by Jason Bowles | Aug 4, 2017 | Alex, Scotland
Urquhart Castle, overlooking Loch Ness.
The Loch Ness Monster, probably the best-known monster. A giant long-necked, humped aquatic creature that has been sighted for about one hundred years. With sightings of people just seeing its head or people claiming to watch it cross a road. But is Nessie real? People have asked that question for as long as people have seen the creature. Some people believe the sightings and some don’t. I personally believe there is or was something in the lake. In the 60’s a group of scientists decided to see if they could find any proof that Nessie lives. After quite some time, with cameras recording every part of the lake to see if they could get any hard proof Nessie lives, they came out empty handed. A while later a second research team came in and used sonar to see if they could get an outline of Nessie on the screens. They, too, came up empty handed. Finally, a third group of researchers with a fleet of ships with sonar swept the entire loch and found nothing. After concluding that there is no Loch Ness Monster they decided to consider the question, if the people didn’t see a monster, what did they see? After they tested their hypothesis they came to the anticlimactic conclusion, that the people saw logs, boat wakes, birds or—in the Nessie crossing case—a mirage. I spent a lot of time looking out over at the lake to prove them wrong but found nothing.
Finding Nessie
by Alex Bowles | Jul 28, 2017 | Alex, France
Longues-sur-Mer battery, between the landing beaches Omaha and Gold.
I have always wanted to go to Normandy for the WWII history, but when I arrived I was amazed by how much more there was to learn. We took a train from Paris to Caen, then we drove from Caen to Bayeux. When we arrived we took a tour from the company Overlord Tour (five-star service!). First, we went to one of the three British sectors to see the German battlements, each housing a huge cannon. Only one of the three is destroyed because after Normandy we put AA (anti-aircraft) shells and one night they exploded. After that, we went to Omaha Beach. There we saw the huge difference between high tide and low tide. There was a huge controversy about whether to land at high tide or low tide. The decision was finalized by the German defenses: they would have to land at low tide. If they didn’t, more of the first wave would have died because of the hidden traps laid by the Germans. After that, we went to the American graveyard and saw the over 9000 graves overlooking Omaha beach, all of the graves facing home. Finally, we went to Point du Hoc, the place where the Rangers, America’s elite soldiers, climbed a cliff and took a defensive point with strategic value. When they arrived at the top they found out the gun wasn’t there so they searched elsewhere and found the guns and destroyed them. After the tour, we went to a castle to stay the night. While there we learned that the Germans had tanks at our castle before D-Day but a commander ordered them to go to the beaches but they never arrived. If the Germans would have stayed at Chateau Columbieres, chances are that the castle would have been destroyed in the fighting.
by Alex Bowles | Jul 26, 2017 | Alex, France
Versailles original was a hunting cabin created by Louis XIII. When looking at a picture of Versailles the building with the gold leaf was the original cabin. After Louis XIII died his son, Louis XIV added on to Versailles, basically everything that doesn’t have gold leaf he added. Louis XIV had Greek statues and paintings put on and around the building. To impress guests he had the hall of mirrors built but no Frech mirror maker could make mirrors good enough for his satisfaction so he had Venetian mirror markers show the Franch how to make mirrors. As a welcome home gift for the Venetian mirror makers, their king sentenced them to death because mirror-making had been a Venetian secret. When Louis XIV died at the old age of 72 he passed the throne on to his great-grand child Louis XV (he outlived his son and grandson!). He did not add to Versailles. During his reign, he made it so everyone, instead of just royals, could bathe in the pond. After Louis XV passed away his son Louis XVI took the throne. His wife Marie Antoinette had a small peasant village built next to her small house so she could play peasant. At her small house, all of the servant passages were hidden so she could live a “normal life”. Because the couple didn’t produce an heir for a while an architect build a pavilion to make Louis want to have a child. Inside the pavilion is a statue of Cupid turning Hercules’ club into a bow and holding Hercules’ armor and shield.
Selfie in front of the original “hunting lodge”, Versailles
