the last two days... parfait.

Sorry for the extreme length and poor format. I haven't had much time to write and I am trying to get down everything I can....

Day 2: Paris on Speed

Today we hit five of the major French tourist attractions…needless to say, it was a long, tiresome, amazing day. We started off the day with our first French breakfast, and I must say that it is definitely something I could grow accustom to very quickly. They had amazing croissants, both normal and filled with chocolate, yogurt, eggs, sausage, cold deli meats, cheese and pickles. Very different from a continental breakfast you might have in America, but WONDERFUL.

After breakfast we went to music lecture for about an hour and talked about paintings that we would see throughout the day. After lecture, we had our first European mass transit experience: we rode the French metro. The whole system is very well engineered and easy to understand…even if you speak no French. We went to the Musee D’Orsay and saw many impressionist paintings and some incredible sculptures. Lunch was crepes with ham and cheese in the garden in front of the Louvre, and then for the next three hours we attempted to soak in everything that is the Louvre. It might be the largest building that I’ve ever been in, definitely the most ornate. The number of masterpieces I saw was absolutely incredible: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Nike of Samothrace, Raft of the Medusa (my favorite!), etc. My favorite part of the museum, however, was exploring the small rooms on the side. Such interesting, beautiful, pieces of art EVERYWHERE. We also saw some very strange, disturbing, modern art, including a mock graveyard with a huge, silicone, earthworm with the face of an old man. Did I mention it also moaned and moved? Definitely the things nightmares are made of…

From the Louvre we walked down the Sienne River to the Notre Dame. It started to rain at that point, but we managed to make to the cathedral in order to hear a little bit of mass…organ, choir, and priest. It was incredible. I was taken aback by the sheer size of the cathedral. Every surface of the building is covered with ornate carvings, statues, and art. It is phenomenal.

We played “tourist” for a while and all bought scarves from Paris. Dinner was in a Café…sandwiches on French bread of course J We then headed to Arc de Triumph and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. (In Paris, like most of Europe, summer days last from about 5 am to 10 pm…lots of time for sightseeing!) We took a tunnel under the 15 lanes of traffic that encircle the monument. Once again, absolutely beautiful. In the distance you could see the Eiffel tower, so we decided to hit up one more tourist attraction for the day.

In the metro on the way to the Tower, we were graced with some interesting musical “experiences.” I’m not sure what exactly the instruments were that he played, but it was very difficult to listen to with a straight face. I guess the best way to describe it might be some sort of ancestor to the bagpipe? Not a very pleasant sound, at least not to my “untrained” ears! On other trains I saw accordion players and violin players…all asking for money, of course. Just another part of the Paris experience!

The Eiffel Tour was probably my favorite place of the day. We got there just as it started twinkling for the first time. As it started you could hear one large “aww” from everyone around. All around the monument were people of many ethnicities selling the exact same souvenirs…light up Eiffel Towers and key chains. I’m not sure where the demand for these things is coming from, since I never saw ANYONE by any, but there were probably over fifty vendors that approached us throughout the night. Fortunately for me, “no” is the same in French and English! The tower sparkles in the evening every hour for about 10 minutes, so we decided to stick around another hour to see it again. We camped out on the sidewalk and took pictures and videos to kill the time. The highlight of the evening, however, was the proposal that we got to see! Earlier that evening I had mentioned that it would be perfect if we could see one, and all the sudden I turned around and there was a guy on one knee! It was such a sweet moment to see and an perfect end to an incredible day!

Day 3: Hello Parisians!

Today we had more time on our own, practically the whole day, and so we ventured outside the city to the Versailles. This involved taking the metro and the RER (a more “train like” subway…and two levels!). Twenty-eight of us ended up going, and the whole tripped was researched and planned by Emily, Claire, and Lauren, so we just followed their lead. It was nice not to have to make our own decisions for a change! We made it there without any problems and quickly found Versailles…it’s pretty difficult to miss. I would say that it was comparable in size to the Louvre, and just as beautiful. We didn’t go into the palace, instead we toured the gardens surrounding it. I have never seen gardens like these! They were huge and very well maintained. There were fountains, sculptures, roses, arches, mazes, trees, etc. There was also classical musical playing from loud speakers throughout the gardens. It might sound cheesy, but it really added to the elegant atmosphere put off by the palace. I could just imagine ladies walking around in dresses with large hoop skirts and mounds of hair! We walked about half the length of the garden to a pond where you could rent row boats to paddle around in. We decided against boats, but instead got ice cream and sat on the lawn in the absolutely perfect sunshine!

We all left together, after taking a group photo, and headed back to the train station. We all loaded up on the train (the 2^nd story of course, way more cool) and about the time the train was about to leave realized that the train we were on was not headed to Paris. So as fast as you’ve ever seen college kids move we all ran off the train and onto the one at the side of the station. We didn’t even lose anyone! The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, thankfully!

We broke apart from the main group after returning to the city and spent some time walking down Champs Elysees and people watching. Once again, the weather was beautiful and it was great to have an opportunity to just stroll along.

We took the Metro back to Notre Dame and went again, to take some better pictures. The sun outside made the stain glass absolutely incredible! We also got to hear a mass, complete with organ and choir. It was absolutely majestic.

We ate dinner at a cute, relatively inexpensive café along the Sienne. Our waiter was more than kind, and upon realizing that we were American, asked if we knew the Almond Brothers. We did a lot of nodding and smiling, and he seemed to like us after that. He even put ice in our glasses! That’s the first time I’ve had since I’ve been in Paris. We spent a good amount of time at the café after we finished; we had time before the Jazz concert and the atmosphere was so enjoyable. As we left we spotted a Starbucks, a welcome sign of home. Believe it or not Starbucks coffee is actually some of the cheaper coffee around, so of course we stopped in. Prices were more expensive that the US, but it felt good to be in familiar territory. As we left, several French guys approached us and asked if we were English. When we responded that we were American, they were thrilled. Through a jumbled conversation of Molly speaking French and them trying to speak English, they asked if Molly would let them be their lover for the evening. In his words, “I am a very good French lover.” Molly said that she was too busy…. J He also told us he was a famous person in France. Not very believable, but they were charming none the less. Getting to know the locals has definitely been a great experience!

We left Starbucks and headed to the Jazz Club where the concert was. The area that it was in was different than other areas of Paris we had visited; it was more eclectic and diverse than anything I have seen so far. We met two guys from Chile and Argentina who spoke Spanish, French and a little English. Between the 6 of us, we were having three conversations in three different languages! They asked about America, and where exactly we were from. We said Georgia, and they asked if that was between Florida and Washington. We said yes, but I’m not sure that they have a good handle on American geography… They also asked our opinion of Europe, our majors, and how long we would be in Paris. We taught the man from Argentina how to say “I am Argentinean” in English, and he loved it! They were very nice and it was so fun to talk to people in other languages!

We finished off the night at the Jazz Concert for our music class. The club was small and stuffy but the music was great! It was just a four piece band that played, but they were very good, the singer reminded me of Micheal Buble a little. We now have to write a concert report, which I should probably get started on…