In this episode, Matt Brennan shares his unique travel experiences across Europe, focusing on his personal journey through Germany and France. He discusses the cultural insights gained from his trip, the architectural marvels he encountered, and his fascination with World War II history, particularly the significance of military construction projects. In this conversation, Matt Brennan shares his profound experiences during a trip to Normandy, reflecting on the historical significance of D-Day and the Atlantic Wall. He discusses the emotional impact of visiting the D-Day beaches, the architectural wonders of Europe, and the lessons learned from history. The conversation emphasizes the importance of preserving historical sites and encourages listeners to pursue their travel goals.
Takeaways
- This isn't your typical site visit.
- Travelling Europe was a major bucket list item.
- The food in Europe is healthier and tastes better.
- Eiffel Tower tickets should be booked in advance.
- World War II history has always been a personal interest.
- Cultural experiences in Paris were enriching.
- Architecture in Europe showcases incredible detail.
- Travelling with family adds a special touch to the journey.
- The pace of dining in Europe is more relaxed.
- Visiting historical sites deepens appreciation for history. The Atlantic Wall was a massive German coastal defence system.
- Visiting D-Day beaches is a humbling and emotional experience.
- Architecture can tell powerful stories about history.
- Cultural insights from Europe highlight the importance of preservation.
- Travelling can provide a deeper understanding of historical events.
- Personal reflections can enhance the travel experience.
- The significance of D-Day is felt through the landscapes and memorials.
- Historical architecture in Europe is rich and diverse.
- Making travel goals is essential for personal fulfillment.
- Experiencing history firsthand can be transformative.
Sound Bites
- "This isn't your typical site visit."
- "The food was incredible."
- "You have to go. Add it to your list."
- "What a trip of a lifetime!"
- "The beaches were again, humbly powerful."
- "The architecture was incredible."
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<b>This isn't your typical site visit.</b><b>This time, I'm walking through the ruins</b><b>of one of the largest</b><b>construction projects</b><b>in military history.</b><b>Let's get into it.</b><b>(upbeat music)</b><b>Welcome to What the RFI.</b><b>I'm Matt Brennan, and this</b><b>is the podcast all about CA.</b><b>So it's been a while.</b><b>It's been a really long time.</b><b>And I apologize because</b><b>for the month of April,</b><b>I was gone fulfilling a</b><b>major bucket list item</b><b>on my personal journey,</b><b>my life and everything.</b><b>Took me about 22 years</b><b>to get to this point.</b><b>So what did I do?</b><b>Well, I traveled Europe, right?</b><b>And I know that's an</b><b>open destination, of course,</b><b>and we'll get into the</b><b>details of where I went</b><b>and the trips and everything.</b><b>But it went with my partner, Julia.</b><b>The two of us been</b><b>wanting to go for a long time.</b><b>I've been wanting to go</b><b>for a very, very long time.</b><b>And we had an absolute blast.</b><b>And that's what I'm gonna go through.</b><b>I'm gonna tell you about it,</b><b>but we're also gonna go</b><b>about some of the architecture</b><b>that we saw, both in Germany</b><b>and France, even in Normandy,</b><b>we're just old France, of course.</b><b>But in addition, I wanna discuss</b><b>the largest military projects</b><b>that was ever constructed over there.</b><b>And there was lots, lots.</b><b>We can take this in many different ways,</b><b>but I think from the opening,</b><b>you kind of know where</b><b>we're going with this.</b><b>So let's start with my little trip here</b><b>because I wanna share about it.</b><b>I wanna share about the journey,</b><b>what I went on to, what I learned.</b><b>And just, again, just maybe it's an item</b><b>that you wanna check out too.</b><b>So let's get into it, the start.</b><b>Well, we flew into</b><b>Frankfurt, which was awesome, right?</b><b>Flew in there.</b><b>I think it was almost a</b><b>12-hour flight from Vancouver, BC.</b><b>And upon rival the airport,</b><b>we met with Julia's</b><b>parents, which was great.</b><b>They picked us up. It was nice.</b><b>We didn't have to</b><b>jump on any extra trains</b><b>or anything in that respect.</b><b>And we drove to Cal</b><b>This is where my</b><b>partner Julia kind of grew up.</b><b>It lived in the same</b><b>house and everything.</b><b>Such a cool little small</b><b>town, great little place.</b><b>Again, had kind of a surrounding wall</b><b>throughout the city,</b><b>which was unfortunately</b><b>bombed during World War II.</b><b>But again, a lot of the</b><b>remnants in the history</b><b>still stands there.</b><b>You got kind of the</b><b>roller hills throughout there,</b><b>the environments, just incredible.</b><b>So upon getting there, we</b><b>were kind of jet-lagged,</b><b>of course.</b><b>And again, it was the</b><b>longest I've ever flown</b><b>and through multiple time zones.</b><b>In the end, it wasn't bad.</b><b>Getting there, we were a bit of a zombie.</b><b>And my little tip is stay up</b><b>as much as you physically can.</b><b>Do not go to sleep.</b><b>And I did have a little</b><b>bit of nap on the plane</b><b>and everything for a couple hours</b><b>just to kind of keep</b><b>charging the battery,</b><b>trickle charging me, we'll say it.</b><b>Once we got back there,</b><b>I tried to stay up as late as I could,</b><b>I think about 10 o'clock,</b><b>and then I just crashed.</b><b>And the next day wasn't so bad.</b><b>And then the following day,</b><b>I didn't even notice I was tired.</b><b>I was in the new</b><b>routine, the new schedule.</b><b>It was awesome.</b><b>And it was the right way to do it.</b><b>There's my little tip for you.</b><b>But anyways, yeah, we just</b><b>had a great time through there,</b><b>kind of visiting with</b><b>the family in that sense,</b><b>taking the bikes into town,</b><b>kind of seeing all the</b><b>history that came up,</b><b>where again, Julia kind</b><b>of grew up in that sense.</b><b>It was really, really slick.</b><b>Again, saw her</b><b>extended family, her sister,</b><b>brother-in-law, nephew,</b><b>and just getting to know</b><b>everyone in that respect.</b><b>But one of the special nights</b><b>that kind of at the</b><b>beginning of the trip,</b><b>we went out for dinner</b><b>with her family, her folks,</b><b>and it was kind of an old,</b><b>a place that was a</b><b>barn that was renovated,</b><b>best roast beef after a wow, amazing,</b><b>lots of walks, lots of</b><b>drinks at the parents.