Something Old, Something Older Than the Other Old Thing

Friday, May 13. Today we decided to do a "shorter" walk, which means the estimated time is two hours. I think we finished it in about four and a half hours. We always take longer than the estimated time. It was a cool walk. Our metro that we took to where we were going today was super full, so I ended up missing it because I went to find a car that had room and the train left the station. My class mates were looking around for me and saw me on the platform. I just waved and smiled figuring i'll just take the next train. Then I realized I didn't know where I was going. Haley is our navigator. I normally just follow her. I texted them to figure it out and after some miscommunication that made me get off at three separate stops before getting the right info, I was reunited with the group. Fun stuff. We got to see a palace/mansion from the thirteenth century, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Van Gogh's apartment among other things.  It was over cast and rained a little bit, but it was actually on the warmer side with the humidity. The best part about the day was probably that we got to be home by around three in the afternoon. I love our walks, but I really just wanted to catch up on homework and stay in bed until I had to leave for dinner. I wasn't as productive as I planned on being.We did go shopping, and  I did do some homework, but the internet was being difficult so I couldn't do all that I wanted to. Around seven something I went to get our friend Maddie from the train station. I Thought I was late in meeting her, so I ran from my house to the station, normally a ten minute walk, only to not be able to find her. I didn't have her number either. I waited and looked around for ten minutes before thinking to check the Chatou side of the station. Should have thought of that earlier. She was there the whole time. It's ok though, The day was nice and I actually enjoyed the run. We had dinner at Madame de Grand Maison's. house. That's Haley and Natalie's host mother. They live around the corner from us in Croissy. The girls had offered to cook dinner for their host family and Madame invited us to come as well. She's very sweet. We had mac and cheese, salad, fruit, and scones. It was super good, despite the problem we had getting the cheese sauce right. It turned out more like cheese soup with noodles. Still good. Madame seemed to enjoy it. I totally ate more scones than is good for me, but hey, It made my soul happy.  After dinner, which is a very social event here in France and therefore, takes a bit longer, McKenna and I walked Maddie to the train station and then were off to finish up projects and go to bed. Another day in the life of me. 

 

This is the Hotel de Sens, the palace from the thirteenth century. It was the nicest one is Paris at it's peak. It's now used as a library/ archive.  I really like this place.

 Random carving in the wall that i'm sure has significance, but I don't know what that is. Looks cool though. It was used as a landmark in our guide book to make sure we're going the right way. We found it. :)

 

 No big deal, just touching the original wall built around Paris in 1190. This is the only surviving part of the wall. It's pretty cool. The wall was built to help protect the city while the king was away fighting in the crusades.

 St. Paul's village. It's just a bunch of shops, but as luck would have it, most of them were closed.

 
This is a passage from the opposite side of the square to the cathedral, St. Paul.  It cuts through the buildings, like a short cut. I'm not sure exactly why this passage is here, but it was cool.

 St. Paul's Cathedral. It's very pretty. Not very large comparably, but quite nice. It was built in the seventeenth century by Louis XIII. The original church was destroyed during the revolution, so this one is the second edition.

 I might just be weird, but these huge, white and purple looking veggies are asparagus!!! I've never seen asparagus like that before.

 
This is Hotel Sully. It was originally some rich dude's place, but now it's an apartment complex and place for shops. I lost my information I had on this building if you couldn't tell.  

 

 
 I might be obsessed with birds. The garden courtyard was full of birds though. The minute you step through the arch passage from the street into the garden you feel a sense of the place actually being alive. Birds are singing, flying around, people just stop and hang out there, and its awesome!

 
I'm not sure why there are things stuck in the grass at the park/ garden constructed by Louis XIII. An art project or a environmental project maybe.

 

Pretty!!! Rainbow just how I like it. 

 Bust of Van Gogh made by Rodin. I feel like an expert on Rodin now that i've been through his museum and the Louvre.

 Hanging out in Van Gogh's old Apartment. Aren't we cute?

 It was really cool to be able to visit this place. He's one of my favorite authors. The apartment is now a museum donated by the family. I learned that his whole family is pretty dang talented. And that his daughter randomly ran away from home after being rejected in love and was found in a insane asylum. Sad really.

 
We walked by the museum Carnavalet because we've already been here, but it's mentioned in the walk. I've already talked about it though, so ... :)

 

 Found this nice little garden towards the end of our walk where we stopped to eat lunch. Carson looks very contemplative thinking about what move he wants to make.

 

 This now Library was once home to Duke Nomper de Caumont, Duc de La Force. It was turned into a prison  during the reign of Louis XV. The prison was destroyed in 1845 and turned into this library.

 This is "Breakfast in America." It offers all kind of american food such as burgers and fries. ;)

 
 The walk ended circling back to St. Paul. It's nice isn't it. Stupid people who vandalized this sign in front of the church. I could smack them. Some people have no respect for history or religion here. There are so many things we see that are vandalized in some way or another and it makes me sad.

 
I got my first kinder egg from our local bakery. It's a chocolate egg with a capsule inside of it. Each capsule contains a surprise toy inside of it. They're illegal in the U.S. for either being a choking hazard because of neglectful parents or for being in competition to some other major chocolate U.S. company.  Up for debate. My roommate has strong feelings on this matter. First of all, that chocolate was good. Second of all, the capsule was embarrassingly hard to open. McKenna opened it for me. She made it look easy. I'm just special that way. I got a kitty in a basket! Cute!