Last Day

I can't believe I'm actually in my last full day in Paris. I'll tell you what, time sure passes by fast.

I forgot to mention that the day before yesterday we went to the Holocaust Memorial on the island that Notre Dame is on, and it is actuallylocated right behind the cathedral. It's designed so that you get the crampness and stuffiness of a concentration camp. You walk down these cement stairs into an area where you're completely surrounded by really high cement walls. All you can see now is the sky and a little water, but there's a spiky fence in front of it. There's a tight narrow entranceway into this cave. You enter. Inside there is a tomb of the unknown deportee, for those who were unknown and deported during this time. There's a long corridor with 200,000 crystals, each representing the 200,000 French that were deported. At the end of the corridor there is the light of eternal hope. On either side, there were tiny enclosures which represented the cells they would have been kept in. Along the walls, etched in red and looked like scratchmarks of blood, were quotes. Above the door before you left was "Forgive, but never forget," which is above every exit at the concentration camps now. This was such a different memorial than anything I've seen before, but it was so meaningful and deep. It really hits you hard.

Yesterday, we travelled over to the Chateau Versailles. You can apparently get a pass at the metro that covers round trip metro fare, the ticket inside so you can skip the lines, and free audio guides. It was a good buy because we missed the huge lines and because it was cheaper.

So, we arrived at the huge Palace of Versailles. Louis XIV built this palace for himself and it is lai out East to West so that he can see the sun rise and set. The decorating was pretty similar to the palaces in St. Petersburg in regards to the gold carvings around the framing, murals on the ceiling, large paintings on the walls. However, most of Louis's paintings were that of the family and not so much other things. Except for the hall of battles, which had a picture for each battle fought during French history and Napoleon kept it up when he was emperor.

We saw the King's bedroom which was attached to the Hall of Mirrors, which was amazing to stand in. There are 17 windows and with each window is a mirror corresponding to it directly across from it. There were three rows of chandeliers. Candellabras with gold statues of woman or babies holding them up all along the corridor. This corridor looked onto the main gardens, as well. It housed parties, balls, special events. The Hall of Mirrors was where the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Beautiful.

We went out into the gardens which was HUGE! There was a fountain when you first came outside (none of the fountains were on, though, while we were there. And actually, most of the 1500 fountains (only 300 still remain) never turned on except for when the king was passing them), and the symmetrical tree lines, shaped shrubbery, and flowers. At the end of the fountain was a grand staircase that led into the garden. To the right and left were symmetrical with the shrubbery, flowers, and Roman statues lining the side walkways. You continued forward until you'd hit a long area of grass. At the base of the grass was the grand canal, which was shaped as a cross and was one mile long one way. (In Louis's time, he would have gondoliers row him in gondolas on this canal.) To either side were a few of the "maze" type decorations of trees where the trees/bushes are so high you can't see anything else, and if you didn't have a map, you'd probably get lost. In the center of these were other fountains.

We continued down because on the right side of the gardens (a half an hour walk through the gardens - it's massive) was more of the palace - additions. We arrived at the Grand Trianon which is the smaller palace that Louis built for himself so that he could retreat from the Palace for a while. It overlooked a grand meadow and they changed the flowers everyday so that he could get a different floral smell and view. Continuing down this road, you hit the Petit Tieranon. This is Marie Antoinette's little estate area. She wanted the simple life of a peasant, so Louis XVI sacrificed part of his gardens for her. There was a love temple, a French Pavilion, Theatre (where and her friends would put on plays), Grotto (where she supposedly took her lovers, but that's just a legend), and here little village called the Queen's Hamlet.