</b><b>And it was just a blast.</b><b>It really was, it was</b><b>awesome to no extent.</b><b>And definitely, you know,</b><b>sun tanning out in the</b><b>back, even though it was April,</b><b>it was still very warm.</b><b>We lucked out on</b><b>weather, which was great.</b><b>And the kind of the common</b><b>theme was upgrade, right?</b><b>You know, with Julia's parents,</b><b>she would kind of, her</b><b>parents would, you know,</b><b>we would kind of eat, we</b><b>started eating in the kitchen,</b><b>then we actually ate in the dining room,</b><b>we called it an upgrade.</b><b>And next thing you know,</b><b>the china was coming out.</b><b>It was an upgrade.</b><b>It was a good running theme.</b><b>It was a lot of fun, lots of laughs.</b><b>One day we had a downgrade.</b><b>We just weren't using it</b><b>as a nice, you know, cutlery</b><b>or whatever the case was.</b><b>It was just fun.</b><b>So many laughs, absolute blast into it.</b><b>So then the trip kind of</b><b>really started to take off.</b><b>So we jumped on the</b><b>train, got dropped off,</b><b>and we went from</b><b>Calisheim to Paris, right?</b><b>City of love, right?</b><b>Beautiful place.</b><b>And again, always on the bucket list.</b><b>We stayed downtown on the</b><b>18th, Adorcent of Paris.</b><b>So again, we were right in</b><b>the northern side of Paris,</b><b>if you've ever been in that quadrant.</b><b>Great little place.</b><b>And we got there a</b><b>little bit late, you know,</b><b>and of course we were</b><b>hungry and things, you know,</b><b>we wanted to get an eat and</b><b>we definitely wanted some wine.</b><b>Absolutely, come on, we're in France.</b><b>Let's toast to that.</b><b>And we, you know, thankfully</b><b>right from our place downtown,</b><b>our little hotel, we</b><b>just ripped around the side</b><b>and then sure enough,</b><b>there was, you know,</b><b>just a nice little pub and everything.</b><b>The culture, it was just</b><b>beautiful having a glass of wine</b><b>and just listening,</b><b>listening to the culture,</b><b>listening to, you</b><b>know, just the rain outside</b><b>that one night we did get rain.</b><b>It was just incredible.</b><b>It was just so much fun in that.</b><b>And the next day was kind of woke up.</b><b>Of course, we had our</b><b>coffees, we went to a nice bakery,</b><b>incredible food.</b><b>And I just want to pause on the food side</b><b>and then we'll come</b><b>back to this a few times.</b><b>The food was incredible and</b><b>it wasn't just incredible,</b><b>but I felt so good inside, right?</b><b>And again, when I come here and eat,</b><b>it's just a different story at home.</b><b>So again, what you eat is</b><b>what you're putting in you</b><b>and that kind of stuff.</b><b>But seriously, the</b><b>food over there is just,</b><b>it's not just tastes</b><b>good, but it's really healthy,</b><b>all this stuff.</b><b>The additives that</b><b>are not going into there</b><b>compared to here on</b><b>the North American side.</b><b>So just kind of one</b><b>thing I really noticed,</b><b>we could eat as much</b><b>and throughout the trip,</b><b>I only gave five pounds and I've lost it</b><b>like within days getting back, right?</b><b>Versus if I go to somewhere, like I said,</b><b>North America wise, it's</b><b>easy to throw on 10 pounds</b><b>like that and it's hard to get it off.</b><b>So anyways, back to where we were.</b><b>So the first day, we</b><b>actually grabbed a planet</b><b>from a little planet, which was an</b><b>awesome little book.</b><b>Great ideas for in there.</b><b>It talks about different walking tours,</b><b>things to see if you</b><b>want to be a tourism.</b><b>It's great, Google AI is</b><b>great, it'll help you too.</b><b>But this is just an old school way</b><b>of just kind of seeing what out there,</b><b>planning some really walkable</b><b>trips that people have done.</b><b>And that's what we did.</b><b>And so we kind of did the</b><b>North Quadrant where we were.</b><b>And we started off, we</b><b>saw the wall of love.</b><b>It was again, just beautiful,</b><b>these blue tiles all</b><b>throughout and then white writing</b><b>and all different languages just saying,</b><b>"I love you and everything."</b><b>So it was really, really</b><b>special, just nice to see that.</b><b>Very popular, of</b><b>course, crowds were definitely</b><b>heavily around it.</b><b>And in conjunction with this,</b><b>we just saw lots of</b><b>art everywhere, right?</b><b>People were painting stuff on,</b><b>they had little birds painted up</b><b>and it was just a neat little area of it.</b><b>We went basically up to Sacre-Couille,</b><b>the chapel at the top of the North Hill.</b><b>We didn't go into it,</b><b>lines were really busy.</b><b>But again, this is where the architecture</b><b>was really starting to shine, right?</b><b>The tension, the detail, all the</b><b>stonework, the cut stone,</b><b>the tension details on the columns</b><b>and where we're kind of at</b><b>the top of the pilaster, like,</b><b>"Wow," and it just kept getting better</b><b>and better and better.</b><b>And this is the</b><b>moment where we finally saw</b><b>the Eiffel Tower from afar.</b><b>We could see in the</b><b>distance, took a bunch of photos</b><b>and very cool.</b><b>We made it down to Notre Dame.</b><b>It finally reopened and</b><b>because this was the Easter weekend,</b><b>like leading up to it,</b><b>they did open the doors.</b><b>We got to go in there, take a look.</b><b>We only waited in line</b><b>for about 15 minutes,</b><b>which really wasn't that bad.</b><b>And again, just the</b><b>massive architecture to us.</b><b>Nice to see that it was finally restored</b><b>from the big fires that we</b><b>had a number of years ago.</b><b>And one of the columns I made</b><b>looked like all the paintings</b><b>were fake.</b><b>Well, no, they were restored.</b><b>They're special painters</b><b>that were very detailed</b><b>and selected to come in</b><b>and restore all these photos.</b><b>And it was cool to see</b><b>that just the history</b><b>come back to life, even though</b><b>it looked like a fresh print.</b><b>It's very, very impressive.</b><b>And again, that's just, I've done my</b><b>painting on the side,</b><b>but at the end of the</b><b>day, nothing compares</b><b>to what these artists do.</b><b>So kudos to that.</b><b>At that point, we kept walking, we</b><b>checked out the liver,</b><b>and then we needed to call it at night.</b><b>And we grabbed some dinner and</b><b>we grabbed one of our coffees,</b><b>you name it.</b><b>And the second day was the more the day</b><b>I think I was looking forward to.</b><b>And that's because we</b><b>had Eiffel Tower tickets.</b><b>And not just any kind of Eiffel Towers,</b><b>we bought the walking tickets.