Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.

Sorry blogger stopped working for a while and then it deleted everything I had written...

Monday:

I went for a lovely run along the Seine (didn't get turned around this time - wahoo). Then I came back and had my favorite delicious french breakfast- bread, bread, fruit, and bread, oh and hot chocolate! Then I ran of to the institute building where I met up with some kidos from the group who were going to some flea markets. We walked around there and it was super cool. There was so much old antique stuff (all way out of my price range but fun to see)... We just don't have anything like that in the US.... not enough family heir looms to make it worth it. At one of the shops I saw something cool that I wanted to get my sister (Annilyn) but it was too expensive to I played the game.... I asked the lady how much it was and then looked very disappointed so she dropped the price. Then I said that it was very pretty but still to expensive. So I walked away. But then I came back and offered a new price, she countered but I stood my ground and got it for more than half its original price! Yes I felt skilled (and yes this was all in french). Then the group headed over to arc d'triumph - we wanted to go to the top but it was closed. So we then went to the pompideu center and checked out a bunch of cool modern art pieces. Attendez... who am I kidding - modern art is just really not my thing. There were some that were neat... but most of them I was just kinda like - are you serious? Then I headed home but I was starving so I stopped at a patisserie and got this huge donut thing filled with nutella - so good! finished up some homework and had dinner with Claude (which was delicious! - it was some meat stuffed with cheese and then fried...mmmm...) During dinner we had a good conversation about geneology. Finally after dinner I reminded her about my french paper that I had told her about and asked if she would edit it for me. Well that was an adventure because I had to think, read, speak, and listen in french - all at the same time! Plus she would tell me editing words that I didn't know - so then it became like a charades game. AAAHH!! so stressful - but very helpful and Claude was super nice and cute - my goodness I love her!

Tues:

• walk in the morning to an awesome medieval building that is now a library.
• Class - macaroon testing - yum-- so very good- my favorite was the carmel, but closely followed by the asparagus-hazulnut...mmm!
• We tried to go to the Louvre but we remembered on our way there that it is closed on tuesdays.
• So we went home and I did homework in the park across the street and got to watch some french teenagers get in a fight where they were yelling in french and being dramatic - super hilarious.
• Then I went to a free concert that night they were holding at bastille - it was a fun cultural experience with everyone drinking and smoking but at the same time playing with their kids - Rock concert - what a family event! I later found out it was put on in celebration of some anniversary of the socialist party. Oh.. and the music- lets just say there is a reason all the stores only play American songs.
• Then I ran home for a yummy dinner where we talked about christmas traditions (claude is not a fan of santa clause) and her kids/grandkids. She told us a super cute story about her 3 miracle granddaughters who were born because of in vitro. She told us the story of their birth but it was kind of hard to follow seeing as pregnancy terminology was not covered in 201, and was kind of off my vocab radar.

Wed-

• That morning I went with Rachel, Toni, and Mckenna to do the metro walk for class. We chose to do line four which I was disappointed to discover was not at all sketchy. Then we went to class following which we decided to visit the Arc de triumph. That was super cool! It was maybe my favorite thing I have done so far. We have these nifty art history student cards that let us go places for free, so we got to go up to the top for free. The view was amazing. I loved watching all the tiny cars and just waiting for them to crash into each other.
• On our way down I was talking to some of the kids about how amazing history is and someone brought up joseph smith. Following this from behind us came the question are you guys mormon. This was especially funny because only a few days before, on the metro I had spied a group of people whom I could tell from their accent and the woman's shade shirt were from Utah. I bet the other kids traveling with me that they were from utah and so someone asked where they were from - when the reply was utah we all bust up laughing. So when I met some more mormons on the stairs of the arc de triumph I couldn't help but laugh because apparently I am a mormon magnet.
• Following the arc, we walked along the champs elizee and looked out for something to eat for dinner. Finally a group of us decided to just go to the monoprize (kind of like target).
• I went in, grabbed a pound cake muffin thing, and some delicious gummies and sat down with Kara to eat our dinner on the stairs inside the store while we waited for the others. We were just talking to each other while snarfing food, when this guy came up to us and said, "you are from America? I lived in New York for a long time" His accent was super strong so it was kind of hard to understand but he seemed nice enough. He started saying something about baseball, and then he moved on to a new subject. He asked if he could buy us anything. We said no we already had food, holding up our half eaten items. He laughed and said well you should come to dinner and dancing with me. At this point we were really taken back. We explained that we were already hanging out with people. So he said "oh well, tomorrow then" pulling out his phone. We said we didn't have phones and we weren't really interested. "how long are you here?", "just a short while" I said. "Well when do you go home?" "TOMORROW" Kara replied. "Oh well maybe I will see you tomorrow" "VERY UNLIKELY" we said (in our heads thinking - if you see us tomorrow we will be so freaked we will call the police). Then he left, but we saw him sitting on a wall thing as we left and so we ran quickly through the crowd w/out him seeing us... SERIOUSLY? WHAT IS THE DEAL?
• Anyway - following that adventure, we went to the movies on the Champs Elysee because the tickets were on sale for super cheap. We saw Minuit à Paris - which was super fun because we had been all the places they were walking around. Also - when they showed the Champs Elysee we could say - we are right there!! I am not sure if i would have liked it nearly as much if I wasn't in paris, but because I was it is now one of my favorite films! It did an awesome job of reinforcing just how awesome Paris really is!