The Queen's Hamlet was my favorite part and was seriously like walking into a storybook fairytale. There was a farm, with pigs, donkeys, cows, goats, and horses. There was a little cottage, which looked like it could belong to Snow White and the seven dwarfs. She would have the cows milked here, and serve over in her Refreshment Dairy house, a two minute walk away. Two minutes away was her little village which overlooked a little man made lake called the Grand Lac. There was a tower called the Marlborough Tower. Down a little more was a building and on the left side was the billiard room, and on the right was the Queen's House. Behind it was a little garden of flowers and a Warming House. Next to the Queen's House was the Boudoir or kitchen. Next to that was the mill. To leave, you have to cross over this little bridge over a little canal (you had to cross a different one to enter on the other side, but you can enter or exit from either side). Looking back at it from the other side of the lake, it looks like something built for Disneyworld because of how storybook it looks and feels, but she actually lived out here. She wanted to escape the pressures of the palace and the etiquette involved. I don't know how else you can feel farther away from that with your own storytale village, and yet only maybe a half an hour walk to the palace, because I felt like I was in a foreign palace and that the Grand Palace was so far away and a different country in itself. All in all, mad props to you Marie Antoinette, you're place was beautiful and humble. It makes you wonder what kinds of people these royalty were because what kind of queen wants to hang out by a farm and live like a peasant. The way it was set up kind of made me think her personality was more like Cinderella from Disney's version, but I could obviously be way off because I don't know much about Marie Antoinette.

Versailles was incredible and I can't wait to get some books and read more about its history when I get back. Who ever thought that I would be excited and looking forward to reading a history book? History is not my subject, but it's all good.

On our way out, the entrance area was blocked off because a private party was entering, so we walked around and were watching some people walk in, all very rich people. They were entering inbetween men dressed in old war uniforms and the white wigs playing the snare drums and trumpets. There was this one woman in a gold pantsuit that I swear had to have been a designer, she looked like a diva. ha ha. We had fun guessing in the husband and wife situations, who's the one that makes the money, who's happy in their relationship, etc. It was kind of entertaining and blatantly obvious because one would have their head up higher or be more confident.

We got back and went to a little chinese restaurant. Not as good as the other place, but still really good. Then we just kind of chilled and went to bed because it was around midnight.

Today we're going to see a few of the things we haven't seen around Paris yet and walk around and shop a little more.

I'll be home in Michigan tomorrow! Have a great day!

Wow.

The Palace of Versailles is absolutely incredible and beautiful.

I'll update tomorrow morning because I'm tired.

To be continued...

I think it's rain season here.

Well, it's raining again. It usually rains every morning and then kind of clears up a little later here. Kind of annoying, but oh well. I can't wait to sit out in the sun. :)

Ok. Yesterday.

We started our day with a huge omelette that Beth made for all of us. it was scrumptious and had tons of vegetables in it. We went to Starbucks and then walked down Rue de Monge. Our first stop for the day was going to be touring the inside of Notre Dame Cathedral. Along the way we stopped at some shops. I was waiting outside one of them on a corner and so many french people came up to me asking me fore directions, I could help a few, but the others I just said "I don't speak french, I speak english" in french. I didn't know what else to do. Then some guy asked if he could buy my umbrella off me. What? No. Go away. Weirdo.

So, we reached Notre Dame and entered in the front of the cathedral, but in the doors to the right. What a magnificent building. The architecture and carvings on the door frames alone. Astounding. We walked inside to huge archways and peaks on the right side of the church. You can travel to the center and a view all down the center of it to the altar. It's enormous, it was like the ceiling was never ending. The stone and the way it was shaped and met together with the other archways was beautiful. We traveled down the right side. Along the right were alcoves. In each alcove was something different - some were confessionals (which you can still have confession at - it's like 2:30-6 or something), some were prayer areas, others were little altars and areas honoring saints. You walked around the back of the altar area and they had another bigger prayer section in an alcove with it's own altar and then a diaramma of the process of building the church. Along the left side of the church was the same with the alcoves.

I decided to go sit and see if it was different and churchlike from there because there were so many tourists everywhere, it kind of lost the sense of feeling a church brings you. Well, once I sat down, that feeling was there; there's no way it could not have been. Looking over to the altar area with stained glass windows high above it on all sides letting in light conflicting with the dark of the stone was just...heavenly. So, I prayed - for what seemed like forever, but I think it was only 10 minutes. It was really nice and peaceful and it really seemed like no one else was there, even though the cathedral on either side was packed with people. This was a really cool experience.

