Paris.!

We made it to Paris at 11PM thursday evening after a long train ride full of paper writing and an episode of the inbetweeners.! We were staying in a nice albeit slightly out of the way international hostel..they had left us all dinner but Lindsay grabbed the only vegetarian one..so I ate a lot of bread. Hannah Sara and I shared a room, and I got a top bunk, so that was exciting.! Friday morning we had a lovely breakfast of croissants, nutella, rolls, jam, and cereal, then headed off to Sainte Chapelle.! Walking over there, our group ran into the JMU Salamanca group- so I got to see Olivia for a few minutes :) Sainte Chapelle was an absolutely gorgeous church- it has the most extensive collection of 13th century stained glass in the world. Definitely yet another example where pictures can't even begin to do justice. Then there was a break for lunch and Hannah, Sara & I found a cute cafe to get delicious fresh sandwiches at. Then it was off to the Musee D'Orsay where we spent a long time looking around- at interesting intricate ball rooms, statues, (my favorite being a speared man fending off a crocodile with a baby wielding woman standing nearby), and an impressionist gallery including Monet, Vangough, and soo much more.! I really enjoyed it a lot. After awhile we headed to the Louvre! The pyramid building itself is gorgeous and it was unreal seeing a quick tour of so many famous artworks- the Mona Lisa (.!!!), Michelangelo's the slave statue, venus de milo, cupid and psyche...! Hannah, Sara & I ended up at a nice french restaurant after following conflicting directions from 3 different frenchmen..Sara kept calling the waiter Dominique "mon ami!" and I think they really got a kick out of her french- we got a picture with Dominique too, and Hannah & I got nutella crepes.! :D Hannah's french soulmate sat by her on the metro (he had glasses, a nerdy look to him, and even a book in his right hand so he fit her qualifications to a tee) and she kept frantically asking me how to say things in french..she butchered the delivery so he was confused and then she said in English he was cute right when she was getting off the metro..it was cute. :) Sara & I went out that night down a street that college students had suggested to us. I pulled a Simon from the Inbetweeners because they definitely wouldn't let me into a club because I had chucks on. It was fun walking in and out of places and around though. On Saturday after a croissant, nutella, and hot chocolate breakfast of french champions, we toured Notre Dame which was really interesting. Really more because of all we've heard of it than anything else, but it was neat. We walked up to the Eiffel Tower which was a beautiful view, and also a surreal object to be viewing in real life. It's as if you weren't really seeing it, it's been hyped up so much in your mind and then there it is. Then we explored the Musee du Quai Branly which was incredible and a very different kind of museum..really awesome..We got tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower, and the view up there was incredible and beautiful and the sun was just setting, and the lights turned on while we were still up there..and then right before we were ready to head down I realized that all my IDs were missing..so that was a huge mess..Sara talked to everyone in french, who were all apathetic and told us over 10 ppl a day get their wallet stolen and told us to go to other ppl who told us to go to other ppl.. O_o then we missed our free dinner because of all that ordeal so we snuck bread, cheese & wine into our room..then my computer kept bluescreening when I tried to turn it on..so I just decided not to really mentally deal with any of that. Then Sara and Hannah fell asleep at 10..and I sat there for forever..Sunday Hannah, Sara & I walked around a lot, down Champs-Elysees- one of the most famous streets in Paris, Hannah and Sara bought french fries in France, went to the Palais de Tokyo which was an amazing art exhibit, and the Musee d'Art Moderne too, right beside it. We went back to the Eiffel Tower and they sent us to a ridiculously far away police station in the sketchiest of garages where policemen were playing tag with each other but wouldn't file a report for my missing wallet because I'd have to come back tomorrow to do that...we were near a gorgeous green park though, Les Invalides, and just that view made the trip more than worth it. People were playing soccer, and it was near sunset and so green and amazingly beautiful..We walked down by the Seine and reveled in the beauty of it all- definitely very easy to see how so many artists were inspired by it's sight. It really was an artistically gorgeous trip.!