Paris Walk #10

Date: 10/26/12
Get Lost! The "Anti-Walk"

This is one of two walks I have done by myself, and I didn't even really start it on purpose. My host mom doesn't like when I sit home by myself and watch movies or sleep or do any other normal college student activity, because she thinks I'm dying or wasting my parents' money, or just absolutely nuts. She doesn't understand what I want my experience here to be, or the fact that sometimes everyone else is at home too, and I don't wanna go wander by myself. However, this time, she had apparently been crying about it or something, so I decided that even though there was NOTHING to do, I'd go find something to do. Alone. So dumb. But hey, I ended up doing a walk, so that's positive right? I left my house with the intent on getting gelato from a place near the director's house, and then coming home. Well, the place looked closed, and instead of further investigating, I decided to give up and go somewhere else: McDonald's. I just really wanted a McFlurry all of a sudden. Don't judge me. I walked around Ecole Militaire and didn't find anything, so I jumped on the nearest bus and decided to ride it til I found a McDonalds or somewhere else I knew. It ended up taking me to part of the Champs-Elysees. I knew there was a McDonald's there, so I got off. I walked up the street, saw a huge mob of chanting joggers (very weird) and ended up settling for a Quick instead (French version of McDo). I got my ice cream, messaged my real mom about how dumb I felt, then left and found the nearest metro- Champs-Elysees Clemenceau. I took that home, and ended up spending about 2 1/2 hours wandering around, when I wanted to spend about 1, maybe 1 1/2. I really hope my host mom was happy.

Paris Walk #9

Date: (I can't remember)

Grands Boulevards

This walk was longer than I expected it to be, but we stopped at one of my favorite places in Paris, so it was worth it. We started at the Galeries Lafayette, a huge department store that is the prettiest store I've ever seen. We walked into the perfume section, and I literally thought I was in heaven. There is a stained glass dome that covers the whole thing, the whole place sparkles, and it smells amazing. I wanted to live there. After we left, we went to my favorite building in all of Paris: The Opera house! Opera Garnier, to be exact. We didn't actually get a chance to go in this time, but I have been inside before and it is beautiful. It's probably the most beautiful building I've ever seen. Plus, one of my favorite movies (Phantom of the Opera) takes place there, which gives me yet another reason to love it. After sitting on the steps listening to a performer for awhile, we continued on our walk. I honestly don't remember much of the rest of what we did, but I do remember seeing Jeanne d'Arc again. I will never forget her, thanks to Dr. H. 

(These are old pictures I took of the opera house. I don't have any other ones, because some jerk stole my phone. I'll write about that later.)

Palais Garnier

absolutely stunning. 

Paris Walk #8

Date: 10/19/12
Small Buildings Need Not Apply: La Defense

This was one of my favorite walks for sure. I spent some time wandering around La Defense, the modern "city" part of Paris with Kaitlin and Cori. It was short, and perfect for that day. We got to bond and just relax in this strangely quiet part of the city. It is home to all of the skyscrapers and "modern" buildings, because they can't be in the heart of the city due to the zoning laws. It is where most business people work, but it is seriously so much quieter than the rest of Paris, which I really appreciated. It felt nice to "get away" for a little bit. The whole area feels a little bit like a bad 80's sci-fi movie set, but I liked it. There was a bunch of modern art just kind of laying around too, and as much as I hate modern art, I liked that too. It just made the whole place feel like a playground. Which it kind of was...there is this giant net thing that you can go sit or jump around on, and other things to climb on, too. Not your typical area, that's for sure. We saw the La Defense Grand Arche, which is an Arc built out of metal and glass, and just looks like a weird office building. You can apparently go up to the top, which I'd love to do some time. It lines up exactly with the Arc de Triomphe and that was really cool. You can stand in that super modern area, and look back years into the past and see the Arc and La Tour Eiffel.

random art. I love it!

a little blurry...oh well. me and kaitlin on the net thing!

