a week in FRANCE

modnay:
wake up extra early to ensure that jacqui and i get the best spot on the bus.
Long bus ride
took the ferry across the channel, felt sick
played a really fun game where you draw pictures and write sentences folding the paper - you know waht I'm talking about? laughed so hard.
stopped at two WWI sights - the place the armistice was signed (here, jacqui was sick after i had ditched her. and i felt like a real bad friend...) and a battlefield (the name of which currently eludes me) where we walked through the trenches and could see to the enemy side.
sleep uncomforably on bus - so glad jessica lent me her neck pillow.
ARRIVE IN PARIS!
check into our semi-sketchy hotel.
metro into the city, without getting lost - hallelujah for chery
walk around, get a first look at the amazing landscape
took a boat tour at pont nueff (or something like that. memory is failing me quickly, and i already had no idea how to spell these names...)
got an amazing star lit first look at the city. saw the eiffel tower. fell in love.
went home - noticed that the metros stink like urine. bigtime.
jacqui and i were roommates!
slept like a log

Tuesday:
early breakfast - discover how delicious french hot chocoalte is. drink three cups.
load up the bus - group trip to Chartres Cathedral!
Formation of our band - bonne idée. clark = main song writer with our first hit - je ne sais pas
Back on the bus to Versailles.
RUN through all the rooms, jaw open at the ridiculously elaborate and fancy rooms. hall of mirrors. amazing.
the gardens were closed unless you paid, so instead sarah and i did an episode of: bad fashion at versailles.
back to the city
Muse D'Orse. amazgin! my favorite museum. like, ever. maybe. i love impressionists! i loved loved loved it. wish we could have gone back.
Eiffel Tower! stood in the LONG line. avoided all gypsy women and junk sellers fairly well. went up to the top. amazing view. way cooler than i ever thought it would be. 10 points to the eiffel tower. 4realz.
Champs Elise - at this point, it's pretty late. and i'm pretty hungry! no food since breakfast (hot chocolate...) and that granola bar i packed in my bag. but we pass all the amazing looking food places. clark takes the lead (literally for the first time ever as he is always the very slowest) and power walks us to the arch de triumph which we make it to just before it closes. cool place. cool view.
Dinner. 11:30 at night. everyone's getting a little grumpy... mainly me actually. i actually stomped me foot at jacqui i think...
went to a great little bakery place, forgotten the name unfortunately. but had the most delicious sandwich on a baguette. and fruit tarts. and hot chocolate - i was on a kick...
back to the hotel. big planning session of how to effectively use our time the next day. fall asleep two minutes later attempting to write in my journal.

wednesday - BASTILLE DAY
wake clark up for the third day in a row. he has yet again slept in through his alarm. seriously, what would he do without us?
breakfast and head out early
Best group ever, everyone has an importatn job:
Jacqui: the interpreter.
Chery: The Navigator
Sarah: Comedic relief
Clark: the Protector - ditched us on wed. good thing we weren't kidnapped. rude.
mia: the tag-along.
kellyann - compass
edan - our conscience
hit up the Lourve. 1 hour and a half. are you kidding me?? no time at all. i ditch everyone cause they're moving too slow. and pretty much just book it through the galleries. running past jacqui louis david, monet, and raphael. amazing!!!!!
saw the mona lisa - cooler than anticipated. everyone says it's smaller than they expected, so i was picturing something really small, which it's really not.
went outside and caught the very end of hte parade - the jets with the colored smoke and lots of military men zooming past!
Crepes for lunch! so good!!! like out of this world. i'm obsessed with food. and this was the best. i had 2 for lunch one food one and one dessert one - with ice cream on it! the guy working there was so nice, and we were all making such a huge mess he kept bringing us over napkins. and finally he just said - there's a wash room downstairs I'll let you girls use. ha we were a MESS! but it was so good.
went to notre dame - on the way it stared to rain. adn by rain, i mean POUR!!!!!!!!! like monsoon. tidal waves. downpour. we all had umbrellas except poor edan. and i thought it would pass. so we ran to the cathedral, it felt like running to find sanctuary there and was very fitting to see the huddled masses inside. it is such a beautiful cathedral!! I really loved it.
went back outside. still pouring.
went to san chappel - the power is out cause of the storm. we can't go in :(
we head to the pompeduii museum. get off the metro. start walking through the storm. completely lost.
walk 10 miles
rains the whole time
soaked to teh bone!!
splashing in puddles. and wading through the lake which was the street.
huddled all our umbrellas to try to look at the map which has disintegrated into mush
I ask direction from approximately 10 people. they all pointed in different directions.
we pick one and keep walking.
after like, 2 hours of this, we are pretty dejected. when, in the distance, we SEE A MUSEUM! we run to the building. and i see a sign, that says lourve. and i say - i think we're at the lourve. no one belives me, because it's impossible! that's waaay across the city from where we are. but it somehow is the lourve. i sit down in a big puddle. and cry.
we go to a cafe and get hot chocolate! sarah says if we can't have the very best day in paris, we might as well have the very worst! i definitely will never forget that day!
cold.
wet.
dried my pants in the bathroom with the hand drier.
it stops raining!
we go to saucre cure. - i loved it! in a very different part of town - small and quaint!
went home to change - edan is still soaked.
run into lots of other groups who have just been hanging at the hotel all day to avoid the rain. ha. pansies!
went to the latin quarter for dinner- more crepes! so good. again! 2 more. a little piggy, i know.
went to the tullery to watch the amazing bastille day fireworks show. found the perfect wall. sat there and talked. and talked and talked. cause apparetnly it doesn't get dark until 11:30 in paris.
sarah and i tried to go to the bathroom- i'm really good at asking directions, but bad at understanding the answers people give. almost died in the scariest place ever.... went to a carnival, found one there :)
firework show = good. but not great. we were kind of far away, and they wer kind of low, so we could really see everything. which is really too bad cause i hear they wer realy cool from close up. but whateves.


ok. this is going to have to be a 2 part entry. so you can anxiously look forward to thursday and friday tomorrow! ;)