We left Notre Dame to head to the Musee D'Orangeree. Here, there were two circular rooms with paintings from Monet on each wall - huge mural paintings which were actually painted for this museum. They were pretty cool and were of nature - trees and water with reflections. I loved his use of scumble painting and colors. He would use so many colors to make something such as a brown, instead of using just a brown for the tree bark. This made it stand out, seem more life like, and appeal to the eye more. In the basement were paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, and an artist I don't remember seeing before, but really caught my attention - Soutine. The paintings of his that I liked were of landscapes - hills or houses or cottages, but they they were wavy. It was like if you took an image straight on and then altered it so that the picture wasn't clear - kind of like a flag looks like when it's waving in the wind. The image is there, just altered. These were really cool so I took pictures of them.

That was pretty much it for that museum, it was really small. So we headed to la place au concorde; this is where Marie Antoinette, among others, were beheaded. It's just a square in front of the Palais de Concorde. Pillars with gold at the top, green marble-like streetposts. That was pretty much it.

We headed toward the Champs d'Elysee next. We thought it'd be a lot different though. This was a strip similar to Times Square in New York or Michigan Ave. in Chicago. It was all stores and CROWDED with people. These were not the nice happy french people I've encountered every other day during my stay, nor was this street the Paris I was familiar with. People were pushy, not the nicest - I didn't like it. So, we rushed down the street to get to the Arc de Triomphe.

You have to walk underground througha tunnel to get to the Arc de Triomphe because it's in the center of a busy circular drive. Etched on the arc are names of the generals from the different wars and the ones that are underlined are the ones that died in battle. The detail here with the carvings was quite incredible, as well. We noticed some army people and got interested. In Beth's little tour guide book it said that everyday at 6:30, they change the flowers or flame for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for WWI. So, we stayed because it was about that time.

Finally, it began. There was a band playing some music and there were some veterans that walked in carrying the French flags. Families and other army personnel walked over to either side of the little grave for the unknown soldiers. Three military personnel were kind of heading what was going on and making speeches and shaking the hands of everyone. It was really cool to see, and I'm glad that by chance, we were here and able to see it. It reminded me of Grandpa and the ceremonies we go to for him and his parades and the ceremony afterward. You never really think about the fact that other countries have had the same losses in wars, have the same ceremonies; at least I never really actually sat down and thought about it. It was nice to see how similar it was. I think this was one of my favorite moments on this trip, actually. Maybe because of the ceremony and how familiar I am with it, maybe because it reminded me of what Grandpa does, maybe because of how respectful and honorable the ceremony was - I don't know. Either way, hitting this by chance was really awesome.

We headed home in the crazy wind that had been brewing and getting worse all day and hopped on the metro. We arrived home a little bit later and decided to head to the Italian restaurant located just below our apartment. We sat down at the table and the people next to us ended up being from Kansas City. How crazy is that? I ended up helping them read the menu, too. I don't know much, but I guess I know enough. So, we all ordered; Sarah and I split a ham and cheese pizza and Beth and Cathie got these huge salads. Seriously - the best food I've had in a long time and it was just pizza! They gave us little baguette slices also, which I dipped into olive oil, and then added the red wine vinegar to. Simply amazing combination - the olive oil, vinegar, and baguette. So good. For dessert, I got this ice cream with citron vodka on it or something; it tasted like lemon ice with a kick and a little more melted. It was so good. Sarah got these little cream puff things with fudge, really good too.

We got some wine and chilled the rest of the night and talked. We were going to go to Versailles today, but those plans were up in the air, and today wasn't the best for it. So, either tomorrow or Thursday for sure because that's something I don't want to miss. Today we're just going to hit up shops and visit some churches that are supposed to be really beautiful see.

Alright, well I'm going to make some breakfast and hop in the shower. Friday's approaching really fast! Have a great day!

Beth likes pasta.

Beth's favorite food is pasta and she makes many different kinds. Today, she enlightened my life by making me lunch which was a pasta with different veggies and dressings and spices. soooo good. She's eating pasta next to me right now as we speak. :)

Yesterday, Beth and I had kind of a later start than everyone else, and they left for the Musee d'Orsay before us. Beth and I, of course, stopped at Starbucks on the way. She got a green tea latte with soy and I got the best caramel latte that I have ever had (even better than my GP peeps. Crazy, I know). I had to throw out the french word for green because they didn't understand what she wanted. How I remembered the word for green, I don't know, but it's all good.

So, we headed down a few streets to catch the C train. What a complicated station because it was where a bunch of transfers ovvur so there were many trains. Who would have thought to get onto Platform A to catch a C train? Oh, well. We made it there anyway.

