Paris Part Five

We were all tired so we all slept on the train and then we finally got out there after a long trip. The first thing we saw was the American Cemetery and the first grave stone that I laid eyes on said Jesus Casas June 11, 1945 California
I don't know but I think that I will remember that for a while if not my whole life because just being there put my whole life into perspective. I am living the life I am because that person who I never met along with other thousands of men and women have died in a sense for me. It struck a chord inside of me. I paid my respect to all of the unknown tombs and let them know that they were appreciated and not forgotten. I paid my respect to every one of those and others in general. Then wen to the cliffs and looked out and just closed my eyes and imagined what it would have been like that day. I felt very humble. I then went down to the actual beach and looked back at the cliff and I could only imagine the agony of that day. The sights, sounds, and feelings of these people. So many lives and graves, it is said that the water was red with blood. Symbolically I picked up some sand and some red rocks and put them in a ziploc bag as a reminder of the sacrifice that these people made for me and my future. I realized that we as individuals can collectively change to world but to one individual we may be the a world of change. I know that I have changed the lives of people for the better and I will never be recognized for it nor do I need it. But the idea and knowing that I have has given me a more refined purpose in life, what it may be is yet to be determined but I know and trust in the Universal Energy that I am on the right path. I had an amazing conversation with one of the girls that we went to Normandy with and the crazy cool thing was that she was feeling the same way I was the day before. It was great to be able to talk about all of these things and she challenged my beliefs in a very constructive way that made me feel so much better because its nice to know that there are still people out there who are thinking about these things in life. We had to leave to catch our train to Brussels and we said good bye. But we missed the bus and we had to wait for and hour. So Nick came up with the brilliant idea of Hitchhiking and he stuck his thumb out. I turned around and laughed my ASS off. I just could not come to terms with the the whole notion of hitchhiking our way back to the city. We walked to the exit where all the cars were leaving but were unsuccessful so we then went to the exit where people were walking but that was no good either. I just laughed and laughed it was so funny. There was this moment where Nick asked what time it was and I told him and he said "WHAT ITS ONLY BEEN 10 MINUTES IT FEELS LIKE I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR HALF AN HOUR!!" It was the funniest thing ever. He complained about how is arm hurt and we just got a good laugh out of it when we ended up going back to the bus stop to do the normal thing. There we saw the girls we had just said goodbye to an hour ago. So we came back together which was nice. We got to the station and we walked to this restaurant to just walk back because is was too much money for them and I don't blame them because they have been camping for 6 weeks in camp grounds. I know people who wouldn't go camping for a weekend and these girls are going for 2 months. I don't think I could even do such a thing, so I had a lot respect for them. Oh during this whole day I had my backpack with me which is like 60 pounds I think. Okay so back to my story, we got to the station and we were waiting and waiting. Then someone wondered why everyone was on the other platform. It turns out we were on the platform that was going to go in the opposite direction!! we were so lucky that someone paid attention and we got on the right platform. Then once on the train, Nick pulled out his handy dandy railway guidebook and calculated that we were not going to be able to catch the train to Brussels so we were going to be homeless that night. As weird as it sounded I didn't feel too worried. In my head the worst that could happen was that we sleep at the train station and take turns staying awake. One of the girls graciously helped us out looking for a hostel but at the end of the night we decided to just stay at the station because we didn't want to travel anymore. So we said good bye and went our separate ways. I felt safe sleeping at the station because we were not the only ones and there were police people walking around. Then around 1:20 they round us up and ask us for our paperwork and tell us to go someplace. I thought they were going to check our stuff but instead they took us inside a train and let us sleep in it until 5:30 In the morning. I have never slept so good because we were exhausted from the days walking and moving around with 60 pounds of weight on your back.

Gratitude: I am thankful for my freedom and my human Free-Will.