Sunny Monday

30 avril

Any day it's not raining here is a happy day this past week.  Life is so perfect right now.  I love having all day every day to explore this beautiful city.  I love having enough time to thoroughly enjoy and look at things rather than rushing through.  

Notre Dame--still my favorite.  This is a view from the back.

Another locked love bridge

We found a cute flower market area that apparently also sells birds on Sundays.

The Justice Hall---or something like that.

Another beautiful Pont

This is inside the Conciergerie which was a prison during the French Revolution.  

Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their family were held in this prison at the Conciergerie preceding their death by guillotine.  The jail is now home to a petit chapel that honors and remembers the royal family that was killed.  Here is a picture of Marie Antoinette.

Her initials in a window--MA

To the memory of Louis XVI, King of France

The actual cell where they were held.  I do feel bad for the royal family.  Their lavish life is the only one they knew and they were just in the wrong position in the wrong time.

This is the Montparnasse Tower and I hate it.  It ruins the beautiful Paris skyline with all of its old, cute buildings.  Then there is this very out of place tower.  In most other cities, I would like this building, but not in Paris.  

Statue of Alfred Dreyfus

People told me before I came that Paris is beautiful in the spring--and it has turned out to me so true!

So May 1 in France is labor day, but is also May Day.  It is the tradition to give flowers to people to bring them good luck and happiness.  These white flowers are the traditional May 1st flowers to give, but other flowers are sold and given as well.  These flowers were being sold all over.  

We found a delicious Gelato place!! Soo good.  I got a rich chocolate along with strawberry.  Highlight of the day!

Sweet shoes.

Gelato place

I visited the Luxembourg Gardens again because they are my favorite.  There is an area with a bunch of beehives.  This sign says don't walk on the lawn--Danger Bees

The beehives

There are lots of areas for people to play Petanque which is a popular French game.  To begin the game, one tosses  a small ball out into the playing field.  Then players take turns seeing how close they can toss their balls to that original marker ball.  There were lots of cute old men playing and arguing about it.  

I  just love all the flowers in these gardens as well as the generally happy and peaceful that is there.  

This is called the Orangerie and they grow orange trees here during the winter months and then replant them back outside during spring.  

Pigeon sipping water from a puddle.

Moving orange trees out.

Putting the orange trees out in the gardens for the spring/summer.

The senate meets here at the Luxembourg palace.

There were a bunch of old men playing chess in one area! Such a cool and versatile park.

Kids playing soccer.

I went to the puppet show at the Luxembourg Gardens! It was so fun.  There were so many cute little children.  The French was easy to understand for me since it was for a kid audience which was nice.  It was the story of the 3 little pigs.  So fun! I think I still like little kid things just because I'm always used to traveling and being with my younger siblings, so it's funny that I still naturally do and enjoy these kind of things.  It was a fun cultural experience.  

Carousel! They gave  the kids sticks/whips to ride with.

A sign that I found.  It says An unknown person fell here for France on August 21 1944

The bread here is so beautiful and tastes as good as it looks.

This is one of the most famous macaron shops in the world! It looked like a jewelry store inside and was super fancy. 

I snuck this picture of some of the goodies before I was told to not take pictures.

The macarons I bought! So so so good.  I got a chocolate one, a fruity one, and a rose one.  It's really interesting because they have lots of flavors that are scents such as lavendar or rose...and they taste really good and smell good.

The macaron menu

Ajouter une légende

The famous center line

Yves St. Laurent.  There are so many chique, high-end boutiques all over Paris

Church of St. Germain-des-Près

Creative advertising

I have an obsession with church ceilings and church organs.

I got into Notre Dame right before it closed in order to avoid the massive line.  It's as gorgeous as I remember it being and I will definitely go again.

