Day 2: Lorraine American Military Cemetery, Drive to Paris, Champigny Sur Marne

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142211SEP2015

Day 2 comes to a close! Definitely a highlight of my vacation, and probably my entire life! I had went to sleep early last night, and woke up late this morning. I enjoyed a tasty breakfast of crepes and cappuccino, and updated the blog to reflect yesterday's events (see last post!). I started the day off later than I wanted. I was trying to wait out the rain, I lost! I checked out of the hotel. I asked the hotel staff where to buy an umbrella, but apparently nothing is open in St. Avold on Sundays. I forget we are in the Christian part of the world again! I have gotten so used to the Middle East, and Fridays being the day everything is closed.

The Lorraine American Military Cemetery is only a few kilometers down the road from the hotel. Beautiful from the outside, and even more beautiful as I drove through the gates. Very very rainy and chilly. I am glad I bought a jacket and scarf yesterday. Once I walked through the hedges, it opened up to the cemetery. It floored me when I saw the rolling hills. I got teary-eyed seeing the rows and rows of grave markers. Of all the boys who were called to serve the United States and defend its allies in WWII, and who lost their lives overseas. I wondered how many of these boys have received a visitor...I cannot imagine many. It is so far away, and I am sure many of their loved ones have now passed. Very solemn, very moving, and I am very grateful that they are being well taken care of in a beautiful memorial cemetary. It took the Kopack family 71 years to make it to France to visit Great Uncle Michael, killed 29 Sep 1944. I am the first one to make the trip. The memorial chapel is lovely, covered in marble. It has maps of the WWII campaigns in the area, and everything in French has an English equivalent. I braved the rain as I walked throught the rows of Section C, looking for the 26th row, 94th grave. I then found Uncle Michael Kopack close to one of the ends of the row. When I saw his name, I cried. I knew I would find him, after doing the research online. But just to see his name, and what that meant for the family, made me cry. And I am not much of a crier. I patted the marble, and talked to Uncle Mike for about 20 minutes. I brought pictures of the family to show him, and took photos of them together to send back home...to make them feel like they were with me today. Unfortunately due to the rain I had to leave the pictures in the ziplock bags, so the quality wasn't as great as I wanted. But it is the thought that counts! It is so hard to believe that there has been a Kopack buried in this tiny French country town for over 70 years. I am honored to have found him. I wish I had known more about him. It was hard to leave, as I do not know when there will be another Kopack able to see him or Uncle Frank in Italy. My two great uncles are the reason I even came to Europe...and it is worth every penny and mile driven and flown to honor my family's sacrifice in service to this country and defense of our allies during WWII. I am proud to continue the family legacy. Rest easy Great Uncle Mike!



Shortly after I got back on the road east, back towards Paris. It was raining more steadily today. But the countryside was quite lovely, as it was yesterday. I have a heck of a time understanding pumping gas out here, and darn these tolls! There are more tolls here than in the drive between DC and Philly! My Audi takes diesel, and I am sure every gas station on the motorway has it available, but I do not know where! Took me 3 gas stations along the way to find a very simple sign at a pump that said diesel. I am sure I am being pretty stupid. I need to do research so it is not so frustrating as I begin my long drive to Switzerland later this week.

Again, I do not know French very well, so gas station sandwich it was for lunch! It is much easier this way, to avoid the awkwardness of communicating in the country using my one of three options (see previous post to know what I am talking about).

It took about 3 horus to get to my next destination...Champigny Sur Marne, a suburb of Paris. Looks like any typical suburb of a major city. Big immigrant population. I saw all kinds of flags in windows, and a variety of ethnic restaurants! Very cool!

The hotel was kind out of out of the way, behind a car wash parking lot. I was skeptical at first, especially because it looked kind of run down from the outside. But when I walked inside, it looked modern and sleek. The guy at the front desk was young, looked like he is in his early 20s. Spoke very good English. I was told by someone in St. Avold that more people will speak English as I got closer to the city, so that is a little bit of a relief.

I had decided to stay in for the rest of the day and relax, and enjoy my room. Save some energy (and Euro!) for the next few days. The room is small, about the same size as my last room. Very compact and European. I still cannot find the darn thermostat!!!! But this room has a glass door with a mini balcony (really just a railing!). I cracked the door open and let the cool breeze and fresh air in. Very very nice! I have been used to the hot blow dryer breeze in the desert for almost a year, so it was refreshing!

After talking to Ronald and the family a bit, I threw on some running clothes. I did not want to explore as much as I did yesterday, but I definitely needed to do a food recon. This hotel does not have a restaurant like the last, so I need to know where I can hunt down food for the next few days. Best way to do that is just to run, and see what I run into! It was a chilly 60 degrees outside, but perfect running weather. Not used to running without stifling, crippling humidity!

I ran about 2 miles through a residential neighborhood. Very interesting houses, all different styles! They all have fenced in front yards, I am assuming for privacy. After crossing a roundabout, I ran into a 3 story indoor/outdoor shopping center!!!! Was surprised! I wandered into center, and it looked really nice. Had a lot of varying stores, and an outdoor escalator. Everything was closed because it was Sunday. Restaurants were open though, they were all located on the third floor. I will be living in Champigny for the next few days, so at least I know there is something to do, and FOOD TO EAT nearby. A few minutes run, or a fewer minutes drive! As I ran back, I stopped at some fast food restaurant (because of course I need to negate all the good I did running). Standard Burger King-like joint. You order the food on the screen, and wait for your number to be called. I thought that would be easier, to avoid the awkward French conversation. But I am not good with French numbers, so I sat an extra 10 minutes because I did not know they called my order. Ugh! Walked the rest of the way back to the hotel.

I spent the rest of the evening organizing photos, re-captioning photos from earlier's post, and uploading them to the blog. This wi-fi is much slower, so it took forever to upload all the pictures. Again, it is a whole lot, so please pardon me! I hope you enjoy looking at them though. I am tryng to capture as much of my adventure as possible.

It is much later than I thought I would be. But I am relaxed, satisfied, and happy! Today is definitely a landmark in my life as a Kopack, and I am so glad I am on this trip. Tomorrow is Disneyland, so I suppose I should get to sleep!

I will continue to stay on top of updating the blog and uploading pictures, so please stay on top of me! Thank you for reading my long rants and looking through my photos (hope you did not fall asleep)! Good night!

XOXO,

Kayko

132342SEP15

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