St. Nazaire

Yesterday, I spent a wonderful day at the beach in St. Nazaire. My American friends who I go to Bible study with, John and Catherine, and I went with our study group leader and his student group for the day. We took three car loads full and headed out around 10:30am, arriving around noon. The beach was gorgeous:

I really can't get enough of the ocean!
It was a super chill day. We hung out, played some baseball, ate lunch... very laid back. John and I went to explore the rocks and found a really nice view of the ocean and the beach.

It was gorgeous.
Afterwards, I had the pleasure of playing guitar with another guy and singing some French and English worship songs. Probably the coolest moment was when we were singing this one worship song called "Majesty," because I was singing it in English, two people were singing in French, and one girl was singing it in Spanish. So amazing. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: there's something about music that just transcends language and culture and brings people together.
We then had a little worship service on the beach, and I got to play guitar for a couple of the songs. Needless to say, I was pretty happy. I miss my guitar!
I put my feet in the ocean, and really regretted not bringing my swimsuit. It was cold, but I would've done it.
Afterwards, we drove to the harbour to see this building from WWII. It housed the German submarines and was pretty much indestructible. Basically, it was a giant slab of concrete. The Americans and British tried to bomb it and failed. After the war, the inhabitants of St. Nazaire wanted to destroy the building, but it was too fortified and would have cost too much to take down. It was pretty incredible. We found a little passageway underneath these reinforced concrete slabs, which helped to stop bombs if they came down. It was the strangest feeling, because this was kind of my first war memorial place I've been to, so to think that where I was standing, and what I was looking at, was where men once fought for their lives and their country... well, that was pretty incredible.

The parallel bumps in the distance are the slats I was talking about that protected the interior.

barbed wire! I've never seen it before.

part of the passageway.

the exterior... this is only about 1/3 of the building. it was enormous!

Afterwards, the student group got McDonald's paid for by the church. Typically American! haha. I haven't had McDonald's in ages, so it was an experience. I was reminded why I don't eat there much (the fries are too darn good!!!). We also got McFlurry's, which made me pretty happy... I love ice cream!
Overall, it was an excellent Saturday :)