Busy Week

This week has been seriously hectic, but fun!  Let's see: Louvre, Cimitière du Père-Lachaise, Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Conciergerie, and Versailles.  Everything was amazing.  I spent 20 minutes in the largest museum in the world, which is actually a little pathetic, but it was overwhelmingly crowded.  I saw the basement where the original building still exists and the Mona Lisa and then left and went to see Oscar Wilde's tomb.  Versailles was incredible, not so much the castle but rather the grounds.  We also went to Marie Antoinette's Hamlet which was like a fairytale.  I also got the worst blister ever on my poor defenseless pinky toe.  I went to a pharmacy to get bandaids and antiseptic spray and the guy that worked there made me sit on a stool and he cleaned it for me and bandaged it up.  It was a little embarrassing, but he was very nice! I will upload pictures later, I need a nap right now!

Fun Night out on the Town!

Last night we went on a pub crawl led by this guy from London.  It was cheap and we met a bunch of other people that are either studying or living here.  We had so much fun!  Here is a pic of us all dressed up:

Yesterday, our professor recommended a park in the northeast part of the city that very few tourists know about.  It was really amazing.  There were waterfalls and a small lake and it was hilly and gorgeous.

Today we went to Invalides to see where Napoleon is interred.  It was truly magnificent!  All around his tomb were amazing statues and lists of all that he did for France.

Then we all had to do laundry so we went to the laundromat.  I didn't take any pictures as that seemed rather boring.  It was pretty standard.  After we dropped our clean clothes off at our hostel, we decided to grab some dessert.  We found a 24 hour place 2 blocks from our hostel on l'Île de Saint Louis that had the BEST dessert I have ever had.  It was like a blackberry crumble with a vanilla cream.

Fontainebleau

Yesterday was one of our excursions out of the city into the village of Fontainebleau.  We also toured the château which used to be where kings would go for the hunt.  The steps of the château were where Napoleon I said his farewell before being sent into exile.  The castle was beautiful!  It's hard to imagine that people thought of it as a small country home!
Here are some pictures of the inside of the castle:

After we toured the inside of the castle, we went back into the village to grab some lunch.  I had a croque madame with a green salad.  It was amazing!

Then we went back to the grounds to walk around for a bit before taking the train back into the city.  The grounds were huge and gorgeous.  I just love structured French gardens.  They seem so romantic!

Then we went back to our hostel and had a night out with the whole group.
Today we were all tired so we slept in late and then we went to lunch.  We can't be in our hostel from 12-3 because that's when they clean our rooms up so we walked down to Notre Dame and grabbed a Nutella and banana crêpe.  It was so delicious!
Then we decided to go see a movie since it was starting to rain and it was kind of cold today.  I went with Myles, Randall and Emily to see Paris à minuit which is an American film about Americans visiting Paris.  It was kind of cool to watch it and see all of the places that we are seeing right now.  It was a cool perspective.  Afterwards, we took the metro back to our hostel.  I think that after dinner tonight we are going to get a bottle of wine again and sit by the river and watch the boats go by for a while. 

One more thing...

I have to brag a little bit about myself only because I am shocked:  I fooled a Parisian!!!  He was surprised to find out that I am American!  I was so proud of my French =D
I also met a woman on the subway who was so sweet.  Her daughter is studying English in London right now and she was surprised when I told her I am American.  She told me that she wishes all Americans had my personality.  Huge compliment? That's a yes!  I was so flattered.  I have actually found that most people here are very nice and appreciate my efforts to learn their language.  The waiters are all very brusque, but that's kind of typical.
Anyway, I just had to brag on myself a little bit!

Montmartre and Saint-Denis

So I just realized that the dates are a bit off on this thing if you care.  Anyway just make my Tuesday post apply to Monday and you’re all set! 

So yesterday we went on an open air bus tour of the whole city!  My pictures are not amazing mostly because a) we were moving and b) the weather was kind of crummy.  But it was an amazing perspective of the city – I would definitely recommend it to anybody.  We also went to the Musée Carnavalet (the history of Paris).  It is so interesting and always free.  Here are some pics:

The place where Voltaire died:  (please go read Candide if you never had -- you will laugh until you cry)

 This is the face of a baby that died about 2,000 years ago.  It gave my goosebumps to see this, just thinking about the fact that a mother mourned the loss of this child and now he/she will be in the minds of people forever. 