</b><b>So basically, a little tip,</b><b>you want to definitely</b><b>book it way into advance.</b><b>The elevators for the</b><b>Eiffel Tower fill up very fast.</b><b>If you are willing to</b><b>walk up to the second floor,</b><b>which is still, the views are incredible.</b><b>Yes, you can take an</b><b>elevator to the top floor,</b><b>but honestly, for the amount of time</b><b>that you have to wait to do that,</b><b>the second floor is</b><b>still very, very incredible.</b><b>So tickets go on sale 14 days in advance.</b><b>For the walking tours, you</b><b>can scoop them up pretty good.</b><b>You pick your time,</b><b>basically walk right up,</b><b>walk and get in there.</b><b>And of course, it's</b><b>walking, so there's not a line</b><b>because you just hit</b><b>it and then get going.</b><b>And it's over 700 steps,</b><b>between kind of</b><b>getting to the second floor.</b><b>But again, even at the first floor,</b><b>incredible views are amazing.</b><b>Going up to the second floor,</b><b>there is a glass floor at</b><b>one point, scary as ever.</b><b>If you're up to into</b><b>that thing, I tried it.</b><b>Definitely set my nerves off thinking</b><b>about right now, hey.</b><b>But very, very slight, very impressive.</b><b>Again, a piece of architecture for it.</b><b>It was built for a</b><b>fair and look what it is.</b><b>It's sticking around ever since.</b><b>Now, the one thing</b><b>that we did learn that,</b><b>because it's still in a</b><b>rain in Paris, what happens?</b><b>Well, the only thing</b><b>keeping this alive is the paint.</b><b>Well, every seven years,</b><b>this thing has to be painted.</b><b>And it's like a hundred thousand tons,</b><b>or I can't remember the exact number,</b><b>like seven thousand tons</b><b>of paint, something crazy.</b><b>A huge amount of paint goes into this</b><b>in repainting this every seven years.</b><b>And again, it's not painting</b><b>a wall where you're rolling.</b><b>It's all these spokes.</b><b>So if you've ever painted</b><b>your stairs in those spindles,</b><b>yeah, do that, but for a</b><b>long, long, long, long time.</b><b>And let alone, if you're</b><b>afraid of heights, good luck.</b><b>That's all I gotta say, because some</b><b>areas, hey, no problem.</b><b>But there's some areas</b><b>that I would, I don't know.</b><b>That's the whole documentary out there.</b><b>I bet you can find on Netflix, okay?</b><b>So great thing,</b><b>incredible views, amazing.</b><b>And it was time to</b><b>basically head off, grab some lunch,</b><b>and we grabbed some</b><b>e-bikes, zipped around the town,</b><b>checking everything</b><b>out, went to the Pantheon,</b><b>got to see all that architecture.</b><b>And again, that's where they cut stone.</b><b>The architecture just shine.</b><b>We, you know, Julian would</b><b>look at some of these columns</b><b>and just look at the</b><b>details and just wonder</b><b>and just imagine the hours and hours</b><b>spanning into this one little detail</b><b>that hopefully it doesn't crack</b><b>when they hit that final piece.</b><b>We go into the</b><b>Pantheon, it's full of statues</b><b>and everything, again,</b><b>all beautiful cut stone.</b><b>Incredible, again,</b><b>the tension, the detail.</b><b>He can't, even through pictures,</b><b>it doesn't do justice</b><b>other than being there.</b><b>So very cool to see these</b><b>plays, going into the Crip,</b><b>you know, and saw, you</b><b>know, all that respect.</b><b>And of course, back on the e-bikes,</b><b>and then we just went around town,</b><b>we saw the Louvre at</b><b>night, which is really special.</b><b>We did see it during the day.</b><b>Fortunately, we couldn't get into it</b><b>just because of the, again,</b><b>you wanna buy your tickets</b><b>very well in advance.</b><b>But even in the Louvre,</b><b>like, there was something like</b><b>over 33,000 pieces.</b><b>So even if you stood at</b><b>each piece for 30 seconds,</b><b>you would be in there for</b><b>three, four days nonstop.</b><b>So like, you will</b><b>never ever see anything.</b><b>You definitely gotta go and go.</b><b>So next time when I get there,</b><b>I'm gonna definitely, we'll</b><b>definitely go check it out</b><b>just from the artwork side.</b><b>But again, seeing just</b><b>the exterior from night</b><b>was incredible, just</b><b>again, the architecture,</b><b>the details that came from it.</b><b>You know, of course, we</b><b>biked over to Arc de Drome,</b><b>again, the arches, we went and saw that.</b><b>And again, it's just nice kinda seeing</b><b>that history of Paris.</b><b>And of course, we gotta go</b><b>see the Eiffel Tower at night.</b><b>So we went to the Trocadero.</b><b>I'm probably butchering</b><b>his names, I apologize.</b><b>But we went there and</b><b>yeah, it was really cool.</b><b>It was really special to kinda see that,</b><b>drop off our e-bikes, jump</b><b>onto the train, the subway,</b><b>get back to home and just call.</b><b>And we were tired, we were done.</b><b>It was an adventure.</b><b>But I think that</b><b>again, throughout all this,</b><b>we would just stop</b><b>and eat where we wanted.</b><b>You know, like, hey,</b><b>let's get some crepes.</b><b>Oh, let's get a cafe, let's</b><b>get a latte, let's get a salad.</b><b>Let's get a nice meal anywhere.</b><b>No reservations, just walk in, done.</b><b>And the service is so different.</b><b>They don't expect you to tip</b><b>versus what North America is, right?</b><b>That's a big thing that's</b><b>really changed over this year.</b><b>And in addition to that</b><b>too, they don't rush you.</b><b>You just go in and enjoy and relax.</b><b>If you're wine, you want some more,</b><b>you almost have to gain their,</b><b>get their attention most of the time.</b><b>And I think that was,</b><b>it was really special.</b><b>The day of rushing, rushing, rushing,</b><b>just slowing down and enjoying it.</b><b>And the meal didn't have to rush.</b><b>No one was, you know,</b><b>trying to push you out</b><b>to get the next person in.</b><b>That wasn't it, because there was</b><b>restaurants everywhere.</b><b>And again, we never had to wait in line.</b><b>So I think it was</b><b>really, really special with it.</b><b>So after that was time to basically,</b><b>basically go to Paris,</b><b>jump onto our train to see on Cannes.</b><b>We rented a car and,</b><b>cause we got there kind of</b><b>early in the morning, mid day.</b><b>We did spend a few hours</b><b>at the Memorial des De Can</b><b>and it was, again, it</b><b>was a World War II museum.</b><b>Very powerful, very cool.</b><b>We actually started off in a bunker.</b><b>This was basically a museum</b><b>was built on top of a jar,</b><b>German bunker inside the hillside.</b><b>We got to see that.