Oh hello Paris. Did you miss me?

It is snowing hard in Caen today. Normally, I am a big fan of snow. However, it made my walk home from class treacherous and, at times, almost impossible. By the time I got back to the apartment not only was my coat and scarf covered in snow, but my hair was literally frozen. Now that I am cozy and typing in bed, the snow seems much prettier and pleasant.

It's crazy to think just Saturday I was walking around Paris holding my winter coat because it was so warm. Even when I leave Louisville, I can't escape the weird weather changes.

Anyways... Paris was even better the second time around. We could navigate the city much easier since we recognized some of the streets, and we conquered the Metro system (after a few errors and the help of many Parisians.) We got to see a lot of sights, but we also took our time to just enjoy being in Paris.

We climbed the many stairs to Sacre Coeur, and after we went inside, we climbed even more stairs to go into the dome of the church. My ankles were shaking by the time we stopped at a café after. But the views of Paris from Sacre Coeur were amazing.

We also visited the Arc de Triomphe, and enjoyed more of the sunny day there. It was relaxing to sit on the Arc and watch all the cars zoom pass, and tourists take pictures while doing the peace sign.

I have discovered that I love a good statue.
We have got to get some of these in Louisville
and Bowling Green. I also think gold is a must.

Next we walked to the Musée D'Orsay, which personally I would rank above the Louvre. First, because we got in free with our student IDs, but also it is so much more manageable than the Louvre. You also aren't allowed to take pictures, which at first bummed me out, but I think it changes the dynamic of the museum. People looked at the art, and moved on. We didn't have to fight crowds to get around. Plus I recognized a lot more of the artwork. Next we had drinks at the museum restaurant. It was so nice to just sit and relax in such a beautiful room, and I mean beautiful. It had chandeliers, paintings on the ceiling and gold-leaf everywhere. All I could think of was how JD used to crawl on the floor at Kroger by the self-checkouts looking for change, and now I was sitting in a restaurant that looked like Marie Antoinette had designed it. By the time we finished gabbing the museum was closing.

I think my favorite thing to do in Paris is walk by the Seine River. The water is relaxing, with boats always going up and down it.  You pass all sorts of important places and can people-watch. Shakespeare and Company is close to the river, right by Notre Dame. I bought a couple of books and post cards there that they even stamped for me. I also feel the need to comment that it smelt really good in there, like books (no surprise). If intelligence had a smell, I am pretty sure that would be it. We hung out for a little while outside it too. There was a guy playing music and singing, and you could see Notre Dame all lit up.

I bought the third Lord of the Rings in English
and Le Petit Prince in French. I don't have time to tell
you all about this store, but you should definitely
google it, because it it pretty-darn-cool.

The next day we took the Metro to the Catacombs, and let me just say, I did not fully understand what a catacomb was until we were about halfway through them. If you don't know, it was basically an underground grave, with bones stacked everywhere. I am not normally one that enjoys going where exits are not readily available, but that catacombs were crazy-cool. I'm not sure who got stuck stacking all the bones, but they did a killer job (pun a little bit intended.) In some places the skulls where in the shape of a heart or cross. It's creepy to think that they are under your feet when you walk around above ground.

Just a little peak at the catacombs. Another google-worthy search.

Later we went back to see the rest of the Musée D'Orsay, and finally, made our way back to the train station to go home. I think this second trip to Paris was better, because we weren't so worried about seeing important sites, and just enjoyed being there. The city was less overwhelming, and seemed much smaller than the first time we went. I really hope I have a chance to go back one last time before the semester is over so that I can enjoy it even more!

This week it's back to trying to pronounce Rs, and talking about the French Revolution (apparently Marie Antoinette was beheaded at Place de la Concorde which we walked through several times on our trips to Paris. You can't sneeze here with out bumping into something historical!) And then this weekend I am off to Bruxelles!