Friday Funday

The week is finally over! Between writing essays all week and the seemingly endless hours in the class room, I was excited for my day off. And did make use of it!

Emily and I ventured around the city to try and check some things off my list. We went to the Seine near the Notre Dame to look at the dozens of little book stands perched along the bridge. They had very old and very cool posters, books, postcards, and trinkets. It was too much to take in all at once, so I'll be back to buy something another time. Then we walked over to look at the Notre Dame. The line was way too long to go in, but it was absolutely breathtaking just looking at the big stained glass and the sculptures all around the church. After looking around for about 15 minutes, we moved onto an area she goes to a lot between her classes. It was across the Seine from the Notre Dame, and it was just so quiet. It was definitely much less touristy with little streets, boutiques, and shops. She took me to Berthillon which is the most AMAZING ice cream I've ever had! I got a scoop of the dark chocolate and strawberry sorbet. The chocolate was the richest I've ever tasted, and it was perfect with the light strawberry. I loved it and want to go back very soon! As we finished that we did a little shopping of course. And to all of my lady readers, if you come to Paris, just don't bother packing clothes. You will end up buying a whole new wardrobe anyways and want to trash whatever you brought. Thankfully I got lucky with my timing of the month-long sales and I don't feel bad about the shopping! After spending a decent amount of time in a scarf shop, we made a pilgrimage to a very special spot. Emily had discovered the street that transported Gil Pender to the 1920s in the movie Midnight In Paris. I've been dying to go, and once we got there it was impossible not to feel giddy! We sat on the steps and talked about what we would most want to see if we could go back during that time of prolific art and writing. We decided we will definitely go back some time next week right before midnight just to see if maybe Hemmingway would come pick us up.

So that was our adventure around the city. We started walking over to the Louvre to meet Christine to take advantage of the late hours of the museum. The Louvre is everything I ever imagined. The art was of course beautiful, but I just couldn't get over how much history was contained within these walls. Thousands of years worth of art had somehow survived and were displayed beautifully for all to see. It was incredible. I saw all the main attractions; Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus di Milo, and so many other important paintings. I hope this collection can stay just as well preserved for the next thousand years. While this was all extremely beautiful, I couldn't help but have a
little fun with the statues :)

We ended the night at a cafe down our street which was excellent! We all split a bottle of wine and swooned over the presentation and taste of our meals. Finally, we went back home to pack for our weekend trip to the Loire Valley!

It was such an amazing day and I'm so happy I was able to cross some things off my list. Dont worry, I took pictures of everything! We have a week left now, and we made an agreement to spend every moment taking the last of Paris in! Thank you all so much for reading and supporting me while I've been abroad. I can't believe it's almost done. I'll report about the Loire Valley soon. Au revoir :)