 

Just because I love food so much, I had to share these pictures of French onion soup (on a cold day there is nothing like it!) and red wine and a baguette with Camembert.  So delish!  It was the perfect lunch on a cold, busy day!

So today we had class which is a little boring – sorry to French teachers reading this!   I just feel like I learn so much more walking around talking to people and being overly friendly!  After that we went to Montmartre and Sacré Coeur.  Side story:  My beloved high school French teach, Mme K, would make us march up the steps of Sacré Coeur (pretending obviously) and count them to practice our numbers when we forgot them.  Walking up the steps today, I had a moment of, wow I cannot believe I am actually walking up these steps right now.  We then explored Montmartre for just a minute – I definitely want to go back before I leave!

Pictures from/of Sacré Coeur and Montmartre:

WARNING:  I am about to get so nerdy right now.  After Montmartre I went with a few people with whom I took a French History course this past semester to the Basilique Saint-Denis.  Oh. My. Gosh.  Other than the birth of my child, I cannot think of a more significant moment in my life.  Honestly.  I was moved to tears because I was standing 3 feet away from Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI’s remains.  It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.  It brought home for me the fact that these people that I have studied for so long lived and breathed and loved and died.  I don’t even have words to describe how amazing it was to go there.

My pictures:

Catherine de Médici's praying hands on her tomb:

 Turn your head to the left.  This is the heart of Louis XVII.  Bad picture, but so significant.

 Louis XIV (le roi soleil)'s tomb:

 Louis XVI's tomb (aka the first time I cried in the museum... everyone probably thought I was crazy, but i was so touched by this place):

At the end of the day Emily and I split some wine and sat on the edge of the Seine.  Some adorable extra-waddle-y ducks found us.  They were adorable:

Neighborhood Wanderings

This morning after having our brioche and café, Emily (another girl on the trip) and I decided to explore our neighborhood a bit more.  We ended up in front of the Hôtel de Ville.  The buildings here are so impressive -- I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that they were built before cranes and bulldozers were invented.
Hôtel de Ville:

 I read this amazingly haunting book that my mother-in-law lent to me about the children that were taken by the nazis with the consent of the French government.  This is the sign described in the novel, Sarah's Key.  I happened upon it during my walk and it literally gave my goosebumps.

 Then we walked to the Marché aux Fleurs which was beautiful, but is mostly a bird market on Sundays.  I got one decent pic of flowers though:

 Later in the afternoon we went to the Pont Neuf which is the oldest bridge in Paris.  The history is just incredible here.  I was standing where people like Louis XVI stood.  Amazing.  Emily, Me, Myles, and Randall on the Pont Neuf:

 And of course, everybody has to have a picture of  the Metro sign, right?  I thought this was charming, so I snapped a shot.  I  feel like I could probably photograph every inch of this city!

First Day!

Today has literally been the longest day of my life!  I slept a bit on the 8 hour flight over here, but not enough to constitute a full night's rest.  We arrived at 6 o'clock this morning and took a train into the city.  This place is beautiful!  Our hostel is in a gorgeous part of town, about a block off of the Seine.  Today we were all jet-lagged and so we had a light-ish day.  We walked all over le Marais (our neighborhood) and explored.  Then a few of us split a bottle of wine and sat at an outdoor cafe by the Seine.  Beautiful.  We also toured Victor Hugo's apartment. 
Our hostel is small, but very nice!  I will post some more pictures of the hostel and the surrounding neighborhood next time.  This post is all about cafés.  They are amazing here with outdoor seating and great views of the city.
Here are my favorite pics:

Day Before Departure!

Hey everyone!

I started this blog so that you can all keep up with what I'm doing in Paris!  I leave tomorrow from Atlanta and will arrive in Paris at 6 am (Paris time... that's midnight EST) on June 4th.  Keep checking back, I will try to update this as every few days with pictures and stories!

Grosses Bises!