Paris with Em J & Versailles with Julie

I went to Paris to spend the weekend with EmJ. It was one of the most wonderful weekends in the world, something we'd both imagined since we began French class together some 6 years ago (wow we're getting old!!).

So technically, this was 2 1/2 weeks ago, but I'm just a bit behind schedule since I’ve been away from computer and internet for just about that long. Sorry family! I took the quick one-hour train into Paris and met Em at her house. We were supposed to go to this Chocolate Festival, but I’d had a 2 week stomach flu and wasn’t really feeling ingesting so much chocolate. But writing this now, that sounds fabulous. Instead we headed to Champs Elysee, singing the song the entire time ( Aux Chaps Elysees, aux champs elysees, au soleil, sous la pluie… il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux champs elysees!!- this translates basically to On this Street, in the sun or the rain, there is everything you could want here!)

We stopped at La Duree, which is supposed to have the best Macaroons in all of Paris. Macaroons here aren’t like anything you’d have had in the states. Basically there is every flavor imaginable and they’re dyed to match these. The outside is hard when you tap it, but the second you bite into it is so creamy smooth, almost like jelly but not. Okay, so clearly, I really enjoyed these macaroons. We ate them under the Arc De Triomphe, which is pretty much just an arc but is epically famous.
We headed over to La Notre Dame Cathedral. I learned about it in art class and so I thought it was even more beautifully created when I saw it. Buttressing holds it up, which you can notice in the photo behind Em and I. They almost look like long ‘spider’ legs extending from the building, which actually support it. It’s funny, we wandered around “looking” for Quasimoto, the name of the Disney Character who plays the hunchback in the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

That night, we met up with our friend Stephen who we went to Mullen with. He is studying in the south of France and we all went to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle at nighttime. It’s one of the most fun things to do on an evening in Paris. . . though very touristy, its always a blast!!

The next day, I went to The Palais de Versailles. This is one of the most magnificent palaces in the world, built by Louis XIV. This extravagant palace is full of overly ornate apartments, gold embroidered buildings, great gardens, and blasting fountains. The entire palace grounds is hundreds of acres large and so much money was spent on the palace itself that afterwards, the King ordered that the books be burned with the amount of money used. The imbalance of money and extravagance actually sparked the French Revolution as the commoners were outraged. In the picture with Julie and me (spiral staircase in the background) is right outside Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet, where she would pretend to be a common milk maiden. This was by far my most favorite area as the cottages were so quaint. The gardens were magnificent too and they play orchestras of music at certain times when they put the fountains on. There is a time schedule when certain fountains turn on and display their glory… probably because they’re so expensive to run. At a time when Louis the 14^th was out of money, he would invite guests over and plan their route and turn on the fountains as they passed them to make it look like they were constantly running. The day was great, but definitely a major damper because of the huge downpour of rain that we were stuck in about 1 mile from the main building. So we were soaked running through the gardens in chilly Paris, but it was still a great day!

On my last day in Paris, we went to the Louvre.

We get in for free as students studying in France. Pretty nifty… I could spend hours and hours in the Louvre. I’m usually not the biggest museum fan, but there are periods and pieces from all over the world and time frames. Obviously, I saw good ole’ Mona Lisa. She’s actually very small, which I’d been told but not a giant piece by any means. We did a lot of the typical Venus de Milo, Oath of Horatii, Coronation of Napoleon, etc. but my most favorite wing was the Egyptian wing. We saw mummies from years ago, even animal mummies- which were so intriguing! Em and I spent hours in the Louvre and spent some time journaling and stuff. It was awesome to be able to spend so much quality time with her! I loved it!