D-day

Yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of D-day - the day in which 150,000 Allied troops crossed the English channel and landed in Normandy. The invasion was eventually successful although it cost the lives of 10,000 American, British and Canadian soldiers. Our friend Max was flying back from the states to Paris on Wed and sat next to one of these incredible survivors. He was an 87 year old American veteran who landed on the beaches of Normandy when he was just 17. He was on the flight in his military uniform and as Max put it, "was thanked by nearly everyone on the flight, French or American, who walked past". It gives me the chills to think about what that day must have been like and immense pride in those that fought there and elsewhere in ultimately defeating the Nazis. Jen and I plan to go to Normandy in a few weeks with my parents to pay our respects in person, but decided to stay away from the crowds on the anniversary weekend. Obama, Sarkozy, Brown and Harper were all there to mark the occasion and I can only imagine how jammed the small towns and roads in the area must have been.

Instead, we decided to make our own D-day as in Disney-day. Our friend Marin jokingly accepted our invitation by saying "What better way to celebrate Americans' victories in France?" than going to Disney. It was our second trip and probably my last this year. This time we had Max, Marin, Ale and Chiara with us. Chiara is a huge Disney fan and had to miss our first visit. She has been asking to go back since and we finally had an open weekend to make it happen.

Unfortunately, it was raining on Saturday so it wasn't an ideal day to be walking around the park. While we had done most of the park last time, there were still a few new things for us to do:

Jen met a new friend. Ale, Max and I recalled the sugar overdoses of childhood with a tasty Minnie Mouse treat. Ale proved he has no driving skills when he overheated his car at Autotopia. And Eurodisney proved that times are still tough as they cancelled the big parade and evening light show and replaced it with this kinda lame dance number. While I day was in stark contrast to the serious of the ceremonies going on in Normandy, we managed to have a lighthearted day with all the French kiddies running around Disney. For one of the last rides of the day, we returned to Space Mountain II. Max had never been and Ale and I convinced him in was no big deal. Jen and Marin meanwhile skipped it. While we made our way through the line and got "briefed" on our mission by a TV monitor with Star Trek dressed actors. They warned us that our trip across the galaxy would include 360 degree inversions. Max looked at us and we passed it off as something that was confused in translation. "Yeah, I don't remember that", Ale said with a slight smile. The last part of the line is in near darkness. With nothing to see you focus on the sounds of screaming voices coming from people riding the coaster. This time around, I could make more sense of the ride. One dramatic upward "launch" up a steep hill to start, two full inverted loops, several barrel rolls, and a final sharp drop - all in complete darkness with only faint stars all around. Needless to say, it was every bit as intense as the last time we rode and probably worth the return trip to Disney by itself!