Landed in USA!

Just landed in Dallas. We have a 3 hour layover.

On the plane!

Getting ready to taxi out to take off. We are about an hour bhind. See you soon!

Delayed in Paris

Stuck in Paris for a bit but should still make our connection in Dallas. I will keep you posted as best I can.

Update...

Just getting ready to head out the door for our last few hours in Paris, but I was able to upload a couple more of the students' thoughts in the Falcon Corner. Enjoy! Mr. C

Happy Father's Day!

From all of us on tour to our dads back home, we thank you for all that you have done and will do for us! We love you!

France - Day 3 and 4

Ok, we are going to update for two days in one post! Yesterday we made our way through the region of Normandy which is located in northwestern France. We made our first stop in Rouen, which is the capital of this region. We were able to see the main cathedral called Notre Dame, and also so the memorial dedicated to the patron saint of France, Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake in Rouen. We had some free time to look around and eat some lunch.

From Rouen we headed to a classic fromagarie, which is a French cheese farm. It was an interesting stop as the tour was all in French and the production was on hold that day. From there we went to the city of Caen, where our hotel was, and had a traditional Normandy dinner: chicken with a butter sauce, rice, and an apple tart. We all got to bed early which was nice because we all needed to catch up on some much needed rest.

This morning we started our day with a trip to the Caen Memorial, which is a museum dedicated to World War II, but more specifically to the D-Day landings and the Normandy invasion. It was a beautiful museum and I highly recommend it if you are ever here.

We then traveled down the road to a small sea-side village of Arromanches, which was the location where Gold Beach was, and were the Allies created a make-shift harbor to unload men, machines, and supplies into France after the invasion. We had lunch here and some time to walk around and view the pieces of docks left in the water off shore.

We drove a bit farther down the shore until we got to the American Cemetery, which is located right on Omaha Beach. The cemetery was beautiful, however, it was one of the most sobering and emotional moments of my life as we walked the rows upon rows of white crosses. We also had a chance to walk the beach and try to imagine the hardship and sacrifice made so that we could be on this trip now.

We also were able to drive down to Point du Hoc, which divides the two American beaches, Omaha and Utah. It was seen as pivotal for the success of the invasion. About 200 Army Rangers had to scale the cliffs at Point du Hoc in order to disable the guns that were firing down on the beaches. Some of the German bunkers are still there today, as well as the numerous holes caused by Allied artillery on the Normandy coast. We completed our day with dinner back at the hotel.

Tomorrow we head back to Paris for our last day! It is sad that it is over but I think everyone is eager to get home and to some “normalcy”. The schedule is rather easy with a stop in a small coastal town and then some free time in Paris before dinner and then our final adventure, a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower! I don’t know if I will update the blog tomorrow night as it will be late and we will need to get up early for our trip to the airport on Monday. I will hopefully blog once we are in the airport. I have added Andrew’s comments to the Falcon corner, and will see if I can get some more tomorrow from some students on our drive to Paris. Keep us in your prayers as we get ready for the long road home! Mr. C

P.S. CHECK OUT PICTURES!

France - Day 2

I'm currently writing this post from my phone as we drive to the French coast and Normandy. Last night was a late night in Paris as we had a slight mix up with our bus after our night cruise on the Siene River. So this will be short.

We started yesterday by visiting one of the largest museums in the world: the Louvre. We had a chance to see some awesome things like the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi, ad much more! 

From there we traveled wth a guide on a bus to the Palace of Versialles. We got the opportunity to tour the state apartments and the immense gardens. our guide was awesome and she reminded the kids of Mrs. Overton! 

We then headed back into the city for some free time and dinner. After dinner we made our way to take an hour cruise down the river, which was awesome! We had some great views and as we approached the Effiel Tower it lit up and started to fash!

We got off the boat and were met by a special suprise, Ben's brother Aaron! It was a nice reunion! 

Today we had to the coast and tomorrow we will visite the Normandy beaches and the American landing sites and cmetary. We return to Paris on Sunday. Not sure if we have wifi at this hotel, so maybe I can update you with my phone. Mr. C