May 31st - Going to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur

J'adore Paris! Paris is amazing! I love our group. I'm having so much fun getting to know everyone. I adore my roommate Stephanie! At this very moment she is making us a lovely Salmon dinner. Paris is definitely an incredibly enchanting city. I will never forget this trip and all the people I'm traveling with. It definitely has been an amazing experience so far. I'm in heaven. I'm sick, but I'm still enjoying myself. I hope that soon I will get better so that I can continue to have fun. Anyways, today we went to Montmartre and visited the Sacre Coeur. I actually enjoyed the outside of the Sacre Coeur more than the inside. Outside of the building there were musicians. My favorite was a man playing the harp. He played so beautifully. There were also people dressed up like statues and they were quite artistic and very neat. Colin and I also walked below and there was a lovely fountain area there. Everything is just so amazing. I just cannot even try to explain it. It's indescribable. We learned in our readings that the word Montmartre means the "mountain of the martyr." We also learned that the outside of the Sacre Coeur is amazingly white and stays that way because it is constantly giving off calcite. When we saw the Sacre Coeur from the Centre Beaubourg it really was magnificently white and did stand out from the other buildings and structures in Paris. We also had a nice "menu" lunch, which came with an appetizer/starter, and main course and a dessert. One student tried the force-feed goose liver. I would never. I guess he liked it. I could go on and on talking about today and this week, but I just don't have the time. Paris keeps me very busy. Anyways, tonight after dinner Stephanie and I are going to go with the boys to get some snails. Dinners ready! I gotta go eat now. What a GREAT DAY!

28 May, 2012 -- Centre Pompidou, l'Orangerie, & l'Arc

Lots of walking today! We started off our day by taking the Metro to the Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum. There were some really amazing exhibits there and a big escalator to ride. :) It was a very interesting place! After Centre Pompidou, we split up for lunch and then met up to take the Metro to l'Orangerie. This museum is famous for Monet's "Water Lilies." I think everyone was suprised at how big the paintings were; they covered eight walls and two rooms. Not sure about everyone else, but I love Monet's work! We then to the Metro to the Champs Élysées, where l'Arc de Triomphe is located. We walked by all the expensive stores on Champs élysées (Louis Vuitton, etc.). When we got to the Arc, there were 234 steps to get to the top!it was a long climb, but the view was spectacular! We could see all of Paris; a 360 degree view. Totally worth all those stairs. We ended the day by relaxing at the apartments, resting up for the Eiffel Tower tomorrow! Ciao, Michelle

Sunday, May 27th- Le Conciergerie, Saint-Chapelle, Notre Dame

Today was a fast-paced day. We started off the day with class, as usual, and headed down to Ile de la Cité (the island in the middle of the Seine river).  Here we went to the Conciergerie which is a prison that held people of the royal family, such as Louis XVI and Marie Antionette before they were executed via guillotine. We saw were Marie Antionette was held as well as how daily life was for the prisoners.
Next we walked a short way to the Saint-Chapelle. This is a beautiful church that has breathtakingly tall stained glass windows all around the building. I took a ton of pictures to show to my family, but I know it will not be the same as standing in the church in person.
The last planned stop of the day was at the Notre Dame.  This is one of the most famous churches in the world and is known for it's architecture and its stained glass windows. Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris takes place here.
The group ate together at a small Creperie before we the group went its seperate ways. Some went to visit a memorial while others went souvenir shopping along le rue Pont Neuf.
A tout a l'heure!
Colin

The Louvre

Yesterday we visited the world-renowned Louvre. It's an incredibly vast museum with multiple floors and branches. We didn't see all of it, but we got to see the Mona Lisa and got our picture taken in front of the Aphrodite statue. Then we had a group spaghetti dinner prepared by Dr. Donovan with a fruit tarte for dessert. It was delicious!

Friday, May 25-- Versailles

This morning we bought RER tickets and headed over to Versailles. Such a gorgeous place! We toured the castle and the grounds, and even got to feed bread to some catfish (quite hilarious)! We didn't get back until around 8:00 (France time) and just sat down to make some supper. Was a really fun day, in all! We head to the Louvre tomorrow morning. Ta ta for now! -Michelle

P.S. The blog is set to Paris time!

Bonjour tout le monde!  On va partir bientôt.  Au plaisir de vous lire.