Back from Paris!

Bonjour! Ciao! Hello!
I’ve come to the conclusion that I have no desire whatsoever to learn to speak French. Italian on the other hand I wouldn’t mind learning. With the little amount of each language that I do know it got confusing to try to speak French when I got used to speaking Italian. And pretty much all I know is how to say hello and thank you.

Paris borrowed the London Eye for the holidays

Em and I on the top of the Arch De Triumph

Paris was completely wonderful, the history and the architecture were so interesting! I didn’t find that the food was all that special but that could be because we mostly ate cheap sandwiches on the run. I did have bouef bourguignon one night because that seemed very French to me. I ate nutella filled crepes and I got a package of those cute little French macaroons in pastel colors. I wasn’t that impressed with how they tasted but they are so pretty!
We crammed a lot into the four days we were there for and we got pretty darn tired but we also got to do just about everything we wanted to. The only things we missed were going to the catacombs and going to the top of the Eiffel tower. I wouldn’t have minded going to the top of Notre Dame either. My favorite things were Notre Dame and the Musee D’Orsay. Notre Dame was just so fabulous, it’s so huge and powerful, I really liked it a lot more than the Duomo in Florence. We didn’t get to spend too much time there but I definitely could have. It’s an amazing building! The Musee d’Orsay houses so many pieces of modern era art that every time I went around a corner I was surprised and happy! They have a large collection of Van Gogh and Monet. My two favorites were Van Gogh’s which I haven’t loved for a while now. They also had a cool art Nouveau show as well as a special exhibition by an artist called Ensor. I really liked his work and was interested in learning about him. I learned after being frustrated at the Lourve to get one of those things you carry around with you that you can listen to to learn about the art. It was much more pleasant that way.

The Lourve was a pain in the butt. We had reservations so we didn’t have to wait in the long line to get in but once we did it was a pain in the butt. There were so many people and huge tour groups and everyone taking pictures all over the place so we couldn’t just walk all over freely. The museum is so huge that I got lost and needed help in figuring out where I was. After seeing the Mona Lisa and a few other paintings that I knew I went over to the other wing (which is like a mile away) and hung out in Napoleon’s apartment because it wasn’t so crowded. Everything is in French (big surprise) so it was really frustrating to not be able to read about the paintings I saw.

We did a tour the first day we were there and it was great! It was free! If you ever go to Paris definitely do the free tour by Sandeman's. We walked all over the place so it was a long day but we saw a lot! I loved hearing about the history of everything and how it came to be. We climbed to the top of the Arch De Triumph, saw the Eiffel tower, went to a cemetery where lots of famous people are buried including Jim Morrison. We saw Moulin Rouge and Sacre Couer and lots more! It was a tiring trip but it was great!

ETA Carissa this is the vegetarian place we ate at in Montmartre. You should make reservations if you plan to go. It's very small. I think there were a total of five tables. It was a cool experience.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1R2ACGW_en&q=au+grain+de+folie&aq=1&aqi=g6g-m4&aql=&oq=au+grain&gs_rfai=