I really liked the Musee d'Orsay; it had more of my type of paintings and art work - landscapes and bright colors. It was crazy to look directly at famous paintings from Monet, VanGogh, Pissaro, being able to see the brushstrokes, the paint differentiation, the vivid colors. It was such an unbelievable experience. Also, the energy in this museum was very creative, imaginative, inventive, and it kind of bled through to the patrons. I felt very in tune with myself while here, as did Beth. We found paintings that interested us, also, so we wrote them down so we can research them later. :)

After the museum, we headed down the Seine River to find tickets for a boat tour. We eventually found it, bought the tickets, and wanted food. We started walking and realized we were in the 8th district - the rich Beverly Hills-esque district with Prada, Louis Vuitton, Versace stores. Yea, so we crossed the bridge to nthe 7th District and instantly the atmosphere was different, more calm and more relaxed. We walked and found a Restaurant Chinoise - Chinese Restaurant. We all had been craving Chinese food for a bit now. We sat in a restaurant and you could see the Eiffel Tower from there. We got these spring rolls which were about the size of your middle finger and it came with this sauce - it was so good. I got sesame chicken, of course. It was very sweet, but very good.

We headed back to the boat tour and found a spot all the way in the back of the boat facing the rear. We realized there wasn't a bar, so Kennikki and I ran off and grabbed a beer for all 5 of us, and ran back on. It's important to have one while on the boats. So, the boat headed off. Pictures a sunset of purples, oranges, and pinks with the Eiffel Tower in front and the sound of the waves below you - that's how we began our tour. It was absolutely breathtaking. We ventured for an hour and ten minutes down the Seine River. We saw the Eiffel Tower light up again, so cool to see from a different angle this time. Did you know that France has a mini version of the Statue of Liberty? Well, they do and it's in the river by the Eiffel Tower.

Oh, also in our walks, we came across this flame that looked like the tip of the Statue of Liberty's torch, so we went to look at it. This was a memorial to Princess Diana because right underneath was the tunnel that her car crashed in and she died. It was so crazy and random that we ran into it, and very sad. The visions of the news specials and the funeral on TV came flooding through my mind at that moment, as well as the image of Danielle bawling because Princess Diana had passed away.

Today, I blew a fuse. However, normal people blow fuses, I blow whole circuit boxes. The super had to come over, somehow got two electricians out (Sundays are their holiday and no one works), and eventually, they replaced the box and everything was ok and we had electircity. All I did was plug in my camera charger. However, I plugged it into a plug none of us have used before and has been kind off iffy and tempermental. Yea, stupid me tries to still use it. I was really upset, but within 3 hours it was all taken care of.

We went to a cemetary and saw Jim Morrison's grave, as well as Chopin's. We wanted to see Oscar Wilde's also, but the cemetary was closing. This cemetary opened in 1832 and was one of the coolest cemetaries I've ever seen. There were cobblestone walking paths winding in and out making little walking streets. Instead of just a little square with your name on it like in America, each family had like a little temple - some the shape of outhouses, but obviously beautiful and made of cement. These were popped all over the place - or there were would be a giant chunk of marble or cement to denote a family, also. It was such a pretty cemetary with all of these, and it was like something you see in movies because of all of the old graves, headstones, and names. It was such an interesting place to walk around in.

Afterward, we headed back to the apartment and chilled for a bit and then wandered to find some food. Well, today is Sunday, which means everything is closed. Really, though; everything was closed. We found one place after an hour of walking around, but they wouldn't let us split a pizza and wouldn't let Beth just have a drink or me just a drink when I decided not to eat. So, we left. So weird to get denied service because two of us weren't going to eat. We ended up just going to McDonald's because we were too hungry. ha ha. Oh Micky D's. Beth and I also wanted Starbucks, but, oh, what do you know, it's closed. grr. Oh well, tomorrow morning.

We're just chilling at the apartment now. Kennikki left this morning which was pretty sad. It's crazy not to have her here because I'm so used to the 5 of us. She had a great time, though, and so did we. It's crazy to think my travels are almost over...but I won't think of that. I still have four more full days.

Alright, well I'm out. We're talking about our plans for the rest of the week. Have a good night!

It's raining.