</b><b>And then one of the</b><b>big things with this trip</b><b>that I wanted to do was to</b><b>see the World War II history.</b><b>I love World War II history.</b><b>I don't have any really</b><b>family extended family</b><b>that have been into it,</b><b>but since I was a kid,</b><b>since I was like, you know,</b><b>I think in elementary school,</b><b>I just was fascinated by, you know,</b><b>by the whole D-Day experience and the war</b><b>and how it happened and all</b><b>the history and the culture.</b><b>Last year I was in Washington, DC at AIA</b><b>and I had a free day,</b><b>which I went into the Holocaust museum</b><b>and again, learned a whole</b><b>new level on that respect too.</b><b>Again, I knew about it,</b><b>I understood about it,</b><b>but it was just a whole new level</b><b>of where it was in appreciation</b><b>and definitely remembering</b><b>of all that were lost from it.</b><b>So World War II history</b><b>has always been something</b><b>of interest in my life, studying it.</b><b>I've, you know, I've, yes,</b><b>have watched all the</b><b>Hollywood specials, you know,</b><b>saving Private Ryan, you know,</b><b>Band of Brothers and</b><b>all that kind of stuff,</b><b>but always very interested,</b><b>very curious about it.</b><b>So part of this trip was</b><b>dedicated just to kind of see</b><b>in this part of history.</b><b>So we went from, you</b><b>know, after that museum,</b><b>it was really powerful.</b><b>Again, there was a</b><b>portion of the Holocaust,</b><b>I was talking about that too,</b><b>and just seeing how</b><b>war and basically even</b><b>to the Berlin Wall</b><b>and that kind of history</b><b>and it was just, yeah, very good</b><b>and seeing it from this side of the world</b><b>versus from the North American side.</b><b>And our bed and breakfast where we stayed</b><b>for the majority of the</b><b>time when we were in Normandy</b><b>was in Coursera Sur-Mure.</b><b>And that's basically Juno Beach.</b><b>That's where the</b><b>Canadians landed on D-Day.</b><b>And there is an</b><b>amazing museum right there.</b><b>And the nice thing about</b><b>this World War II museum,</b><b>it's actually hosted by Canadians.</b><b>So Canadian exchange students, you know,</b><b>individuals basically are working there.</b><b>I really did want to</b><b>get to take a look at it,</b><b>but seriously, we kind</b><b>of only dedicated a day</b><b>for this whole experience.</b><b>You could dedicate a</b><b>week and not even do it.</b><b>There's about close to 30 museums</b><b>that are World War II</b><b>museums out there in Normandy.</b><b>So good luck trying to do</b><b>that in two days, even a week.</b><b>Two weeks would barely crack it.</b><b>So lots to see and do, plan accordingly,</b><b>but we try to do it in a day.</b><b>And I'm gonna get into that.</b><b>But our bed and breakfast was incredible.</b><b>Again, old exposed walls.</b><b>This is one of the original</b><b>buildings prior to the war.</b><b>And what an incredible place.</b><b>And, you know, cause we</b><b>were tired after the kind of</b><b>the museum and the drive, you know,</b><b>do I want to do some reading?</b><b>And at that point I went</b><b>for a walk along Juno Beach.</b><b>I just wanted to see it,</b><b>I walked along the pier and everything.</b><b>And the moment I did that, I</b><b>kind of caught a corner eye</b><b>and I saw my first World War II bunker.</b><b>And it was kind of, it was on the other</b><b>side of the channel.</b><b>So I had to kind of walk back and retract</b><b>and go to it.</b><b>And it was, yeah, it kind</b><b>of, it hit a little hard</b><b>cause it was, wow, this</b><b>is the history, right?</b><b>It was sunken in, went in, got to see it.</b><b>And yeah, just had to pause.</b><b>And this brings me to the</b><b>topic about the Atlantic wall.</b><b>Right?</b><b>We're gonna talk about this.</b><b>This was one of the</b><b>biggest military projects</b><b>in military history.</b><b>That how this, you</b><b>know, what came of this</b><b>through World War II.</b><b>And of course the</b><b>construction administration</b><b>that went into building</b><b>this massive, massive project.</b><b>So what is the Atlantic wall?</b><b>Well, first off, it was the massive</b><b>German coastal defense system</b><b>spanning from Norway to France.</b><b>Okay.</b><b>They knew, the Germans knew that they</b><b>were gonna invade it</b><b>at some point.</b><b>They knew it was gonna happen.</b><b>They knew the invasion.</b><b>This was the, if anything,</b><b>this is their line of defense</b><b>that they had to protect.</b><b>And they understood that</b><b>given all this scenario,</b><b>even, you know, the attempts from the</b><b>British side of things,</b><b>you know, from, from</b><b>Churchill and so on, big, you know,</b><b>that's what the reality was.</b><b>And the historic contents between this,</b><b>this was all, this Atlantic wall, right?</b><b>Was built between 1942 and of course 1944</b><b>by the Germany, of course, to defend</b><b>against the invasion,</b><b>like we talked.</b><b>Okay.</b><b>So get this, here's some fun facts</b><b>of the whole feature of this.</b><b>There was a total of</b><b>15,000 to 18,000 bunkers built.</b><b>Holy smokes.</b><b>And yes, I know they were pretty</b><b>straightforward designs.</b><b>They were a concrete little box,</b><b>couple of different variations.</b><b>Some were holding</b><b>artillery and that kind of stuff,</b><b>but 15,000s of these things, right?</b><b>Just everywhere,</b><b>littered the whole coastline</b><b>like we talked about in the</b><b>inland as well too, right?</b><b>So keep in mind.</b><b>So this whole, this</b><b>whole wall, we're calling it,</b><b>these bunkers was built a</b><b>total length of 2,600 kilometers,</b><b>which works out to be 1,600 miles, right?</b><b>Massive, massive there.</b><b>And like I said, this went from Norway</b><b>to the Spanish border, okay?</b><b>So huge amount of capped area</b><b>to capture this, to make sure.</b><b>And the timeline, of course,</b><b>here was the construction schedule.</b><b>It was roughly two years.</b><b>And again, the real work</b><b>kicked off in 1942, okay?</b><b>And I remember even reading about this</b><b>in the few museums that we did checkout</b><b>and how they did change hands.</b><b>And they were worried that</b><b>things weren't gonna be done.</b><b>And when it got into,</b><b>I can't remember the general's name,</b><b>but one of the generals that he knew it</b><b>was gonna be a problem,</b><b>they were still exposed and stuff,</b><b>and they wanted to be even beyond.</b><b>And of course, the labor force,</b><b>who came in and helped this?</b><b>Well, hundreds of thousands.</b><b>And of course, there</b><b>was forced labor, right?</b><b>And that respect.