Vite vite! : France

Wednesday we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie to see Monet's water Lilies and the works of Picasso, Cézanne, Renoir, and Matisse. 

I loved seing the Water lilies especially because when I was last in France  with my family I went to Giverny and saw the ponds and water lilies that Monet painted. 

Next we took a train outside the city to Versailles. Finally we didn't have to walk somewhere! The palace was incredibly crowded and it was very hard to move. If you ever go, go when it's least crowded! 

Hall of mirrors

I have never seen a more magnificent building in my life. Every single room was saturated with columns, statues, tapestries, and chandeliers. Every ceiling was painted and there was gold paint on everything. It's crazy to think that this was the home to Marie Antoinette! We even saw her bedchamber and the silks there were made in Lyon! There was a secret door that helped her to escape to the kings room during the raids of the palace during the Revolution. 

After touring the palace, we went out to the gardens. They spanned for as far as the eye could see. All of a sudden, the weather changed drastically and it was pouring rain. Leah and I ran back to the train station using our scarves as a sort of umbrella 

The rain sure cleared everyone out 

On the metro ride Home, I was speaking With a French businessman and he called my French "amazing!" This was very satisfying to hear on one of my last days in France. 

Thursday, Leah left to take a plane to the US, so my last day in France I wandered by myself. First, I went to Musée d'Orsay. The art collection there is incredible, It seemed that every painting I've ever studied in school was just inches away from me. 

When I was last at the musée d'Orsay, I took some of my favorite photos of my parents on the terrace. It meant a lot to me to go back there and remember.  

Here's the photos of my parents, 2007

And now

My dad also took a photo of my sister and me when we were last there in front of the big clock, so I figured it would be fun to redo a photo there as well. 

The photo when I was 13

Now

After this, I window shopped on the street next to the Louvre, where all the super expensive high fashion shops are located. Things there are crazy expensive! This is where you would run Into celebrities. I happened upon an old book shop and I went in to look.

 I was looking for several books of poetry in French and mistook another customer for one of the people working there. He didn't work at the bookshop, but he works at one of the fancy shops on this street. Apparently, I chose the right person to talk to because he was incredibly knowledgeable about French literature. 

 We sat on the floor of the bookshop for over an hour pulling books from the shelves and discussing which I should get. It was pretty out of character for a French person to sit down on the ground in a store in general, let alone mr.fancy-frenchman-shoes-cost-more-than-my-airplane-ticket sitting on the floor and telling me about each book he loves. 

 I ended up with some classics: 

Now, I am in Sevilla, Spain waiting for Ty's flight to come in. I had quite the journey to get to the airport this morning...a true French experience! By a true French experience, I mean that something had to go drastically wrong. 

I was waiting with all the other passengers for the train to pull up and take us to the airport. As the train was pulling up, and I was so close to finally being on my way,  the electrical connection for the train blows  and there's a small explosion. It was 6:30 in the morning, and after just a few hours of sleep I was sure it was some sort of joke. But no Worries, they re-routed the trains and I am in Spain now! 

 A bientôt! 

Hasta leugo!