The Last Day: Au Revoir to Paris

I'm writing this blog from the airport gate in Cincinnati, Ohio, with about one hour until we board a flight to SLC. This blog will most likely be about yesterday and maybe a few things I've noticed today being back in the US. I'm still going to write it like it is last night just because it is easier for me.

We got up at about 9:00 which really wasn't really early for us or late. We walked around the corner for our usual patisserie visit for a quick breakfast and took the metro to the Marais neighborhood. We just walked around for about half an hour and went to a small creperie where I (finally) had my much-needed crepe. I just got a sucré et citron (sugar and lemon) crepe which may sound dull but it was actually very, very good, and I don't regret my choice. By the way, they were enormous!

We went into a little square where we hung out for about an hour and read about its history. it was really nice and the pigeons were all flying around. There was even a fountain that you could fill your water bottle with. We left the square and walked through streets with a restaurants that specialized in falafel. So, since some of us have never tasted it or don't remember tasted it, we got two falafel sandwiches which were pretty darn good. They were a little awkward to eat, but that wasn't a problem because of all the pigeons collecting any fallen food. :)

(Speaking of pigeons, the falafel place seemed to be where all the old pigeons hung out, and there was this one pigeon who was trying to get a feather that was stuck right between its eyes off itself, and continued to try the entire time I saw him/her with no luck.)

We walked a few blocks and ended up at the modern art museum. This place is often called an inside-out building because all the infrastructure is on the outside. There are nice squares and cafes around it so we sat at one for at least an hour. The squares were apparently a common place where street performers and artists come, and we saw three different groups, all were very good. The first person was making a chalk drawing on the ground. It was amazing! I'll probably have a picture of it in my future picture blog, because it is very hard to describe it in words. The second person was a silent performer who had sound track playing. He was also very good and very entertaining to watch. The third was actually a group of five guys. They were more audience oriented and would pull in different people to do a variety of things. My sister was actually pulled up. The guys were very funny and really entertaining. They were a sort of hip hop dancers who would do different styles of dance in different performances. Sadly, at the end as we left the cafe, the police came over and talked to them, but I don't know what happened because we went into the modern art museum.

The modern art museum was disappointing. There were a few interesting artists that were cool and clearly had skill and talent, like Picasso and a few others, but there were also a ton of pieces that didn't seem to take any skill at all. I am talking a black canvas with a few white strips, or a triangular canvas split in two with one side painted green, the other white. It was bad. My favorite? Three blank canvases all lined up in a row with a sign to the side explaining why they are not actually blank, they are white. You can bet that I will have pictures of the art exhibits that were in this famous museum in the future.

After, we went to the bridge that has thousands and thousands of locks on the side and clipped our own lock onto it. We decided not to throw a key in because there was some boat traffic and we thought getting hit with a metal key would not be good. We went to a local cafe that was very good and all three of my courses were delicious (antipasti, cod fillet, mille-fieulle which is a thousand layer dessert).

We went to bed at around 1:00 AM after packing, which was bad because earlier that morning, we had hoped to go to bed around 10:00.

Whoops. :/

We were not as early for our flight as we had hoped we would be, but we did get on the flight. The flight back to the US was better than the one there. They served us little bowls of ice cream near the end and I must have started at least five or six different movies, even though I only finished maybe two.  Also, I didn't have to force myself to sleep, and I got a window seat.

So being back in the US after France brings me a deeper perspective of our culture. (I also have a deeper appreciation of our public toilet situation in the US.) I already miss Paris but it will also be good to be home.

My Feet Are Going On Strike

Hmm, well, today has been more of a half-day. After going to bed at 2:00 AM last night, we got up around eleven. We got out the door by twelve. Thankfully, we didn't have huge plans.

We walked to Sacre Couer which was only a few blocks away from our hotel. To get there, there is a street that is filled with vendors and cheap souvenirs. Most people would walk in disgust at all the money makers but I thought it was pretty interesting. I bought some earrings from a man who was making wire things, and he made a ring for my sister for free. There were people who would do tricks and people who could entertain and artists and musicians. It was mayhem but still a little fun to walk through.