</b><b>And it was a massive project</b><b>to get this going, to do it.</b><b>But there was a lot</b><b>of unfinished elements.</b><b>They didn't complete this project</b><b>in time of June 6th, 1944 D-Day, right?</b><b>And a lot of segments weren't complete.</b><b>They were lightly fortified by 1944</b><b>because they realized</b><b>they weren't gonna be able</b><b>to finish these.</b><b>So they did what they could to make it</b><b>look like it was done</b><b>or just put that main</b><b>artillery gun in there.</b><b>Lots of critical gaps in Normandy,</b><b>which of course resulted</b><b>for the D-Day excess, right?</b><b>That was kind of the thing.</b><b>Project Overlord was the</b><b>operation that they called it.</b><b>And the shortage of concrete.</b><b>This kind of sounds like</b><b>today's culture right now</b><b>in our building.</b><b>Shortage of concrete, steel, labor,</b><b>hindered the full completion.</b><b>And again, keep in mind,</b><b>these aren't concrete</b><b>trucks they were doing.</b><b>They did have trucks,</b><b>but it was a much different element.</b><b>The roads and everything.</b><b>And again, it was a different day and age</b><b>back in 1944, 1942 compared</b><b>to what it is today, right?</b><b>So much different</b><b>challenges that we had with that.</b><b>And they were prefabricated bunkers.</b><b>They had set designs a lot.</b><b>Once you kind of saw a few,</b><b>but they all had a</b><b>little bit different variants.</b><b>They had their purpose in mind.</b><b>And of course they</b><b>were designed to landscape</b><b>to basically protect</b><b>and defend from whatever</b><b>invasion could have been, right?</b><b>Again, some of these were radar towers,</b><b>observation points, post</b><b>tank traps, anti-air defense,</b><b>you name it, right?</b><b>And definitely some heavy artillery.</b><b>We did see it in TAC,</b><b>which was quite interesting.</b><b>And so some of the</b><b>site visits that I took on</b><b>and the observations</b><b>that I saw from these,</b><b>the bunkers that were</b><b>still standing today is,</b><b>the walls alone were</b><b>anywhere from kind of two,</b><b>three feet of concrete, pure concrete.</b><b>These things were massive, the rebar.</b><b>I grabbed a few books that</b><b>kind of showed the guys doing</b><b>and putting the rebar,</b><b>like they were building</b><b>these as to be these solid tanks,</b><b>as you can imagine,</b><b>because they were totally</b><b>expecting to get bombs dropped</b><b>on them and to defend the coast.</b><b>So of course they had to</b><b>do everything and they can.</b><b>A lot of the little</b><b>architectural details that stood out</b><b>well was the way that</b><b>they looked at the landscape,</b><b>how they built it into.</b><b>They had the alcoves,</b><b>they had a bunch of kind of</b><b>little hiding area points.</b><b>So again, for cover, if someone was on</b><b>shore that you could,</b><b>or even if someone got close to it</b><b>and they had to come through</b><b>the, down the bunker there,</b><b>well, again, there was</b><b>that protection point,</b><b>how they designed it.</b><b>Again, very similar</b><b>to what a castle would,</b><b>again, why is the sprouse</b><b>staircase going reverse?</b><b>Well, again, from the</b><b>individual going down,</b><b>they have the way that</b><b>they can swing their sword</b><b>versus the opponent</b><b>who's going against his hand.</b><b>So just those details</b><b>of just combat history</b><b>just played a big role</b><b>into that designing of it.</b><b>And of course they had all</b><b>the little keyholes again</b><b>for the guns and whatever the case was,</b><b>basically to protect, protect, shoot,</b><b>again, do whatever</b><b>they could in that sense.</b><b>And you would see all</b><b>those details in place.</b><b>How was the environment worn today?</b><b>Well, again, it's been</b><b>a lot of years, right?</b><b>In that respect, our 80 years.</b><b>And what we're, you know,</b><b>you're definitely finding</b><b>that the concrete is</b><b>starting to deteriorate,</b><b>but it is concrete.</b><b>It will last forever in that respect.</b><b>Some of these bunkers</b><b>are definitely sinking</b><b>into the ground.</b><b>You can see that some</b><b>are buried by the sand,</b><b>again, just the natural</b><b>changing elements to that.</b><b>Some have been deemed unsafe, of course,</b><b>and they don't allow people in,</b><b>but a lot of them you</b><b>can go in, take a look,</b><b>touch the walls and just be</b><b>part of what that history was</b><b>and just see it.</b><b>And we definitely saw</b><b>things slip through the cracks</b><b>when it came to the CIA execution.</b><b>Like I mentioned kind of</b><b>earlier about, you know,</b><b>a few generals came on</b><b>trying to restart, you know,</b><b>trying to get this</b><b>project moving and get going</b><b>because they realized that</b><b>there was some critical areas</b><b>that weren't being done.</b><b>Unfortunately, it was too late.</b><b>It really, really was for these.</b><b>And the construction</b><b>was an extreme timelines.</b><b>And of course, the</b><b>geopolitical side of things,</b><b>given the status of what it was, right?</b><b>It was quite</b><b>interesting once you read into</b><b>the deep down history of it.</b><b>And even like being part of this history</b><b>and going through</b><b>these bunkers, you know,</b><b>one of the areas I'm</b><b>gonna talk about in a second</b><b>at this point, due to walk,</b><b>you could see the coastline, right?</b><b>And once you get into like,</b><b>I was standing at one</b><b>of these artillery areas</b><b>and I apologize, I</b><b>can't remember the name</b><b>or what it was, it was</b><b>on our way to Omaha Beach.</b><b>And I just stood there, just, you know,</b><b>leaning against the gun,</b><b>just looking at the coast</b><b>and just pausing and going,</b><b>imagine just being, you</b><b>know, a German in that case</b><b>where you see, I just,</b><b>you wake up one morning,</b><b>it's nothing, wake up the next morning</b><b>and oh my goodness, a fleet of ships.</b><b>Just incredible, like not incredible,</b><b>but just how</b><b>frightening that would have been</b><b>from both fronts, right?</b><b>And then of course, you know, the US,</b><b>the British, the Canadians coming over</b><b>and seeing this massive</b><b>wall too for the first time,</b><b>just words cannot express</b><b>what that would have felt like.</b><b>So kind of a takeaway, just the legacy,</b><b>the preservation of this wartime</b><b>architecture is there,</b><b>you can go see it, I</b><b>encourage you to do that.</b><b>And this kind of ties</b><b>me into my D-Day beaches</b><b>and how one of those</b><b>kind of bucket list things</b><b>I wanted to do.