The Americans in Paris

Bonjour! Je t’aime Paris!

We had a WONDERFUL weekend in Paris!!  But first, let me tell you a little bit about the party and reading sessions we had last week.

It was a VERY busy week for us.  We each had a day where we had 6 readers!!!  It was great but very emotionally exhausting.  Good thing we have each other!  Our reading sessions are going really well.  We are building deep, lasting relationships with some of our readers and having great conversations.  Several of them have already told us how sad they will be when we have to leave:(  It makes us sad too.  Our party was on Wednesday again this past week, and we had a Picnic party!  We told everyone to bring their own sandwich and we would provide the rest.  We all ate outside in the yard and played get to know you games, a water-balloon game, and fellowshipped. We had a pretty decent turn out.  I believe we had 8 students total there and they all had a great time!  We are looking forward to our Mexican fiesta this Thursday!

Ok…now for our Paris extravaganza!

Well, on Thursday night our friends from OC (Shawn, Lane and Amy) were coming from their study abroad home in Vienna to stay with us and then we were all heading off to Paris the next morning.  They arrived here in Lausanne at around 10:15, but we didn’t know which platform their train was coming into!  So we were waiting and waiting and finally H0lly and I decided to go find them.  We searched the hallways and platforms and didn’t see them, so we figured we’d just wait in the lobby.  As we were coming up the ramp to the lobby, we saw Amy and Lane standing there with their big back packs on and we ran to greet them with big hugs.  They hugged us and told us that Shawn had gone the other way to look for us, so we headed off together to track him down.  We finally found him and attacked him with hugs too.  We got to catch up on each others lives during the 30 minute walk back to our home from the train station.  I don’t think we let go of each other the whole way:)

Once we arrived back to our apartment, we had dessert waiting and all stayed up late talking and eating and having a great time!  We figured out that we needed to get up around 5 a.m to get ready and start walking to the station if we were going to get on the right train to Paris.  So we said our goodnights and headed off to bed.

Morning came REALLY early for all of us.  The boys came upstairs and ate a yummy breakfast with us and then we had to get on the road!  We had a minor fiasco with reservations for the train, but if you play the “dumb American” card it works every time:)

We were indeed able to get to Paris (despite what the railroad officials had told us) and we arrived in the City of Lights at around 11:45.  We came out right under the Arc de Triomphe, and it was SO cool to see our first few minutes in Paris!

Our first sight of Paris!

From there we headed down the Champs d’Elysees and had lunch at a little outdoor cafe.  It was SO yummy!

After lunch we headed downtown towards The Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay.  We decided to tackle The Louvre first.

On the way to the Louvre!

Awkward Prom Pic in front of The Louvre:)

It's so huge!!

"The Three Travelers" about to conquer The Louvre! well...part of it:)

After spending 2 1/2 hours in the Louvre, we headed out to find the Eiffel Tower!

So. Awesome.

We were tired babies!

but not too tired to take a jumping pic!

After lounging in front of the Eiffel Tower for awhile, we split up to head to our respective sleeping places.

Remember the group that was here from Harding?  Well they were in Paris at the same time, and we got to stay with them at Sarah’s house!! It was so great to see them all again!!!  Unfortunately we missed a few trains so our time with them was limited:( But we just got a really sweet postcard from them…we love you guys:)

So we got up REAL early the next morning and headed back into town to meet The Three Travelers. We finally found them and headed back out to scale The Eiffel Tower!

Lane and Holly were the only ones who thought this was funny;)

The girls on the Second Tier!! We made it!

We love each other! Yeah Eiffel Tower!!!

Best traveling shoes EVER.

After the Eiffel Tower climb, we ate lunch, got crepes, shopped and headed to the Musee D’Orsay!  Unfortunately we had to RUN through it so Holly and I could catch our train:( but I vowed that I would be back!  Here are some of my favorite paintings we saw.

Solitude by Thomas Alexander Harrison

The White Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Danseuses Bleues by Edgar Degas

Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans by Edgar Degas (Little Dancer of 14 years)

Those were just some of our favorites and it was all in one wing! We WILL be returning:)

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this blog!  We had a blast and can’t wait to return!

Love you all!

Madison

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