We got to Sacre Cour which was beautiful. I realized I haven't even told you what it is yet for those of you who don't know. It's a church that sits right on top of the only hill on Paris. It is the tallest spot on the ground in Paris. (From the ground, not the top, because that would obviously be the Eiffel Tower.) It is not very old at all, maybe one or two decades, and so the inside is very modern. I loved the stained glass windows because they were a different style.

Can you see tell that this is more modern?

Sadly, this is a pic from the internet, but the phones and cameras won't upload. :)

We walked around that neighborhood for a little while and had lunch at a cafe. We walked back to our hotel and changed into nicer clothes to get ready for a diner that we had planned with my aunt and uncle. We took the Metro to the Champs Elysees and sat at a cafe with drinks and then my they met us there at the cafe. After a few minutes, we walked a few blocks to the restaurant and had an awesome meal. (crab flesh for an appetizer, a sort of beef for an entree, and a lemon tart for dessert) Again we stayed late (or late for us), and now it has become 1:00. *sigh*

My feet hurt so bad. We have been walking so much and my flats are becoming very, very uncomfortable. They are sore and are starting to get blisters, but haven't quite gone there. I may have to put on bandaids tomorrow. :(

So, our flight back to 'Merica is on Sunday afternoon, which means we only have one more day left in France. I'm really sad to leave because everything has gone by so quickly. I also realized today that during my visit, I have never even had a crepe!! I'm definitely going to have to see if I can get one tomorrow. Good night!

Versailles

Yesterday was probably the busiest day we had. We started by sleeping through our 8:00 train kind of on purpose, and catching a train to Versailles around 8:45 after getting a few pastries at a nearby bakery. The ride was only about 30 minutes long and we were the very last stop so it wasn't a problem trying to figure out when to get off. We had coffee and hot chocolate at a cafe and then walked towards the Versailles Chateau.

Wow, I thought that kind of palaces only existed in fairy tales. It was so pretty that it was surreal. There was a huge line that we did have to stand in, but it probably only half an hour, so it wasn't too bad. We used our handy-dandy little audio guide and it helped us find the really cool things about the palace. All the rooms were so....... royal? I guess they were beautiful but, as my mom pointed out, they weren't very cozy, but they were still super cool. I don't have pictures today again because my wifi wasn't working.

After we finished our audio guide, we got some lunch and ate it in the gardens behind the chateau. The "gardens" were beautiful. There were fountains and hedges and a lake. Ahhhhh, it was so nice. I can't believe it all belongs to one single person. We rented five bikes and went to a different part of the palace that was in a different part of Versailles. It was Marie Antoinette's special land place thingie. We visited her little getaway house. (Haha, house, more like a mansion) and then went to the place where she played Peasant. Apparently, she had always longed to live the "simple life of a peasant," the fake life of a peasant, and so she had people build a special little village and she would go there and pretend she was a peasant. There were farms and gardens and she even had her own peasant house. The traditional kind with three floors and a fancy dining hall. ;) The houses she had built were really cute, though, and they had animals in the places where she had animals. They had a peacock who, at the moment, had it's quills up showing off, and it was really cool! They also had goats and one came up to the fence just close enough so I could pet it. I really like it but the idea of Marie Antoinette making it her ginormous doll house was just plain weird.

We returned our bikes and took the train back to Paris. We went straight to the Eiffel Tower because we had been planning to go up it since the day before. We did have to wait in line, even for the stairs, but it proved to only be about a 25 minute wait. We had a race to the top but we all kind of got distracted on the first and second floor. In the next blog I hope I can make a section of photos for this blog because it was just so awesome.

Anyway, we climbed up the first two sections of the Eiffel Tower. We had no choice but to take the elevator up to the very top. We got to the top and the sun had just set. The view was breathtaking. We were at the top when the lights turned on and when the hourly sparkling light show started. We spent some time up there and then went down in time to see the light show from the grassy park. We went to a cafe around 12:30 and were surprised to see that there were still people there, many people. We had dessert and took the metro which was still open and walked, zombie-like, back to our hotel. I fell asleep immediately after falling asleep, because it was about 1:30 am when we got back. But, yesterday was one of my favorite days, and I hope the next few will be just as good.