Joan of Arc statue

That night we had FHE with the Institute people.  They fed us dinner and then we played some games and had a lesson.  I enjoyed talking to the missionaries and the young adults that live in Paris.  Our BYU group made up about 3/4ths of the people there though :)

Too tired

So I know that I am about 4 days behind on blogging...but I just am doing fun stuff all day and then get home at 10pm and am exhausted and just want to sleep!  But hopefully sometime soon...I will be able to catch up.  However, I am still doing great and having lots of fun and seeing lots of cool things!

SUNDAY!

29 avril
I've been looking forward to going to church in France ever since I decided to spend the summer here.  I love going to church in different countries because it's different, but yet everything is the same.  There were more Americans than I expected there as well as lots of Chinese mixed in with the French people.  I was surprised with how much of the meetings I could understand...still got a long ways to go but I'm getting there.  I still need to learn a lot of church vocabulary that I haven't learned in school.  Our BYU group of 28 people took up a solid 1/4th of the chapel.  The lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society were great.  My favorite part of all the meetings though was singing the hymns in French.  There were a few that aren't in the English hymn book.  The messages of the songs mean so much more as I read and sing each word and recognize the meaning of the words.  I've been saying my prayers in French since I've been here and have enjoyed knowing that God still understands me and is still listening even though I am speaking a different language.  


After church we went to the Luxembourg gardens and wandered around.  There were little boys sailing boats on the big fountain/pond.  Then we sat and ate a lunch we had packed on the banks of the Seine and enjoyed the sunny weather.  


Great day to be in Paris!

Le Quartier Latin

 28 avril
We have class on Saturday to make up for weekdays that we don't have class because of field trips. I really like the graffiti in the neighborhood by the church building--it's a cool artsy area.

After class, Emily and I explored the Latin Quarter which is across the Seine river near Notre Dame.  This is the oldest neighborhood in Paris and is an intellectual center with universities and bookshops.  It is called the Latin Quarter because intellectuals spoke Latin there decades ago in an attempt to preserve the dying language.  We first went to the famous Shakespeare bookstore that sells books in English and has been there for decades.  It was such a unique store with books everywhere and little nooks and crannies all around.  I will definitely be going back here to browse some more and soak in the intellectual aura.    

It says feed the starving writers

Next stop was the St. Michel square with the St. Michel fountain.  The main figure of the fountain is St. Michel slaying a dragon.  

Next we found a neighborhood with lots of great restaurants which made our day because it feels like we have had sandwiches for every meal for the past 3 days! Seriously though, French people eat so much bread and sandwiches and we were dying for some other options.  We found a fale\afel place and enjoyed the variety in our diet.  

Next we went inside a gorgeous gothic church.  Something about this type of architecture just enriches my soul and makes me feel a part of an incredible human race.  Paris with all of its architectural and artistic beauty has helped me remember that there is beauty in the world.  So many incredible people have created beauty despite dark times.  Even though I may sometimes doubt the sanity of the human race as I read about the cruelty that some can exhibit, I am comforted that there are, and have been for centuries, people that aim to inspire others with hope and beauty through their talents.  Paris is such an old city with so much history that it makes me feel connected to others.  To all the people that have passed but the city of Paris speaks of.   

I love how this picture turned out!

An elementary school

Our next stop was the Seine river.  We went to the Pont (bridge) des Beaux Arts which is covered with locks.  Couples come here and put a lock on the bridge, lock it, then throw the key into the Seine as a symbol of their eternal love.  There is a bridge like this in Venice, but it was cool to find one in Paris.  

"ai ni"

Next was Pont Neuf, the next bridge over the Seine.  It was a great spot to sit right on the edge of the Seine.  Perfect lunching spot!

Then we went to Musée d'Orsay.  The museum building was previously a train station.  This museum is the home to many impressionistic works which are my favorite!

The picture above is Nicholas Sarkozy in the picture and it says "I feel the wave."  The presidential elections are this Sunday.  The top two people are Sarkozy, the incumbent and Hollande who is a socialist.  There is lots of talk about it as well as signs and magazines.  Should be interesting!