Musee de Carnavelet and Notre Dame

     Day 2 in Paris was the beginning of our real cultural education. After beginning the day with croissants and hot chocolate, we walked to the Musee de Carnavelet, which is the history of Paris museum and is in our district. One of the strangest things was that it was a huge palace right in the middle of town. The art was extremely amazing, but the major wow factor was in the building itself. With original staircases, murals, furniture, and ceilings, the museum went on and on. 

(Musee de Carnavelet)

     After this, we walked to the Picasso museum, but it was closed for renovations. Our group split up at this point, and some of us decided to go to Notre Dame. So we hopped on the metro and went over to what is commonly referred to as the "city center." We crossed the Seine and began searching for a place to eat. I really like this part of Paris better than others we had been to thus far because it was more touristy and I felt more comfortable. 

(Near the Seine River)

      After eating an interesting lunch, we headed to Notre Dame, which is huge and impressive even from the outside. We entered with the crowd and fell into silence under the awe of what we found inside. There were a lot of people, so it was difficult to see at times, but Notre Dame just opens up into a large hall with various paintings and pieces of history. We also got to go into a section with the treasury of the church and saw real clothing, hats, diadems, and chalices used. It truly was amazing and I will definitely find time to go back before the trip is over to climb to the top of the tower. 

(Notre Dame)

     After that, we just walked around the area shopping in the little boutiques and souvenir stores. It was a really great day spent with the other people on the trip and experiencing the many things Paris has to offer!

The Start of an Adventure

      Our first day in Paris, and of course the full day before spent traveling, began a series of many discoveries and "adventures." After our 4-hour layover and 8-hour flight, we at last made it to our destination--exhausted but excited. As someone who has never travelled internationally, even the airport was a bit of a culture shock. There were people everywhere, very few of them speaking English, and they all seemed to know exactly where they were going and appeared to be in a hurry about it. We fell right in step though and lugged our bags onto the metro. 

      It took about twenty minutes to get to our hotel stop, and along the way I got my first glimpses of the city. This portion was nothing like I expected--it was dirty and te buildings were pretty boring and covered in graffiti. I assumed that this was just a rougher part of Paris and kept my expectations high. 

      Our hotel, the Herse d'or, is in the Bastille district. There are a lot of shops and tons of traffic around. We walked around searching for lunch and got rained on. The Parisians seemed unaffected by the weather however, so we didn't let it stop us either. 

(Bastille)

      Later in the afternoon, we hopped on the metro once again and travelled near the Opera house to by our tickets for te museum. This district is much closer to what I expected Paris to be like--the architecture was absolutely beautiful and the buildings towered over the charming streets. We once again got heavily rained on and learned the value of a hot cup of coffee in Paris. Finally the weather was too much and we decided to head back to the hotel. 

(Opera house)

   After a dinner with Kim Zerkel, where I was very please to find some American-type food as well (I wasn't exactly ready to jump head first into French culture), we visited the palace and park where Louis XIII got engaged. 

      Exhausted, wet, and cold, yet still enthrall and excited in Paris, we went to bed to regain our energy for the rest of the trip! 

Lesson of the day: Crosswalk lights mean it! If you don't wait for the walking sign, you will most assuredly get run over.  Paris drivers have places to be.