Le Seizieme Arrondissement
Tuesday May 24.   It was sooo hard to get up this morning. We were slightly late getting out the door this morning, but we still made our train, which thankfully was running  normally. Class was good. We have a quiz this Thursday, and our next midterm this weekend. So exited. Just pumped. Yes i'm being sarcastic. I found this really funny video btw that talks about the origins of sarcasm:how it must have happened, that is really funny. Here's the link in case you're interested. It's worth it. Trust me. https://youtu.be/l50XdLDRIwU
       Anyway, we did a walk near the Eiffel tower and the outskirts of Paris today. This walk included the Statue of Liberty that we had seen already, so we skipped that part and started at the radio station for all of Paris. It's a cool, stadium like building on the outside. Our walk also took us through what used to be a large woods, or hunting grounds for the king, but now is a park. There are horse race tracks, lakes and play structures and lots of trees, It's a calm, beautiful place. It's right next to a museum we went through that houses lost of Monet's art work as well as other famous artist. at the entrance, you're required to leave behind your backpacks for security reasons I guess. The museum ends in the gift shop though, and I wanted to get two post cards, and was in line for the cashier when I realized that I didn't have my wallet on me. It's in my backpack. I quickly left the line, put the cars back, and found my friends to continue the walk. That would have been so embarrassing to get to the cashier and realize I didn't have my wallet in front of people. Today is just not my day. The world is seemingly against me. I tripped three times, the last time, hurting my ankle a bit. I may or may not have a slight limp. It'll be right as rain soon, i'm sure. Also, I may or may not be having an allergic reaction. My throat feels like i'm choking, but not, slightly swollen maybe, hurts a bit to swallow, but breathing is normal. It's been bothering me at least since after breakfast. It's gotten a bit better than it was this morning, but still not good. Perhaps i'm getting sick, but I've never had this problem before and it doesn't feel like a sickness reaction. I don't have any known allergies, and all I've had to eat was cereal, but who knows. I'll have to keep you posted, unless of course I die from this, in which case I guess we'll find out by my death. Either way. If I die, my things go to my family to be divided up evenly or thrown away as they see fit. My guitar and my music goes to either my brother, Wyatt or my mother. I'd like to be buried in a Gothic tomb like those seen in the cemetery we saw last week, Ok, glad that's taken care of. :) We got home around five thirty pm. We're all pretty tired, but we only have five walks left and we hope to finish them this week, so we can have time to do homework and do what we want the next week. I fell asleep on the Metro ride to the RER. Normally when that happens, someone wakes me up when it's time to switch trains, but this time they didn't do that. Luckily, I opened my eyes in time to realize we were getting off the train and was able to catch up. I think we all need  a day to just recuperate our selves. That would be really nice. I tried an eclair today. It was good. Chocolate, but there are other flavors, which I might go back to try later such as framboise, and pistachio.  It's been a good day, tiring, but good. I'm so excited to eat dinner tonight with my host family. I don't know what we're having, but any opportunity for a real meal that's not just bread or a sandwich is great. Plus I get to chat with the family. Haven't really had the opportunity to do that since coming back yet.  A la prochaine!
Plus tard...
Dinner was great, We had pie, salad, fruit and yogurt, Cheese and bread of course. I'm really liking my yogurt with sugar now. I'm going to have to take that tradition home with me. We got to catch up with the family, tell them about our trip to London, which was great. We're going to cook for them next week. McKenna has a family recipe that she wants to make and we're going to make cookies. Lidwine is going to make some too and we'll compare french cookies to american ones. I'm excited. My mother discovered snap chat today. It was very entertaining to see her making faces and striking poses with the different settings for the pictures.  Oh the simple joys of life.

 This is the chocolate eclair that I ate today. :) Super good.

 
Learning about neveau architecture in the Seizieme arrondissment, which is the nicer part of Paris. When one says they are from the 16th sector of Paris, it's often considered snobbish. This new architecture is inspired by plants and nature. This architect did most of the 16th sector.

 

 This is the main radio building for all of France. It was inaugurated in 1963 and houses the main offices of Radio-France, plus sixty studios and a museum. We didn't go inside, but it's isn't it?

There are many memorials like this one all over Paris for different causes and people, often those who died for a cause.

 

This small street has been generally untouched for the last two hundred years. The buildings here frame the Eiffel tower nicely. This street connects to where the famous author Balzac lived while in Paris.

 
Stairs...always stairs. And this cool wall that is cracked in multiple places, though this picture doesn't show it well.

 

The house of Balzac. We didn't go in, but it was cool to see where he lived. This guy was kind of nuts to be honest. He had a huge addiction to coffee. He drank fifty cups of coffee a day. Can you believe that? His sleeping habits were terrible as you can imagine.

Cool church near Balzac's house.

 This restaurant used to be a train station which is why it's called la Gare.

 

 This park was a site of many royal parties. Some included hot air balloons. In "The Three Musketeers", this scene is reenacted. This statue is of the author La Fountaine. He wrote many fables. The fable pictured at his feet is le renard and le corbeau or the fox and the raven.

 

 
Fun at the museum Marmatton. I've found myself a buff Egyptian man.  Sorry guys, I'm now taken.

 
 This is my favorite painting from the middle ages before they invented oil paint and painted with eggs instead. Isn't it pretty?

 
These are done by the famous women artist Berthe Morisot. She's known for her water color and her portraits of her family and friends.

 
This painting is the one that inspired Victor Hugo's character Gavroche in Les Miserables. This is a painting of some children during the revolution. They often fought along side the adults.

This is one of my favorite paintings I saw in the museum. I think it's by Renoir, but i'm not sure.

 
More of Monet's waterlilies.  They're pretty cool. This one was my favorite from this selection.

 
These are the post cards that I wanted to buy, but didn't have my wallet for.  The one on the left is by Renoir, and the one on the right is by Jean Louis Hector Viger Du Vigneau. What a name right? It's one of my favorite classical paintings.

                                                         An outside view of the museum.

 
More neveau architecture. It's pretty isn't it?

 
This park was beautiful. It's called Square des Ecrivains Combattants morts pour la France. It was the hunting grounds for the royal family for hundreds of years starting with the Merovingian kings-Clovis was the first king of France in 481. It has also been the hiding place for bandits, and those fleeing from the revolution. In 1852 Napoleon III gave Hausseman leave to change the grounds into the park it is today. It is now the city's main recreation area. There are restaurants, two race tracks, two lakes, a children's zoo, an amusement park, picnic areas, strolling paths, soccer fields, and several museums. We didn't even see a fourth of the park with how large it is. We did find this cool climbing tree though. I'm in the tree in the picture on the right. It was fun.

 
Carson made himself a boat out of bark, a stick and a piece if notebook paper. It kept tipping over unfortunately. The boat was cursed to sink.

Found this old man sitting on the long near a swan nest and a waterfall. Thought it was a good picture.

 
This is one of the horse race tracks. The first I've ever seen in real life. It's pretty cool.  You can see the Eiffel tower in the distance.

When we got home, McKenna and I were hungry, so we made ourselves a snack. I looked down at my bread and noticed that I had basically made the United States. It's not quite exact, but I didn't do it on purpose, so that's to be expected. Just pretend that Florida sank. Sorry Florida.