Clay Balls

I received this forward from a friend in Colorado Springs - Dede. I liked it and I wanted to share it.
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A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining! clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we! ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with my friends, and I thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

Viking Country

And the story goes……

On a little island in the Oslo Fjord lived some monks in the monastery. Their daily activities called for them to go to bed when it got dark. This posed a problem for them as during a portion of the year, the sun only went away for a brief few hours in the day. To find a solution to this problem, they sent a letter to the pope in Rome. However, as mail was so slow going from Norway to the mainland of Europe, it took more than 3 years to receive a response. Once recieved, the pope decided that they could go to bed a 8pm and sleep until 6am.

Being in a country where the sun always shines is a nice break from a place where you feel like it rains all the time. It was amazing…I had never been that far north to where it looks like dusk at 12 midnight and the sun starts rising again around 3 or 4 in the morning. Talk about messing up your internal clock?!?!?! Throughout your life, your internal instincts tell you that it is time to start getting ready for bed when it gets dark. It’s a little more difficult when the sun is still out at 10:00pm.

For a country who has only had their independence for a little more than 100 years, said to be the biggest city in the world (land and space wise), and is the MOST expensive city in the World (beating out Tokyo), it was a great experience traveling to this Viking country. The site of trolls as I walked down the main pedestrian shopping street reminded me of Epcot Center at Disney World and the Troll/Viking Water Ride. This trip was filled with the history of the Viking era and the ships that set sail. A city set on water, I thought it was beautiful.

I booked my flight to Oslo on a whim when my favorite airline, GermanWings, has a sale on flights. Upon our approach to Oslo, from the air, it appeared that Norway was this plush, green area with mountains and waterways and houses in the country side. Being from Kansas, I can appreciate having some space around your house – rather than houses sitting on top of each other. As gorgeous as it looked from the air, I could tell that my 48 hours was not going to be enough.

After getting some local currency as Norway uses the Norwegian Kroner, I bought my train ticket and headed into the city. I booked my hotel accommodations immediately after I bought my flight, so I was pretty lucky to have an inexpensive place to stay that was close to the city centre, clean and safe. After getting cleaned up, I headed out exploring. I had intended to go to a museum that was open late, but instead, I went to the tourist Information Office to try and book a tour for the next day.

The Fjords – valleys filled with sea water surrounded by steep sides– are beautiful in Norway (at least the pictures seem to portray them as such). I only wish I had a few more days to go and explore and take a boat trip through the Northern Fjords. I was hoping that there might be a short tour, but no such luck. So, I opted for the “Grand Oslo SightSeeing Tour”. With only one full day, I wanted to see as much as I could as well go on the water. The tour included 7 sights of interest as well as a 2-hour tour of the Oslo Fjord with a seafood lunch.

The tour started at 10:30 on Saturday. As I was waiting to board the boat, I met a very nice group of older travelers from Evergreen, Colorado. There were part of a choral group that was singing at some different locations throughout Norway. There such a fun group of travelers and they were so nice to include me throughout the Fjord tour.

The Oslo Fjords,although very wide, are very deep and there are many islands throughout the area. The Fjord is so deep, that large cruise liners, including the largest in the world – The Freedom of the Seas – can dock in the Oslo Harbor with no problems. This is a picture of one of the large cruise ships that was at the harbor when we left on our boat tour.














This is the true definition of a House on Water. I wonder if they have to pay taxes? It's even complete with a white-picked fence.














After the Fjord, the tour went to the following museums:














1. Maritime Museum - This tour started off with a Panoramic Film of the coastline of Norway - So beautiful I CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK. After that, we walked through (rather quickly) the museums many models of ships throughout the centurys and years.


2. FRAM - Tells the history of Polar explorers and includes the world's most famous Polarship, FRAM, from 1892. This FRAM boat was built to withstand polar conditions and to be able to "float" with the ice and not be dragged under. It is the world's strongest boat (or was) and it has been the farthest North and South. It tells of the exploration to be the first to reach the Northpole as well as the race towards the South Pole. The FRAM boat is amazing and huge. It's funny how they put the boat on land and then built a building around it. This picture does not do it justice.

3. Kon-Tiki - This museum housed the rafts from the expedition by Thor Heyerdahl who wanted to sail across the Pacific on a very small boat made of reeds from Peru to the South Pacific. He wanted to prove that a group of people from different nations, backgrounds, etc. could live peacefully in a small space without the influence of governemnts.

