It was 10 years ago today....

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Warhorse

Wow, 1812, your family was here a long time. How long have they been here? I don't know anything past WW 1. My heritage was German, Polish and Italian, they opposed the communist control and paid a heavy price for it.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to walk near Normandy. They still have sunk boats and tanks still down in the waters, right?

On my dad's side I have Native American ancestry so that side's been in America since the ice ages. On my mom's side....since the 1500's. Im descended from one of the men who baught Manhatten (I've read there were 12 all together) island for a bunch of beads from the Native Americans.

Bit of a trivia: Harlem was the original Dutch colony. It was named after the town in the Netherlands, which changed it's name from Harlem to Haarlem. Ironically Haarlem is the top producer of chocolate in Europe.

Genealogy is fun. My grandparents are professional genealogists and Im one as well (altho not a professional). Im always helping people with their genealogy and Im currently putting mine online. I've found several links to Princess Diana on my tree without even looking for em. Always happens. I find a link to some celebrity while Im looking for something else. *lol* Or I find some obscure link to a comic book character (Im related to the real Peter Parker)...my links to the TMNT are fun tho (IE related to one of the founders of Northampton, MA )

As for Normandy. Yes it's very eerily quiet. But if ya ever do go there and go to the beach bring a gas mask cuz MAN it stinks worse than a skunk! There's tents and stuff still on the beach from WWII and it's rotting away. It's covered most of the time by the ocean but if you go at low tide you can see it. There's also a ship that's stranded on the beach like a whale. It's got this HUGE gaping hole in it. One of these days I'll have to scan the pics we took.