A Friday in Paris

So since I've been cooped up in my room lately, I started missing Paris. To help this, Lauren and I decided to wander around Paris a little bit Friday (March 16th) afternoon/night. The weather was awesome too! There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day and it got up to around 70 degrees! I have no idea what that is in Celsius... I should probably work on that... Anyways, we wandered around a really old part of Paris which is called the Marais most of the afternoon. We stopped to sun ourselves in a park called Place des Vosges at one point, which is, according to my Paris guidebook, the oldest public square in Paris.

That broken sign right there says to stay off the grass...

We later found a little shop called, "Thanksgiving" which was a store filled with all American food! I bought pop-tarts and a can of A&W root beer! Man I forgot how much I love root beer! Don't worry, on of the other girls from the program lead me too it and I made sure not too pay close attention to how we got there so I wouldn't be able to find it by myself.

Later that night Lauren and I walked around the area by the Seine for awhile, then we decided we wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. The walk from the Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower is longer than we thought though, and we ended up giving up and hopping on a metro to go home because we were tired and it got really cold. But we almost made it! Maybe next time. Paris really is quite lovely at night. 

We found one of the lover's bridges where people put a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the Seine to represent their eternal love! Aw!

Opera Garnier

First off, I'm sorry it has been so long since my last post. I got sick last Monday, and I stayed sick for awhile so I didn't really do anything except sleep and stay in my room. I will admit I got a little homesick then - if I was just going to sit in my room why couldn't I sit in my real room with all my stuff?! But now that I'm feeling better and out and about I like Paris again. The awesome weather lately doesn't hurt a bit too. :)  

So last night (Tuesday, March 13th) the Central College Abroad group went to a ballet in the Opera Garnier! This is the really fancy one, and apparently this is the opera house that the guy who wrote the Phantom of the Opera based his opera house off of. There's even a lake under the Opera Garnier! The song "The Phantom of the Opera" kept playing in my head every time I looked up at the amazing chandelier in the theater. 

Honestly, I don't even know the names of the ballets we saw. One thing I found out about France is that they don't give out programs for free at events; you have to pay extra for them. So naturally, I don't buy them and then I have no idea what's going on. But at intermission I was wandering around a bit and saw a flier on the wall for the event and at least got the names. So the first ballet was called something along the lines of "Couples Dancing at a Party" in french and after intermission, there was a different ballet called "Appartment." The second one was really modern and kind of artsy, while the first one was much more your typical ballet. It actually reminded me a little bit of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" because the couples were switching their partners all the time. This first one was my favorite. The second started out a little too modern for me (flailing is not dancing), but then it grew on me as time went on. It helped that the music was really cool.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Stay tuned for another blog soon; I have a few plans for getting to know Paris better this weekend!

Bisous! (means kisses!)