London

Big Ben
Ok. This is my last post of my Europe trip, I am really tired of doing it! So I hope that someone has enjoyed looking at all these foto's, it takes forever to upload them!
The London Bridge, just across from the tower of London.
The tower of London, where lots of Kings and Queens lived. Where the crown jewels display is.
The fuzzy hat guy at the Tower of London. I don't think that I could do that job. He just stands there all day!
The best waffle that I have ever tasted. This one was glazed, warm topped with ice cream! Loved it. I think that I will try it sometime.
All of the cabs in London look like they are from the 50's. I don't know why.
An ad in the Tube (subway) for a gym. I thought that it was interesting to see the difference in English English and American English.
The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was almost an hour and a half long! Most of the group was sitting on the ground behind a huge group of Asians talking we were so tired of it! It turned into more of a band concert...Weird.
The Bunhill Fields Cemetery. A little different I know. When Protestantism was just getting started it was an interesting problem for people to decide where to get buried. For ex-Catholics, they wanted to be in a Catholic cemetery because, according to the Catholic beliefs, you would not go to heaven unless you were interred at in consecreated soil...

This was one of the first Un-Catholic cemeteries in England. The above tomb of Isaac Watts is significant because he was a profuse hymn writer. He is responsible for a large number of the hymns that are in the current LDS hymnbook. We sang a few here. It was pretty sweet.

...A long explanation, sorry!

Normandy, France

We made a quick stop to several of the World War II sites in Normandy, France. Above is the visitors center for the American Cemetery. The land has been given to the United States from France. It was very well done. A good impression on the states if someone hasn't been here.

A display of the flags of those countries that were involved.

The main memorial that is at the entrance to the cemetery. This overlooks the picture below.
For more info on the cemetery go to: http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.phpA monument at Omaha Beach.
Point Du Hoc. The initial place for the Americans entry into France on D-Day.

Paris

PARIS! "The city of Love" and the shimmering Eifel Tower.
A video of the tower in its shimmering glory.

Jessica, Eric and Angie in front of the tower. The blue with 12 stars represents the European Union of countries (the Euro).

The shimmering up close and personal.
The elevator on the way to the top of the tower. It was a bit tight!
The view from the top of the tower.
The Arc de Triumph. Around which a 12 lane roundabout circles...talk about confusion.The Allee of trees that double lined the street that the Arc is on. I thought that it was pretty cool. The other students didn't though.
The Louve: the winged lady. (I forgot her real name)
A rather small and unimpressive painting. Somehow she got her own wall and two security guards all to herself though.
A real French crepe: Nutella, bananna and coconut. It was rather tasty.The Notre Dame Cathedral: I didn't like it. Gothic architecture is WAY too busy for me. And even with all the flying butresses that supposedly allowed more windows, it was still just about as dark as night in there. The crazy bird guy sitting outside.
My bed in Paris was the red matress on the floor, also in the foto are 1/2 of Ryans face and body and Caleb. I guess that rent is high in Paris, we were on a budget...

Mauthausen Concentration Camp

Mauthausen Concentration Camp: by far most sobering stop of the trip. An unfortunate black mark on the world's history.The rather fitting water feature in the visitors center.
There were several monunments to those that died here.

The rock quarry where the prisoners were worked.
The 'stairs of death'.



I don't / can't explain these things. For more info, please visit:

http://www.jewishgen.org/forgottencamps/Camps/MauthausenEng.html

Venice

The 'super romantic' city with water on their streets: Venice. We took a day trip and saw the sights. Here they are:

A shot of the city as we approached on the ferry.

My token 'I was in Venice' foto.

A video from the first main bridge we came to in Venice...Americans.

A cool little Venitian courtyard at a crosstreet.

The colors they use are pretty sweet. Maybe the super old buildings have something to do with it too.
A shot taken from the Ferrari tourist trap store window.
The streets of Venice, on the gondola ride route.
Angie, Jessica and I on the gondola ride.
The gondola ride video!

Does this look awkward to anyone else?
Our gondola ride group, with our trusty driver in the background. He has only fallen into the water twice in his career.
Jessica, Jessica, Eric and Rachael in front of the San Marco (Saint Mark) church, one of the largest gathering spots in the city.

A shot of all of San Marco square.
The ferry ride from Venice back to our bus. Our group of 50 comprises most of the girls paying special attention to the guy holding the camera right now, that was about the only time the girls paid any attention to me. Oh, and when I unloaded their baggage from the bus, that was the other time...
Video of our departure from Venice.


A pretty cool shot from the above mentioned ferry on the way home.