</b><b>And like I said, we dedicated a full day</b><b>to the D-Day beaches.</b><b>Well, first of all, we</b><b>stayed at Juneau Beach,</b><b>which was really nice.</b><b>And we actually, before we left back</b><b>heading on our trip,</b><b>we just got up in the</b><b>morning and just relaxed</b><b>and took it in and saw</b><b>it with the tides out.</b><b>So we started with our first beach</b><b>that we actually went to on that day,</b><b>where we actually was</b><b>dedicated to the beaches</b><b>was the Amrochle Bens</b><b>and that was Gold Beach.</b><b>And upon arriving to</b><b>it, it was very humbling.</b><b>And I didn't know how</b><b>I would react again.</b><b>I've studied this, I've read</b><b>it, I've watched the movies,</b><b>every day I remember, I'm</b><b>there, front and center,</b><b>rain or shine, it doesn't matter</b><b>because it's really important for me.</b><b>And when I got to there,</b><b>right away, we kind of,</b><b>hey, park, not a big deal.</b><b>And once we kind of</b><b>got close to the beach</b><b>and we were kind of</b><b>going through the town</b><b>and seeing that and then</b><b>the beaches were there.</b><b>And I think it just hit</b><b>me like a ton of bricks.</b><b>And we saw right away the</b><b>artifacts that were left</b><b>from the British troops</b><b>that basically made this</b><b>full seaport, so we saw</b><b>all the individual kind</b><b>of docking systems</b><b>that they had in place.</b><b>And a fair amount of</b><b>course was taken away,</b><b>but there was a fair amount left too.</b><b>And just seeing that the</b><b>whole thing just hit me</b><b>and it was very powerful.</b><b>And I've heard that,</b><b>I've talked with others</b><b>in the same thing, they</b><b>didn't know what to expect</b><b>and just very humbling to</b><b>be at that moment and see.</b><b>And yeah, like I said,</b><b>it was very emotional.</b><b>And so we stayed in</b><b>town, we did grab a coffee</b><b>and we definitely did</b><b>a lot of reflecting.</b><b>And that's where we</b><b>went to a couple other</b><b>World War II bunkers on the way, just</b><b>kind of took a look,</b><b>got some photos, saw the</b><b>trenches that were still there.</b><b>And then we finally made</b><b>our way to Omaha Beach,</b><b>bloody Omaha, the worst one</b><b>where the US took action to,</b><b>to try and take that.</b><b>And we went to, we parked at bunker WN65</b><b>and there's lots and lots</b><b>of photos kind of showing it.</b><b>And it's kind of the bunker</b><b>was on the hillside, right?</b><b>So we looked at the bunker,</b><b>we started walking up the hill</b><b>and then there was a beach, or</b><b>there was a bench, excuse me,</b><b>up on the hillside.</b><b>And I actually had to</b><b>sit and just kind of looked</b><b>and just in awe of just going,</b><b>this is what happened on D-Day.</b><b>This was why this was the</b><b>worst one, the worst invasion.</b><b>There are over 3000 men,</b><b>lost their lives in that,</b><b>those few hours, just</b><b>because of the complexity</b><b>of that scenery, of the</b><b>landscape that it provided, right?</b><b>All the other beaches</b><b>were pretty laid out,</b><b>minimal lives were lost.</b><b>It doesn't matter if</b><b>it's a life is a life,</b><b>but it definitely nothing</b><b>compared to what Omaha Beach</b><b>encountered in that sense.</b><b>And just, yeah, sat and</b><b>reflected and just seeing,</b><b>and just like I said,</b><b>analyzing the challenges</b><b>that they could have faced with all this,</b><b>let alone all the traps and everything,</b><b>get into that in a second.</b><b>And because we're on top of the hillside,</b><b>we kind of went along the ridge.</b><b>And again, just the</b><b>views and saw more bunkers.</b><b>And the next thing you</b><b>know, we're walking on top</b><b>of a bunker that's buried, right?</b><b>Just what a challenge that these men face</b><b>soon as they came up to that.</b><b>They had no idea, right?</b><b>And again, most of</b><b>them were underage, too.</b><b>We walked down and we</b><b>got down to the beach.</b><b>Now the tide was in, which</b><b>was a little unfortunate.</b><b>I really wanted, we should</b><b>have got there a lot earlier</b><b>when the tide was out.</b><b>And then just to kind of experience,</b><b>because that's the thing on D-Day,</b><b>they got there super</b><b>early, I think like six o'clock.</b><b>That's when they landed and</b><b>the tide was way, way out.</b><b>And of course, the</b><b>reason why they wanted to be</b><b>on low tides was because</b><b>there was so many traps</b><b>out up along the whole</b><b>beach, everything from mines</b><b>and the barricades and everything.</b><b>Like you couldn't get a U-boat up there.</b><b>And it was just a nightmare for it.</b><b>And that's why they</b><b>definitely landed before,</b><b>from my understanding.</b><b>So we got there, it was higher tide,</b><b>but it was still out enough</b><b>that we could walk along it.</b><b>And I took a knee on it,</b><b>put my hands in the sand</b><b>and just stood, kneeled, reflected.</b><b>Again, it truly sucks.</b><b>It's sad that this had to take place,</b><b>but I'm thankful that</b><b>the Americans, the British,</b><b>the Canadians did do it.</b><b>And because who knows what today's</b><b>landscape would have been</b><b>if someone didn't do</b><b>it, we just don't know.</b><b>So very powerful.</b><b>And like I said, we</b><b>walked along the beach,</b><b>walked in our sandals and our bare feet</b><b>and saw the monuments and just reflected.</b><b>And again, reading all the names.</b><b>And we didn't make it to</b><b>the cemetery for the U.S.,</b><b>but I heard it's been</b><b>very, very incredible too.</b><b>And we kind of, finally,</b><b>we had a few hours left</b><b>in the day, so we</b><b>zipped up to Point Duhok.</b><b>And that was, again, it</b><b>was kind of on the edge</b><b>of the walls, the cliff.</b><b>These cliffs are 130, 150 feet tall.</b><b>And this was where a</b><b>major artillery site was,</b><b>where they were massive</b><b>guns, tons of bunkers,</b><b>and just blasting out to sea to basically</b><b>stop the invasion that was happening.</b><b>And yes, this area was bombed to death.</b><b>You can see the</b><b>craters when you got there.</b><b>We also had the rangers,</b><b>that's what they call themselves,</b><b>who basically repelled</b><b>up that massive wall,</b><b>got up there, captured the site as well,</b><b>in a big team effort to basically allow</b><b>for more ships to come to shore,</b><b>to basically carry on the invasion.</b><b>Everyone was doing their part.</b><b>There was no way in team, and of course,</b><b>everyone was doing their part,</b><b>whether it was air from the land, right?</b><b>Everyone was doing their thing.</b><b>And very, very important,</b><b>again, how it all came out.