Well, it's raining again today, which is fine. Perfect day for a museum. :) It's supposed to stop by 6 though, so it's all good.

Yesterday we left at around 12 and took a long, long leisurely walk over to the Eiffel Tower. (It wouldn't have taken so long, but it was a very leisurely walk. ha ha) We stopped in some stores on the way, and took in more of the sights on the Paris streets. It really feels like we live here because we're walking the streets to get places, living in an apartment, goinjg grocery shopping. To those interested in coming here - I highly suggest it. It takes you away from feeling like a tourist, and puts you into a more relaxed residential state of mind with tourist ideas, but not the hustle and bustle that comes with it.

On the way, Sarah and I wanted a beer. We happened to stumble across L'Academie de biere. Academy of Beers. We figured they'd have some good beer. Man, were we right. The best beer I have ever had. The girls all got different fruit flavored beer - berry, raspberry, peach, and strawberry. I got L'ambrusa - a french brewed beer. It sort of was a combination of Blue Moon and Oberon, but a little different. However, if an orange slice was thrown in, it would have been heaven. ha ha. We had great french fries there, too. We couldn't figure out if it was the oil they used or the actual fries that were so delicious. No biggie, amazing none the less.

We continued walking and eventually got to the Eiffel Tower. What a sight to see. It was so surreal. Here I am, boy from St. Clair Shores, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. I don't know if I ever thought I'd be doing that. So, we of course got in the line to go up it. There's three floors, and you can either get a pass for the first, second, or all three; we got all three and it was only 12 Euros. So, we took the elevator to the second floor, checked out the sights, took some pictures, chilled, grabbed a sandwich and then got onto the other elevator to take us to the very, very top. We arrived up there, and I thought it would be cold, but it really wasn't. You could see soooo far into the horizon from here, apparently it's supposed to be 55 miles all around that you can see. Sidenote: we lucked out because it was a gorgeous day in the 70's with the sun out, not many clouds. Perfect day to go to the Eiffel Tower. It was cool because you could see so many things from up there - Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Musee de Louvre, some church on a hill, Palace des Invalides - so cool to see things you recognize. We actually met a man, woman, and her child, and the woman graduated from Wayne State's biology graduate program back in the day and they now live in Sacramento. How cool is that to meet someon from Wayne State at the top of the Eiffel Tower? Love it.

(Random note: For those who don't know, the person we're renting the apartment from is also from Wayne State. Beth randomly found this apt. online, called him, and in talking found out he was from wayne state's med. school. He got excited we were from Wayne State, so we ended up getting the family discount. Pretty sweet, right? Wayne State's all over. Pretty sweet.)

In the Eiffel Tower there are some videos about the history, painting it, and the events that occured there. We went to leave the Eiffel Tower and took the elevator from the top to the second floor and then walked the 704 steps downt to the ground. Sweet!

We left the Eiffel Tower to go sit on the grass to watch it light up because it was now nightfall - which is when the lights start. The lights turn on for ten minutes every hour until midnight. The Eiffel Tower was accented witha blue light because of the presidential election here. It'll be lit that way for the next two months. Then the lights began. I thought the whole Eiffel Tower was going to light up, but instead, like a million little strobe light things were going off from all over the Eiffel Tower. It was so cool. it looked like tons of people were all over it taking pictures. I took pictures, but it didn't capture how cool it was, so I took a 6 second video of it so you could see also. :) I, of course, took some pictures next to it. Then, Beth and I decided to do our acrobatics stuff we learned in Russia in front of it too. Those pictures turned out sweet, but are on her mom's camera because mine was being dumb. They're pretty sweet. We're going to need to send them to our instructors in Russia.

