Transition through Versaille

I feel kind of odd following up such a fun tropical trip to LCI with the more somber, yet very interesting and personal, topic of my trip to the Normandy region of France. So, this is a transition. A warning of sorts. I want to share an emotional and historical trip through Normandy. I learned a lot about June 6, 1944 and the planning that went into what is forever to be known as D-Day. Ironically, the thing that connects our vacation to LCI to this trip to France was a trivia question posed at a tourist bar on the island, what does the D in d-Day stand for? My team didn't know the answer at the time but learned it was simply Day. Now I know much more about this Day Day than I even anticipated. But I want to take a beat and get my emotions sorted  through before putting it out there. Therefore, this is a post of photos.

On the way to Normandy, we stopped and toured the Palace of Versailles. It was as opulent as I had heard. After spending 4 years living near and working at a Baroque Palace, I thought I would be underwhelmed with Versailles but it lived up to its reputation. Enjoy the images I captured.

History and Life

In preparing for a visit to the beaches of Normandy, I headed to NY Times Travel for recommendations. I found an article from 2000, "A Place of Death, A Place of Play." I read each sentence closely with the mind of a person about to engulf upon a similar trip. I thought about my grandmother and her sisters and her brothers that fought in WWII. I thought about what I wanted to get out of this trip, I thought about my first visit to an American military cemetary in Europe. I drifted off into my thoughts and got slightly annoyed at the author's continuous mention of telling her children to be respectful. Then I reached the end. I read the last line,

"But if he could see my sons, free, and unburdened, and ignorant of war, I hope he would say that their very innocence was what the fight was for."

As I finished the article my thoughts shifted from past wars to present day. In November of 2000, I too was a child of sorts having turned 18 a few months prior. With the exception of Desert Storm, I did did not know war at that time. Now, I feel like so much has changed. I know I have grown and experienced the world but I mean the innocence. For practically all of my adult life there has been a war. America has been at war. I know people who are my age who have fought in wars. It's not just something to learn about in books, museums and movies. War is real right now. Does this mean there is no innocence for children? At first it seemed like no war could be as all encompassing as WWII, and maybe that is true but there is a impact on the homefront from any war. The propaganda may have changed but it's there. Most visable in the budget, in injured young men and women trying to live a civilian life after fighting in a foreign land, young widows and widowers, and children with the word deployment in their vocabulary. I never wanted to be able to say I lived during wartime but don't see an end in sight. Oddly, this article has made me very understanding of the Swiss stance on foreign wars.