Today was long but it was a good day. It started with my alarm going off at 7:30 again. Man I hate alarms! I didn’t get up right away. I laid there until Isabel was out of the bathroom. Then I dragged myself out of bed! We got ready and headed down to breakfast. I did a daring thing… wore shorts today! I could feel eyes upon my bright white legs, but I thought “just wait.. its going to be hot!” and others had dresses on which was the same thing as a pair of shorts!

I wasn’t too hungry this morning but I told myself I needed to eat a lot. I managed to shove a lot of food down my throat! We ate breakfast quickly again so we headed down to the lounge to chill before heading out. We chatted with a girl from another group and then at 9 headed to the Louvre. It was decided that we should take the metro so we got there pretty quickly and had quite a bit of extra time before class. I LOVE the pyramid in front of the Louvre. It works so well. I snapped some photos and we headed down to the inverted pyramid to wait for our group.

Everyone in our group showed up eventually and we headed into the craziness that is the Louvre. Here is where Im going to some crazy…. I hate the Louvre. Yes it is an amazing institution with top of the line works. Every painting is a masterpiece BUT it doesn’t work as a museum. Its too big, and because of its reputation it is too crowded. It is PACKED with groups who aren’t really even looking at the art. Instead they are snapping photos, or even better RECORDING their every step with their dumb camcorders. They aren’t even looking at the paintings because they are engrossed by their tiny little screens. Seriously people? Why come? And honestly no one ever wants to watch those shaky videos of your trip anyways!

Ok enough ranting… we battled our way through the crowds to look at most Neo-Classical and Romantic works. I impressed Rebecca by spotting the Raphael print in a painting by Ingres and then knowing that it was the Madonna of the Chair (I KNOW my Renaissance) but then I said it was in Rome (stupid me) when I meant Florence! But I discovered that I need to study to Romantic paintings! We didn’t stay at the Louvre long. It was too crowded and there were other things that we needed to see. We did go through the room with the Mona Lisa for the people who hadn’t been to the Louvre before. All of us who had looked at Rebecca in shock that we had to go into that jungle! I took a picture of the room for you all. Check out facebook! (if I remember when I actually post this, Ill insert it below but no promises!)

Somehow we got out of the Louvre alive. Rebecca wanted to make sure that we got to go to the loo and she didn’t want to wait 45 minutes for the crap, nasty toilets. She brought us to a “boutique loo” (not kidding) and paid for it for us. It was right on our way out of the museum but no one was there! It was the BEST toilet I have ever been to. A man escorts you to a stall that is more like a room that a stall. It smelled SO good in there. Then I was washing my hands and the man went over to my “stall” and sanitized everything before bringing the next person to it. That is a bathroom and that is service!

After that we were off to the Pantheon of Paris. We got on the dreaded Metro and headed over. We got there and I didn’t recognize it, but when we walked in I kinda remembered it, but I didn’t know. I will have to go home and look at my Paris pictures from last trip and see if I had gone there with Uncle Billy! We wandered around that.. it was ok. My feet were tired at this point and the art wasn’t all that interesting. Im not a fan of 19th century stuff! We did get to go down to the crypt after though which was awesome! I saw Emile Zola, Voltarie, and Victor Hugo’s tomb!! Saaaaa-Weet!

Finally it was time for lunch. Rebecca walked us in the general direction that we needed to go it, and then gave us directions to our next location. Then we all broke off to do our own thing and Isabel and I got a crepe. I got a ham and cheese one and the guy accidently broke an egg in it so I got a free egg too! After we had the crepes in our hand we went to the Luxemburg gardens and…. SAT IN GRASS and ate. Then I laid on my back and fell asleep in the shade until a policeman kicked everyone off the grass so they could mow! It was perfect timing because we needed to start walking to St. Sulpice.

St Sulpice was used in the Dan Brown movie (I think the DaVinci code and I think it was when the one priest gets burned to death. Not too sure though!) That is NOT why we went though! We went to look at a side chapel that had some paintings in it by a guy whose name I cant spell. Sorry. (something like Delacroix) It was pretty boring, but then we walked over and saw his studio which was also pretty boring except that his palette, brushes and paint box were there!

We then were on our way to our last stop and I was very glad because we were ROASTING (which was a nice change!) and my feet were shot. Rebecca managed to get us in to the Beaux-Arts which is an art school that everyone who is someone studied academic French painting at. (seriously name a famous French academic painter and they went here!) it is still a school so it isn’t opened to the public, but Rebecca managed to have them open it one day, and it was OUR day! We went into the auditorium (where the awards were given out) to look at a mural painting. It was pretty epic. We sat and went through who all the painters were and talked. The nicest thing was that it was really cool in there and we got to sit!

After that was a quick loo break (free but not nearly as nice!) and I filled up the water bottle. We were DONE for the day, but a group of us decided to head to the Musee d’Orsay because it was a must see and we weren’t going there as a group. We arrived and the line was barely existent (unlike the other day that Isabel and I tried to go!) I was a dummy and didn’t have my student card (6 euro entry) or my passport with my visa in it (free entry) so I had to pay 9 euro to get in. Im such a dummy.

It was worth it though. The group decided to reconvene in an hour and 15 minutes. The museum is PACKED with stellar things. I was so happy to be able to name the painting or at least the artist (without looking at the label) on 80% of the paintings in the museum. I felt extremely smart, but then again the are blockbuster works so I don’t know how smart I actually am! I didn’t do the museum justice. You really need to arrive with fresh feet and an afternoon. I just walked through the galleries and went to the meeting spot 15 minutes early to rest my weary feet.

The group decided to go out for drinks, but some of us were too hungry and tired. Ishvara, Isabel and I decided to head back to the hotel together. We had to take…. The metro. It was rush hour and everyone was sweating. We didn’t make it on the first train, but pushed our way onto the second. It was the worse underground/metro/tube/subway experience of my life. I have never been so squished and hot in my life. The pole to hang on to was slimy, sweating people were all up against each other and we had to go 9 stops. NEVER. AGAIN. Ill walk tomorrow if I have to at the end of the day. Im not doing that again! Im so thankful I don’t live in Paris. I am appreciating London more and more. It has cleaner streets, cleaner underground and a much more efficient system.

We got back to the hotel and decided that if we went to our room we would never come back down for dinner! We spotted a Subway and grabbed a sub for take-away. I got a 30cm sub (a “footlong”!) so I could have it for lunch tomorrow. Isabel and I brought it back to our room and vegged out on the bed eating Subway. Then I showered, looked through my pictures and have written this. I think it is time for bed soon! Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day. All of the days have been long, but they have been interesting. I have a feeling that tomorrow wont be. And Rebecca warned us to bring comfy shoes because we are going to do a ton of walking and standing… it made us all worried some! My feet are pretty shot already. I hope they heal for tomorrow! I am ready to go home tomorrow. I have been in Paris long enough! I haven’t gotten a magnet yet though and I don’t know if I will have time/be in a touristy place tomorrow! GAH!

I just wrote this post in 45 minutes and it is 1652 word long… I wish I could write papers like that!

P.S picture = eating my crepe!