It was a cool atmosphere on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower. People scattered all over with picnic baskets, wine, baguettes, pasta, just having a good old time. Can you imagine just getting some friends together and heading over to the Eiffel Tower on a random night and having a picnic? Must be nice, right? But that'll be me next year, but with Central Park instead. I already found my favorite place there. :)

So, we left the Eiffel Tower and headed back. Sarah and I thought we should go one way, but everyone else thought the other way, so we went the other way...which was the wrong way. So, we ended up back near the Eiffel Tower. We then decided to take the Metro, their version of the subway. So, we went over to the Metro, which just happned to be the train we needed (lucky), and I figured out how to read and use the machine to get the tickets (it was all in french). I then checked out the metro map hanging therea nd figured out which stop we needed - which was only 13 away (20 minutes). So, we went up the escalator and headed onto the metro once it arrived. We got off at the Place d'Italie stop. We could've transferred to the 7 train, but I didn't feel like dealing with a transfer for only a couple of blocks, so we walked. Cathie, Sarah, and kennikki didn't think we knew where we were going so they kept asking for directions. All we had to do, though, was go straight down the street and turn right. Well, Beth and I did it, but apparently everyone else fell behind. I don't know how that happened. When they arrived a half an hour later, upset because they got lost and we ditched them (which we didn't do), they jst wanted a beer. They were right behind us, Beth and I were honestly baffled as to how they lost us. However, everyone likes to stop and check things out without the people in front knowing, so that may happened. Oh well, they weren't really that mad, and they got back fine.

But, the moment I was most proud of yesterday: i navigated us on a metro in a different country in a different language, and got us back to where we needed to be. Beth also knew what she was doing too. I feel so cultured. And the funny thing is that I have never felt nervous or anything. It's actually exciting and exhilerating to search and find your way around. It's like an adventure, and it's amazing that I was actually correct in getting us around.

When we got back, we made some pasta, chilled, and I went to right to bed. It was an exhausting day with so much walking and everything.

Today, we're heading over to the Musee d'Orsee and the aftwerward taking a boat ride down the Seine River, which should be pretty cool.

Alright, well, I'm out. Hope you all had a great 4th of July!! :) Have a good day!

Happy Independence Day Americans!

Aww man, I'm missing the best bbq of the year with mom's amazing cooking! I hope you guys have amazing weather today!!! That should make up for all of the rain you've been having that I've heard of. Well, have fun and think of me while eating some great grilled something. ha ha.

Well, yesterday we kind of got a late start because Kennikki, Beth, and I are all about taking our time and chilling and then going, just because we were on the run every single day nonstop for a month - waking up, walking 40 minutes to school, rushing to a show, etc. So, now that we can sit and still enjoy the sites, that's kind of the mode we're in. However, if I just got here, I'd be exatly where Cathie and Sarah are, where they just want to keep going. It's interesting how that kind of thing happens - you're mentality changes because of a certian event (us being in Moscow for a month).

So, the three of us were going to meet up with them at the Catacombs. We kind of got lost on the way. Usually, I'd freak out, but it didn't bother me. I stopped and asked for directions in French. I sort of understood him. We found a map and used that instead. So, we figured it out and ended up there. We thought the Metro station was the Catacombs however, and then had to cross the street to the actual building. Sticking us three together is a mess waiting to happn, but a lot of fun. So, we went into the Catacombs after a half hour wait in line. It was very creepy to begin with. This 20 meter deep spiral staircase that took us underground to what used to be a mine shaft. Then, you had to walk 500 meters underneath the streets (which were marked underground), the river, the homes. When you arrived, oh man. Millions and millions of bones and skulls made into shapes on the walls - hearts, arches and crosses; it was quite creepy. There was a large vase formed around a pillar. Millions of unidentified people were down here. Insane. There were randomly little poems or quotes around, also. One said "Silence, the dead are listening." eery.

Anyway, got kind of creeped out down there. And the energies were just in high intensity too. So, we got to the end and had to walk up a narrower spiral staircase. We got out into the sunlight, pretty far away from where the beginning of it was and couldn't find Cathie and Sarah. So, we decided to head back to the apartment (the original plan was to head to the Eiffel Tower). We ended up stopping at this little cafe and grabbing a beer bcause we all had to use the bathroom. So, we chilled at this outside cafe, talked, people watched. It was very Paris. ha ha. We left there and walked past a Boulangerie (Bakery) and we were all kind of hungry, so we decided to get abaguette and split it (they're huge). So, we walked in and I said everything to the woman in french, "Bonjour. Je voudrais un baguette s'il vous plait...Merci." = "Hello. I would like one baguette please....Thank you." Kennikki starts laughing because apparently I said it so fast and fluent she was taken aback like whoa where did that come from. I was so excited because I was able to order in french. Two years of french in high school paid off. I was able to order a baguette in french. :) By the way, best piece of bread I've ever eaten, and the best 80 cents I've ever spent on food in my life - no joke.

