much more than we think, they are true heros. So thanks Andrew for being such a great soldier i love ya:)The grounds looked so beautiful they keep it looking so nice and very neat to see the American and French flag on every soldiers grave. Thanks to our soldiers and all our troops then and now.
This is the cliff that alot of rangers tried to climb, I'm not sure the exact numbers but they say out of about 290 soldiers only 90 survived. I don't know how the ones survived made it up this cliff it's so high, it's hard to tell in the picture how high it really isAndrew being the soldier he is, loved seeing all the sights that you only hear about in history, which it's pretty amazing to see this place we are thankful we got the chance!Walking around in the bunker it was pretty dark down in these things i can't even imagine how scary it would be in a war but i guess it's the safest place.Smile Jim, he is such a funny man he had us laughing the whole time on our drive and of course him and Andrew had fun talking about cars. Jim has a couple porches which he races everywhere. He went to the race track here in Germany as well while he was here he LOVES it!Andrew and i in a bunkerJim and i down in one of the blast crater, it's kinda hard to tell in the pic but it's pretty big
On our way back from Normandy Jim wanted to at least drive through Paris to see the city and luckily we found a couple parking spots so he could see the arc de triump and the Eiffel tower. He loved what he saw of the city and wants to come back!The arc de triumphLast time we were in Paris we were in a different area so it was fun to see the Eiffel tower in a different scenery. No matter where you get a view of it in the city it's still AMAZING!Some of the city by the Sienne River It was such a beautiful day and it was EXTREMELY hot i couldn't believe how muggy it was, Jim is from New Jersey and said the humidity was worse in Paris kinda crazy.We had a fun stop in Paris we were glad Jim got to see a couple sights and part of the city since we didn't have much time in the city we had to get back on the road for another 5hour drive.Well Jim we had a fun trip with you and hope to see you when you come to Germany in a few more months!
It's now time for all the summer festivals and Farmers markets to start here in Germany, ok so Germans seem to always find something to celebrate about! I love it:) Anyways earlier that day our friends boy Joshua turned 1 so we went to celebrate his birthday and later that night decided to hit the festival in K-town!Our good friend Eric otherwise known as V just returned from Iraq last week which we're so glad for his safe return. Anyways he was putting on some girly lipgloss so we just had to take his pic ha ha
Lisa Marie-Julia and iAndrew trying to win some German prize i think it was for some candy or a beer stein!Once again we had fun, i think we're both going to miss all the fests when we are living in the states again!! There were tons people probably since it's one of the first big fests, i don't even know what the Germans were celebrating we just went and had a good time:)L
WOW! I can't believe we already had another anniversary yes i know i'm a little behind since our anniversary was on the 18th. Anyways we have had a fun 2 years so far and 21 months of our marriage in another country which we have had our share of ups and downs being so far away from family and friends but together we work through them and i know we can count on each other when hard times come. I love you Andrew and can't wait to celebrate more anniversary's together i love you more and more everyday!We went out to dinner at our favorite mexican resturaunt in Kaiserslautern the Cantina, It's funny Germans don't seem to like really spicy food so their food is very mild compared to the states. Word got around about how good this place is, which there is always ALOT of Americans there!Later on we decided to go share a spaghetti eis icecream, ya dad to bad you weren't here with us since it is your FAVORITE, it was such a beautiful day:)Castle in Kusel all lit upWe went for a walk later around K-town area, the weather was perfect so we walked around and enjoyed the sunset. I love all the sunsets in Germany they are amazing although so are the ones in the states but i don't remember them ha ha.I love ya babe:)HaPpY AnNiVeRsArY MaY 18, 2009
Andrew and i are currently living in Germany and will be here for 2 more years. Andrew is a calvary scout in the U.S. Army. Although it's sometimes different living in another country and far away from family and friends, We are having ALOT of fun traveling around Europe together.
Warning this is a very long post! Over Memorial weekend we randomly decided to head up to Normandy France, Our friend Daniel's dad was here in Europe visiting while Daniel was on extra duty so couldn't hang out much with his dad. Andrew had met him last year, anyways he had rented a car and ready to go up to Normandy, so he asked us if we wanted to go with him which we did and had alot of fun considering it was us three, kinda funny!
Tolls are crazy here in France, once we entered France we had to stop literally almost every hour to pay tolls which we had a 7 hour drive, so ya not fun it's pretty crazy!
Here we are at our hotel we stayed in Caen which about 45min. away from Normandy, it was a cute french city we walked around a little but most everything was closed since it was Sun.
This is the view from our hotel so you can see a little of what Caen looks like, it was really hot when we got there but the next morning we woke up to a huge rain and thuderstorm!
Enjoying the nice weather since Germany has been having such horrible weather lately, it will be nice and sunny one day and then the next day cold and rainy!
Jim and Andrew
Here is a random castle we saw while driving through Caen i couldn't get the whole castle in the pic it was HUGE!