</b><b>Hey, and that really kind of concluded</b><b>the beaches and the bunkers.</b><b>We went through a lot, a lot of bunkers.</b><b>And there was</b><b>repetitive, a lot of it was same.</b><b>But again, given the how</b><b>many that were being built,</b><b>they weren't designing this.</b><b>It wasn't an architectural feature.</b><b>It was a defense thing.</b><b>So they had to pump these</b><b>out like crazy and do that.</b><b>And like they said, there was gaps,</b><b>and that's how the invasion founder was.</b><b>That was the weak link in the area.</b><b>And it was probably one of the easier</b><b>ways to get across too,</b><b>because of the English channel.</b><b>And so that night we went to Bay U.</b><b>And the nice thing about</b><b>Bay U is it wasn't bombed.</b><b>It really was.</b><b>All these buildings were</b><b>original back pre-World War II,</b><b>because nothing was touched.</b><b>Lots of photos, lots</b><b>of World War II photos.</b><b>We actually took a photo of one building.</b><b>And then when we got home, we saw,</b><b>I think on one of my feeds,</b><b>I saw someone take a</b><b>photo of showing the shoulders</b><b>in front of this one particular building.</b><b>And then we were there</b><b>and we were taking photos.</b><b>So it was really neat to see that.</b><b>Hey, we were there part of that,</b><b>that history and seeing that too.</b><b>And just in the town that we are,</b><b>just everywhere, the</b><b>architecture is so different, right?</b><b>All paved stones all throughout, right?</b><b>Pavers, I mean, pavers all throughout,</b><b>individual stonework and just incredible.</b><b>And we eventually, after kinda,</b><b>we went back to Seattle, we drove there,</b><b>we dropped off the rental car.</b><b>We just hung out there for the day.</b><b>And I think it was one</b><b>of my most favorite days.</b><b>We went to one of the abbeys there.</b><b>And again, again, even though we thought</b><b>we were getting away</b><b>from World War II history,</b><b>we're still involved in it.</b><b>Sian was bombed over</b><b>90% of the structures.</b><b>You know, like there was a few abbeys,</b><b>the cathedrals that stayed intact.</b><b>There was the castle,</b><b>Sian Castle in there.</b><b>And then a couple of other things,</b><b>but a lot area was just destroyed.</b><b>There was Old Town, that</b><b>was part of the original,</b><b>that that did survive.</b><b>But the rest of it was</b><b>all really new looking</b><b>because of the fact</b><b>that the war took it over.</b><b>And even with the bombing,</b><b>it wasn't like it was</b><b>totally unannounced.</b><b>Like the bombers pre</b><b>bombing basically dropped</b><b>hundreds of thousand</b><b>fliers through the air.</b><b>The abbey was painting the church,</b><b>painting everything the</b><b>roof read with a cross</b><b>saying, "Don't bomb here,</b><b>this is home base, right?</b><b>We're not," you know,</b><b>for kind of injured.</b><b>And everything, and the sick.</b><b>And thankfully they didn't do that.</b><b>They protected that building,</b><b>which was a massive structure on its own.</b><b>From there, we just, yeah,</b><b>we hung around, we shopped,</b><b>we enjoyed ourselves.</b><b>We had a beautiful romantic</b><b>dinner, three course meal,</b><b>just incredible, best food ever, wine.</b><b>The wine was incredible too.</b><b>Like, oh, it was so good.</b><b>It was so cheap too, come on.</b><b>It was like anywhere from</b><b>four to nine euros, right?</b><b>And that was an expensive bottle, right?</b><b>It was really nice.</b><b>Like I said, it was my favorite day,</b><b>seeing everything, being part of it,</b><b>just a day relaxing</b><b>and yeah, I don't know.</b><b>I just have to put, it was just a</b><b>special, special day.</b><b>So eventually we got back on the train.</b><b>We made our way back to Germany.</b><b>We got back home with Julia's</b><b>parents and we just relaxed.</b><b>We celebrated Easter and lots of food.</b><b>We went for a hike in the</b><b>woods where by surprise,</b><b>at the end of the hike,</b><b>there was beer and everything</b><b>and there was this full restaurant.</b><b>It was really special, really unique,</b><b>jumping on stones across seven rivers.</b><b>What a cool place.</b><b>So many laughs everywhere we went.</b><b>And that was, I think,</b><b>the absolute best part,</b><b>just felt like a new</b><b>home in a way, right?</b><b>So it was really cool.</b><b>And of course, after many</b><b>Easter eggs, oh my goodness,</b><b>we eventually started going</b><b>to the South side of Germany,</b><b>we were stopped at home.</b><b>And this is where the</b><b>largest, tallest cathedral</b><b>in the world lives, right?</b><b>And we went to that</b><b>cathedral, we climbed it,</b><b>again, more stairs.</b><b>Why did we do so many stairs?</b><b>I don't know, but it</b><b>was really something.</b><b>And eventually went to Rijnhosen</b><b>and that's where one of</b><b>Julia's friends lived.</b><b>And it was kind of cool</b><b>that we got to hang out there</b><b>and the two of them got</b><b>to connect and just see.</b><b>They actually purchased</b><b>a passive house into it.</b><b>So we got to see the function,</b><b>the triple plane</b><b>windows, all the details,</b><b>the energy that they used.</b><b>It was really cool.</b><b>Again, just kind of seeing</b><b>how Europe is so forward that.</b><b>And even with sustainability,</b><b>like even 30 years ago when</b><b>her parents house was built,</b><b>it was done with solar.</b><b>And they're actually</b><b>making money to this day</b><b>on that contracts</b><b>that were built with that</b><b>because of the solar.</b><b>So again, they understood it.</b><b>Still seeing a slow adoption</b><b>in the North American side,</b><b>being out of BC, lots of</b><b>incentives from the governments.</b><b>I'm seeing it.</b><b>I would have done it my</b><b>last place if I didn't sell it.</b><b>It needed a new roof</b><b>and I thought it'd be a perfect time.</b><b>But again, life changed.</b><b>And then we basically sold</b><b>that and went from there.</b><b>But yeah, we basically, we</b><b>stayed down there with friends.</b><b>We said goodbyes, lots of</b><b>hugs, and again, more laughs.</b><b>And we traveled down to the</b><b>Nuschlöschenstein Castle.</b><b>I'm sorry, I said I butchered it,</b><b>but we went down there.</b><b>Very interesting, very cool, very clean</b><b>lines and everything.</b><b>The King that was built</b><b>and then eventually drowned in the lake.</b><b>Lots of mysteries of why.</b><b>Was it suicide?</b><b>Was it a murder?</b><b>What was it?</b><b>But only a third of the castle got built.</b><b>And still very beautiful today,</b><b>very popular from the</b><b>tourist side of things.