So, we continued home and stopped at some shops along the way. We got back, and they were waiting for us. We made some dinner, it began to rain. We were all pretty tired, so we decided to stay in for the evening. We talked, drank some wine. We were going to watch the movie Amelie, but we were all falling asleep, so we didn't. Kennikki, Sarah, and I went downstairs to grab a beer at the restaurant below us. I was tired, so I came back up after one, they stayed. Beth, Cathie, and I talked for a while. Then, Beth and I were up until like 2am talking to Steve online. ha ha. I was able to talk to him yesterday too and we talked for like 30 minutes and yelled at each other because we can't be roommates next year again. He needs to graduate and he wants me to stay another year. ha ha, yea, ain't gonna happen. We talked to Mo and MJB online also. Very cool. We were going to try and catch up with our Canadian friend Catherine who went to Moscow with us, but that didn't work out yesterday and she leaves today.

Today we are going to shop along the Champs D'Elysse. Then possibly end up at the Eiffel Tower because it is supposed to be nice today with a high of 73. Apparently at night for the next two months, when it lights up, it's the colors of the flag because of the presidential stuff. Cool.

Apparently, Jack Johnson is going to be in concert not too far away in some park on the 9th, so we're going to go and try to do that. How amazing would that be?! So cool!

Anyway, I'm going to go make breakfast. You guys have a wonderful, beautiful, and fun day!!!

Happy Independence Day!!!

Paris.

Well, I'm officially in love with the "City of Love." The tempo/rhythm of this city is so calm and relaxing. What a nice getaway after a month of intense training is a hustle and bustle city. Love Moscow, but this is a nice change.

Well, yesterday we all woke up, made some breakfast, chatted, told stories, and figured out what we would do for the day. The decision was to go to the Musee de Louvre. We also decided to walk there because it only looked like it was a mile down, which is nothing compared to all the walking we did in Moscow. Plus, we wanted to see a little more of Paris on the way. So, we walked. It was strange because I felt like I knew where I was going, where I was heading, and the streets are strange and curve all different ways. Somehow I became the leader, which is fine. It's just weird how natural I feel here; I feel so comfortable.

On the way, we saw everything you'd expect to see in Paris, the apartments with the balconies and flowers, the little restaurants, bakeries, small streets, one way streets, beautiful churches. We stopped into some of the little shops. Then it began to rain. Pretty hard. The funny thing about it is that it didn't really even phase us. We had umbrellas. At one point, Sarah and I were waiting on a corner by a canal we had to cross, for everyone else, and I look across the canal and go "Hey, Sarah, look to your right. There's Notre Dame." And there it was. Out of nowhere, we just happened to run into it. It's so cool how that can happen and how we just ran into one of the famous churches. It's so magnificent and such a sight to see. So beautiful and so gigantic.

We continued on and on the way we saw the intersection that Princess Diana had her car accident at...well, not the tunnel, but above the tunnel. That was surreal.

We went further and finally arrive at the gigantic Louvre. We walked through to the other side and there were the pyramids everyone knows about. It was so weird to actually see them in real life because you hear about them so often and see pictures and here I am standing right in front of them. We entered the museum and began our 8 hour adventure around this large and enticing museum. Here's a small rundown of the things I saw: The Mona Lisa (which is a lot smaller than I thought it'd be), Venus de Milo, Victorie de Samthonique (might have that last part wrong), paintings of Michaelangelo, Donatello, mummies, the coffin thing that mummies get placed into, Egyptian/Greek/Roman artifacts, Greek Vases, Roman Vases, Napoleon's Apartments, Greek/Italian sculptures, paintings from all over Europe. The list is extensive. So much to take in in such a small amount of time. After 6pm, it's free, so we're going to try to come back a couple times after 6 when we're not doing something else, just to check out some more. Beth said she saw Commedia masks, which I would LOVE to see.

