France April 29, 2007

We arrived in France early Monday morning after our lovely train trip and I felt well rested.  We began our day by purchasing our metro tickets and making our way to our hostel.  our hostel was very cute and nice.  We couldnt check into our hostel yet and so we did the best we could…not having showered in forever and spending the night on the train and then proceeded to check our luggge in.  As we were checking in our luggage, we accepted the help of a nice young man and then proceeded to do the traditional hostel greetings.  He was from the US and his name was Seth, he asked us where we were from and when I replied Chicago he told me that he was travellling with somebody from Chicago–Naperville in face.  How weird is that?  I went outside to meet him, and we started talking, he asked me where I lived I said by Naperville North.  He asked me if I went there and when I graduated, he graduated from there in 2004.  Then he proceeded to ask so if you live by NNHS do you live in cress creek?  Which of course I do so i was like yes, and he´s like me too, er well my famliy did right now we dont because our house was burned down.  At this point I started to realize who I was tlaking to and I asked him what his name was-Justin Black, Logan Black´s sister.  How very very very odd is that.  After this very strange occurance, Amanda and I set out to explore Paris.  Our game plan was to hit up the Llouvre first.  Amanda´s aunt had reccommended that we enter underground in the metro station to save time, so we went to enter into the Llouvre from underground.  when we go there we found complete insanity.  There were people everywhere, trying to figure out what was going on it was crazy.  It was really pretty to see the inverted pyramid that is below ground, but eveyrthing was so hectic.  After being hurdled along we finally entered the Llouvre, which wasn´t really helpful because we were still surrounded by people everywhere and had no idea where we were going in this huge huuuuge building.  Finally we wer herded very quickly and impatiently into the museum and still we had no idea what was going on or where we were going.  Following the crowd mentality we began to follow people hoping to figure out soon where we were and where we needed to go.  We finally discovered where we were and began going through the museum looking at the art.  The sculpture in the Llouvre was amazing…my favorite part, however, it was incredibly frustrating how disrespectful the tourists were of the art.  Everywhere we went people were touching statues in inappropriate ways and places, people were taking photos were photos weren´t allowed it was very disrespectful.  In addition to the disrespectful people it was very difficult to see art because the museum was wall to wall with people.  We looked at all of the scultpture, the Mona Lisa, other paintings, the King room, Egyptian art, and Venus de Milo.  What we saw was very pretty, but the whole Llouvre experience was very hectic and stressful.  It was by far my least favorite museum art wise and experience wise.  The Llouvre as a building however is very gorgeous.  We went outside the Llouvre at the end and sat by all the pyramids and it was really coool.  The pyramids are very neat.  After the Llouvre we walked along the seine river to go to Ile Saint Louis for some delicious crepes for lunch.  We found this adorable French restuarant and had an incredibly delicious meal of quiche, risotto, and crepes!!  It was so delicious.  After this we decided to head to Notre Dame, so we start crossing back over the river when I see a girl wearing a SMC t-shirt.  She looks familiar but I didn´t know her name so we stop and start a conversatin with her and discover that she is studying in Austria for the year and spending some time in Paris, the coincidence continues as we discover she is staying in our hostel.  How random is that?  Anyways, we continue on and make it to Notre Dame.  Notre Dame is huuuuuge and incredibly beautiful.  The stained glass is so pretty and bright.  Talk about gothic cathedral it was so beautiful.  We spent a lot of time just enjoying the cathedral and I lit a candle.  It was so beautiful and massssssive.  After Notre Dame, we wanted to go to Museu D´Orsay, however when we finally arrived there we discovered it was closed on Mondays pooey.  So we changed our plans quick and decided to go to Saint Chapelle.  We discovered that they were having a concert that evening so we bought tickets for it   We then spent the next hour or so walking around and exploring various street vendors while we waited for our concert.  The concert was simply amazing.  First, when we entered into saint Chapelle which is this small, quiet church tucked away behind the justice building we were amazed by how beautiful it was.  The starry ceiling was magical and the stained glass windows were incredibly.  The atmosphere was so gorgeous.  Then on top of it all we got to listen to some of the best musicians I´ve ever heard.  They played Vivaldi and it was simply amazing.  The main violinist looked kind of like Snape, but man could he play that violin.  The concert was absolutely beautiful with the scenery and music…it was awesome.  After the concert, we decided to try and run to the Effiel tower to make it in time for sunset, so we ran-took the metro and arrived probably a little too late, but it was still beautiful in the post sunset lighting.  The Effiel Tower was simply amazing.  It was soooo incredible.  I didn´t imagine it to be so cool in person, I don´t know what I thought I would think of it, but it was sooo cool.  It was so pretty all lit up it was cool.  We discovered that it twinkles too, which is soo cool.  We were surprised to see the french police guarding it with their huge machine guns, but I guess they take pride in their Tower.  I loved just walking around the tower and enjoying how pretty it was…we even decided to lie down right beneath it and look up which was really cool.  After enjoying the amazing Tower we went to a little cafe where I had some creme brulee for dessert which was soooooo good.  oh my goodness.  Before coming to Europe you eat foods in the US that are French, Italian, Spanish, etc. and you never imagine that they really taste that much better in the actual country but its sooo true….best creme brulee ever.  After this we went back to our hostel excited to finally settle into our room and get some sleep after a long day.  When we entered our room we were greeted by this very kind Turkish man, I forget his name.  he was soo cute though.  Apparently he is from Turkey and he is a surgeon doing some surgical observation work at a hospital in Paris for a month.  How neat is that?  He was so nice, he gave us suggestions for all these places we should go to and visit.  I guess he is really smart too, because he told us that he also did surgery and work at John Hopkins in the US.  amazing.  We also met two British girls and another American that were sharing our room with us. 

