*** All ads surrounding my journals are automatically generated by Google, not me! I have no choice of what is displayed since I don’t run this website, I only use it to post journals and pictures. ***
Every year since us guys from Arkansas have been studying in Rome we have tried to get together at least once a year for a travel-permitted period. This year James, Josh and I spent the Easter Octave (eight days after Easter Sunday) together in Paris, France…with a day trip to Lisieux and Omaha beach (WWII battle site) in the Normandy region.
It rained save for the last day but it was ok since most of our time seemed to have been spent underground, in the vast subway system getting us to and fro. Two whole days were devoted to museums:
the colossal Louvre (it seems most famous for having the Mona Lisa),
the military museum with very cool knights in armor and the tomb of Napoleon,
the Orsay with many works by Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, etc.
Sainte-Chapelle a chapel built to contain the relics of the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ
Excavations of the oldest part of Paris near the cathedral of Notre Dame.
Our last day we rented a car and took a long drive through the beautiful countryside of western France arriving at Lisieux, the home of the most recent Doctor of the Church (1997), St. Thérèse de Lisieux (who died in 1897). A Doctor of the Church is determined by their sanctity of life, orthodoxy (keeping straight with Scripture and Tradition) and their teaching. For the whole time of Christendom there only exist 33 Doctors!
We spent about two hours in Lisieux visiting the huge basilica, the cathedral and attempting to visit the Carmel Monastery (under major reconstruction) where St. Thérèse lived.
From there we drove quickly to Omaha beach where on June 6, 1944 1,200 U.S. G.I.’s had been killed or disappeared. The beach bore no marks of such a travesty but one could sense that something very terrible had happened there (something like the opening scene of ‘Saving Private Ryan’). We visited a pathetic museum that did not seem adequate for the heroic bravery that the perished and surviving men deserve. Unfortunately we arrived too late to visit the nearby cemetery.
In Paris we visited a plethora of religious sites most notably:
the cathedral of Paris, Notre Dame,
the Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmartre (Sacre-Coeur) where perpetual adoration has taken place since the late 1800’s,
the chapel of the Miraculous Medal (with the uncorrupt body of St Catherine Labouré who died in 1877).
Now for a juicy part…I can say that I truly enjoy Italian food but I have never had better meals during my three years in Europe than the week I spent in France. It was magnifique!
James, Josh and I had a very good time. We are lucky that we get along since we spent nearly every waking hour together. As I said in past journals traveling together provides an excellent opportunity to become closer with the men with which I will serve for the rest of my life.
|  | 
|