On our way back to the apartment, we crossed the canal with people just having picnics - wine, beer, noodles, baguettes - I'm totally doing this before I leave. We went down a side street instead of the main street on the way home and passed some break dancers, little bars and clubs, restuarants. The city was so alive and so lit up and it was so late. We stopped at Shakespeare and Company, a bookstore that Hemingway and others used to come to to chill at. A tiny quaint bookstore loaded with old, old books. It was pretty neat to see. I looked straight ahead while Sarah and I were waiting outside for Beth and Cathy to finish shopping and again, there was Notre Dame - all lit up. What a sight to see at night as well. (P.S. I forgot to mention, you can pretty much see the Eiffel Tower from everywhere as long as there's some open space - from the Lovre windows, the bridges, etc.) We continued walking and stopped at this wine store. The guy began talking to Beth and I outside because we weren't getting anything and he was telling us we need to stay up and out all night one night in Paris when the moon is out. Then at 5am when the cafes open, grab a coffee and watch the sunrise. That is how you truly experience Paris. So, one night, we're definitely going to do that. I'm pretty excited.

We got home and were all exhausted. I made some dinner (GNOCCI!), we each had a glass of wine, and then off to bed we went. First day around Paris was a success and an amazing time.

Today, we're going to get ready and head off to the Catacombs and then over to visit the Eiffel Tower to see it while it's daylight, eat some dinner, then see wait to see it all lit up, as well. Another long, but cool day.

Have a good day!

Bonjour

Well. I'm in Paris. What a night/day yesterday. Well, he headed off to the airport around 3:30am. Everyone was in a different state - happy, sad, tired, confused, drunk, everything. So that was obviously interesting. We got to the airport earlier than they would let us in, so we had a little bit of sitting around to do. Then they said that everyone's bags had to be 23kilos (50 lbs.) so everyone was frantically going through their bags throwing stuff in other people's so that it wouldn't be too heavy. On the way home, if it's over, I'm just paying whatever it is. lol. I was fine though because I have two bags already.

So, I get on the plane and pass out. Woke up later and the clouds were so heavy it looked like snow. You couldn't see anything underneath. Aboveit was the bright blue sky. Really quite amazing. Of course I took a picture.

We landed and had to find Beth's mom and sister. The airport in Paris is really not that easy to navigate, but we made it. Then we found a cab and took it to our apartment. It's in the 6th district, beautiful. There's a main bathroom which is big, a master bedroom and bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, a yellow dining room and kitchen, a living room with blue furniture and peach walls and another bedroom with two twin beds. The streets outside are so nice also. Nice apartment buildings, little stores, random fountains. What you would expect Paris to be I guess.

Kennikki and I went to a little restaurant for lunch across the street while we were waiting for the others so we could go grocery shopping because we were STARVING! so, we got chicken and fries. ha ha. (Kennikki: "We have to get french fries. we're in FRANCE!" yea, she's a dork just like me.) It was cool because I was able to read the french menu. It's been a while since I've taken french, and I only took two years, but its cool to see what's coming back. We went to the grocery store which was laid out weird. They had a downstairs too, which is where you checked out. To get your cart downstairs, carts had their own escalator that grabbed onto their wheels. so crazy. Then you had to pay 3 cents for bags. lame but it's all good.

We came back and Kennikki and I went to get a phone card because everyone else didn't feel like going they just wanted to chill. So we walked and picked random streets. Found a McDonalds, Starbucks, an amazing smelling bakery. Met some really nice people. It's so interesting because, yes, people are rude here I guess but everyone seems like angels after leaving Moscow lol. The few people we stopped and talked to were really friendly and wanted to help us out and to talk to us. Such a nice atmoshere here.

It was definitely sort of a culture shock to be here because within a two hour span we're in a different country with a different language, new streets, and new everything. Its like the first 2 days in Moscow where you have to learn everything all over again. It'll be ok though. The pace here is a little slower...amongst the walkers. The driving is insane, there's no lanes!!! But people aren't speeding past you as you walk, knocking your shoulders, they're just chillin enjoying life. I really like that.

So, Kennikki and I got back and I fell asleep; it's 5pm. I woke up at midnight - took out my contacts and went back to sleep. I woke up at 7:40am this morning. That's a ton of sleep, but I was exhausted. Mom can attest for me because I sounded like crap on the phone yesterday. ha ha.

Anyway, right now it's a little gray outside, so hopefully it'll turn around and be as beautiful as it was yesterday. I'm off to take a shower and get ready for the day. Have a great one! Love and miss you all. A bientot!