Get Lost and Explore
Today we had our quiz in class. Fingers crossed on how that went. Good news today. Le Bras allowed us to extend our paper deadline by a week and also to cancel class tomorrow. The best thing he could have done. :) I'm so excited to sleep in and be able to just stay home tomorrow. I'll be able to get things done and just relax. Today, McKenna, Carson and I did the Get Lost walk. It was raining, so we did half of it on a bus. The point of the get lost walk is to just go somewhere, anywhere randomly and observe, explore the city with out having a time limit or an destination. That's what we did. We hopped on a random bus and rode it to the end and then did that again. Carson didn't join us for the second one. It was fun to see the city, much of it we've already seen on foot through the walks. It never gets old though and there's always something new to discover. McKenna and I seem to be drawn to Montparnasse. We end up there all the time and today was no exception. The candy shop we went to was there and when we left, our second bus took us back there. It's a great part of Paris and I guess it likes us too. Fun train problems on our way home. We made it as far as the town before Croissy/Chatou before the train terminated for who knows what reason. Probably a strike. There weren't any buses going to Croissy, so we ended up having to walk there. It probably took us about forty minutes or so. Loads of fun. We got to see more of Chatou and walk along the Seine, so it wasn't too bad. A bit cold and windy though. Tonight was our last dinner with the family. Bittersweet. There was a guest at dinner tonight. A friend of Veronique. She's nice. Dinner was good. I tried a gizzard for the first time and I liked it. McKenna didn't try it. Too bad. Here's to trying new things. :)

This is what all my hard work going down the drain looks like. My poor fingers. So long calluses.  

Got bored while waiting for the group meeting and decided to draw one of my favorite french gardens. Brownie points if you can name the garden.

Candy cigarettes that we found at the candy store in Montparnasse. I thought about getting some as a joke for my mother, but thought better of it. :)

                                       This is a picture of the Seine today. Getting higher.

I accidentally bought coffee at the bakery. Yay french and bad hearing. I used it as a hand warmer, so as not to waste it.

This is the Seine by Croissy. Half of the tree is under water. Cops have been patrolling the streets a bit putting out a warning,  but no worries guys. We're perfectly safe. 

La marche au Bastille

Wednesday, June 1

Well the test is over, hopefully I didn't fail it, and there is a quiz tomorrow that i'm probably going to fail. Yay. It didn't rain much today, though it was overcast. The walk was cool, but I'll be honest; I just wasn't feeling it today. I was sore and stressed about being behind on schoolwork and just plain tired. We finished about three pm. After which I headed home and did homework until dinner, which was good. We had rice, veggies and chicken. I'm caught up on homework now, though I still have the paper to write, homework for tomorrow to do, and the quiz to study for. Whatever. Who needs sleep. Not this girl. I'm sorry I've gotten bad with including details about my day. Being behind does that to me. Plus, I've never been good at that. It's like journal writing, which I almost never do. So much work and our days here are very much the same. We see and learn knew things everyday, we have class everyday, and I come home and do homework until I can't keep my eyes open. Those other experiences that we have as a group throughout our days are those that you just had to be there to experience and to understand. Life is good. I'm just not good at recording it. Forgive me.  McKenna and I had a "Lord of the Rings" moment today. We were walking up the stairs to class this morning when McKenna just collapsed on the stairs and starts crawling up them. She said that she had no energy and felt like she was having a Frodo on the volcano moment. I took that to mean that I was Sam, so I said, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you." Then I commenced to try picking her up over my shoulders and to carry her upstairs. I couldn't stop laughing though and couldn't make it further than the first step. Apparently Haley recorded part of it. Carson said we were pretty loud and he was wondering what the commotion was from the classroom.  :) Bonding moments. 

                                  This is a ...framboise from le Gayshoc. :) It's super good. Kind of like German pancakes with fruit in it, but not.

While waiting for Maddie to get out of class, we had a economics lesson by McKenna. She's practicing for being a TA in the Fall. We're proud of her.

This is a monument put her at la Place de la Republique in commemoration of the republic. It was built in 1883 during the Third Republic. It's the most vandalized monument I've ever seen. It's kind of cool though. This place is where lots of strikes and protests begin. Also where the hipsters hang out.  

This is the canal St. Martin. It connects underground and eventually to the Seine. It's a pretty view and there are bridges all along the canal.

We watched this boat go through the levels of the canal. It was pretty cool to see it first hand and not just read about it.

I spy a giant ice cream cone.... I have a nac for finding giant things in Paris.

I saw this and thought of my mother, so mom, if you're reading this, This is for you.

This is the building that houses the winter circus. It opened in 1852 and houses thousands of spectators. Pretty awesome. I imagine it's like Le Cirque du Soleil from Canada, but for France.

This is a bouler chocolat. It's basically a ...word that I can't think of at the moment, covered with some sort of chocolate creme. I didn't like it very much.This is the fist thing I've tried that I haven't liked.

La Place de la Bastille. This monument marks the place where the prison, Bastille used to stand before it was destroyed during the revolution and it's fragments used to build a bridge. Lines mark where the Bastille wall used to stand. It's now a metro station. The monument was built in 1883 to honor those who fought in the July revolution of 1830. The remains of over 500 victims of the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 rest at the base of the statue.

