Arlington National Cemetery & National Zoo

Yesterday on our last Friday in DC for this summer, Cody and I went and visited the Arlington National Cemetery.  We visited JFK's gravesite and the tomb of the unknown soldier.  We even got lucky and arrived at the outdoor amphitheatre two minutes before a changing of the guard ceremony, so we were able see that too.

Cody at JFK's grave with a part of the cemetery in the background

Cody thought this was cool, "He was an interesting man" was his comment as he snapped the picture

Outdoor amphitheatre at the tomb of the unknown soldier

Guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier

Funeral procession

Then today we were able to spend a few hours at the National Zoo with our friends the Days.  They had been to the zoo twice already this summer, so they were our personal tour guides as we wandered the zoo.  My personal favorites: Amazonia and the orangutan.  Cody's favorites: the lions, gorillas, and the snapping turtle.

Male lion just chillin'

Inside the Amazonia building

Tortoise

Tortoise

Orangutan--they have this cool structure connecting the Orangutan Room with the Think Tank (another room where the orangutans hang out). They are able to climb on it between 11am-2pm daily.

Snapping turtle

Gettysburg outing

On Saturday, the interns here in the Washington Seminar group got to go on another outing, this time to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (note: pronunciation is like get-iss-berg; it's a soft "s" and a short "i" sound; Wikipedia has a nice pronunciation you can listen to).  We first went to the Visitor's Center to view the movie and cyclorama--really cool!  It is one painting, completed in less than a year, that was designed so that when you stand in the center of this 360* painting, it's like you're looking out at the battlefield and surrounding area.  We also had two hours to walk through the museum on the Gettysburg battle that is housed at the visitor's center.

After eating our fill at the General Pickett's all-you-can-eat buffet, we went on a bus tour of the Gettysburg battlegrounds.  It is really huge and it was neat to be able to go through all of it in a matter of hours, with a competent tour guide giving us info about the battle on the way.  

Inside the Gettysburg battle museum

The Eternal Flame

View from the tallest lookout spot

Me at the top of Little Round Top

Cody at the top of the tallest lookout spots in the park

View from the top of Little Round Top

The unknown soldiers buried in the Gettysburg Cemetery

Days 34-36: Normandy & Brittany & Loire Valley

Bayeux, Omaha Beach, St-Lo

31 mai 2010
We went to Bayeux, Omaha Beach and St-Lo Monday. The tapestry at Bayeux was rather amazing. I couldn’t believe that it had been made so quickly and that it was so detailed. I have had periods in my life where I have been really into cross-stitching and embroidering so it was a treat to see the technique and to see how it has been preserved throughout the centuries.

As for Omaha Beach, the German Bunker and St-Lo, it was a wonderful day to go those places because of the fact that it was Memorial Day. Being at Omaha Beach was a really special experience for me. I kept trying to envision the beach and trees being filled with soldiers, tanks, bombs dropping and boats out on the sea with paratroopers falling from the sky on to the beach. Even with an active imagination, it was hard for me to imagine that kind of a scenery because of the peace and calm that I felt on that beach. It was incredibly peaceful. I had the thought that maybe some of those soldiers thought “Hey I get to go to France” even under horrible circumstances such as war, they may have been excited to go there (because France is so famous), and yet so many—thousands—of those men lost their lives and are now buried in France.

Walking through the cemetery and reading the names of the soldiers was also a special experience. I think that there is something, I’m not sure what but something, that happens when you say someone’s name and recognize their existence as a human being, which is one of the reasons why I love going to cemeteries and reading the names on the tombstones and honoring their lives—whatever kind of lives were lived, they were human and they are my brothers and sisters. I’m really grateful I was able to go there to see the beach and cemetery and honor those who gave their lives to protect the entire free world.

