My Last Sunday in the Ward at St. Merri and my First Mass! 
Sunday, May 29th.  Cultural Activity 3.
        Finally it's Sunday! Sundays are my favorite days because they're the least stressful and busy for the most part. Church was good today, we had our group meeting and went home as usual. We headed back to Paris for Mass at ST. Roche, M. Erickson's favorite church for mass, which counts as a cultural activity.  The church is lovely. Jessica, Haley, Natalie, Maddie, McKenna and I all went together. Mass was held in the chapel in the back of the church. They ring a bell to announce mass. I was pretty lost most of the time, if i'm being honest. It was in french of course. It was different for sure. Beautiful though. They sing/chant hymns have a sermon, sing/chant again, have a moment where you wish peace and goodness to your neighbors, pay offerings, have sacrament, sing/chant again and have a prayer at the beginning and end. Sacrament was really interesting. I won't pretend to know what it all meant, but it was very symbolic and cool to be a part of. The incense was interesting. Filled the room. I'm going to study what all they did means, so I can put things together, cause I can guess on some of it, but others, not so much. I only got about a quarter of the sermon because I couldn't focus on it and the pastor used words that I didn't know. I found out that I have a very short attention span, or maybe a better way to put it is that I get distracted easily. I was focusing on the sermon when I got distracted by thinking about what it would have been like to be attending mass hundreds of years ago or to be attending as royalty, I'd bring myself back to the sermon, one thought lead to another and before I knew it the pastor was saying Amen. I am ashamed to admit this, but it's true. I asked the others about what he talked about afterwards though, He talked about Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek, and him giving Abraham a blessing and why that is when Melchizedek was a pagan priest and Abraham a Christian. He said, "Can you imagine paying a tenth of all you own? Abraham was rich, so that was a lot." Interesting. indeed. All of us were thinking, " Ya we know. That's what we do." It's interesting to compare religious beliefs.  It was a cool first mass. :) I imagine it was more authentic not being able to understand half of it, since it originally was done in Latin.
      A funny Thing Happened While Ashley Was Writing Her Blog(Yes, that's a theater reference):
It's about eleven pm and McKenna and I decided that we wanted hot chocolate, so she put milk in the water heater thing and left the room for a few minutes. When she came back and went to check on it, it overflowed and spilled milk everywhere behind the bar killing the electricity in the basement. We cleaned up the mess. I texted our host mother telling her what happened and asking where the fuse box was. She came downstairs and fixed the problem. She didn't seem upset or anything, so I think we're good. McKenna is pretty upset about it. It's one of those moments when you're not sure whether to laugh or to cry. I choose to laugh, but i'm not sure McKenna has chosen one yet. We still got our hot chocolate though. It was good ladies and gents. It's gonna be a late night though because now I need to do laundry to wash the towels we used to clean the milk. Don't want that stinking up the place. Life is fun you guys.

 

 

 
This isn't the best picture, but this chapel is quite nice. You can see the crucified Christ through the arch behind the nativity scene surrounded by angels singing.

 
This is St. Roche. It's right by le Louvre and Angalines. In 1209, millers abd bakers first built a church dedicated to their patron saint, St. Honore. In 1217, sailors working at the port of the river Seine built a chapel dedicated to their patron saint Nicholas, the patron of the bargemen. In the sixteenth century, the tile workers and the gardeners erected a chapel dedicated to St. Suzanne. Then the king, noblemen, servants and gardners at the Louvre wanted the church St Roche to be built. Louis XIV laid the first stone in 1653. Corneille, Moliere, Le Notre, Admiral de Grasse, Bossuet, Abbe de l'Epee, Vauban, Diderot  and /manzoni either prayed here or are buried here in the peace of the Lord. Like all churches in Paris, this one had a tough time during the revolution, but is now quite beautiful.

Lutetia Pulchra Est: Musee National du Moyen Age, Sorbonne, Pantheon, Saint-Etienne-du-Mont; Or In Other Words the Best Walk Ever!
Saturday, May 28th.  
       Today was pretty great even with the rain. The trains were on time, we made the train, class went well, I found out that I got good grades on my first two quizzes and test. Now we'll see if I don't fail the next few. We took a long time to do this walk, but there was so much in it and it was super interesting. We also stopped for lunch at PizzaRoma so that took like an hour of our day. The pizza was really good by the way. It was one of my favorite walks, though I don't think the others shared my enthusiasm. To each their own I suppose. It started raining while we were in the Pantheon. It was interesting, like a movie. To hear the thunder from the inside of an old church is something else. Heavy rain too. It's so cool! It was fun to walk in the rain to the St. Etienne church from the Pantheon. I can imagine long ago, travelers seeking shelter in the church from a storm such as this, seeking sanctuary, or making pilgrimage to St. Genevieve. There's a connection to the past in this place that is indescribable. A connection to the past and possibilities for the future to be as grand as the past ever was or better. I'm gonna miss that  feeling. The roman ruins were super cool too. I looked at the cages and could just picture a lion roaring from inside. I love it here you guys. We made it home round five or six, I can't remember. Went shopping, ate dinner, and worked on homework until bed. I did take a walk to the old church and the dock by the Seine. Needed to relax and clear my head. School is stressful guys, but life is good. We don't really see our family unless we eat with them except for maybe a quick hello or goodbye when we get home or leave in the morning. It's too bad, but that's how it is. This is our last week in Paris!!!! That's not much time and I have so much to do. It'll be interesting. For now, i'm not going to think about the fact that we'll be leaving Paris soon.

