Crazyness of Paris

So today was Bastille day and there was a parade in the morning. Although i am not the biggest fan parades i went anyways and there was a lot of people, as i expected and more Parisians than i thought there would be.

However, i was suppose to meet some of our friends that we met in London, who are from Australia, but they don't know any french, didn't own a map, and had only been in Paris for 10 hours before they decided to meet us. So they were lost for a while, but we randomly found them in the metro going to the Champs Elysee. The parade was ok. not what i had expected because it was it was a military parade with tanks and guns and all branches of the army of France. But i did get to see Nicolas sarkozy, the president of France, which was very cool to me.

We had class in the Luxembourg gardens and a lot of french people were wondering what a large groups of Americans were doing sitting in a circle eating pie and talking about being french and flanerie. So then we went back to the foyer to regroup and decided what to do. And after a lot of uncompromising ideas we decided to go to another museum. d'orsay, the one we couldn't go to before.

It was nice but you couldn't take pictures. which held me back a little but i held it together. So we got some food and walked over the Invaildes, a place that we were going to watch the fireworks from the Eiffel tower because it is independence day in France. We met some of Esmee's friends there, who were french and they taught us that an American English accent speaking french is very cute. Something that is hard to believe to me because i don't think that English is the prettiest language let alone have an accent in french. This is probably because i have tried so hard to get rid of my accent in Spanish and Portuguese.

The fireworks were not as magnificent as i thought but they were going to be, but still nice. After it was over we walked the streets to try and see the base of the Eiffel tower. We did it and it was such an experience, part of the beauty of the night was the fact that so many people were on the streets that traffic had stopped and everyone just enjoyed the night. Although it was crazy, and i have never seen that many people in my life walking in the street, i wasn't scared or worried about getting lost or anything happening to me.

Paris has a weird way to making you feel a part of the city and people

Notre Dame

Today i didn't do a lot of the field work because there were a lot of tourists out because it was a sunny day. A lot of us were going to go the the Museum d'ordsay but the lines we outrageous. So the 2nd plan was to go to the catacombs but we didn't have the allowed time and rather than spend money to get on the metro and miss the entry anyways i just stayed with the group who pretty much had no idea what to do after we failed. So we sat on the steps of a very large building that was beautiful and must have had importance but i couldn't read the sign.

But i went home a little later and then walked to the Notre Dame to meet Oksana, Jasleen, Josh and their parents. They had been in Rome for the past week and then are in Paris for this week and going back to Rome for the 3rd week. We took a couple of jumping pictures in front of notre dame because we were excited!! It is one of the oldest buildings in Paris and we walked around the back to see the gargoyles and the park around it.

Afterwords i gave them a tour of the Latin Quarter, the Luxembourg gardens, the Sorbonne, and the Pantheon. They loved this side of Paris, as i do and i got to be the tour guide and not the tourist :)

My first Castle :)

So Sunday was not as exciting as it should have been. We were suppose to see the catacombs which is i think a large underground area with a lot of skulls. I am not sure the history behind it but the line was super long and it was going to be at least 3 hour long wait so we decided to do it during the week when it wasn't so busy.

We walked around for a little but and then when to eat some crepes and then walked back home to the foyer. I took a nap because for some reason i was still tired. I woke up and then had another crepe for dinner, which was VERY good! it was chicken and feta cheese. Almost half of the program went upstairs to do some reading up on the terrace and the sunset was amazing. The Eiffel tower just looked unreal with all of the colors in the background. The bad thing is that only being here for a week i feel like i am getting a little used to Paris and being around all of this magnificence.

After dark, we all went downstairs and then studied a bit more and then went to sleep.

I woke up early today to go running in the gardens before class. However it was a little harder than normal, but i think that i need a little more protein because i haven't been eating at much meat lately because of the cost. A lot more bread and fruit, but i am not hungry, but have lost weight.

