Versailles

We went to Versailles on Sunday, it was gorgeous. We spent probably an hour in the palace then a few hours walking through the gardens. There was beautiful music playing throughout the gardens, all the fountains were on, and people were boating around in the man-made "lake". It was amazing seeing how big everything was. The gardens went on for so long that we never went to the end of them. It felt like we were in our own world, there were plenty of quite times away from the other tourists.
That night we watched Marie Antoinette.

More Pictures

Haussman's tomb


The Protestant Church we went to first week.


Picard - grocery store with all frozen foods


Ile St Jean


Louvre

Pictures!

Pantheon






Monique and Charlotte






Pompidou Center - a couple blocks from the apartment!


View from the Louvre one evening.


Walking along the Seine


Our good deals at the farmer's market - 2 Euro!


A view out one of our windows onto the courtyard.

A Chilly Saturday

We got up early and bought a metro pass for the day. We took it out to the peripherique where there was supposed to be a flea market. It was a sleepy little town - without a flea market. But we wandered around, got breakfast, and got back on the metro. We took it to the opposite side of town, to La Defense (a.k.a. the Cube). It was really cold today, especially by La Defense, felt like low 40s. We walked around and looked at the interesting modern art peices and architecture around there, then headed to St. Germain-des-Pres. We found a cafe for lunch, and all got margarita pizzas that were really good (like Mister Pizza in Ste Foy). We found some boutiques that we went into.
When we were headed back to the metro we decided to have a race home. So Kate and Monique chose one line that connected to a different one, but then they would have to walk longer than Laura and I. L and I had 2 metro changes and it was a little less direct, but we got out closer to our apartement. Although Laura and I sprinted everywhere, we were pretty unlucky with all the timing of hitting the metros. So we came running in, and Kate and Monique had already been home for a few minutes. But it was fun though!
We decided to change rooms (since we're half way through), so we pulled everything out of our closets and drawers. Before we started putting things back though, the doorbell rang. It was our landlord who we hadn't met yet. She came to work on the internet. So the house was upside down, but she was nice about it... and got our Wifi working! She also helped me with the washing-machine (since it wouldn't drain) and was able to show me what I did wrong.
We are going to go to Sacre Coeur tonight after we watch the US vs England game.

Here Comes The Sun...

School was hard today, we had to listen to a radio broadcast and answer questions about it. It was really difficult to understand and a little discouraging. But I think everyone was in the same boat. After school Harmony, an Australian in our class, came over for a little while.
The weather was very nice this afternoon so Monique and I went for a walk. We walked through Ile St Louis (got gelato), sketched Notre Dame, walked to Sorbonne in the Latin Quarter and then to the Pantheon. It was a really pretty walk, but took longer than we thought it would, so we weren't able to go everywhere we were hoping to hit.
We just had dinner - a stir fry, and we're headed out to the Louvre. We are going to watch the World Cup tonight.

Last night we met Mrs., Heather and Kyle Morse for dinner. They're in town for 10 days and asked if we could meet. We met them at their hotel and found a little restaurant for dinner. Kyle tried frog legs for the first time - reminded me of our visits to Lompnieu. I had a great French Onion Soup, which warmed me up from being out in the rain all afternoon. Yesterday afternoon in between class and our tour Monique and I walked home to meet Kate and Laura. Unfortunately we had forgotten our key, but I assumed they would be home - they weren't, so I wasn't able to change. But we hadn't needed the umbrella on the walk home, and without thinking, I left it at our apartment door. We made it back to the school just in time for the tour (and the rain to start to pick up). I felt really bad, but somebody gave Monique and I an umbrella to use. On the way home we took the metro, and were happy to make it home faster than usual. Anyways, we had a good dinner and sat and talked at the restaurant till 10:30. We then walked by Notre Dame, and all the lights in town were starting to come on. It was so gorgeous - our first time to see the city all lit up. Walking back over the Seine and looking down the river was beautiful! No wonder it's called the City of Lights. After we got home Monique and Kate went out for Gelato and ate it down by the river.
We are really excited for the World Cup. It's a really big deal over here - posters and advertisements all over the place. We listen to the world cup song - Wavin' Flag (great song!), a few times everyday and Laura is making a music video to the song. That means that everywhere we go, we're filming random places and things we see to add to the video. Tomorrow at the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) there is going to be the opening ceremony shown on a huge screen that they're setting up. So a group of people from school are planning on going together - this will definitely be in our music video.
Today is halfway through our time in Paris - really sad! We are planning on picking up the pace on things we do. Because we've seen a lot, but have some many more places we want to see. We think tomorrow we are going to watch of of FIFA, then go to the Louvre again (then probably watch more soccer). Saturday we're thinking Versailles if it doesn't rain.