Today was my second day in Paris and the first official day
of the program. It began to rain
last night and it continued into the day.
Most of the day was just cloudy, but every once in awhile it would
pour. Luckily, most of the rain
happened after our walk.
Speaking
about that, we had a really fun walk today. I started the day by getting some breakfast in the
hotel. It was very simple, but it
did its job. I had some coffee (of
course), an apple, and a croissant with Nutella. Très magnifique! After that, we all met up with the TAs
and Teo at 10am. We then walked
around our neighborhood and ended up in a park to have our lecture. The park was a playground for the
children in the area. Let me say,
these kids were so stylish and adorable!
I hit a new low once I realized French toddlers dress better than me.
This is the street our hotel is on.
Same street, different shot.
This is a fruit market on the same street.
A really cute sign for a bread shop.
This is our local fire department. The hold a ball every year around Bastille Day, which is July 14th. Some of us want to go, but you have to buy tickets. So, we'll see what happens.
This is the fire truck. Lara, my roommate, is the girl leaning on the tree.
Two super cute French boys watching the fire truck.
The park we had out lecture at.
Teo held lecture under this gazebo over looking the playground.
Some of the kids wanted to join lecture too!
After
the lecture, the TAs showed us around.
We went to the River Seine and followed it all the way to the Eiffel
Tower. There were so many tourists
at the tower; it was insane! But,
I guess that’s the nature of the beast when you go to Europe during the
summer:)
On our way to the Tower. I thought the glasses were cool.
The Eiffel Tower
This is a mini version of the Statue of Liberty. There are many different replicas of the Statue through out Paris, and this is one of them.
A view of the Tower and the Seine.
Walking along the river towards the Tower.
A bridge on the way to see the Tower.
The same bridge. Does it look familiar to anyone? This is the Bir-Hakeim bridge from Inception. In the scene, Ellen Paige's character moves the giant mirrors that are connected to the pillars. Sadly, they don't actually exist.
A war monument and the Tower.
The River Seine.
The Tower on a rainy day in Paris.
It doesn't look like it, but it's pouring rain.
We
ended around 1pm. A group of us
decided we were hungry and walked around for a while until we found a place to
eat. I ordered a cafe au lait (I
was still so tired from the flight) and fois gras with toast. It was amazingly good. I wish more places in California had
fois gras comparable to Paris.
After lunch, we were a little
turned around. It took us a while
to find our way back to the hotel, but that just meant we got to sight see more
of our neighborhood. When we got
back to our hotel, the rain had stopped and we had a few hours before we had to
meet for a special dinner.
Today
was also Feast Day in Paris.
Basically, a lot of streets were closed down for people to play live
music and hang out. It reminded me of street parties in the
States, but like everything in Paris, it had an attitude of its own.
At 8pm, we met for dinner. We sat in front of the Eiffel Tower, in
the Champs de Mars. We were there
for a few hours, eating, drinking, and getting to know one another. At around 10, Teo had a surprise of us: we went on a boat!! It was an hour ride down the
Seine. We saw a bunch of
stuff. Did I mention it doesn’t
get dark until about 11pm! It
might look like 5ish, but it really is almost midnight! Now, I’ll let the pictures to the
talking...
Our view at dinner. I took this picture at 8pm! Once the rains stopped, the weather became very sunny, but a little cold.
The group. The girl in the green jacket with her back to us is Naomi and the guy by the bags is Jacob, our TAs. As soon as I met them, I thought they would be a cute couple. Turns out, they're married!! They met on this trip years ago. So adorable.
A cool shot of the Tower and some of the girls from the group.
The Tower from the Seine.
The Seine.
I couldn't really hear the tour guide, but I think this is a church. I thought the green top was cool.
This bridge was built from the rubble of the Bastille when it was stormed in 1789.
The Musee d'Orsay.
The building was a train station before it was turned into a museum. Hence, the clock.
Notre Dame at night.
A shot the of river and Notre Dame at sunset, around 10:30!
The Eiffel Tower. It sparkles on the hour starting at 11pm. We got to see it from the river. It was so beautiful.
During
the boat ride, Lara and I connected with two other girls in the program. We ended up hanging out with them
during and after the boat ride.
This included a very eventful, yet very fun night in Paris. Many clubs and bars close really late
here in Paris, some as late as 5am.
We decided we wanted to go to a bar and ended up leaving around 3am! Suffice it to say, the bar we wanted to
go to had closed and we went on a mission to find another but had no luck. After wandering for a few hours, we
finally gave up and went home...
AT 4AM! Although our plans didn’t
work out, we had fun hanging out with everyone that came with us, about 10
people, as well as seeing Paris at night.
Anyway,
we were able to get about 5 hours of sleep that night. Waking up was a bit hard, but we did it
and had a great 2nd day in Paris. And, if you read my next entry, you learn all about it!
On
another note, Teo gave us a bit more info about our blogs. It looks like this blog type, one that
records my daily activities, won’t work for what he wants for the blog. Therefore, I’ll be writing another with
my roommate. We’re still figuring
out the details and I’ll let everyone know about it once we start writing it. So that means I might not be posting
everyday. I also think I will
write less and let the picture do the talking for me. Since the format of my blog doesn’t matter anymore, it will
probably change entry to entry.
Finally,
I hope to post again either tomorrow or the next day. We get a free day soon, so I’ll catch up then. Also, I’ll probably post my
pictures on Facebook once a week.
So far, for the two full days here, I’ve taken about 400
pictures!!! I got some editing to
do:) Now, let me finish like I’ve
done before and say...
Until then, au revoir mes amis!
This
Week’s Soundtrack:
This
is Queen Regina’s new single.
Listen to the whole song and you’ll hear why it’s in this week’s soundtrack
(other than featuring French...).
I
love Sir Paul’s Cherries album more than life and this is one of my favorites
on it.
Thanks
to Buddy the Elf, I love this song.
And in Paris, when it rains, it’s pennies from Heaven...
Basically,
me minus T-Pain.
