Remember boys: flies spread disease, so keep yours closed.

[highdreams]

Hi there! It sure has been a long time since I updated. Not much has happened in the time I’ve been away. But thank goodness the schoolyear has ended and I still have 4 weeks off before the new one begins. I’ve been on vacation to Normandy (and stayed in a lovely hotel in the town Carentan) to see the WWII sites. My health is still crap; headaches

Comments

[carameltrap]

I find myself quite teary-eyed over this post, as strange as it may sound. BoB will always have that huge impact in my life. Seeing the real photos and of where the battles were depicted in the series was moving. The places you went to are so beautiful and so rich with history. Perhaps one day I'll be able to go there but until then, I'll just enjoy reading and looking at the pics.

[highdreams]

Thank you for your lovely comment, Lavinia. <3 I don't think it sounds strange; I often have the same reaction when it comes to BoB. There's this Dutch guy (check his awesome site) who went to many reunion trips of Easy Company in Europe and his pictures and stories of them always make me teary-eyed.

The places were indeed very beautiful! Some places were so peaceful and cozy that it's hard to believe that there was such a fierce battle going on there so many years ago. I hope you'll be able to go some day! And I just realized, if it wasn't for you and your BoB rec in your lj, I wouldn't even have made this trip. So thank you for that. :DDD

[teaspoonery]

This is brilliant. I already wanted to go to Normandy but now even more desperately so!

Gah, seriously, thank you so much for these pictures. I love all the churches and the window with the paratroopers in it is rather amazing. Like angels, hah.

As for Rommel--my father keeps mentioning that he was a fair soldier. Which makes me wonder... my brother happens to be called Erwin.

[highdreams]

\o/ Yay! Thank you. :D Normandy is stunning, I'm sure you'll agree with me once you've visit it someday. Maybe you'll find my 'brochure' useful when you go. I made this before I went as a result from many many hours of research. It contains all the places that are related to the 101st Airborne and Band of Brothers (mainly Utah Beach area) and some must-sees near Omaha Beach. pdf file and a word doc here (you can right click and save if you want to). Just thought I'd share - saves you a lot of research if you ever go (although that part was actually quite fun to do!). It's a mixture of both Dutch and English, copied and pasted from various sites. And now that I think about, I regret not having linked to the original sources. :/

These sites are worth a visit, though:
• strijdbewijs.nl - site in both English and Dutch. Contains very detailed information about the beaches in Normandy and the sites to see.
• oorlogsmusea.nl - website in Dutch, with lots of museums and other WWII sites in Normandy (and the rest of Europe for that matter

[teaspoonery]

I know more people who've been to Normandy--a girl I went to school with also said it's stunning. My mother first was intending to plan a holiday to Normandy, but my father doesn't want to drive any further than 500km, so yeah... not going to happen (instead we're going to the Ardennes so if I can go to Bastogne I'll be happy anyway). I'm definitely going to check out your research!

Stained glass is always prettier IRL. And you know, Catholic churches are generally very pretty and lovely. Protestant churches... not so much.

Well, I did ask him but he claims they didn't name my brother after Rommel. I still think it was influenced by him (though he was going to be called Edwin, my brother was, but then two families my parents were befriended with named their kid like that in the year he was born) because even back then he read a lot of books about WWII and the German and Russian sides seem to capture more of his interest than the Allied side.

[highdreams]

Oh, that sucks about your dad not wanting to drive any further than 500km - although I can definitely understand it! It's not really fun to drive so far - my neck, arms and back were stiff for like days. But on the other hand - it's worth it! How's your theory thingy going, by the way?

I completely agree about the Catholic churches! I'm not a church person at all (in fact, I kind of hate them) but the only ones I feel comfortable in are the Catholic ones. I don't know, it just gives me a feeling of peace or something. Plus, like you said, most of the time they're very pretty.

My niece's boyfriend is also very interested in the German side of the war and I always thought that was weird, but never bothered to ask him why he was so interested in that. Until last year, when he realized I was quite taken by BoB and everything about WWII and we've had some good conversations since then - now I understand his views better. Not everything is as black and white as it may seem.