An American in Paris

Paris was crazy. We got up around 3:30 to catch the train from London to Paris and then had three days to see everything we wanted to see. This made for some pretty packed days. I also ate a lot of nutella crepes while I was there because it was freezing and they are cheap and delicious.

Our professor's 11 year old son also ran into some trouble. While we were in Paris, his retina detached. It was kind of scary because the insurance people were being frustrating and the doctors offices wouldn't call back when he needed emergency surgery. Thankfully, they were able to get a lot of important people pulling strings so that he could get surgery the day after we got back to London. He is already doing better, but he will have to have more surgeries in the future. Please keep him in your prayers.

Some things about Paris:
It is not nearly as organized as London. It's dirty and loud and the drivers are absolutely mad.
There are crepe stands on every corner.
There are a lot of stairs, and I'm pretty sure I climbed all of them. I would like to write an ode to escalators at this point.
No seriously...I now hate stairs. I climbed Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe,  Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, and every other museum and metro stair.
The museums are fantastic.
There really are accordion players on the street, and they really add to the mood.
It feels like there are more tourists than locals most times. I got asked for directions in French and got to use the only French phrase I remember "I can not speak French."A very useful phrase when most of what you remember are random food names and insults.

Now, if you run up and down about a million stone steps, and sit in your freezer to look at my pictures and listen to the music below, you will most likely also feel like an American in Paris.

We ran across an accidental dog party on our way through this park. I tried to get a picture for you Mom, but suffice it to say, it was quite the party. Lots of wagging tails. Except for this little wall flower here, who we hope plucked up the courage to go romping with his pals as well.

The Seine

The Eiffel Tower

We climbed all the way up to the second tier. In case you were wondering, it might be worth it to take the elevator...more expensive, but less burning muscles. 

The view from tier 1. You couldn't see much from the height of tier 2.

Sacre Coeur

This is also at the top of an unholy amount of stairs. It is a good thing it was gorgeous. Sadly, I could not take pictures of the inside.

The Louvre

It has been a life dream of mine to go to the Louvre, so I took lots of pictures for you.

This little guy was maybe only 10 inches tall, but he was very well done. You could see the grief so clearly on his face.

Michelangelo's "The Slave"

Selfie? Probably...

Isn't this amazing?! It is hard to believe that that is stone, and not a veil covering her face.

The Venus de Milo

I had to get a picture with the origin of my name!

"Winged Victory"

I really loved the softness of the Spanish Renaissance style.

Notre Dame

In case you were wondering, I did get to climb one of those towers, and it hurt! My friend is afraid of heights, so she was freaking out, and then the stairs got smaller and I got claustrophobic. I started thinking that those stairs would go on for eternity and I would be trapped there forever. Thankfully this was not the case, and the view was fantastic.

The inside is stunning. We were able to hear a choir singing, which was beautiful. Although a tourist spot, Notre Dame is also clearly a church. They don't have people buried inside, so it is truly a monument to God, and not to man.

The shadow of the cross right in the archway. The designer was obviously very clever.

Joan of Arc

A replica of the construction process.

Look in the middle! I never noticed these statues before, but I thought they were neat.

Another Impressionist Museum. To be honest, they all began to run together at this point. This one was in an old train station. After three days without sleep, you'll have to forgive me for the lacking captions.

I never really appreciated pointillism before, but it is really good at showing how light filters through things like hair or an umbrella.

Napoleon's Obelisk thing I think...

The Arc de Triomphe

I told you, they start to run together. This one they had the huge canvases in a circular room, so you almost felt like you were right there in the landscape. They just needed mood music.

The Musee de Rodin

The Gates of Hell. It was really cool to see things that I had learned about in my Intro to Humanities class. The detail work is incredible. You really can't appreciate them without a telescope (which was actually provided at the park).

Napoleon's tomb. Compare it to the people below. He must have thought he was a god. He's in for a shocker...

In the same building they have a memorial to WWI soldiers which I found far more moving.

Museum of Oriental Art! This museum was fantastic. I could almost pretend I was there. It is also probably the closest I will get to Angkor Wat. I had a ball, and my traveling buddy, Rachel, was very patient with my fascination. Sadly, my camera died somewhere between Burma and India.