♪ Jazz up the Latin Quarter ♫

drip...drip,drip...drip.....drip........drip,drip,drip......drip,drip..................drip............drip..................................PPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRR BUCKETS AND BUCKETS...dripdripdripdripdripdripdripdripdrip...........drip,drip.............drip....... (repeat all morning)

We went to the Latin Quarter today! When I think Latin (and when most everybody else thinks Latin) they think Salsa dancing and red, frilly dresses and guitars and all that. As I learned today, that is not what the Latin Quarter in Paris is. This kind of Latin is togas (or lack thereof) and classical serenity and fascination with elegance and the ancients. Go figure.

Not that that stuff isn't cool, or that I prefer Salsa. I'm just not a huge fan sogginess (which is why I like really crunchy chips, because they don't get soggy so fast).

Anyway...getting off the bad joke, what I'm really trying to say is that it was rainy and cold all day. lol. But Paris and I trudged through, and we saw some really cool things in what used to be (and still kind of is) the center of the arts and revolutionary thinkers in Paris.

The first really cool thing we saw was an old church. I loved it, because there wasn't as many people there as there was at Notre Dame de Paris. Old churches and cathedrals in Europe are so beautiful! I decided that when I grow up and have my dream house, I want ribbed vaulting. It's so cool-looking! And every church has it, as well as some of the palaces. The cool and unique thing about the church we visited today was that it had modern-style stained glass windows with different patterns and designs. Also, pretty much all of the paintings were from the 15th century. They don't look like they've had much preservation work done on them, so they're very faded.

Here's an interesting Liahona article about stained glass windows that we were assigned to read before our train ride to Chartres tomorrow. It's about Chartres, but it's a cool connection to cathedral windows: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=372f3c7842470110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

After that, we walked around the Latin Quarter a lot. We went down some cool streets that have been around since the 1600s! And we passed a lot of window art galleries. We didn't go inside, because you pretty much have to be interested in buying something to go inside. But there was a lot to look at from the windows. Although....I don't think I'd want to go inside, because most of the art I wouldn't care to buy and some of it I would never, ever, ever allow in my home. :/ Scandalous...

It was also in the Latin Quarter that the people sang the songs of angry men a lot, if you catch my drift. The revolution practically started in the cafes and salons of the Latin Quarter! Which reminds me, Paris and I are going to see Les Mis at the Chetelet Theatre our last week in Paris! I think it will be amazing! I'm pretty sure that's marking off something on my bucket list- see Les Mis in Paris.

Then we walked along the Seine... along that famous pathway and under that famous bridge that they always show in all the movies. It would have been so romantic, had it been me and Jeff and Paris and Joe, instead of just me and Paris.

Then we went to the Conciergerie, where there was an ENTIRE hall of ribbed vaulting! It's SO cool! I took a video of it, so when I am finally able to get stuff off my camera, I will totally post it on here. Oh, so the Conciergerie is where the royalty lived before the Louvre became the royal home, which was before Versailles became the royal family home. It doesn't look quite so royal anymore...mostly due to the revolutionaries. (Darn those revolutionists!) This was where Marie Antoinette and Robespierre spent their final days (or hours, in his case). (Robespierre was the one who ordered almost 3,000 people killed by guillotine...and then the people decided he had way to much power, so he lost his head at the guillotine too...ironically.) Louis XVIII built a little chapel in Marie Antoinette's honor where her cell used to be. Therefore, the cell isn't actually there anymore, because half of it is now a chapel. The other half used to be a bathroom. Then they took out the bathroom and made it into a replica of Marie Antoinette's cell.

After the Conciergerie, we went to the Sainte Chappelle! *sigh* C'est jolie! Unfortunately, they were doing a lot of work on the huge windows in the apse of the chapel, so we couldn't see some of the windows. :( But there were still gorgeous windows on all the sides of the chapel! And beautiful painted walls. I took a video of that, too. It's amazing.

After that, we looked at the Palais de Justice (or something like that) which was part of the Conciergerie at one point and is still used as France's Supreme Court building today. (Actually, I'm not sure that there are tons of cases heard in this particular building, but it's still in use.)

When we were going into the Sainte Chappelle (which is inside the Palais de Justice, so we had to go through tons of security) we met a couple from Georgia who we talked to while standing in the freezing cold. lol. They were pretty nice. Definitely your stereotypical American tourist. ;) They just didn't have the fanny packs and American flag shirts. They talked about all the traveling they'd done since their kids left home, and they were amazed that we didn't drink alcohol or tea or coffee or caffeine (because they figured out pretty quickly we were LDS when we said we were from BYU). It was a lot of fun talking to them, although it felt a little weird to be talking to someone other than Paris in English for more than a couple minutes.

After all that, we went home on the Metro, stopped for bread at a boulangerie on the way home (5:00-6:00 is probably the busiest hour at a boulangerie, just FYI) and then ate dinner when we got home. Aude, the Devarennes' daughter, was amazed that we were eating dinner at 6:00 pm! We told her we usually at about that time in the U.S. and she was even more amazed. lol.

After that we talked about *sigh* boys in Paris's room for a long time, then watched part of Pride and Prejudice while the Devarennes ate dinner. (We eat with them on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and we have to do our own meals all the other nights.)

And.......... I decided that I really miss my shower. :( But that's about it for right now. lol.

Pray for sun in France tomorrow! lol. We miss that too! :)

A demain!