A Day Full of Art

Wow! Today was so busy, I can hardly believe we did all that we did in one single day. Hopefully I won't leave anything out but I probably an't promise anything.

We woke up very, very early. For us. That is, in France. Meaning 8:00. We rode the Metro to the Mussée d'Orsay. After skipping a semi-long line because of our Museum passes we bought, we headed inside. Now, I have gotten several comments about how this museum is totally awesome, but to tell you the truth, I couldn't picture a museum about impressionist art being extremely fun or something I would love. It can, trust me. First of all, the building is cool. It used to be an old train station and still has a glass roof. There are a few very famous paintings by famous painters and sculptors. They have works of Monet, Van Gogh, and tons of others. I have a few of my favorites, but I didn't write down the names of the paintings or who painted them. I do know that Monet is now one of my favorite painters.

We had lunch in the Museum and went across the bridge and into the Louvre. We were walking towards the glass dome when I saw this man with a whole bunch of pigeons on him. He would give seeds to anyone who wanted them and the birds would eat from their hand and start flocking to them. I decided I wanted to try, and eventually got about four or five birds to land on me. I was having fun and watching the birds, when I look over at my sister. SHE HAD A BIRD ON HER HEAD! It was hysterical! We left the birds and then went into the museum. We used another audio tour to guide us which was a very helpful thing. We probably only got to see about 1/3 of the entire place, but we were able to see the Mona Lisa, the old Crown that Napoleon wore, the biggest painting in the Louvre, and Napoleon's Apartments. It was very cool.

The dining room of Napoleon's Apartments.

We walked to the Lafayette Department Store which is huge! It was having a big sale and so it was super crowded, but we did get a chance to look around. We went to dinner nearby, and it was probably the best meal yet. To me, the desserts were the best. I had some sort of chocolate layer thing with a small pitcher of something that tasted like melted ice cream. So good! Again, we rode the Metro home and on the Metro there were two guys: one who played the accordion and one who played something like a saxophone.

As I said in the last blog, I will probably post more pictures later if I have the time, but now it's just getting way too late.

Yesterday's Blog

Yesterday, I couldn't blog because the wifi had magically disappeared. But poof! It's back tonight! I'll probably do two blogs: one for yesterday and one for today.This will be yesterday's blog (as you can see from my creative title.)

So! First, we got up just a little bit later than the day before. We ate brunch at a cafe that looked out onto a busy street corner. We started off by finishing an audio tour that we had on our phones. We visited the Saint Chapelle Church. It had tons of beautiful stained glass and was just awesome all together. There was a restoration project going on where they cleaned and restored the stained glass. Then, we went into the Conciergerie. The Conciergerie is a big building where they used to hold prisoners. It's where Marie Antoinette was held until her death.  It was very interesting and just a little creepy at the same time. The tour ended at a bridge across the Seine River and from there we headed towards d'Orsay Musee. There must be about 20 bridges connecting the island to the main land and they are all very different. On the way, we bought a lock to put on the bridge and wrote all of our names on it. (it's a tradition. There are thousands of locks on one of the bridges.) We got three keys that fit the lock with it. We are keeping one, throwing one in the river, which is what I think most people do, but we don't know what to do with the third. Got any ideas?


After a change of plans, we went to the crypt underneath Notre Dame. It had ruins of the old Paris Wall from hundreds of years ago. There were doorways and stairs and places where watch towers went. When that closed we took the Metro over to the Champs Élysées. The street was extremely busy until the Police closed down one side because of the preparation of the Tour de France, which was good for us!

We spent a few hours at a cafe (where the lady next to us had three cigarettes which blew right into our faces)  and then went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the stairs up to the top. The view was beautiful, and while we were up there, the lights to the Eiffel Tower came on and it was amazing. Right when the stars were about to pop out, a man came and told us that it was closing and we had all better head on down stairs. We took the Metro back to our hotel and got went almost straight to bed, that is, after being very frustrated that we couldn't connect to wifi.

