July 7th - YSL

Today we went to Yves Saint Laurent workshop in Paris. It was amazing, and giving chills to walk into the such an amazing designer's studio headquarters. We saw some of the most famous garments he ever designed, which were of course amazing craftsmanship. They were currently preserving this beautiful black evening gown with giant hot pink bow (as seen above). Though he is no longer with us on earth his creations definitely carry on his spirit. Random fact: he owned three french bulldogs which he all named the same name and used them as the inspiration for his greeting cards. It is still surreal to be walking in Paris!

Row Row the Boat Gently Down the Seine!

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Paris. We had some time before our class activity so we left early to do a little Paris shopping. My friends had scouted out a mall in a metro station that was supposed to be good so we headed there. The first store we went into was good. It was called new look and basically a European forever 21. Since summer seems to be the sale time for Europe there was a lot marked down. I found one dress that I really liked and tried on. Luckily I liked it more when I tried it on. I also picked up a pair of sunglasses from the same store, since mine broke on the flight over. This all came to a whopping 12 euro. We walked around the rest of the area and at one point misplaced a friend, but thank goodness we had our meeting place and time designated so we found her again right away. From there we headed back to the hotel to meet with our group.

Once with our group we headed over to the docks on the Seine for a lunch river cruise.The docks are very close to the Eiffel Tower. We walked down to Pier 7 where awaited a long mostly glass river boat. When we boarded we saw the tables were set up with white table clothes and nice place settings. They served us each a glass of wine and a three course meal. This included a salad with a sorta fishy dressing, since it had sardines on the salad. The main course was a fillet of salmon. Desert was a beautiful pastry with fruit and cream. That was my favorite part of the meal. We traveled up and down the Seine for two hours. There was also a violin player on the boat. At the end of the tour of seine there was a statue of liberty and the violin player played New York New York.

After we pulled into the dock we were free for the day again. So my group decided to do some exploring and headed to Champs Elysées. There were checked up some very nice stores like the main Louis Vitton store, a huge Sephora, and others. I kept my credit card saftely tucked away on this street. Next on the list of things to do was more shopping. We went to the huge department store of The Galleries Lafayette. This was a 7 story, cautic wonder. Since sales are going on there was people every where. This wasn't a time to shop for those who like a to do leisurely brousing. The celing of this department store was beautiful stain glass. After hours here and finally finding a place to sit while others shopped.

After this we found a little Italian place and all had dinner together. This was one the few places that they actually split our checks. One of the convinces of home that I miss the most. After this we headed back our hotel to relax for the evening.

Walking in Paris Day 3 !

The first Sunday of the Month in Paris is free museum day! So we were off to the Louvre of course! The Louvre was once a palace of the French Kings but Louis XIV left it's massive halls and built Versailles. The palace then became abandoned and artist took up residence here. Which I think it is interesting then that now it holds art. Once the home of artist now holds art work. We had been told many times that it is impossible to see everything in the Louvre so we decided that if we saw some stuff and the Mona Lisa we would be satisfied. We saw Egyptian and Persian arts, some African art, the Mona Lisa, and Italian art. With a map it is easy to get lost in this museum. Half the time we wandered around trying to find a way out. Even though the museum is air conditioned there be times it was so full of people that it would not believe there was.

After the Louvre we grabbed some lunch, which for us again means sandwiches. We got them at this little cafe by Musee D'Orsay. We were unsure what to do with our trays they served our food on to leave them at the table or take them to the counter. We were starting to take them to the counter when the older French couple next to us says "you are used to McDonalds huh". I would like to say that this is one of the only rude comments that has been made to us on this entire trip so far. I still couldn't believe that some people's impressions of Americans is that they just eat McDonalds. If that was so I wouldn't been at that cafe and had been up the street stuffing my face with a cheeseburger. Funny enough the Italians, French, and especially English all seem to eat American fast food very happily, they are always busy.