After class today we made our way outside Paris to visit a castle, it was called La Chateau du Saint Germain en Layee and was about 40 minutes away on the metro after a twenty minute walk. It was in a very cute little town that had a lot of cafes, shops, and food. I bought a cute shirt that was on sale and a couple others bought some clothes as well.

The castle was cool, it was smaller than i had thought but the outside looked very nice and we went to the inside of the castle and it was impressive as well. There was not a lot of rooms that we could enter that were anything but museums, but the exhibits were nice, a lot of historical artifacts from as far back as 2400 BC. The chapel was perhaps the most intact out of the whole castle, and it had amazing ceilings and architecture.

After coming home, Ivana and i made ourselves a little dinner and then she went out for a bit but i was tired so how i am just going to go to sleep :) Bonsoir Paris

My first Castle :)

So Sunday was not as exciting as it should have been. We were suppose to see the catacombs which is i think a large underground area with a lot of skulls. I am not sure the history behind it but the line was super long and it was going to be at least 3 hour long wait so we decided to do it during the week when it wasn't so busy.

We walked around for a little but and then when to eat some crepes and then walked back home to the foyer. I took a nap because for some reason i was still tired. I woke up and then had another crepe for dinner, which was VERY good! it was chicken and feta cheese. Almost half of the program went upstairs to do some reading up on the terrace and the sunset was amazing. The Eiffel tower just looked unreal with all of the colors in the background. The bad thing is that only being here for a week i feel like i am getting a little used to Paris and being around all of this magnificence.

After dark, we all went downstairs and then studied a bit more and then went to sleep.

I woke up early today to go running in the gardens before class. However it was a little harder than normal, but i think that i need a little more protein because i haven't been eating at much meat lately because of the cost. A lot more bread and fruit, but i am not hungry, but have lost weight.

After class today we made our way outside Paris to visit a castle, it was called La Chateau du Saint Germain en Layee and was about 40 minutes away on the metro after a twenty minute walk. It was in a very cute little town that had a lot of cafes, shops, and food. I bought a cute shirt that was on sale and a couple others bought some clothes as well.

The castle was cool, it was smaller than i had thought but the outside looked very nice and we went to the inside of the castle and it was impressive as well. There was not a lot of rooms that we could enter that were anything but museums, but the exhibits were nice, a lot of historical artifacts from as far back as 2400 BC. The chapel was perhaps the most intact out of the whole castle, and it had amazing ceilings and architecture.

After coming home, Ivana and i made ourselves a little dinner and then she went out for a bit but i was tired so how i am just going to go to sleep :) Bonsoir Paris

Le Week-end en Paris

Friday night was crazy. It was a very fun bar but you could barley dance because there was so many people there! funny enough that it started raining outside and i wanted to go out despite that because it was so much cooler there. They did play very good music though, and i am down to go back because it was a good atmosphere. I even walked there and back in my heels, i was very proud of myself :) with a group of 10 people both times, and Paris is a very safe city compared to where i have been in south America.

I slept in on Saturday as did most people. We went to a cafe and ate some food and i had a omelet, which was very good. However we tried studying.. it got interrupted because a gypsy women came up to Paul and tried to get him to read a piece of paper in Italian but little did we know she was stealing his phone. The whole thing did seem weird but most of us didn't think about it because we were reading and eating. So we ended up coming back home because it was cold outside and we were all kinda mad at what had happened. We studied for a while and then changed clothes to go to the park.

Tiffany and her fiance had a group of friends playing a game with silver balls that you roll on the ground to hit each other. I didn't play but it looked interesting. I talked to some french people... and what surprised me the most was the amount of languages that they knew. It is so common for them to know at least 2 and be able to hold a conversation in 3, it makes me look average, when in the united states, English is usually the primary language spoken among my friends. The European education is better than the American one i think. :/ and they paid 1,000's less.