4. The Norwegian Museum of Culutural History - An Open-Air, outdoor museum that portrays the everyday life of the Norwegians from the 17th-19th century. It is complete with houses, barns, peopel in costume, fires, tables, beds, furniture. The Stave Church (seen here) is from miedvial times.






5. Viking Ship Museum - Displays the large Viking ships that were found in graves in the Oslo area. Back in the day, they were used as burial ships to "carry the dead to the Other world". Along with bodies, the ships were buried with other items such as wagons, horses, jewelry. Although many of the ships were raided throughout the years, the ships mained mostly intact. As you can see from some of these photos.


















6. Holmenkollen - This is the home to the tallest Ski Jump in the world. And it is tall - Looking out of the Jump tower down the ramp would be a frightening experience if there was really snow and I really had to go down it. I also got into a simulator to see what it would be to go down a Ski Jump Ramp as well as race a Downhill course at 130 km/hour. That is FAST. I think I will prefer to watch the scenery go by as I go slowly down the course. Going that fast almost made me sick to my stomach and I enjoy rides like those.


7. Statue Park - Also known as Vigeland park. The park itself has well over 200 statues that were designed by Gustav Vigeland. He wanted a place to show off his statues and so he asked the city for some land and they gave him some. The statues were very neat and they all centered around "The Circle of Life" - Life to Death. As you can see in this statue carved out of a single granite block. Bodies intertwince and at the top are the babies and at the bottom are the older bodies as they are dying. I suppose Mr. Vigeland portrayed death as a definite in life.














I was beat after the long day, so I went and took a nap. Afterwards, I ate some dinner at Peppe's Pizza - the famous Pizza Joint in Oslo (very similar to Pizza Hut), and then went to Harry's Bar/Restaurant and watched the USA v. Italy Soccer Match. It was really exciting. In case you weren't watching, the score was 1-1. Met some fun people from England at the bar and enjoyed a few drinks. It was a fun evening.

The next day, Sunday, June 18, I went to the Nobel Peace Museum, which is a museum dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize. It was interesting to see and learn about the winners of the prize over the last 100 years as well as learn about Alfred Nobel's life and mission. Did you know that he created Dynomite and smokeless gun-powder? The exhibition was really entertaining as it very much relied on Technology. Everything was hands on or relied on movement to tell a story. I also was able to learn about how the prize winners are selected by the committee of appointed committee members from Norway.

Norway is a beautiful country and I would reccommend it to anyone wanting nature, water, mountains and valleys.

World Cup Fever

The World is watching Germany as the host the 2006 Football (Soccer) World Cup. You can definitely feel the excitement and you can definitely tell which fans are which.

This past week, a friend of mine, Steve, who was an intern with me at the USOC was in town with about 10 of his other friends to watch some World Cup Games. Steve also has another American friend who lives in Bonn. It was a very fun - but tiring - weekend.

In other news, Germany beat Poland last night in the 91st minute of the game. It was an exciting game, but the crowd exploded when Germany scored. I went with a group from work to watch the game in one of the large squares in the city centre. It had been set up with a giant TV screen so there were about 2000 people in the "arena" watching the game. I thinka bout 1,980 of them were for Germany and another 20 or so for Poland. Absolutely insane. Who knew soccer fans were this crazy?

D-Day and the Battle of Normandy

To keep in synch with my World War II History, and since I had seen much of the Paris stuff before, I decided to take a one-day excursion from Paris to the Normandy Region to visit the Beaches of the Normandy battle. I booked the tour through the same place I did my bike-tour last time, Fat Tire Bike Tours.

So, on Friday, June 2, I hopped on a train that dropped me off in Bayeux, France near the northern coast. My tour guide, Aerlie (Sp?) picked myself and a few others up from the small train station and put us in a small mini-van to start the tour. There were only 6 of us on the tour, so it was like we had our own personal tour-guide - which was Awesome. Aerlie was super. She was born and raised in Bayeux and her family had been in the area for generations. Needless to say, she grew up listening to stories from her grandparents and parents about the invasion of the allies in France as well as grew up playing in the bunkers still standing on the beaches. It is always nice to have a tour guide with first hand knowledge of the area as well as a personal connection to the "tour." She had had family killed during the invasion, but as odd as it may sound, she said that her family was not mad about it. Sure they were sad, but her family knew that the invasion was necessary in order to remove the Germans from France. I have never seen so many American Flags flying in one country - other than US!

I really loved learning the history of the invasion - From the the reasons as to why the invasion took place on June 6th (which was due to the weather, the tide and the moon), to what countries approached what beaches, to the lives that were lost - both civillian and military, to Operation OVERLOAD, to Operation Neptune and the passage from one side of the Channel to the other, to the artifical floating roads used to bring supplies from ship to shore.

