Day 20

Today we visited two cathedrals and two museums. The first Cathedral was St. Chappell’s. It had the most amazing stained glass windows I’ve seen! This chapel is said to have held Christ’s Crown of Thorns and part of the cross. The second Cathedral was the Norte Dame. The outside of the building was beautiful. Tons of, kind of, creepy sculptures decorated the front and a massive Rose window in the center. Inside there was a service going. It was kind of neat to sit in on that for a minute. Then we walked to the Pompidou. The Pompidou is a Modern Art Museum that has the absolute coolest architecture. And at the top of the museum there is a rad restaurant and it over looks all of Paris. You can see the Eiffel Tower and all the way to the Church of the Sacred Heart. I got to see my favorite chair- the Louis Ghost Chair by Philippe Stark. There were a ton of cool chairs. Really neat paintings and sculptures, and of course- all the weird crap that makes it a ‘Modern Art Museum!’ Then we went to the Louvre. Which is quite opposite of modern art. We were able to see the Mona Lisa and the famous, headless statue, Nike. It was honestly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It has a really cool history too! My favorite part about the Louvre is the new architecture (the glass pyramids) by I.M. Pei, and the interiors. I even got a glimpse of some 3form panels! Yay!

We'll start with our journey to the museums....

hmmm......

Finally, first stop: Saint Chapelle

Now... Notre Dame

Yes, he is stepping on someone. Weird....

Welcome to the Pompidou!

Some things were kinda interesting... we didn't really get it.

That's why they call it a modern art museum!
Yay for chairs!!! So many famous chairs!

Oh! Here we are! My very favorite chair of them all! The Louis Ghost Chair by Phillipe Stark

(on the left)
I thought this one was REALLY interesting....

This is the restaurant at the top! So cool!

Here is a veiw- you can see the Church of the Sacred Heart on the hill.

Next museum on the list....

The Louvre

I loved these stairs. The circular thing in the middle is an elevator! How clever!

Quite possibly the most beautiful thing! What a cool history too!

3form!

Day 19

Today was probably my favorite of them all! Breanne and I took on Paris by ourselves, with a 15 mile walk ahead and a peanut and honey sandwich we were ready to go! First we walked to the Catacombs. It took us about forty minutes from our Hotel, but we were greeted with an amazing Crepe stand so it was totally worth it! The catacomb is an underground rock quarry that is now home to over 6 million bones. There was a plague in France, I’m not sure when, but they ran out of room to bury the dead. So they decided to dig up all the old graves and dump the bones into the quarry to make room for all the new graves. The bones were hauled by wheel barrels covered with black cloths and priests chanting prayers. It wasn’t until fifty years later that the chaotically dumped bones were arranged into they creepy design that we saw today. Afterwards we walked for about an hour and fifteen minutes to the Paris Opera House. They trek there was amazing. We were able to take all the small side streets and walk past all the awesome designer shops! After seeing the Grand Staircase at the Opera House we made our way back to the Hotel. We walked pass two huge museums, a couple cute, romantic, little parks, a gorgeous bridge, past the Eiffel Tower, past the Natural History Museum and the plant building, and along the river until finally we made it back! Needless to say, we were exhausted! We took the most amazing nap ever then met everyone downstairs and headed to the Eiffel Tower. We took a boat tour that was so nice and relaxing! When we were finished with that it was just getting dark. We spent a couple of hours at the Tour and met some people from SLC!!! Kaysville to be specific, and they new all my buddies! Small world! Today was such a fun day. I definitely love Paris! Entering into the Catacombes. You can't tell but I really was kinda creeped out and nervous.

Pretty Crazy.....

In front of the Paris Opera House. Can you see me???


I saw this building made of plants and thought of dad. Do you like it? The whole thing is dirt and plants!
mmmmm..... nutella and banana

Art Nouveau anyone?

Just about the raddest dress shop I've ever seen

Now we begin the boat tour.... bonjour!

The little girl in the purple became our good friend! She was adorable!

Chance loved it!

Can you guess who this is for......?

Day 18

I’m not blogging day 17 because absolutely nothing happened. We waited at train stations… the whole day. So pretty much we went from London to Paris. But today- our first day in Paris was great. We woke up to a great breakfast and headed off to Fontainebleau. Fontainebleau was the home to the Kings of France. I wish we could have had more time; we were only able to quickly walk through the interior. Two hours is all we had. Then we went to Vaux le Vicomte. This was by far my favorite of all the stately homes we’ve seen. We spent approximately seven hours seeing the grounds and the interiors. This house was designed by Louis Le Vau for Nicholas Foquet. Nick, as some call him, through a ravish party honoring the King France. The King, Louis XIV, got extremely envious and through Nichloas in jail for life and had the Estate confiscated. My favorite parts were seeing the architectural drawing and the drawings of the landscape. I also loved the Green Bedroom and the Formal Dining Room. It was so neat to walk through it at night being lit by candles. It helped me envision myself there in it’s prime time! I loved it!

At Fountainbleu

At Vaux le Vicompte

Can you see the candle light?