I can't post any pictures because it is too late and uploading photos takes for-ev-er. I might do a post of just photos in the next few days if I can get them to upload.

Walking, Walking, Eating, and More Walking

Today seemed very long and very cool. We started of the day at 9:00, and we were all super tired from jet lag. We went to a baker down the road and we got through ordering without our waiter turning to english or her having to point wildly or us point wildly at something we wanted! Yay! Then, we got on the Metro. The thing about the Metro is that there is a ton of people, and most stations and trains are pretty dirty. However, the ticket system is awesome. If you enter the Metro system by going into a station and buying a ticket, then you can go anywhere and get on as many trains as you want until you leave one of the stations. So we rode one train, then transferred to another, and then voila! We popped out at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame was awesome. The line was extremely long, but it moved fairly quickly. First of all, the outside was super cool. The gargoyles were funny and some of them scary and the architecture was a different style, but the inside was really cool. Probably the best thing about it was the stained glass. It had stained glass all around on every single wall. So we spent some time in there and then when I thought we would go somewhere else, I saw a sign. It said to go into a different line to get to the roof. We walked outside and looked at the line because that seemed really fun, and the line was huge, and was not going anywhere. :( We ate lunch and decided what to do next. After discussing over whether or not to go inside, we decided that we could spend about an hour in line because going on the roof of Notre Dame outweighed every negative aspect. We got in line and slowly started moving, then finally, we reached the front!

So our leader person thingy took us into this stairwell. There were about four hundred steps and three levels. We did finally reach the top and the view was unbelievable. You could see the cathedral in a cool way form above, and I won't even mention the view of all of Paris. The scariest part was going down. We had to descend the same steep spiraling skinny steps that we went up. After that, we left Notre Dame.

Looking down on Notre Dame cathedral from the very top of one of the bell towers.

View from the top looking out over Paris.

View from a different side of the roof.

We had an audio walking tour and it took us over the Seine River and into a little part of Paris. We went through a little park, a small little bookstore, and by the time we got to another really cool church, it had closed because it was late. We probably only walked about 4 miles, but it seemed like a lot with the shoes and jet lag. I mean, we did walk all day. We went to dinner at a restaurant in that area and took the Metro back to our hotel. Yeah, umm, you probably didn't think to check what time I posted this but it is 1:00 here and I'm not even tired. Wonderful, thank you, Paris. :)

Some memorial that I can't remember the name of.

Looking down the main aisle.

Stained glass from Notre Dame, it was even prettier up close.

The smallest house/apartment in Paris.

A really cool street. Pretty much all streets in Paris are like this.

(For some reason, I couldn't move those last pictures up.) A model of the entire cathedral. 

The Start of a Wonderful Vacation (Continued)

So, I will post a few pictures that I took along the way, but let me tell you that the culture is very different. People are more formal towards each other, unless they know them super well (family, really close friends). We walked to the Opera, which I forgot to take pictures of, walked down to the Seine River, and then to the Eiffel Tower. We couldn't go to the top because it was temporarily closed and the line was huge, but we will go sometime this week. We took the Metro back and had dinner at this local restaurant that has a duck farm. It was really good. Oh, and I forgot. While we were on our way to the Eiffel Tower, we stopped at three patisseries (bakeries). Whoops........ :) I figured it would go unsaid, but the food was amazing.

I really don't like blogger right now because it won't let me download any more photos. I hope it will let me download a few more tonight because they are a lot cooler.

The Start of a Wonderful Vacation

Wow, I have so much to tell you. This may be a long post but most of it will probably be pictures. I will tell a little about yesterday, but not much went on and so that won't add much to this post.

Yesterday started very early. We boarded our first plane at 9:00 am which went from SLC to Detroit, Michigan. There was nothing all that special about that plane ride; it only lasted four hours. We had a four hour layover in Detroit until we boarded the second plane which went from Detroit to Paris. As I have said earlier, I have never been on an international flight. So I was very surprised when I walked onto the plane and it looked like this. (Most planes I have been on had two seats on each side of one isle.)