After lunch we headed to Musee D'Orsay since I recomended this as a great "smaller" museum. When we got there seem 1,000 other people had our same idea. So we decided to go to a market my roommate Bekah had heard of and we pulled out a map to locate it. About half an hour later with the help of two security gaurds that brought us into the museum to talk the information desk lady about where to go for the market, we were on our way. The market wasn't exactly what we expected. There was a guy cooking and selling corn our of a shopping cart. People were selling really tacky things and it seemed we were in a more Brooklin neighborhood of Paris. We followed the directions of the tour guide book bekah had and we found the real treasure trove of this market. There was a section in the entire of the market almost completely dedicated to all things antique. There was so much beautiful furniture and jewlery. There was even a store dedicated to just vintage designer goods such as Chanel, Prada, LV, and more. After awhile we headed back to the metro to head home to get ready for some dinner.

Dinner this evening we arrange would be pinic style by the Eiffel Tower to watch it light up the evening sky. We picked up a cheap bottle of wine, our plastic cups from the hotel bathroom, and borrowed a sheet from hotel to sit on. We picked up some more sandwhiches at a deli across from hotel and headed to the Eiffel Tower. We found a place for the 4 of us off to the side to eat, but as it got closer to night fall the flies came out in swarms so we moved over to the main lawn.

Here we had front row seats to the show. The vendors are back out and are now selling wine and champaigne. They ask you repeadtly if you want to buy some even when you clearly have a bottle already there. Maybe they think you be more inclined if you already had something to drink haha. People near by were singing MJ songs. Pretty much where ever you go you hear his music, your bathroom is the only safe place from it. When the tower did light up there were cheers and clapping. It is nice to see something the French at frist hated when constructed now they cheer, though of course not everyone there that night was French. We sat there for awhile, watched the sparkling lights, took some pictures and headed home around 10:45. So late because total night fall doesn't take place before 9:45 at the earliest currently. I completely recomend taking a picnic dinner at the Eiffel Tower. It is an inexpesive, but good meal, and the show is top notch.

Paris Day Deux! Happy 4 th of July!

Our second day (Saturday July 4th) in Paris we had our coach tour around Paris passing some famous monuments and parts of town. This included the military museum, Napoleon's tomb, the French Academy (this is where they decide which words would go into the French dictionary. Mom and Dad remember that gold top building we took pictures of, this is it), and of course the Arch de Triumph. We were dropped off at the Eiffel Tower. When our group got to the Tower it was very crowded so our Prof. got us a group time ticket so we wouldn't have to wait at a later time. So with our break my friends and I were off in search of a great sandwich shop, that Europe seems to full of, for a little lunch.

Once we found one we started walking and eating back towards the Eiffel Tower. On one side up the hill from it there are a few museums and a big lawn. My friend's informed us there was a display famous designers work inspired from navy uniforms. Not all of us wanted to go, so some of my friends went shopping while the rest of us went to check out the exhibit. I really found it very interesting how inspired these designers such as Chanel were from the navy uniform. I was even more excited to see one of Chanel's first designs that liberated Paris women's fashion. I wrote my Paris cultural report on this exibit.

After the exhibit we took some pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background and then hung around this big lawn listening to a rehersal for some dance performance that was going to be performed there at a later date. As we started to head back the Eiffel Tower to meet up with our group we stopped to pick up some post cards. There are lots of iffy street vedors that don't carry license and they harrasse people in popular sights such as Napoleon's Tomb and Eiffel Tower. Sometimes the police are good at chasing these guys away but not always. One even called my friend Bekah and I "ugly ladies with no boyfriends" because we refused to even look at the items he was selling.

When we got our entire group together (all 33 girls) we were able to skip a two hour line and head up in the lift (man do they pack those in, beware if you are claustrophobic). Being afraid of heights I only went to the first stop (which is about half way up). Some other friends took my camera up to the top for me. It was amazing view and I am glad I got to experience this. The city of Paris is HUGE! After awhile we all trickled down at varrying times.

That night some of us went out together at a North African restaurant. I have never tried this cuisine but this trip is all about trying new things (within reason). I ordered a chicken dish with rice, it was kinda bland. Next door was a gletto place that made their ice cream look like flowers in the cone, it was very good. This was all in the Bastille district which our hotel was located in. That night some of us decided to see how the night life was, and it was fun to pop into a few, each location looked and had a completely different feel. One was very spanish, another had black lights, and another was more fancy with a giant chandelier.

It was a great 4th of July, though I forgot to dress for the occasion. It is very neat staying in the location that the French revolution also began on our independence day. What can I say I like history.