Parlez-vous Francais?

      Today was our first real day in Paris! We started with a typical french breakfast of bread and hot chocolate at the hotel before walking across the Seine to the Ile de la Cite, where we toured Notre Dame and Sainte-Chappelle!

       Notre Dame was absolutely beautiful, and for its 500th or so anniversary they have set up huge bleachers in front so you can sit and look at the facade, which is dazzling, especially in the French sunlight! Inside is dimmer (this church is pretty early Gothic) but very magical, particularly when Mass is going on, which it was when we went inside! There was singing, incense, and many people sitting in the nave to worship, which was great :) I did wish I could have walked straight down the nave and gotten a better look at the famous statue of the Virgin and Child, but it made for a very neat experience of the space.

   


















  We briefly went down in the crypts of the city aka the roman ruins of a city called Lucretia which is underneath Paris. It was interesting though we had very little context... I sneakily touched one of the ruins shhhh... and there was a cool touch screen simulation thing where you could look at Notre Dame in different phases of its construction.

       After that and on the way to Sainte-Chappelle we stopped at a traditional bird market because apparently the Parisians really like to own birds for some reason. There were also several really fluffy bunnies and one of them had a tiny baby that was worth the price of admission (the bird market was free but still).
       Our last group stop of the day was Sainte-Chappelle which got a lot of hype beforehand, possibly leading to it being a slight letdown. Still, it really feels like being on the inside of a reliquary, the gilding and painted walls, along with the stained glass that occupies most of the wall space makes it really shine. The rose window is also breathtaking!

        On this part of the trip we are in charge of a lot of our own meals, so Kelsey, Whitney, Alex and I went to a cafe and have Croque monsieurs and madames for lunch--really good! We then quite leisurely walked down the Seine to the Musee d'Orsay for a tour of the Impressionist gallery on our own. I especially enjoyed seeing Monet's different versions of Rouen Cathedral, Renoir's portraits and Le Moulin de la Galette, and every work I saw by Manet. Using fundamental French I had to find Olympia, who was hiding on a lower floor.

          I have barely seen my hotel room the past few days. Whitney, Olivia and I stopped at a cafe for a hot chocolate on the way back from the d'Orsay so we only just got back in time to meet some friends to go to dinner. Again, there was some production involved in finding a place and surviving the consequences of our choice. Afterwards I got some ice cream from a stand and when they didn't return my change I was brave enough to ask for it in French, and I got it!