The next day we decided to start off at Museu D´Orsay.  When we arrrived there….it was packed!  We had to wait outside in the cold for about 2 hours before getting in…but it was totally worth the wait.  The museum in itself was a really beautiful building.  It is an old train station and it was so beautiful and neat.  The art inside however was incredible. INCREDIBLE.  I love impressionist painting and this, being an impressionist museum, was any impressionist lovers dream.  I saw so many paintings that I have loved my entire life.  It was so cool…Monet, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, and Renoir.  The museum was so neat and it was nice to be able to pass through it in a leisurely manner for once.  After the museum we went to the Arc d´Triumph.  Which was really neat and then we walked down the Champs Elysees.  We stopped to have lunch at a cute little cafe and we had some delicious baguette and delicious raspberry torte for dessert.  It was soooo goood.  Tha Champs Elysees wasn´t as cool as I had anticipated it being but we saw the huge Louis Vuitton and Mercedes Benz and even Gap Paris.  After the Champs Elysees we went to see the famous obelisk and some other the palace, however by this time we were freeeeeezing as we had expected the day to be more like the day before.  so we hopped on the metro and headed back to our hostel to change into warmer clothes.  After this we head back out to go shopping at the infamous Galeries Lafayette, however as soon as we arrive the store closes ;(  We were so sad, but I guess our bank acconts were jumping for joy since we couldn´t take advantage of the sales going on.  We then went to Montmartre.  We weren´t planning on going here, it was just a random decision and it was sooo worth it.  The sun was beginning to set so we caught it at the perfect time and it was sooo beautiful.  It was a loooong hike up there and as Amanda said, we should have stretched before doing this hike, but it was a lot of fun.  We could see all of Paris in front of us from up there.  In addition to the spectacular views, the church itself was sooo pretty and neat to see.  We could also see the Effiel Tower from up here which was so pretty with the sky a purpley color.  It was so beautiful.  Unfortunately it was freezing again…so we went back to our hostel to grab all of our warm clothes before heading to the Effiel Tower again.  Because it was soooo cold the line for the Effiel Tower was surprisingly tiny so we didn´t have to wait long to go up to the top of the Tower.  The cold was intense and horrible, but it was worth it to go to the top of the Tower.  It was so neat.  The way up was really scary especially with how windy it was and the way we were jammed into the small elevator.  But once we were at the top it was so perfect, the tour even began to sparkle right when we were on top.  When you are at the top they mark where major world cities are from where you stand and you look down below and you cna see allllll of Paris.  It was sooo beautiful.  We even climbed up one more floor to take pictures without the glass and to chance a look down below and up to see how high we really were.  We couldnt have gone much further up the Tower we were seriously at the top.  The wind was crazy though and we couldnt even stand straight on the top level of the tour which was pretty nerve wrenching so we didn´t stay too long before heading down into a state of less coldness.  After the Effiel Tour our ears were about ready to fall off in coldness so we went back to our hostel to sleeep.

The next day we woke up leisurely and then spent the next hour freaking out about changes in our plans to get home because we discovered that our airport was in the middle of nowhere and the process of getting to the airport was highly confusing.  After a very stressful half hour of uncertainty, we made an arrangement with our hostel that we could just hang out in the lounge all night so we didn´t have to pay for a room before leaving at 4 am with some Argentinan boys to go to the bus station to take a bus to the airport and leave on our flight.  Whew we lucked out there.  So we finally leave and head to the train station to buy tickets to go to Giverny to see monet´s house.  An hour train ride later we arrive in the adorable town of Giverny.  I wish we could have explored the town a little more because it looked so cute, but we immediately had to board a bus to head to vernon were Monet´s house is.  Monet´s house was amazing.  First the house is the most adorable thing ever.  It is pink and green and inside it is so cute.  It is very colorful and has lots of pretty Monet paintings.  I loved the adorable pastel yellow dining room and the blue kitchen.  It was soo cute.  The gardens however were the most amazing part.  They were sooo beautiful    I was glad to see sooo many flowers already.  They were everywhere and so beautiful.  The Japanese gardens are really neat to.  The bridges and ponds with lily pads are just like Monet´s paintings.  It was so cool to see in real life.   I also loved the gardens because it was so peaceful and enjoyable.  For once all we had to do was walk around and be with nature it was so pretty.  I loved all the flowers.  After Monet´s house we went for some lunch and explore a bit of Vernon.  we found a  cute farm and talked with some cute horses for like 30 mins and we found the church that Monet is burried at which was neat.  Overall, it was a really nice and peaceful day trip.  The gardens in Monet´s house were totally worth it.  When we got back to Paris we had a lot of time to kill before we could return to our hostel, so we went for a leisurely dinner and dessert of crepes and nutella.  We also just relaxed, wrote postcards, journaled, and chatted until it was time to head back to sevilla. 

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