Mont St-Michel, St-Malo
1 juin 2010
The rain definitely made today a different trip than it may have been with sunshine. From a distance I was impressed with the majesty of Mont St. Michel. It reminded me of a mix between the castle from Beauty and the Beast and the Hogwart’s castle from Harry Potter. We were able to have a look closer-up as we walked through the cramped “streets” leading up to the part of the abbey where our tour was going to start. I liked the juxtaposition between the Romanesque and Gothic architecture that was so visible in the different parts of the abbey. I absolutely loved the view from the abbey down onto Brittany. Even in the fog it was a beautiful sight.

St-Malo would have to be my favorite visit so far on this whole trip to France. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I’m sure it would have been a different kind of beautiful with the sun out, but it had a special kind of a feel when it was overcast. It was neat to walk on the wall around the perimeter of the city and look out over the beach.

In addition to these set destinations that we went to yesterday, I love looking out the window at the scenery. It is so green and lush here. The houses are picturesque and set off from the road with a wide variety of colors for the doors and shutters and gates—details which I absolutely love about being here in France.

The dinner was a treat. I loved the feel of the restaurant and the colors—deep red and white and silver. So beautiful! And the food was fantastic!

Angers, Langeais, Tours
2 juin 2010
The Angers Château was really a fortress, which you can tell on the outside but once inside you may doubt that a little bit because of the gardens and the peaceful environment that reigns there. We walked around the wall and were able to look out onto the city of Angers. While the view was stunning and the fortress itself was pretty neat, it was the flowers and plants that caught my attention. I definitely want to learn how to garden and not kill plants when I get back to Provo and/or have a yard.

I absolutely loved the tapestries at Angers ! Now I really want to read the Book of Revelations because the tapestries are called the Apocalyptic Tapestries and were commissioned to be made in 1375 by Louis I, Duke of Anjou and brother of King Charles V and was probably completed in 1382. While the tapestries can be considered in one sense a depiction of the events in Revelation, they are also a version of a certain kind of interpretation of the Book of Revelation which I thought was really interesting. That’s a lot of the reason why I want to reread the Book of Revelation…

After Angers we drove to Langeais. The castle was cool—the first castle that we’ve seen in the Loire Valley. I loved the beds! I thought they were so neat! I kind of want a bed like that…Also the chests were really neat. Very intricate and detailed. Some of them reminded me of Mom’s cedar chest where all the old blankets are.

Then for dinner here in Tours we ate at this fantastic restaurant. Very classy and very delicious.

Day 29: Books, Dress, Graves, Flowers and Dinner

Today after class I went with Grace, Ryan and Judy to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant; it was my third time going there. After eating, Ryan and I stopped at a patisserie on the way back to the Institute (to use the bathrooms) and I bought a beignet framboise. So good! It's like a huge raspberry filled doughnut, only better. I wasn't able to get a picture because I ate it.

This mini-adventure was followed by decision to hop on the metro and see where it went. It ended in Marie-des-Lilas. A more urban neighborhood part of Paris, though on the outskirts of Zone 1 (maybe 2...). I was able to buy a cute dress for 12 euro, 1 book (also for 12 euro...) and was able to enjoy a local cemetery.

After enjoying Marie-des-Lilas, and seeing that it was about to start raining, the Metro was again sought and this time the end destination was the Anatole France stop (because I've wanted to go there ever since I saw it the fourth day I was here). The city where Anatole France is located is so pretty! It's still in the city, there are still buildings and such, but there was a beautiful public park that was really well kept up, with a water play place for kids to play attached to it. I also stopped at a book store and bought three more books...

Since I had so many books and a dress, I came back to the Vesinet, dropped off my stuff and then headed back into the city for our group dinner. What did I have to eat? The pictures are below and it was all delicious.

(Entree: Escargots; actually quite good. Not terribly filling, but they didn't taste gross)

(Plat: Tartiflette avec sa salade verte; all I could see at this point

was that there was cheese on top)

(Come to find out there is also ham and potato and some kind of special sauce; delicious)

(As you can notice, I really enjoyed it. No, I did not lick the plate/bowl; I used

my bread to get most of the sauce left over)

(Dessert: crepe au chocolat et sa chantilly; basically a crepe with chocolate and whipped cream. It was good, I enjoyed it)

Day 28: Theory on Hands & Said "Hi" to Napoleon

Judy, Grace and I started off after class time by going to see the Grand et Petit Palais. As we crossed over the Pont Alexadre III bridge, we noticed an uncanny resemblance of one of the lion statues to Simba...unfortunately I did not get a picture of this resemblance; Judy as that picture, though she claims that he looks more like Aslan.

