First Parisian Weekend

Salut!

I'm writing at 11:30pm our time, Monday the 7th, finally getting a break from our exciting and hectic weekend/ start to the week. The entire weekend we were blessed with beautiful weather so it was nice to be out and about and free! Friday we went to Palais Royal and shopped shopped and shopped some more. Palais Royal is a long row of shops near the Louvre. We spent hours at H&M, Pimkie, Zara, and Burshka. They recently released the iPad abroad in France so there were random breakdancers performing near our metro stop. We got flyers for 100euros off of one, too bad i'm going to be totally poor after this trip!


Saturday we had the privilege of sleeping in and relaxing for the morning (10am is late!) We had a nice lunch here then went out to parc floral. It was so unbelieveably beautiful. If you look a few posts down you'll see I researched their weekly jazz festival they give during the summer months of June through August. The festival didn't start until yesterday but they were having an artist expo Saturday. It housed 95 unique parisian designers and had everything from art, jewelry, and clothes to bags and hats.
It was very neat to be able to view Paris in a non-tourist view. I reallly reallly wanted a chapeaux because I constantly have something in my hair, but i was nervous to splurge on the first week! I got the designer's card so maybe towards the end of the trip i'll look her up and bring one home!
Paris has many hot spots such as this but this particular park was like nothing I had every seen before. (hopefully i'll be able to see more!) There were flowers being planted everywhere (some even with signs to distinguish what they were). There were many ponds and birds (peacocks!) and many family's and friends sunbathing. They even had mini golf!



After that we lounged and had a relaxing night. I'm still meeting many people from around our place, so it's nice to be able to walk downstairs and not be alone!




Sunday we woke up early for a bike tour of the city, but it was pouring. We decided to make the best of it and thought the best place to go on a rainy day was of course the catacombs! We learned underground was where they stored bodies before there were gravesites and other places of burial.

6 million people were laid to rest in the many many blocks we walked underground! After that morbid rainy morning we thought we'd lighten up the mood by going back to Notre Dame and taking a few pictures from the back of it. We were going to go up to the north tower to take pictures with the gargoyles but the line was ridiculous. It had a nice sitting area and fountain, It may have even been more beautiful!
After Notre Dame we had a light lunch and break and then went on to the modern art museum, Musee Pompadou.
It has 6 levels, with the top 3 having the works. We were actually able to see the majority. I love love modern art so it was nice to see Dali’s and Picasso’s up close.



And there was a great view from the top!

The walk back to the metro had a lot of street vendors and interior decorating stores so it was nice to browse and people watch. It's really neat to turn a corner in a remote place and stumble along a huge square. There are tons of areas such as that with seating areas and patisseries holding regulars, and at that moment it becomes real and a part of your life. It was an all around relaxing weekend. I'm beginning to not feel so much a tourist, I love metropolitan areas and soaking up different cultures so I feel very comfortable and not intimidated. The hustle bustle fits my persona, it is a great place to explore and learn.
After the museum we were officially exhausted so we were able to get a good night sleep and felt rested for our busy week ahead!
This morning we went to the Tapestry museum which was very interesting. Every room had a meaning set to the middle ages. It had everything from jewelry (some from the popes) and decorative arts. Alot of the pieces had references to 6th senses of love and understanding. The Unicorn symbol is famous for that thought and is housed in it's most popular room.

The tour took about 40 minutes, then we were free for 2.5 hours until a brief class meeting. After the meeting our group went to a wine tasting where we tasted 6 different wines from different parts of France.
This week we are visiting different designer houses, touring an embroidery museum, musee d'orsay, and getting in alot of exploring!

Next stop- London for the weekend in 3 days! Don't worry, I'll try not to let it slip out that I'm from USA when we play England in the World Cup this weekend. ahhhhh!

Thanks again to all of you who follow me, I feel very blessed.

Au Revior my loves!