Thursday:

In the morning I went for a run and a little turned around. I ran to Notre Dame - who else can say that?!! So cool! And I just walked around it for a little bit and was awestruck by how many sacrifices were made to build that edifice to God. Well, then I tried to run back to the bastille but must have gotten turned around because the next thing I knew I was back at the Notre Dame! That made me a little miffed, but it turned out being cool, because I found an awesome little church that I stopped in at and just sat with those praying to Mary. It was amazing to feel the power of their faith, and wondering how much more faith they might have if they had all the knowledge I had. It was kind of humbling to consider that. Well, I still had to find my way home, so I ran in what I thought was the right direction, and eventually figured out where I was. Unfortunately I had to be at class really quickly after the time I got back to my apartment. So I raced to get ready and ran out the door. This day we had class at Prof. Oliver's house which is next to the Effiel Tower. Following 202, we all split up into teams to buy ingredients for an amazing picnic. I helped by the fruit (AMAZING STRAWBERRIES, cherries, and bananas) from some cute fruit venders on Rue Clare. Then we all brought the goods to the Lawn by the Eiffel Tower and had an AMAZING Picnic. We each got an amazing Patisserie (mine was a orange-ish- tart thing- that was TO DIE FOR!) We also had amazing jambon, fromage (tons of different types), and baguettes. Oh... and we had delicious juice which was across between juice and a smoothy - their juice here is far less concentrated. Well, after that we tried to go to St. Chapelle but they were closed. So instead we went to the Musée Dorsey. After that Mckenna and i went home for dinner - which was again with Claude's daughter. She spoke to us about differences between France and America, especially those regarding transportation issues. All in all - wonderful day!

Friday - Took a train to Versailles. We were supposed to meet other byu kids there but the train took longer than we thought and so by the time we got their they had gone in. Also, there were TONS of people everywhere so it was super hard to even try to find them. Anyway - the Chateau was fun to see, but kind of hard to take because of all the shoving crazy tourists, and all the crazy decorations. It was all a little overwhelming. I much preferred the jardins and Marie Antoinette's disneyland farm. They were super fun to walk around a see. Walking around Versailles was mind blowing because of how much historical events occurred where I was taking each step- so crazy!

Saturday: Hanging out with ma tante!

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's tomb

Dagobert's tomb

So, I was awakened at 5am by a guy blasting music from his car and singing opera-ish

type music, outside my window. Wow, what a start to my day! I met up with Lori at the steps

of the Bastille opera and then we went walked back to my apartment, I showed her around a bit

(oh! I forgot Gloria was over- so on friday we had some crazy fun with photo booth). Then lori

and I went in search of some fruit for breakfast. We ate it in the park by victor hugo's house. Next

we hurried back to my apartment to grab lori a jacket because it was actually chilly (which was weird)

From there we took the metro to Sacre Coeur. That was super awesome! We climbed all the way up

the bajillion stairs and had a wonderful view of paris. Then we walked around over there a bit. Following

this we tried to get bikes from the little street stands. Sadly after much effort, and the generous help of

two passers by we were forced to give up because our credit card's didn't have chips on them. So intead

we rode the metro up to St. Denis (I should mention - Lori had a FREAKING huge blister on her foot

this whole time). We thought we got off at the right stop but the church next to us was very small and

rather disappointing if it was it. It looked like it was called by a different name but we couldn't find the

actually basilica. We walked around for a long time with no luck. I asked a bunch of different people for

directions but somehow we just kept missing it. Finally after stopping for orangina and asking for directions

at a small café and after I saw a little girl go to the bathroom on a street corner using rubbish for TP, we found

the church. And boy - it was worth the wait. The cathedral was incredible, and the tombs of tons of kings were

even cooler. Highlights- tomb of Catherine de Medici, Dagobert, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the heart

of one of the other Louis - yeah... you could actually see his shriveled up heart in a jar! SO cool. Well, then

we were super hungry so I had salad, crepes, and a quiche loraine at a cute cafe from which we watched about

4 middle eastern couples get married - they had crazy costumes and music.

After this we took the metro back to Lori's hotel so that she could rest her poor feet while she told me

about her trip to Peru. Then we walked to a pharmacy where I talked to the lady about medication for

blisters and she got us some stuff that worked pretty well (apparently). We sat by the Eiffel Tower for a

while an then decided to go get more food in the Latin quarter. We selected an awesome Greek Egyptian

place where the waiters were hilarious. We decided to order a manager's special kind of thing meant for two.

We thought they would just choose something to feed us - but instead they just gave us a HUGE HUGE HUGE platter

of MEAT. WE had squid, beef, sausage, chicken, prawn, salmon, some other fish, moussaka, etc. And this was

after having already eaten a greek salad and some falafel. We ate ourselves sick and then had them rap

up the rest which I carried home (it was seriously the weight of a small child).... wow what a day.

Sunday - Church, and then lots of catching up on blogging and then I am going to leave in about thirty minutes to go

to mass at Sacre coeur!