Family Visit- Part 2

A view of the outside of the Paris Opera House. (That's right the place where the Phantom of the Opera is set.)

A view of the stage in the auditorium.

A close-up of the famous chandelier inside the auditorium of the opera house.

Another photo not zoomed in.

A family photo in the beautiful opera house.

Another photo of the inside of the opera house.

Team Lance passing through the parade before the riders come through on Le Tour de France.

We felt like we were getting crushed trying to move through the huge crowds of people.

A couple of shots of the riders zooming past us on the Champs de Elysees.

A panoramic view of the Lourve taken while waiting on Karly and Jacob to stop looking at all the old stuff!

The famous church Sacre-Coeur, the famous church at the highest point in all of Paris.

A panoramic view outside Sacre-Coeur. You can see everything from here.

She said oui!

Paris & Normandy w/ the Family

The great Napoleon's tomb in Invalides, the French war museum.

Napoleon's wife's, Josephine's, tomb.

The family grabbing a panini before our bus tour in Normandy.

This is even more powerful the second time around.

Karly and Jacob pose for a picture at the memorial.

The family at Omaha Beach.

Mom and Dad at Gold Beach.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is very famous for their great architecture. This building was designed by the renowned architect, Antoni Gaudi. He is known throughout the world for his use of mosaic in buildings. This is Casa Batllo, one of his most famous buildings.

This is Casa Mila, another one of Gaudi's most famous buildings.

This is Hospital de Sant Pau. This was designed by a contemporary of Gaudi's, Lluis Domenech i Monaner.

This is Sagrada Família, a massive, privately-funded Roman Catholic church that has been under construction in Barcelona since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026. Think we could get by with that on a school? This is considered to be the master-work of Antoni Gaudi. He worked day and night on this project until his untimely death in 1926. He was struck by a tram in Grand Via. Ouch!

This is the AGBAR tower, the headquarters of the Barcelona water company.

This is known as the Forum. It was built for the first Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004.

The beaches near Port Olympic (where we spent most of our time during the day).

A view near the ports.

A picture of the Georgia Tech guys watching the World Cup finals near Port Olympic. Spain won so everyone was going crazy!

A picture of the crowd when Iniesta scored the winning goal for Spain.

We're in Barcelona and Spain just won the World Cup. Why so serious?

Normandy, France

This is a photo of Gold Beach, one of the beaches that the British stormed on the day July 6, 1944 (D-Day).

This is a part of the floating harbor that the Allied forces constructed in England and brought with them to France.

This is the D-Day Musuem located at Sword Beach.

This is a map in the D-Day Museum that shows the US, Great Britain, and Canada targets.

This is me at one of the German bunkers at Omaha Beach.

The next six pictures are at Normandy North American Cemetery and Memorial. Here lie 9,387 American soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving in Europe. At the center is a bronze statue entitled Spirit of American Youth. Facing west at the memorial, one sees in the foreground the reflecting pool, the mall with burial areas to either side and the circular chapel beyond. Behind the chapel are statues rep

resenting the United States and France. An orientation table overlooks the beach and depicts the landings at Normandy. This was a very humbling place to be for sure.

The names of 1,557 Americans who lost their lives in the conflict but could not be located and/or identified are inscribed on thewalls of a semicircular garden at the east side of the memorial. This part consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing maps and narratives of the military operations.

This crazy piece of artwork was used to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

This is a another monument that the French put up on Omaha Beach to honor the sacrifice that so many Allied soldiers made to liberate their country and stop Hitler from taking Europe.

This is me at Utah Beach. This is the other beach that the Americans stormed on D-Day.