The Parentals in Europe

Bayeux Cathedral
Scenery in Bayeux
Mom and I at the Eiffel Tower
Dad and I at The Louvre
In front of Notre Dame Cathedral

Since school ending around the 14^th of May, I have officially started my summer vacation with a bang! I took an overnight bus ride from San Sebastián (11 hours) to Paris to meet my parents after not having seen them for about four months. We met at our hotel on the outskirts of Paris, with me anxiously arriving several hours before them. Once they stepped foot in the hotel, I could see the relief on their faces that they had finally arrived and were done with traveling for the time being. I was very excited for them to come, as this was both of their first trips to Europe. Funnily enough as we were taking our first picture together outside of our hotel, my Dad commented on the weeds growing by a tree, saying ¨Hmm… we have the same weeds at home.¨ Leave it to my father the rancher to notice the weeds in Paris. We used Rick Steve (travel book) as our guide here. We hit up the major hotspots such as the Eiffel Tower, where we took an unmentionable number of pictures much to my Father´s dismay, toured the Notre Dame Cathedral, and walked along the Champs Elysee, ending at the Arc de Triomph. The language barrier was difficult for us all in France, as none of us have any idea and we continually felt like we were being yelled at by French people; which is all part of the fun! We were there for two days before taking a two hour train to Bayeux. But wait, not before venturing through the Paris subway system with all of our luggage!! My father kindly reminded my mother on several occasions that she had overpacked J. One of my favorite images was my Dad on the Paris subway with his Steve Irwin hat on, and his Wranglers, keeping his composure. Not his typical environment, but he throroughly enjoyed himself, as did my Mom and I.

Convincing my Dad to go to Paris was easy because we let him choose wherever he wanted to go after that. Being a big WWII history buff, he has always been enthralled with the D-Day invasion of the Normandy Beaches. We arrived in the small town of Bayeux, and checked into a bed and breakfast, and explored the town on foot. We had some excellent crepes and galletes (crepes with real food, not dessert food on them), and sampled the local calvado drink, as well as cider. The cathedral, especially for the size of Bayeux, was astonishing, and rose above the rest of the buildings in the city. One of the most impressionable days of the trip thus far for me, was the day we did the WWII D Day tour. My Dad was more excited than a kid on Christmas, and seemingly knew just as much as our very knowledgeable tour guide, and certainly did not shy away from asking questions. There were seven of us on the tour, and we visited the town of Sainte Mére Église, the first town liberated by the Americans, Utah Beach, Pointe du Hoc, and Omaha Beach before ending the tour at the American Cemetary at Colleville. One additional stop we made along the way was in a small village (population 56) called Angoville which is known for two American medics that saved 81 American and German lives. It was the remarkable story of the two men, who at the ages of 19 and 21, one with one day of medical training, and the other with three weeks, who were able to not only survive the circumstances, but save lives. They made the church their makeshift hospital, and today, you can still see blood on the pews from the injuries sustained by the survivors in 1944. There is much more to the story, but this will be something that I will always remember, as often times the personal stories of the men who put their lives on the line are forgotten.

Leaving Bayeux, we took the train back to Paris, where we had to connect to the other train station. Thought we might have our first major meltdown at St. Lazare, as we had all of our luggage, and the metro cars were packed. We had to wait for about two cars at each stop to go by before there was room for us. Eventually, we shoved our way on, made it to the train station across town, and settled in for the overnight haul to Irún, España. We arrived early morning in Irún and took the local train to San Sebastián, where I felt like I was coming home, and eagerly anticipated showing my parents where I had been living. I first had wanted to show them towns around San Sebastián, but then realized that Donostia has so much to offer it wasn´t worth the effort to leave. Additionally, the weather was incredible, at about 80 degrees farenheit everyday we were there. I showed my parents the ropes of pintxos, visited my university and my apartment, took them to a cider house, swam in the Bay of Biscay (my Dad had to get his daily laps in), hiked Monte Urguall and Igueldo, played the role of tourist while hitting up all of the tourist shops for souveniers, and enjoyed the lasting memories that I had created over the semester in the town that I consider one of the finest in Europe. I enjoyed seeing my parents attempt to speak Spanish, and do a good job at it, and leave McDonalds each day puzzled as to why they got a free donut with their coffee (hint, there is a poster on the window that says coffee/donut 1 euro J). On Wednesday morning, I accompanied my father to the airport in Bilbao where once I paid for my two overweight bags that I was sending home with him (while he only had his duffle bag…Dads are great; they do anything for their daughters), I hopped back on the bus to Donostia to meet my Mom back in San Sebastián and begin our adventure together.