A couple hours after the park closed we walked to a bridge where a lot of Parisians like to hang out, and me as i am terrified of bridges was very reluctant to go over it. Especially because one of the french told me that it was the oldest bridge in Paris, which made me a little more scared and less scared at the same time. Because it is sturdy because it lasted this long and also because it could break because it is so old. But i stood near the ends and on a post that was where i couldn't see the water. The french were very nice, the helped us learn french a little, and we spoke spanish and english as well. Even one of them did card tricks, which were very good! We came home a little late but i got to sleep in today :) and it is Sunday!

Versailles

So today was a very productive day, i think. Last night i stayed in with a couple other girls from the group and we watched Marie Antoinette on one of the laptops. We were supposed to watch this because it has to do a lot with what we are talking about in our class. The Thomas Jefferson age when he came to France, was during the reign of Louis the XVI and Marie Antoinette. Anyways, so i had seen the movie before but watching it again got me more excited to see her estate in Versailles, France.

We got up fairly early to get ready to go because it is about 45 minutes outside of Paris. The weather was not the best in the world but oh well. So we arrived there after a couple of issues with the metro and which train to get on.

We went to the gardens first because the weather was getting worst and they closed earlier than the actual palace. They were very big and we spent most of the time walking to them. Miles and miles of fountains and greenery. However we made it to the little private estate the Louis had built for Marie in 1783 for her to "get away" and it was bigger than any house i have seen. :/ But the coolest and maybe the most interesting parts about Versailles was that Marie had a mock village built for her and her friends that later bought her kids as well. She wanted to pretend to have a "normal" life as a villager with a farm, and the buildings still exist today. We got to see them and there are real animals still there that are suppose to be from the line of the original ones that were there during her time. I don't know how true that is but it is nice to think it is.

It did rain for a little bit so we took refuge in the barn. It was funny and fun at the same time, because everyone else that was in the village went to the same place. WE walked back to the palace and sat along the rows and rows of stairs trying to soak it all in that this was someones home. Because we live in the USA where a monarchy never existed to the extent of France it is hard for us to imagine it.

Because it was getting windy we decided to go into the palace. It was a little confusing where to start because it was so big but i think that we saw all that we could see, or that was open. We walked into the different rooms and saw all of the furniture and beds that were still in the same condition as 250 years ago. The extravagance was amazing... everything was detailed in gold or silver. The colors were so vivid too, the bright reds, greens, pinks, and blues. We even saw the trap doors that Marie Antoinette had made so that her lovers could sneak into her rooms.

After seeing all of the dresses, clothes, and even some original shoes from the royal family. We even learned some more of the history of the family before we left, but since it was a long journey we all got something to eat before heading home. Some of my friends ate McDonald, i didn't, but Paul spent 17 euros there! The subway home was more crowded but we got home and then i took a nap. I am awake now but we are getting ready to go out... to an Australian bar, in France. First time out in France, let it be memorable!

Walking Paris

so today my feet are dead... it is night time and i just got back from an epic day of walking. 7 hours!! crazy right? well i think so. anyways we didn't want to pay for the metro to get to the Eiffel tower, and the arc de triumph or the champs elysses. So is was suppose to be a 1 hour walk but it ended up being a a couple more than i had anticipated.

Chhavi, Yasi and i got separated from the group on the champs elysses because there were so many people. but it ended up being a good thing because if there were more people with us it would have been very hard to keep track of everyone. We saw a lot of expensive and nice stores but when we saw the Louis Vuitton store it took it to a whole new level. The store was lined with the vintage collections from he passed years and there was security like no other. So many pieces that i haven't seen before made me want to buy something. However, it would have been a hard thing to do!

We went to the end of the street where the ARC stands on its own in the middle of one of the biggest intersections that i have ever seen! It was so big, with so many cars driving around it. You have to go underground to reach it because it is so far from the sidewalk.

After taking pictures we made our way over to the Eiffel tower, where we did not end up climbing up because the lines were outrageous and it is about 38 flights of stars, 38 stories. And after all that walking we didn't have the energy. it was fun though, and i got to see a lot of paris today walking for so long and finding our way out of the crowds and on the back streets. As for now. i am going to sleep, and not going to run. my feet and legs will fall off.