And then our NU-40 scattered to various corners of the world ... the fewest among us went home to Boston (4 students, at 5:30 a.m. today); 8 Engineering students took off for Greece (3 pm today); and the rest of us (23 students, plus Cynthia and myself) headed to Marsah Matruh and the Mediterranean Sea. We 25 still have another journey ahead ... with our ultimate destination in Abu Dhabi and another Dialogue, this time with 30 Arab students from all over the Arab world.
Two hours before we arrived at this beautiful beach (Matruh), we stopped at Al-Alamein, the famous WWII war site, which was a turning point for the Allied Forces in 1942. We stopped at a museum, where some of our students decided to hop on WWII-vintage tanks, trucks, and armored-personnel carriers. And then we stopped at the Commonwealth Forces' Cemetery. As we left the bus to visit the cemetery, I encouraged these 18-25 year old students to take a look at the ages of the soldiers buried here. The headstones of young men their own ages extend for acres and they are a stark reminder of the high cost of war, even the necessary wars we have fought (or, more accurately, "that have been fought for our sake"). We have not (yet) gotten into a discussion of the unnecessary wars and their various costs.
After our somber walk through the resting place for those who made the ultimate sacrifice some 65 years ago, we hopped on our bus, drove past the German and Italian cemeteries, and continued along the beautiful shore-line and the turquoise sea to our hotel, the Beau Site ... and it is a most beautiful spot.
2 comments:
Heard about the fan belt breaking on the bus and I asked April if anyone had pantyhose in their luggage that could have been used to replace it but she said she didn't think so.
I am sure the WWII memorial site made for some interesting conversations.
What beautiful pictures. Thank you so much for sharing.
LOL realized this should have been on the post above this one, oh well....
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