Today was exhausting. My feet are bloody stumps! We met the program downstairs in the lobby at 9:00am to go to Versailles. Versailles is amazing. It is very beautiful. The palace is spectacular. It was also very cool, because the movie Marie Antoinette (with Kirsten Dunst) was filmed there and I could recognize all of the rooms they filmed the movie in. I am jealous of the actors, because they had no boundaries, and could walk through the palace unrestricted. The palace was amazing. I want to live in Marie Antoinette’s room. It was beautiful. I love her style. It had lots of pinks, flowers, and peacock feathers – it was great! The grounds surrounding the palace were beautiful. It would be great to be there when more things are in bloom. There were so many fountains, gardens, and places to explore. Allyson and I walked through them for a bit, then sat at the edge of the lake and planned where we wanted to go the rest of the day. We finally left Versailles. We thought we were the last ones from our group there, but at the metro station we ran into Kellen, Alyssa, and Margaret. Everyone fell asleep on the metro back into the city, but I stayed awake, because I was paranoid of someone taking our bags.
Allyson and I got off and went to the Arc de Triumphe. We walked around it and took a lot of photos, but we didn’t want to pay to go up it. We were leaving when I realized that our museum passes worked there. I made Allyson go up with me, even though she protested. I am so glad that we went up though. The stairs were a killer, but the view from the top was beautiful. We could see the entire city. We were up there longer than we planned, but as we were leaving we ran into Sarah, Kalyn, and Margaret. We decided to wait with them and then walk down Champs-Élysées together. Allyson and I were famished because we hadn’t eaten all day and it was around 4pm. I got a delish tuna sandwich on a baguette from Paul. We wandered around, and then went back to the hotel to meet others to go on a cruise on the Seine River.
We headed to the Eiffel Tower to find a bite to eat for dinner. I ordered my first savory crepe – just egg and cheese. It was a bit too much cheese, so I got kind of tired of it, but I tried dipping it in ketchup and that made it a lot better. We went to where we thought the boats were, only to find out that we were in the wrong place. Instead of giving up, we ran down the street, across the river, and beyond. Not fun! My feet hurt so badly. Running was torture. We ran for like 10-15 minutes. We pretty much played human Frogger, because we had to dodge traffic, jump over a fence, and avoid falling. Luckily we just barely made it onto the boat. The boat tour was a lot of fun, and the weather was perfect. Yes it was nighttime, but it wasn’t freezing, so it was great. Every time I think of a river cruise, I think of my river cruise experience in Chicago, when I got really sick from the cold the day before our chorus competition, and completely lost my voice. Oops! This was a much different experience though. The cruise was in French, German, and English, so by the time the announcement was made in English, we were usually past the item they were talking about. It was still fun though, and we were there with really fun people.Every night I return back to the hotel with bloody stumps. We do so much here, my feet are killing me. My boots are not made for walking (think the song These Boots Are Made For Walking). Paris also has really slow trains here. The metro is slow, and the trains come less frequently than in London. I am spoiled by the awesome transportation system in London.
Haha so I have been trying to teach Allyson about photography and the art of taking a photo… well on the Arc de Triumphe, I asked her to take a photo of me with tight framing, and so she, trying to exaggerate what I keep telling her and zooming in more than she thought would look good, took a photo of me. When I was looking at all of the photos she took of me, I stopped at that one and exclaimed how much I loved it and how it was exactly what I was trying to get her to do! She took the compliment. A little later she turned to me and admitted that that photo was an accidental photo, and that she was just doing it to exaggerate what I had been trying to get her to do. So basically she was trying to be obnoxious, but instead made a piece of art. Haha so I love the photo, just not the sun “bindi”, so just ignore the glare on the lens (still have to teach her how to avoid that). Bless Allyson for being patient with my photo OCD – I take forever because I take so many photos, and I have to have photos set up a certain way. Bless her!
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