A Day in the Rain and the Madeleine

Tuesday, May 31

Another day in class, another day of rain and rising river levels, another day of exploring Paris. Life is mostly good. Today's walk lead us to la Place de la Madeleine. The metro station there smells really bad in case you were wondering. Though it comes from sulfur wafting from the underground water beneath the station. The station itself is the newest and nicest I've been too. The walk went well. I'm over the rain. Lot's of school work and a test that I need to complete. Sorry, not much to write today. 

Pastry of the day: a vanilla Macaron. It was good,  but not as good as the violet one I had from Pierre.

This is a picture of the Seine. It's been raining so much, that the water level has raised very high. Look how close the water is to the bridge. It's already covering the stairs.

This is Shakespeare and Company: an old bookstore near Notre Dame. It's pretty cool. The downstairs area is like a normal store, but upstairs there is a reading room where you can just grab a book from the shelf and read it to your heart's content, then put it back. There's also a piano that you can play. This is how bookstores should be. The vibe was so cool and chill.

This is the Madaleine. It's a beautiful, neo-classical church that was turned secular by Napoleon before it was completed which is why it is a mixture of Catholicism and pagan mythology. The building was turned back into a church by Louis XVIII. It has a great view of le Place de la Concorde. There was a session of Mass going on, so we didn't stay long.

This is a random old metro entrance by the church. I got so distracted looking at it that I stepped into a large puddle and got even more soaked then I already was from the rain. I might have started scolding the metro out load for distracting me. Yes, i'm one of those people. ;)

This is a really good dessert place, Laduree,similar to Pierres. Expensive of course. I tried two small macarons: Rose Petal and Marie Antoinette. They were interesting, but not my favorite. Violet still wins.

This is the smallest church we've seen so far. This one room is all there is. Still pretty. This chapel began as a convent founded in 1622 by Cardinal Rochefoucauld. During the revolution it was used as a store room. During the empire  the church became the principle ward in the first arrondissment until the Madeleine's completion in 1842.

This is le musee Parfum: a museum about a famous perfume in France. It's actually really interesting. This particular one is le Fragunard. It's been run by a family since the forties. I was most definitely assaulted by lots of smells, but most of them were good, so it's all ok. I learned that apparently smelling your own skin clears out your head in between whiffs. It worked, so I'm a believer.

McKenna and I cooked dinner tonight for our host family. She got super messy, but we had a blast and dinner was a huge success! What a relief. We were nervous that it wouldn't be, but they asked for the recipe! Go us! We cooked chicken, broccoli, rice, and chocolate chip cookies; recipes from McKenna's mother.

L'Opera Garnier! Do You Even Know excitement?!
Monday, May 29
Rain, rain, and more rain. Go away! Oh well. Class has been just lovely. I like M. Le Bras; he's very nice. I din't do so hot on the last quiz, but we don't talk about that. This is our last mandatory walk for class while here in Paris. I didn't even realize what was in this walk before hand, but it was one of my favorites! Find out why if you keeping reading. Other wise it's an ordinary day. We had FHE of course, which was good. Said goodbye to Elder Standford. This was our last FHE in Paris. A bit bitter sweet.

                                            This sums up our lives. It's been raining for days.

                                  McKenna posing as Jeanne d'Arc. I think she would be proud.

This is La Place de la Vendome. The column stands 140 feet tall in the middle of the square. It was erected in 1806 to celebrate Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz. Over 12 hundred Austrian cannons were melted down to create this column, Napoleon is on top in roman costume.

This is the Opera Garnier!!!!! Guys, this place is the equivalent to the Globe in excitement level!!!! This is where "The Phantom of the Opera" is set. There is a small lake beneath the opera house just like in the book! Also, this place is the center for Ballet in Europe! My teachers have talked about this place and the wonderful dancers and choreographers that have been here. I could just picture my teacher Mrs. Suzi in my head as if she were on stage. She belongs in a place like this. I was in heaven!  The architecture is amazing! Quite truly like a dream. Oh my gosh you guys! If only I was good enough to perform here! That would make my life! They don't really use it for Operas anymore, though, they have another place for that now. It's pretty much just ballets now. I can't dance, and I can't sing  nearly good enough for a place like this, but I pretended while I was there, that I could and for a moment, I could almost believe it. This place is magical.

It's a dragon on the steps! 

The grand staircase

These costumes were used for the ballet "Themes et Variations" choreographed by Balanchine en 1947! For those who don't know much about the ballet world, he's a big deal

They have a library that has the life story of the opera housefrom when it first opened in 1870s! This place is so cool!


This is the lunar room. There is a matching solar room across the hall. This picture doesn't do it justice.

This is the set for Giselle, the ballet that's playing at the opera right now. It would have been a dream to see it, but it's way too expensive. Oh well. 

This is booth that is left empty for the phantom of the Opera. I don't know if it's actually left empty anymore, but it was pretty cool to be there. I might have had that musical stuck in my head the whole time I was there.