La Grand Arche

Paris Walk #7

Date: 10/10/12
Montmartre

I went on this walk with Carine, Cori, Olivia, Mallory, Lucy, and Caitie. It starts at the worst metro stop in the whole world...let me tell you why. It has the option of exiting via the stairs or an elevator. I never want to be SO lazy that I have to take an elevator, so I made the mistake of taking the stairs. The stairs spiral upwards and they NEVER END. I actually thought at one point that I was maybe in a horror movie and that something terrible was about to happen, because you would think that you just had to be near the top and the stairs just kept coming. It was crazy. So, I started off the walk winded and sweaty. Not fun. The rest of the walk was great though. A little long, and there was a lot of backtracking, but I love Montmartre. It's a little dirty but it's artsy and to me, feels the most historic. I really love it. We took the funicular up to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, which has an amazing view. Me and Cori got some lunch, and we took some time to listen to a performer there named Ramon. We even bought his CD! After that, we walked all around the top of this hill, where we saw a ton of artists and places where old artists used to like to hang out. It's seriously such a pretty area. One of the coolest parts was seeing where Van Gogh lived. We got to stand in front of his actual apartment. Amazing! The walk ended at Moulin Rouge, but we sadly didn't get to see Ewan McGregor or the Spectacular, Spectacular! We did take pictures though.

Listening to Ramon on the steps of the Sacre-Coeur with Cori and Carine

Chez Van Gogh

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."
We love the Moulin Rouge!

Paris Walk #6

Date: I don't remember...sorry!
Eighteenth-Century Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Musee Jacquemart-Andre, Musee Nissim de Camondo Museums, Parc Monceau

I went on this walk with the lovely Cori, Carine, Maddie, Kayla, and Olivia. It was fantastic because just the night before, I was thinking to myself how I wanted to go on a walk with Maddie and Kayla, and then I did! J'ai de la chance. (I am lucky.) This walk was super short which I appreciated that day because it was raining. We walked past a bunch of museums...that we didn't go in...sorry Dr. H! One we passed was his favorite. We just weren't exactly in the mood and we had kinda spent all of our museum funds on food...which is more important? Anyway, we ended up at Parc Monceau, which is my favorite park in Paris. I'm a little bit biased, but I used to "live" right by there when I was here 2 years ago. The girls I babysat went to school right next to it, and so I would often meet them there for their lunch breaks and have picnics and just play. It was so much fun. It's a really beautiful park, and there are lots of "ruins" and old monuments hanging around...none of which are real. But it's fun to see "Roman" columns and pyramids all over!

I stole these from the internet. But these gates are my favorite. 

An example of the "ruins"

Paris Walk #5

Date: 10/26/12
Seizieme Arrondissement

This walk was done with about half the group, with our new director Robert Erickson. The rest of our group was running around Rome together, and Dr. E wrote this walk so he decided it would be a good idea to take us on it. I agree. It is a very long walk, and I am pretty positive I would have gotten lost otherwise. It takes place in the 16th arrondissement which is apparently a pretty snobby area. It was very nice. We saw SO many things, so I will just highlight a few of my favorites. The best part probably would have to be walking across Pont Bir-Hakeim, a.k.a. the bridge from Inception! Yes, I stood where Leonardo DiCaprio stood. It was really cool. We also saw a miniature version of the statue of liberty, and it was actually the second one I've seen here. It makes sense, considering the guy who designed it was French. Another great part was seeing the Art Nouveau stylings of Hector Guimard. There were lots of buildings designed in this way, and one in particular just really reminded me of Alice in Wonderland or Disneyland or something. I decided I really like Art Nouveau. After seeing tons of other things, we finished the walk at the Bois de Boulogne, a humongous park which is beautiful and right by where I live :)

we like to pose awkwardly. mostly me though. 

Paris Walk #4

Date: 9/5/12
Lutetia Pulchra Est: Musee National de Moyen Age, Sorbonne, Pantheon, Saint-Etienne-de-Mont, Arenes de Lutece

We did this walk together as a group on the second day we were in Paris. However, we didn't know that at the time. Anyway, thanks Dr. H for getting one out of the way for us! We were extremely jet-lagged and exhausted, and this walk felt like the longest thing of our lives. But we saw lots of cool stuff, and had some great bonding time. It hits a lot of the places in the Latin Quarter such as the Sorbonne, and the Saint-Michel Statue, and a few other places mentioned in the title. A lot of historic stuff, from a lot of different time periods. We got to see part of a wall that used to surround the city, and is still there, just in the middle of the city. Obviously the whole wall still isn't there, but giant parts are still just in between buildings. It's pretty interesting. On this walk we also saw the outside of the Musee National de Moyen Age, which I'm pretty sure is the Cluny, and we've been back a couple times. It's really cool, and houses the Lady and the Unicorn tapestry, which is my favorite, and a REAL unicorn horn!!! (okay, so it's from a narwhal, but whatever.)

Not from the walk, but this is at the Cluny and I LOVE this picture. 

Oh you know, just sitting on the banks of the Seine. :)
This was at the end of our walk. 

Olivia, me, Kaitlin, and Carine in front of the statue of Saint-Michel in the Latin Quarter