Palaces and Viruses
It’s been over a week since arriving in Paris and I’m still in awe over everything. Every time we turn a corner I look up and see a building that’s more beautiful and more interesting than the last. We went to the louvre with MICEFA on Thursday and the art went a little over my head but the building itself was amazing. We would walk into a room and the guide would describe the paintings on the wall but I would still be distracted by the ceilings or the columns. I’d look around and see some of my classmates were right along with me staring up instead of at the paintings and it made me feel a bit better about it.
We also went to Versailles on Saturday and it was truly amazing. We went on another tour with those silly headphones where the guide has a microphone but for half of it you’re standing close enough to her where she was speaking louder in person than through the headphones. The art there was more interesting to me than in the louvre because all the art and details in palace was related to the king and the royalty. The gardens were spectacular and we explored them and got to go on row boats. Sitting on that boat I was thinking about how great the trip is and how lucky we are to be on it because what else can you think about on a boat at a palace in France than how lucky you are. Though one part of Versailles that equal parts confused and interested me was the Greek gods and goddesses that were featured in so much of the art and two story Christian Chapel in the same palace. It seemed like a contradiction to me but was still beautiful artwork and I guess when you’re the king you can do whatever you want till you get beheaded.
These past 9 days have been great. I’m still so interested in everything about the metro and definitely more confident in it than I thought I would be at this point. We even figured out how to get home on the 4th of July when our RER stop was closed before 11:30pm. The food is still delicious and the menus are getting easier with more use of my google translate app. This trip is flying by and I’m trying to soak it all up, like the sponge Holly wanted to turn into. Being sick one day (I was just happy we didn’t have class that day so I didn’t feel guilty about staying inside all day)and not eating for almost two days didn’t bring me down, whereas back home it would have ruined my whole week. Even a stomach virus can’t ruin Paris for me.