Respect

We are in Barcelona now, we have been here for 3 nights so far and we leave for France tomorrow, I have been lazy to update this because of the great weather outside and the things to do and see. Let me fill you in on the last couple of weeks

We left Paris and headed to Bayeux which is a small city not far from the D Day Beaches. There we ended up staying in a Monastery for a night, kind of crazy being lead to your room by a Nun in full habit. We saw the British cemetery there, so many people buried there from both sides, and we put pictures up of some of the graves. So many 20-year olds to, even a couple 17-year olds, most of the men there are my age or younger, hard to look at these rows and rows of graves without thinking how stupid war is. We did a day trip to see the Canadian Sector, which is the movement of the Canadians on D Day, the beach they landed on and were they got to inland. Juno Beach has been a little more modernized but there are still German Bunkers, some of which are now wine cellars and Patios. The Anti tank war is there but now it forms the base of the walkway. The first house that the Canadians took still stands, it’s called Canada house now. You can see marks on the side of the road made by the tank treads as they came up the street. Like all the sectors each of the little towns liberated has a monument for the battalion that liberated the town; tons of Canadian flags flying there. The Canadian cemetery is much like the British, with rows and rows of graves, all young men who never went home. A number on a page in a book is one thing to look out but when you stand the middle and there are rows and rows of grave stones in every direction it’s something else. These are just two cemeteries to. Our tour guide, a history buff from Ireland was awesome, very funny and new pretty much everything. He lives in the house that was the end of the Canadian advance on D Day, well he lives the in part the Germans were occupying and across the court yard is where the Canadians where in his land Ladies house. There our bullet holes under his window, crazy to see. He has fun tons of stuff from the Canadians in his garden, including almost 4000 bullets, which he now gives away, so Jeff and I have a bullet from the Canadians from D Day, sweet.

After Bayeux we were going to go to Nice but then we realized it was right on the border with Italy, so we head off on a 20-hour trip to Madrid. Spain is crazy, the sleep in the middle of the day and stay up late. The streets are always busy at one am, people start to go to the clubs at like 11 or 12 and stay out to six or seven am. The city seems to be always moving and there is so much energy to Madrid. We were there for a Saints Holliday, so we got treated to an outdoors play and a great fireworks display. We meet some interesting people there including Pablo and Ines. Pablo is a speed chess player who is ranked at the top from Jamaica; he has been traveling the world buy playing chess on the side of the street with people for donations. It is amazing to watch him play, he is so fast that sometimes the clock doesn’t even tick one second. He has been teaching Ines to play and see is getting pretty good and one day we know she will be able to pick the music. We had a good time in Madrid checking out the parks and museums and the nightlife.

We left Madrid and Headed to Barcelona a couple days ago, Barcelona isn’t bad, but I think I like Madrid more, the beach here is ok but not as great as I expected it to be. There is a Gaudi park here that was cool and a Pablo Picasso museum. We arrived the night Barcelona beat Arsenal for the European Championship, so you can imagine that the city was crazy, people drinking and celebrating everywhere, I have never seen anything like that before. We are only in Barcelona till tomorrow when we go to Nice in France for a few nights then of to Italy, I am really looking forward about going to Italy since there is so much I want to see there. I think that’s about it.