This is part of what remains from the medieval hotel that was built for monks traveling to Paris. It dates from the fifteenth century. It's pretty cool!

Look at these awesome gargoyles!!! This is the outside of the museum Cluny or the Musee de Moyen Age. Its one of my favorite museums that we've been to so far. This museum is also part of the fifteenth century hotel. I really love the Gothic style. The book said it would take about an hour to go through the museum, but I think I took longer. It was just so cool.

Learned how to do panoramas today!!!! My life has been changed!

                                   Can I just say I equally love and am terrified of this well.

Look, It's our headless friend St. Denis! At the Pantheon, which we saw later in the day, there is a painting that depicts the story of st. Denis. It's a bit gruesome. What can you expect though with people's heads getting chopped off.  Sorry old pal, though you did gain sainthood from the whole ordeal.

These are the kings of Notre Dame. They are the kings of the old testament related to the virgin Mary, not the french kings like many people thought and think. They were torn down during the french revolution and replaced at Notre Dame with depictions of Mary and  the Christ child. The kings are now here, headless and many unidentifiable because of the destruction.

For it being the middle ages, and Europe for that matter, where the source for ivory is super far away, they sure had a lot of it. Look at this ivory box! Fancy.

This is a depiction of Noah and the Arch. There were two others that go with it, but this one is my favorite.

This is the remains of the Thermes, or Roman baths that date from the second century. The baths originally covered about three times as much ground as the block on which the museum stands. That's pretty large you guys. :)

These are the famous "Woman and the Unicorn" tapestries dating from the fifteenth century. There are six of them, but I like these two best. The tapestries are thought to represent the senses, but there are also other interpretations, especially seeing how a Unicorn symbolizes purity and innocence and is often depicted with virgins.

Took a turn through the jewel room. My jaw is still on the floor from some of the things I saw.

More ivory, but look there's a pretty, jeweled, old book!!!

 More old books! I think these are from the fourteenth century.

This is my friend John. You might of heard of him. He's kind of a big deal being cousin to Jesus and a prophet etc.

Awesome fireplace. Pretty big too, though not as big as those at Versailles.

These are some old games dating from the fifteenth century I think. I couldn't quite figure out what the game was.

This sword with the fishtail hilt belonged to someone really cool, but I can't remember who at the moment and can't find it online, so just know that it's awesome.

This book is full of drawings like these. I think this depicts a soldier wounded in war being steadied on his horse by a comrade so that he doesn't fall.

This is Montaigne, a popular french philosopher from the renaissance.  :)

This building is called the Sorbonne and dates originally from 1257. It was made to train future theologians. This building is in the Latin quarter and is what gives the are its name, because the future theologians all studied and spoke Latin.

I just thought this door way was super cool. Look at the boat at the top!

The Pantheon, or temple of the nation, was originally built as a Church dedicated to St. Genevieve, the patron Saint of Paris. during the revolution, the republic decided to turn the church into a resting place for great men of the nation.

This pendulum is by Foucault and proves the rotation of the earth.

This is a mural series of Jeanne d'Arch. There are others like it, but that depict the life of St. Genevieve for whom the church is dedicated. She is thought to have saved Paris from the Huns in C. E. 451.

Rouseau

Voltaire

Soufflot, Architect of the Patheon

Felix Eboue, Jean Jaures, Mr and Mrs Schorlucher

Look at all the cool people buried here!!!! It was awesome!!!!

This is St. Etienne. It's a gorgeous church next to the Pantheon. It was originally an monastery, and part of it still is. I can now officially check being at a monastery off my list. The church was originally built in the thirteenth century, but was rebuilt during the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. Though a Gothic facade, it's a largely renaissance church and contains the remains of Pascal, a seventeenth century philosopher and mathematician, Racine, a play wright for Louis XIV; and a reliquary containing parts of St. Genevieve's Sarcophagus. Her remains were burned by revolutionaries in 1993.

Pascal

Still Pascal

Shrine to St. Genevieve.It's gorgeous!

Racine

This was originally a sanctuary, turned abbey created in 510. It was reconstructed in 1180, but kept the tower of Clovis, a french King. The 80000 volumes and 2000 manuscripts were transferred to the library in the eighteenth century and the abbey became a school. Pretty cool eh?

This is another part of what remains of the old wall built in 1210 by Philippe Auguste before he went to fight in the third crusade. It was built at the same time as the conciergerie.

I just thought this was a nice picture of Paris in the rain. There was a manifestation down that street. We could hear it from quite a distance. Luckily we avoided it.

This is where Descartes, a french philosopher, lived when he was in Paris.1596-1650.

This is the fountain in the middle of a famous Parisian market that's supposed to have some of the oldest boutiques in Paris, but we could only find restaurants. McKenna was super disappointed. So was I.

This Roman arena, unearthed in the nineteenth century, was originally built at the end of the first century C. E. It likely accommodated plays and human-against-animal combats for some fifteen thousand spectators. You can still see the animal cages when you stand in the arena. This arena and the baths at Cluny are the only remaining Roman structures in Paris that are still visible.