Le Quartier Latin
       Tuesday, May 17. Today after class we decided to do the Quartier Latin walk, but first we had to make a few stops. Tomorrow is Haley's birthday, and she wanted to treat herself to a legit, old fashioned fan she'd seen during one of our walks. We went to les Invalides and ate lunch in the park while waiting for her to retrieve her gift from a store nearby. Her fan is nice. McKenna is apparently incapable of eating without spilling food on herself. Poor thing. It's only slightly entertaining for the rest of us. After lunch, we went back to le Musee Rodin so I could get my collectors coin with the thinker on it and McKenna and Haley could get ice cream. It had to be at this specific place for a secret reason that if you ask me in person I might tell you. ;) The ice cream was super good. Finally we started our walk. We were in the area by Notre Dame, but on the opposite side of the Seine. There are a lot of Creperies in this sector. McKenna was in heaven.  There are a lot of restaurants in general. It smelled really good. The Latin quarter is cool. We didn't see any performing or dancing today, but that is apparently a common thing. We passed by the narrowest street in Paris called le Rue de la Huchette. It used to reach all the way to the Seine before the reorganization of Paris in the nineteenth century to discourage barricades. Now it's less then a hundred feet. I can almost touch each wall from fingertip to fingertip when I stretch out my arms. We saw another Gothic cathedral, St. Severin, which originated from the middle ages and had the tallest bell tower of its time. Notre Dame was being built at the time and St. Chapelle was almost completed.  It's a beautiful church... they're all beautiful. We found the house where Louis XI used to live before becoming king. We couldn't go inside. Someone lives there now. We also visited the oldest cafe's in Paris, shopped among the Bouquanistes by the Seine. I found "Notre Dame de Paris" by Victor Hugo, a book of poetry by many famous authors, and a book by Honore Balzac called, "Eugenie Grandet." I'm excited to read them. They were all published in the nineteenth century. If I had money, then I would have gotten some works by Moliere and le Fountaine as well, but alas, to have money is not my lot. The bouquanistes are pretty cool actually. Some of them sell art by local art students which are really good. McKenna, Natalie, and Haley each bought one.  After that we all went home to work on homework and our quiz which our professor gave us in class this morning. Yay.  McKenna and I had dinner with the family today. Only the daughters though. Our mom is at a funeral and our dad is gonna wait and eat with her. We met a new sister today. I can't remember her name, but she's nice. Lidwine, and Louraine were there as well. We had corn with tuna, soup, and pizza. :) The corn was questionable, but the rest was good. Of course we had bread and cheese and then yogurt and apple sauce for dessert. After helping clean up from dinner, we headed back to our rooms to be responsible, but ended up talking for a long time instead. Roommate bonding time is good though, right? Besides, I had already finished one blog and most of the quiz. I need to finish that now though, so toodles.

 Fountaine St. Michel.  Made in the 19th century. Look at the dragons!!!!

 
This small theater has had some pretty awesome people/ plays done here. Victor Hugo's Cromwell was performed here as well. That play was seven hours long though, so it was a little hard to sit through, but it made way to different types of theatre.

 
The narrowest street in Paris!

This is a Jazz club. It was used as a storage space, and then as a hide out during the revolution until it became a Jazz place. Carson went to a concert here. He said it was "Jumpin." Random note: every time he says that I think of the song, "This Joint is Jumpin" from a show I did my freshman year of high school.

 

 
St. Severen, famous for it's single column designed after a palm tree:picture on right.

 

 

 
Cool places where important people lived or architecture stands out. The picture on the left is where Louis XI lived before becoming king. The picture on the right is the cour de commerce: a small area of shops and cafes.

 

 This cafe is the oldest in France. It's called Le Procope and it originates from 1686. Pretty cool eh?

 
Some other cafes that originate from the early nineteenth century.

 This is the famous Beaux arts school. We're technically students at this school, or at least we get a student discount from are Beaux arts cards from this school.

 
The national Institute building of France. Pretty cool and actually quite large.

 

 Pont Neuf, meaning new bridge. We just walked along the Seine and under this bridge that leads to a statue of Henry IV. This boat on the left is super awesome,

This is a closer look at the bridge. This side is covered with faces like these.