Day 4

Louvre Glass Pyramid

It's our fourth day here, and everyone is having a blast!  We visited the Museé de Louvre, or Louvre Museum.  It is a huge art museum in Paris, originally made as a fortress by Phillip II Augustus at the beginning of the 13th century.  The first thing we noticed when we arrived at the museum was the giant glass pyramid in front.  Monica wanted to climb it, but Megan talked her out of it.

Mona Lisa

We walked through the museum to find the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.  The whole time, Olivia would not stop talking about how excited she was to see it.  After an hour of wandering around the museum, we finally found the temperature-controlled room that contained the Mona Lisa.  Olivia pushed through the crowd to see the Mona Lisa, and was shocked to see the little 30-inch high painting.  She was so disappointed that she ran right back out of the room.

Because of her Egyptian heritage, Monica wanted to go see the Egyptian antiques.  Megan was more interested in seeing the Islamic art, and Amanda wanted to see the armless Venus De Milo statue. 

I (Christie) was more interested in going to the Carousel du Louvre shopping center.  It is known to be the most liked shopping center in Paris.  We decided to go to the food court there for lunch.  It was spectacular!  There were 13 gourmet food stalls with food from all over the world.  We decided to eat at the fabulous Chinese restaurant. 

After lunch we spent the afternoon going to all the different boutiques around the mall.  At one store, Megan accidentally shoplifted a pair of sunglasses and got chased down by the security guard.  It was a great afternoon!


-Christie

Day 3

Notre Dame

On our third day in France, Christie, Megan, Olivia, Amanda, and I visited the Notre Dame Cathedral. It is a Gothic, catholic cathedral located on the eastern half of the Ile de la Cite in the fourth arrondissement of Paris. It is the cathedral that contains the cathedra (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris. The name Notre Dame means “Our Lady” in French. Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports).

When we got there, we went straight to the top so I could ring the great bourdon bell (Emmanuel). The security guard threatened to kick me out if I rang that bell again, so I rang the other four smaller bells. He got really mad at me but left anyways.

Notre Dame Bell

Christie was too busy texting to admire the cathedral, and she was only amazed by the great phone service. Megan, Olivia, and Amanda were too busy studying the Gothic architecture of the building to realize that Christie banged her head on the Emmanuel and fell on the floor. I cracked up laughing when I found her on the floor moaning from her head injury. I got her some ice and told her that it is a really bad idea to text while walking in a bell tower.

Then we took the tour around the cathedral. I took lots of pictures while Megan, Olivia, and Amanda were asking the tour guide lots of questions about the architecture and design of the Gothic cathedral. Christie was still texting and she tripped over a crack in the pavement, so I had to confiscate her phone. She would get it back at the end of the tour. She got really mad at me.

Then we left the cathedral to go back to our hotel and get some dinner. While crossing the street, Megan, Olivia, Amanda, and I were talking about our day at the cathedral. Megan mentioned how she should use her engineering skills to build a huge cathedral of her own. Olivia was talking about how she could paint an accurate painting of the Notre Dame cathedral and sell it for a lot of money. I was talking about how cool those bells were. And Christie was texting again, this time while speed-walking, and she was almost hit by a really big bus. The driver cursed at her in French. That was so funny, but she still should have listened to that French guy on the street say “Dude, look out for that bus” in French instead of saying “What did he say?”


-Monica

Day 2

Eiffel Tower

After having breakfast at the hotel, we decided our first stop was going to be the Eiffel Tower. Of course, as we traveled to the site, Christie had her eyes glued to her phone, texting. While Megan, Amanda, and Monica talked, I lagged behind them, half asleep, since I am not much of a morning person.

The Eiffel tower is a lot bigger than I imagined it was going to be, and as we walked toward it, my eyes widened.

“Are we actually going to climb to the top of that thing?!?” I exclaimed.

They looked at me, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Christie took the time to tell me they actually had an elevator. I laughed it off, trying to hide my embarrassment.

After reaching the top, we all looked out over the edge, pointing things out to each other and having a good time. At one point, Monica leaned over the edge and Christie pretended to push her off. Amanda, Megan, and I rolled our eyes and shook our heads.

We stayed on top for a long time, enjoying the view. Then we headed down. For a couple more hours we hung out, walking through the streets of France, until our conversation lapsed over into the topic of food. Megan kept saying phrases like, “Cupcakes,” ”Cake,” and “Pie,” and we decided it was a good time to eat lunch.


-Olivia

Day 1

Charles de Gaulle Airport

                                                                                                                                                                   Finally, we’re in France! We left from RDU at 9 am. It was a pretty interesting experience, even before we left the ground. First of all, Christie was doing her hair, so that made us late to the airport. On second thought, I don’t think you can ever be on time to an airport. Anyway, we arrived, checked our bags, and got in the security line. We each took our shoes off, put our carry-ons in the little gray buckets, along with my laptop. Christie went through the security scanner first. “Uh, ma’am, you’re going to have to place your phone with your other belongings. You can’t text while going through security,” the security guard said. Christie hadn’t even noticed she had her phone. I went next, having to explain that I have ¼ in, steel rods supporting my spine when the alarm went off. Then Monica, with no trouble at all, along with Amanda. Olivia went next, with probably the most interesting story. She got through fine, but the guards had to search her bag because there were chemicals that are found in some plastic bombs. Turns out it was only her moisturizing lotion. Wow, airport security these days!

If that whole fiasco didn’t slow us down enough, Olivia’s fear of flying sure did. She refused to get on the plane right as we literally ran to the gate. We heard a man say last call for our flight, and eventually got her on the plane. Each of us touched the outside of the plane for good luck. I demanded a window seat because our view was spectacular.

The flight was pretty uneventful, which is, of course, the best kind of flight. We landed in Chicago and got some outstanding pizza during our 6-hour layover. One fifteen-hour flight to Paris, and we were there! The view of the city from the sky was amazing. I (once again) demanded a window seat. We grabbed our luggage, and got a cab to our hotel, which was about three and a half miles away. I don’t know what anyone else did, but I fell asleep right then and there.