La Point Du Hoc and it's dominant position is created on the coast by it's large vertical cliffs. Due to the large bunkers on the tops of these cliffs, they had to be taken in order to free the beaches from danger. Unknown to the American soldiers whose mission it was to take over the cliffs, the Germans had moved their artillery and the area had been the target of heavy bombing attacks in the days before. Their arrival upon the tops of the cliffs from their climb from the bottom was met by heavy gun-fire and numerous casualties.

My favorite part about being here was that while we were standing near the edge of the cliff (as close as we could get to it), a fighter jet flew by with it's turbo engines on. It was like the tour guide pushed a button and it came on command. It was such an awesome feeling to feel the energy from the plane rock you like that. I suppose, though, that is a sense of what it felt like for soldiers who were actually under fire from planes like that.

You can see the bunkers that were once on these cliffs along with the valley like terrain created by the bombs.














Here you can get a sense for how high these cliffs were and how far the soldiers had to climb.














OMAHA Beach
Also known as "OMAHA the Bloody". On June 6th, 1944, American forces landed on the beach and were met by fire from automatic weapons from the Germans. It is such a beautiful area of country that it is hard to beleive that it was one of the bloodiest during the war.

In this picture, you can kind of see how far the beach goes out and why the wait for they waited for the low tide.















After a few stops at some other sights of interest (a museum and Gold Beach), we went to the American Cemetery at Colleville S'Laurent. Technically American soil, almost 10,000 Americans are buried there. This is only about 1/3 of the number of soldiers who were killed in the area. The cemetery is in the shape of a Latin cross with a giant memorial chuch/center in the middle. Every grave faces West - as they face towards their "HOME". Sibilings are buried near each other and it just so happens that many of the soldiers who were killed on June 6th during the invasion on OMAHA are buried closest to the sea. It's an absolutely beautiful cemetery, with the ocean breeze to calm every emotion that you might have. To top off the visit, as we were walking through the graves, a trumpet started to play "Taps". There are two songs in the world that cause me to get a lump in my throat. Taps and the Star Spangled Banner.

The still standing bunkers, the memories that live on in the children of generations past, and the beaches that will forever tell the story of the soldiers who died are some of the most memorable places that I have visited. Maybe it was the tour guide, maybe it was the sunshine, or maybe it was the sounds of the fighter plane and the trumpet that led me to the truth behind the war zone. It was a nice feeling to be here around the anniversary date of the invasion, and as funny as it may sound, it made me proud to be an American.

Paris - The Second Time Around

Jane & I finished our European Adventure in Paris. We arrived in Paris on Wednesday, May 31. We decided to go to the Louvre first. It was raining outside (go figure) and a musuem is a good place to be when it is spitting water outside. As I had been to the Louvre before, I opted to do an audio tour this time around. When we were in Paris, it was right after the release of the movie "The DaVinci Code". To add to the excitement, the Louvre was offering audio Tours in which it guided you through museum where the murder happened and it explained the symbology behind the paintings that are described in the famous book (and now movie). It was fun to have the audio walk you through the murder scene. I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie, as I was a good girl and I've already read the book.

The next day, June 1, Jane and I went to Versailles. Versailles was the residence of the French King. For about 100 years, money was spent like it grew on trees to turn the palace into a place "Fit for a King". However, when the Royal family was evicted in 1837, King Louis Philippe opned the palace as a musuem.

The Palace is a fancy house, with lots of art, etc. One aspect of the house that I found interesting was the "Hall of Mirrors." At a time when mirrors were a luxury, their installation told of a time when people were pleased with their looks and fortunes. The other neat aspect of this room was that this was where the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I.

If I would have to say what one aspect of my visit to Versailles was my favorite, I would have to say it was the Gardens. Spread out over acres of land, these gardens are vast with a large canal, "Orangerie" and seperate retreat houses to get away from the public life in the palace. Marie-Antoinette even had her own "Hamlet" in the gardens where she could get away from Palace life and entertain her friends in her own setting.
Some of the house in her Hamlet:












































The weather was not that good the day we were in Versailles and the fountains were also not running, which is a shame, because I hear they put on a really good show. After running through the gardens, Jane and I ate some dinner at a Restaurant back in Paris in the Rue Clare area and then after eating about the 10th Crepe in the past 2 days, we bought some wine and snacks and went and sat by the Eiffel Tower.

The next day, I was off to Normandy and a visit to the D-Day Beaches.