(View of Pont Alexandre III & Invalides in the distance)

We walked by the front of Invalides and made our way to the Hotel Biron which is where the Musee Rodin is located. Hotel Biron was built in the 1720s and is where Rodin lived in the early twentieth century. The gardens were beautiful!

(Garden outside Musee Rodin)

Even though daisies are (and will remain) my favorite flowers (with lilacs being a close second), I love roses because of Beauty and the Beast--especially the renditions written by Robin McKinley (Rose Daughter and Beauty). So I took some pictures of the roses and of some pretty blue flowers that I really liked. It's not often that you find truly blue things in nature--besides the sky of course. And since blue is my favorite color, I thought I would get a picture of them.

(Pretty blue flower in the garden at Musee Rodin)

(Yellow rose outside Musee Rodin)

(Red rose outside Musee Rodin)

We saw some of the famous Rodin bronze sculptures outside--Penseur, Gates of Hell, etc. But I think some of my favorite were inside--The Kiss (of course...this is because of Amelia's love for this piece when she took Humanities in high school), Cathedral, Secret, Main d'Amants--all by Rodin...and all of which are hands but I have a thing for hands. But I also really liked two of Camille Claudel's pieces: Clotho and La Petit Chatelaine.

I think that hands are so beautiful. They can express so much feeling and can tell a lot about a person. I tried to explain my "Theory on Hands" to Brian and Philip (at different times) and I think I did a rather horrible job of explaining because, as I remember, it sounded terribly cliche. However, I am going to try again to explain why I love hands so much and why these pieces by Rodin really caught my attention.

One: Have you ever tried to draw or depict a hand that is proportionally and realistically accurate? It's incredibly hard and painstaking work. I've tried it once and I haven't ever seriously attempted again. There are so many lines in a hand from all the movement of the knuckles and the veins and the nails. If someone can ever depict hands in an artistic way, I give them props and my admiration because hands are hard.

Two: Hands are one of the ways that we connect with someone else. We don't put our heads together and walk down the street--that would be weird, though hilarious. At the museum today I saw two different pairs of kids holding hands so that they would stay together and not get lost. That was so cute! I remember when I've held hands with my parents and my little brothers and the security that I felt holding my parents hands and the feeling of wanting to protect my little brothers from everything when I held their hands. And of course, as I've gotten older and have held non-familial hands to show affection, that is another kind of connection that I just love about hands. They seek each other if they know the other person will hold it.

Three: Scars. I love scars on hands because there is always a story (well, there is usually a story with all scars and I do like scars in general), but hands are highly visible and you don't have to roll sleeves up or take off your sock to show scars on your hands. Callouses are also pretty cool on hands and develop pretty easily from playing an instrument, mowing the lawn, etc.

So I don't know if that explained really at all my "Theory on Hands" and why I think they're fascinating, but it was an attempt to explain why I liked especially those three pieces by Rodin.

(Cathedral by Rodin)

(Secret by Rodin)

(Main d'Amants by Rodin)

(Main d'Amants by Rodin)

(Main d'Amants by Rodin)

(La Petite Chatelaine by Claudel)

(Clotho by Claudel)

After spending a good amount of time in the museum, we left and went to Invalides. We were super hot and the cool marble building felt so very nice. I took two pictures of Napoleon's tomb and told Napoleon that Sam Bateman said hi (yes, I remembered).

(Napoleon's tomb; it is huge)

(Outside of Invalides)

After we were sufficiently cooled-down, we bought some food at a Carrefour, then went and ate it in front of the Eiffel Tower. Overall, a very nice afternoon.