</b><b>And just seeing his history and all that,</b><b>but to me, the places in Normandy</b><b>were way more</b><b>spectacular than this crazy castle.</b><b>Like we'd taken a</b><b>farmhouse over the castle.</b><b>It just might take</b><b>much different settings</b><b>and what it was, but it was</b><b>still neat to see in that.</b><b>And again, the landscapes,</b><b>and because this is in the Alps,</b><b>it kind of felt like BC, Vancouver BC,</b><b>because we had all</b><b>the mountains back now.</b><b>We had all the Alps there.</b><b>So definitely next time we go back,</b><b>we'll be doing the</b><b>Alps and doing the hiking,</b><b>because that's why I'm</b><b>like outdoors all the time.</b><b>And basically we had lunch at Efossen</b><b>and we went to lots of</b><b>shopping and it was just fun.</b><b>It was good, good times.</b><b>Headed back and we just</b><b>kind of wrapped up our trip.</b><b>These were the final days.</b><b>We got to do the Audubon.</b><b>What a cool system, by the way.</b><b>Simple, get in your</b><b>lane, go as fast as you want,</b><b>get the heck back over,</b><b>unless you're passing</b><b>somebody, really simple concepts.</b><b>There's an accident.</b><b>Everyone pulls over to</b><b>the right or the left,</b><b>keeps the little main lane open.</b><b>What a simple concept.</b><b>They get it.</b><b>And what a way to clean up a highway.</b><b>We actually, on our way back,</b><b>when we're trying to fly home,</b><b>there was a big accident.</b><b>We thought we might miss our flight.</b><b>In the end, we were fine because the</b><b>accident got cleaned up</b><b>really quick, very efficient,</b><b>and just a different way of how it is.</b><b>And yeah, and of</b><b>course, wrap up before we hit</b><b>that final flight there, we</b><b>went out for a nice dinner.</b><b>It was just fun.</b><b>And we both didn't want to come home.</b><b>We really didn't.</b><b>It was a very incredible place.</b><b>The culture, the food, just</b><b>things are different there.</b><b>It really is.</b><b>So my encouragement, if</b><b>you haven't ever been,</b><b>you got to go, add it to your list.</b><b>And on the flight, and</b><b>we got unfortunately,</b><b>I had to transfer and</b><b>everything, do a connecting flight,</b><b>but it was still fun.</b><b>We had a great time.</b><b>We both watched Dirty</b><b>Dancing on the plane,</b><b>something, an old classic</b><b>that both of us haven't seen.</b><b>Great movie, it was fun.</b><b>And we got to back to</b><b>Vancouver at midnight,</b><b>and in all, in height</b><b>of the amazing trip,</b><b>we capped it off with a</b><b>nice dance in the parking lot.</b><b>It was just special.</b><b>It was very cool.</b><b>And so many moments of</b><b>reflecting over the trip,</b><b>and just laughs, everything, the history,</b><b>the architecture, again,</b><b>the World War II history.</b><b>Absolutely incredible.</b><b>So perfect, so beautiful.</b><b>What a trip.</b><b>And wrapping this up, it</b><b>was a trip of a lifetime.</b><b>It was something, like</b><b>I said, I really wanted,</b><b>I had this on my list for about 22 years.</b><b>I had a friend that did</b><b>the Band of Brothers tour,</b><b>and ever since then, sat</b><b>with me for a long time.</b><b>So my encouragement to you,</b><b>if there's something on</b><b>your list that you want to see,</b><b>do it, because time is limited, right?</b><b>And I know all this costs money.</b><b>I'm not going to disagree with that,</b><b>and you got to do what you got</b><b>to do, but make goals, right?</b><b>We've talked about this on this channel,</b><b>even though it's about CA,</b><b>but make your goals, right?</b><b>Whether it's in your</b><b>workplace or wherever, do it.</b><b>Everywhere we went, the</b><b>memories are going to be there.</b><b>We took lots of photos on the iPhones.</b><b>Again, what an amazing</b><b>camera, the power behind it.</b><b>Seeing that Atlantic wall</b><b>in person was very humbling.</b><b>It was a reminder that</b><b>the architecture still,</b><b>it was a reminder that</b><b>architecture tells stories,</b><b>even if it's dark ones.</b><b>Even if it was dark ones.</b><b>The beaches were,</b><b>again, humbly, powerful,</b><b>moving from what it was, right?</b><b>A true honor, a huge</b><b>reflection of all the men,</b><b>the one who served,</b><b>sacrificed in this dark war,</b><b>less we forget.</b><b>And like I said, the European</b><b>architecture was incredible.</b><b>The stonework, like</b><b>Paris, was in just phenomenal</b><b>with all the stonework</b><b>around and the details,</b><b>even Notre Dame with all,</b><b>or any of the cathedrals</b><b>for that matter, just the</b><b>crazy heights that these were.</b><b>And again, the stonework and</b><b>the detail around the gargoyle</b><b>and everything in the</b><b>tongue, like, oh my goodness,</b><b>like it just didn't end, right?</b><b>Everywhere you looked, there's no bad.</b><b>And too, even with Paris,</b><b>you couldn't even do all</b><b>the restaurants either.</b><b>It was just, there's no way.</b><b>Every corner had its</b><b>moment in history and time.</b><b>And there was one</b><b>building being retrofitted,</b><b>fixed, so they had the</b><b>brace between the two buildings</b><b>and took us to a few photos.</b><b>And again, just looking at</b><b>how they did construction</b><b>compared to something</b><b>like downtown Vancouver,</b><b>similar concepts, but</b><b>again, trying to maintain</b><b>the architecture that was there,</b><b>that what made Paris what it was, okay?</b><b>So like I said, I highly, highly</b><b>recommend you take a trip,</b><b>you know, shoot me a note if</b><b>you're doing a habit of chat,</b><b>share our places and everything,</b><b>but what a bucket list item to check off,</b><b>definitely will be</b><b>going back sooner and later,</b><b>definitely not in 22</b><b>years, probably next year.</b><b>So incredible.</b><b>So coming back to what</b><b>the RFI and everything,</b><b>I appreciate you kind of joining me</b><b>for listening to kind</b><b>of a little journey,</b><b>my personal side, but again,</b><b>I just wanted to share</b><b>kind of that architecture,</b><b>the construction administration</b><b>that went into that Atlantic wall.</b><b>So where are we going back in here?</b><b>We're full back into</b><b>the swing of things here.</b><b>We've got lots of guests coming up.</b><b>We've got lots of</b><b>topics to keep coming on.</b><b>Next week, I will be at</b><b>AI national and Boston.</b><b>So if you're there, come</b><b>by, see me and let's do that.</b><b>So, you know, in that</b><b>case, last but not least,</b><b>architects keep designing,</b><b>contractors keep making</b><b>those blueprints a reality.</b><b>We'll see on the next one.</b><b>(upbeat music)</b>