Friday, April 26, 2013

LUXEMBOURG

I (Angie) spent 6 months of my mission in the beautiful country of Luxembourg. Here are some photos of what we saw and did today:


Austin's first experience with a European elevator.... absolutely minuscule.


Hiking throught the Mullerthal Region in Eastern Luxembourg.




Schiessentumpul

The little sliver of white you see through the rocks? That the end of the canyon. It was a long, steep climb!




We stumbled upon Germany today. How fun!

The town square of Echternach, Luxembourg

My favorite sandwich (panini with tomatoes and goats cheese) at my favorite cafe in Luxembourg, La Brioche Doree

The Palace of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Austin overlooking The Grund, one of the valleys that surround the capital city of Luxembourg 

The Bock Casemates, military tunnels that were built into the plateaus upon which the city of Luxembourg was founded.

A view from the Casement windows


Beautiful Luxembourg streets

One of my favorite hobbies from my mission is taking photos of fun/random graffiti....



View of the Adolphe Bridge, Luxembourg City.

From Knaresborough to Cambridge to Dover to Bastogne.

A hearty English breakfast, compliments of Maureen Hooson.

Baked beans, fried bread, fried eggs, bacon, and sausage. Mmmm!

Gingerbread persons for sale at the bakery.... not gingerbread men.

 Me, Maureen and Grandson Harrison enjoying the Knaresborough market.

King's College Chapel in Cambridge. 

(FYI: Did you know that Cambridge University is actually a union of 30+ individual colleges? Each with their own degrees, programs, admissions, housing, etc? There isn't one single Cambridge University)

 Walking through the Jesus College


Punting on the River Cam ("Cam" + "Bridge" = Cambridge). 

 The Bridge of Sighs, from St. James' College
 Austin punting

 Me trying my hand at punting (notice how straight the boat was when Austin was punting in the photo above... now look at the boat when Angie starts punting...hmm...)


Me and Austin aboard the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk. Did we get to see those famous white cliffs? Nope.... there was too much fog. 

 Excited as a little school boy. On our way to France and Belgium!

La Bois de la Paix, or The Peace Woods, Bastogne, Belgium. 

We followed some signs and  stumbled upon this man-made forest. Some 4000 trees were planted in 1994 as a monument to peace. To read more about the project, visit http://voices.yahoo.com/the-peace-wood-oasis-quiet-remembrance-5314823.html?cat=16

It was a very touching visit.... probably one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. If you are ever near Bastogne, Belgium, you must come see this beautiful living monument.


 There are several hundred of these stone slabs. Each has a name of a WWII veteran engraved on it.


 Just 1/4 mile from the Peace Woods stands this monument. It honors the men from 101st Airborne Division Easy company for their bravery and sacrifice in the Battle of the Bulge. Finding this monument was a tender mercy for us... Austin and I have a great respect for the men from the Easy Company. Our lives were changed forever after watching HBO's "Band of Brothers", a series which follows the Easy company from the D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge and beyond. Austin had read several books about this company, so when we were planning this trip we felt very strongly about retracing their steps through Bastogne, La Bois Jacques, and Foy.

We love these men and are so grateful for their bravery and sacrifice. We have a great reverence for veterans, particularly those who fought in WWII.



 La Bois Jacques, or Jack's Wood. The Easy company spent the winter of 1944 in these woods, trying to hold off the German offense. They endured severely cold temperatures, hunger and disease, not mention gunfire, bombs, etc.

The sign says that this land is a historical monument and is to be respected and remembered.


Remains of foxhole.


The green lumps you see in the foreground of the photo are the probably remains of trees that were blown to pieces during the near-constant gunfire and bombing that the Easy Company endured during that harsh winter.




This is sacred ground. When ya visit a place like this, you are reminded of the price of freedom. I'm grateful that someone other than me paid that price. Should the day came when our freedoms are jeopardized again, I pray that I will have the courage to stand up and face that fight. I will think of the Easy Company, and perhaps their memory will help me do the right thing. 


York and Fountains Abbey


 Welcome to York! We visited this beautiful town often when I was younger. York has been around for 2,000 years; it's been passed down through the Romans, the Danes, to the Vikings... it's pretty old.


The first time I saw this place was when we visited the UK back in 2007. I was dating a young man named Austin Cooper at the time, and so I had my mom take a photo of me standing underneath this sign.... now almost 5 1/2 years later I am back, this time as Angela Cooper.

The York train station... beautiful building.

  
A bridge over the River Ouse. How do you pronounce "Ouse"? I have no idea.

York Minster

We are soooo happy to be here! 

Betty's, a fancy cafe line in Yorkshire. Notice how the exterior of the building is not all too straight. Most of the shops on this particular street date back the to the 1700s, so cut the architect a bit of slack (he's been dead for 300+ years).

 A fancy orange marzipan cake from Betty's.


The Shambles. This ancient street of the butchers of York was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086... It was rebuilt in 1400 AD when it assumed its present character.

Americans would have condemned this house decades ago... and that is why I love the British. These people know how to embrace antiquity.



A view of York Minster from the back.

The Treasurer's House. Before the Dissolution of the monasteries at the hand of Henry VIII (mid-1500s), York Minster stashed its treasures in this building. It was left vacant for many years until some wealthy families fixed it up and moved in.

 One of the home's owners, Frank Green, had some rather eccentric ideas about historical interior decorating. He is famous for decorating the Treasurer's House very "anachromatically", meaning that each room is a mixture of all styles, such as Edwardian, Victorian, Renaissance, Tudor, Medieval,etc. (Notice the neoclassical white columns, timber beams from the Tudor era, etc)

Walking the famous Walls of York. York has always been surrounded some form of a wall. The first  recorded wall was put up in the 1st century AD. The wall you see in this photo, the one that currently stands, was built much later than that... dunno exactly when.

Fountains Abbey.

Of all my memories of living in Yorkshire, this is my "happy place" (right up there with Valley Gardens, from an earlier post). We used to come here as a family for walks, picnics, etc. 

The first recorded settlers, a group of monks, came to this area in the 1100s. By the 1500s, Fountains Abbey had become of the wealthiest Cistercian monastaries in England. Its wealth was far too tempting for Henry VIII, and when he dissolved the monasteries, he ravished Fountains Abbey. He took all the money, religious relics, and assets, and removed the roof so that the monks and laybrethren couldn't return. 

 The photo below is a picture of the interior of York Minster. This is what Fountains Abbey probably looked like back in the day before the roof was removed. 


Years of wind, rain, sunshine, moss, and all other forms of erosion have reduced Fountains Abbey to what you see below.






For dinner, Maureen and Emma Hooson took us to Jinnah, an authentic Indian restaurant. That big white sailboat-booking-looking thing is Naan Bread. Our waiter brought it out like that, hanging from some standing-hook-device=thing. It was an excellent meal with excellent company.