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These are photographs from the gun-control rally held at the Broward
County Courthouse on February 17th, 2018 in response to the vile
murder of 17 children and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, FL.
IMGP2853
Concordville Inn
Nov. 23, 2008
Thanks to Scott Darling's website
Please help with the guy in the photo if you can.
As Audrey Charles looked around, something seemed eerily familiar about the park she was visiting with three of her classmates.
It was the park benches and the descending staircase that carried visitors down into the park space that kept her wheels spinning, trying to imagine where she had seen it all before.
Except the park was 4,300 miles farther away from home than she had traveled her entire life prior to that day.
Then it struck her.
“Those were the same seats I saw on ‘Cheetah Girls 2’ when they were in Barcelona,” Charles said. “I went, ‘Oh my God, I’m here.”
It was an epiphany shared at some level by her classmates and chaperone Beth Shoemaker, as the five ladies traversed along the Mediterranean as part of a European tour including stops in Spain, France and Italy at the end of March.
The trip was the product of DHS becoming International Baccalaureate certified, according to Shoemaker.
“They thought it would be great, since we’re IB, to offer an international trip,” said Shoemaker, who also serves as Dublin High’s media specialist.
When Shoemaker took over as advisor for the trip, she began investigating options and leaned toward Spain as a potential stop.
“Since we offer Spanish courses on campus, I thought a Spanish-speaking country would be a good idea,” Shoemaker said, “then I noticed how close Spain was to France and Italy so we turned it into a Roman Conquest tour.”
The 10-day trip carried the five from DHS, and a sister school from Maryland, to the Spanish and French countryside still holding onto relics from the Roman Empire, the watering hole of Vincent van Gogh, Monaco and the Coliseum, to name a few.
“It was an experience of a lifetime,” Charles said.
Charles was joined by Kamisha Miles, Lauren Price and Samaya Dupree, along with Shoemaker, who began their “Roman Conquest” tour in Barcelona, stopping at Park Guell; the aforementioned site from the movie.
By Day 3, the quintuplet stopped in the walled city of Carcassone, camping out at the Hotel Forum in Arles France: the once home of van Gogh.
“Our hotel was directly across from the Yellow Café where van Gogh used visit,” Shoemaker said. “It was a quiet, quaint little town. It all rolled up at 9 p.m.”
The trip continued through France with a visit to Cote d’Azur and the Roman-era Nimes-Maison Carree and Arena before heading east to a Roman aqueduct called the Pont du Gard.
Then Monaco.
“It was so beautiful,” Shoemaker said, showing a selfie that included the building-filled hills of the Riviera coastline in the background. It was in Monaco where the students broke from touring to take part in a cooking class where they constructed their own Mediterranean-stylized meals.
“All the food was amazing,” Miles said.
“My favorite part was the chocolate,” Price said with a smile. “Chocolate mousse, chocolate mocha.”
“Even at the truck stops,” Shoemaker added. “It was unbelievable. It was food you’d find in a regular restaurant in America.”
From Grace Kelly’s former home, the group headed to Florence and finally to Rome for two days touring the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and the Piazza Navona, as well as the Ostia Antica (a large archaeological site).
“And we went to the Vatican,” added Charles, who took on a part-time job in order to cover the expense of the trip. “The ceilings there were really pretty.”
“The beauty of the Vatican Museum really struck me,” Miles said.
Every one of the women, both young and old, said the trip is one that will live on in their memories indefinitely.
“I wanted to go because I had been places before with my parents and I wanted to try it for myself,” Miles said. “When I look back on my phone I realize how great it all was.”
“I feel more confident in trying new things because of the trip,” Charles added.
“It was amazing to see them grow and mature in such a short period,” Shoemaker said. “They were a pleasure and I’d take them anywhere. I can’t wait to go back.”