The seats were: two, isle, three, isle two. Each seat had its own TV and a remote that fit into the arm rest.

This plane ride was eight hours long. First they served drinks then dinner. I had some sort of pasta. Just as I was about to fall asleep though, a tray fell on me. It wasn't a big deal because it was practically empty, but it did stop me from falling asleep earlier. I eventually got to sleep and woke up at the perfect time. The flight attendants were serving breakfast but I wasn't hungry at all and just had some orange juice. It took exactly 23 (with time change) to get to Paris. We left SLC at 9:00 am Saturday and got to Paris at 8:00 am Paris-time Sunday. Here are some pictures from both flights.

The sunset during the second plane ride.

The outskirts of Paris as we're landing.

I had some other pictures but I can't seem to upload them. :( Well, trying to explain just how cool is would be practically impossible, so I will just put a ton of photos in the next blog. I am going to split this one in two because it is getting late.

Last Day In 'Merica

This is going to be a fairly short post, but I decided to do it anyway because I probably won't be able to post anything tomorrow because I am going to be on a plane the entire day. Starting with waking up at 4:30.

Fun.

It's my very first international flight and it is going to be so long. *sigh*. Although, I did find out that they serve food on the plane (I don't know what I expected), which will hopefully be one of the upsides, as long as I don't sleep through the meal. Also, I have officially finished packing!

I finished my "trial" period of gymnastics today on a slightly low note. My muscle memory has kicked in but that doesn't mean that my body can take all the impacts; I learned that the hard way. While vaulting, I managed to hyper-extend my right elbow. I wasn't able to tumble or do series or dismounts on beam. Wonderful! I'm thinking of taking an ice bath tonight to help out my incredibly sore body. In case you don't know what an ice bath is, it is exactly what it sounds like: An ice cold bath with about a bag of ice poured into it that you sit in for 10-30 minutes. I know, I know. To most people, an ice bath seams suicidal, but I love them, and they really, really help. (There's a ton of science for why they help, but I won't go into that.) They're not nearly as bad as they sound.

The next blog I post will be full of excitement, whether I post it on Sunday or a week from Monday. If any of you have been to Paris or France, feel free to comment suggestions on what to visit and where to go. Au revoir!

Preparing For the Time of My Life

For most of my life, I have never left the United States. The one place I have ever been out of this country is Vancouver, Canada for a ski camp. The main reason for this sad truth is that my family is very busy, during both the summer and the winter. I have two siblings; An older brother, and a younger sister. My brother is a competitive ski racer and contrary to what you might think, he is a busy athlete year-round. During the summer, he is usually either at a camp in a different state, or training in the gym, which is called Dryland.

My sister is a figure skater. She also goes to skating camps and gets up very early in the morning (5:00 am) to skate before school. I am a gymnast, as you may know, and also work hard five hours a day. Aside from sports, both my parents work full time. Judging by all this, it may not be so hard to imagine that it is very hard to find time when no one in our family has something important going on.

This summer, we found one week when we might be able to go on a much-needed vacation. One week. So, after a few weeks, my parents told us that we would be going to Paris for a week. That week, starts this Saturday. I've been thinking about how to prepare since the day I found out, but I only started packing yesterday. Let me tell you, it is a disaster. In France, casual is stepped up a notch. So casual to the french, is semi-formal to most americans. I'm trying to bring a variety of clothes but I just can't be sure that I'm bringing the right things.

Packing is one thing, but one other thing is going to be very tiring. Literally. Jet lag. I don't have anyway to prepare for the 10 hour flight and 8 hour time change. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of scared because I have been told plenty of stories about headaches, sickness, and nausea.

Still, aside from those two setbacks, I'm thinking I'm going to be having the time of my life. I can't wait to see everything and eat everything. I'm hoping that I'll be able to blog from my hotel, but I can't be sure.

I really hope I can get a picture like this and see the Eiffel Tower at night in person.