♪ Living is easy, the livin' is high ♪

Well...I've definitely learned that I should not get behind in my blog, because then there's tons to remember, and I don't know if I can think that far back! lol. I haven't written for a week! Yeesh....

Sigh...this is taking a while already. lol. And I haven't even written anything! I get way too distracted way too easily. At least since about Wednesday or Thursday. :P

Okay, Wednesday... We went on a little walk around the Seizieme Arrondissment. This is supposed to be one of the hardest-to-get-into areas of Paris. It was pretty cool, but not terribly eventful. We went on a cool little walk down an island in the middle of the Seine, which ended at the Statue of Liberty sculpture that they go to in National Treasure 2! Only, we could only see the back side of it. lol. There were some pretty interesting buildings all around too. One skyscraper was red with those retro rounded circles around the window. We saw a cool building in the Art Nouveau style...which is kinda strange and cool at the same time.... And we passed the house Balzac used to live in... We also stopped at a boulangerie for lunch, and I bought the MOST delicious strawberry tartlette I have ever tasted in my life!!!! I need to learn how to make those when I get home. (Not that Jeff will eat them, because he's really picky about his strawberries, but oh well. More for me. :) ) And...that was basically it. lol. Good day. Tired. The end.

Thursday....Oh, yeah! Haha. Let me tell you about Thursday. So....imagine you're driving through the intensely steep hills of San Francisco. (That in and of itself can be pretty scary, depending on who's driving.) Now imagine that those streets are completely paved in uneven cobblestone and are barely wide enough for one normal car to drive through and wind at extremely sharp angles. And there are thousands of pedestrians swarming the streets (because most of them are tourists, and tourists often swarm in big groups). Oh, yeah, and you're on a BUS which doesn't have very many seats, mostly just open floor space. AND the bus drive is going way too fast, taking the turns even faster, and probably wouldn't have graduated from drivers' ed if he'd tried to get his license in the U.S.

That was the introduction to Thursdays Paris exploration. :) Montmartre is a really cool place to visit. Just...if you don't like roller coasters, I suggest taking the Metro. :)

Montmartre is a cute little part of Paris that is probably one of the oldest areas in the city. It was the home of several painters (like Utrillo, Renoir, Picasso, and Van Gogh.) Although...I don't really recommend going to see where they lived, because most of the places they lived were just apartment buildings that aren't really that interesting. All there is to see is a plaque that said the artist lived there.

But we did visit Sacre Coeur. That was pretty cool. It's a basilica that sits on the hill and overlooks the whole city. There were tons of people there, because it was a Catholic holiday. One of the best parts, though, was getting to ride a train-thing up to the top of the hill. lol. It's almost like a mini metro train.

I've decided that after seeing so many churches, they all start looking the same to you and you kind of forget which church was which. lol. They all blur together.

We also went to visit a little abbey that was built in the 1100s. I really liked it, even though it was pretty dark inside. I don't know what I liked about it, because it wasn't extremely beautiful by Catholic church standards. Maybe I liked it because it was simple, and while Gothic architecture is amazing, sometimes you just need a nice, refreshing break from extravagance.

Also, I bought a little painting, because Aunt Michelle said I definitely need to. lol. It wasn't one of the really cool ones (which cost about an arm and a leg for the smallest one) but I like it. It's an oil of Notre Dame de Paris. I had to fish through dozens and dozens of pictures of the Eiffel Tower to find it. (I love the Eiffel Tower, but I already have a picture of it.)

We also so the Moulin Rouge night club. lol. Definitely didn't even want to go in there, but we got pictures, so now we can say we've seen it. That's all Paris and I really desired as far as the Moulin Rouge was concerned....

We were going to go to institute that night at the church in Paris, but we got there and the building was closed. lol. So much for trying to be righteous. ;) So we went home and I just......did stuff on my computer and stayed up way too late. lol.

Friday was our day off, which means we get to do whatever we want (and usually not one of the walks required by our class).

tbc....