Paris in the Summer

Who knew the 4th could be so much fun!

On the 4th my friends and I went out to lunch. We found a mexican restaurant!!! It was no Salty Iguana or Aubelos but it was good for French-Mexican. After my first burrito in

almost a month, we did a little bit of shopping on our way to get the best ice cream in the world - Berthillon ice cream. I got peach and fresh strawberry (which co

st 50 cents more BUT was soooo worth it! It had real strawberries in it!) This ice cream is TO DIE FOR!! After this the small group split up because

a lot of people wanted to go home and nap. I am really over the whole sleeping thing - I mean how many times do you get to live in Paris for a summer!? So Steph and I went and did some more shopping! P.S. Right now is the biggest sale in Paris. Each July every store gets rid of all their merchandise from the year at dirt cheap prices! It's the best!! The government made it official that it's from June 25th - July 28th. I

t's crazy!

Around 8 we met up for dinner - where did we go? Did somebody saaaaaay McDonalds!? (that was sung to the McDo's tune...) Anyways we went to the most American place we could think of - McDonalds! Although these McDo's (that's the French nickname) are not at all like American ones. They are classy and pretty chic. We figu

re this is because it is the only way they can get Parisians to eat a hamburger and fries!

After demolishing dinner we went to th

e Seine river with some wine to enjoy the sights - little did we know we'd enjoy the sounds as well! There was a small band of 3 Bob Marley look-a-like guys playing guitar, drums, and singing. We decided to sit across from them and watch and by a couple hours in over 200 people were around watching them! It was great! They sang mostly American tunes like Jack Johnson, James Blunt, Oasis, and of course Bob Marley. Did I mention we did all of this under the lit up and glorious Notre Dame!? After the band got done we went to this little Irish pub in the middle of the Latin Quarter (where all the students are) and they had transformed the whole bar into an American bar!! There was only American music and they had ESPN on the TV and the bartenders where even dressed up like American people! (Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, etc.) It was really fun and they even had "American specials" which was 4 Euro Buds haha - it was definitely fun and we met a lot of French people there who

were nice to talk to and they shockingly are the only French people who apparently love Americans!

While there were no fireworks - we had a pretty fabulous 4th!

Trying to catch up....

Here's what I've written so far about my trip. I should have been doing this nightly! Oh well! This is still talking about my tour before I got to Paris...

Hi! Sorry I've been totally slacking on the posts! I think the best way I can do this is to do a brief summary of the days I didn't write and then just be better about posting now...

Free Day - On our free day Ashleigh and I woke up really late! We didn’t wake up until 1 pm! But we needed the sleep. We then tried to contact the rest of the group although only a few people have cell phones. We ended up deciding just to make the 30 minute walk down to the beach where we knew of this little crepere stand. We walked for what seemed like forever but we finally found it and we found a lot of the group there too! This is because the town is so small there were about two restaurants to chose from so it wasn’t really that surprising….I ordered a crepe with ham, cheese, and an egg. It was heavenly! So delicious!!! After lunch we walked to the beach which was about 20 yards away. We stuck our feet in the water and splashed for a while but it was absolutely freezing!! We then decided to find a little grocery store. We walked the opposite direction we came from to find it. We found a little ice cream shop and bought ice cream and continued walking, and walking, and walking, and walking….for about 2 hours. We eventually made it to town but it was incredibly looooooong walk - especially in my beach day sandels!! Oh well, we found the store and bought water and snacks and some wine and had a fabulous evening with each other on the beach. We went down and watched the sunset while drinking little glasses of French wine. We then went to this little bar right on the beach and got to speak French with all the locals! It was awesome to actually use French not just with each other and out of the classroom setting. The owners of the bar liked us a lot! They gave us two bottles of champagne! And after the bar closed (which they stayed open 2 hours longer for us -the locals really liked us for that ;) ) Anyways we then went to the beach and shot off fireworks the owners had and then we walked home. It was a GREAT day!

Mont St. Michel - We went to Mont St. Michel an old monk monastery - and it’s amazing!! So beautiful and looks very magical! When we were walking up to the top the streets looked a lot like Hogsmeade from Harry Potter. The view from the top is AMAZING!!! The tide moves out further here than anywhere else in all of France. When it comes in the monastery is completely surrounded by water and becomes a secluded island. You have to be completely silent when walking through the monastery; which was of course really hard for me ;) I had previously gone here with T. Ray but it was awesome to go in the summer!

Bell Foundry - Next we went to a bell foundry where we learned how to made bells. I can now tell you exactly how to make a bell and it’s a lot harder than you’d expect! They make these bells the same way they did in the 16^th century! The mold is made of horse manure, goat hair, and clay. It was really fascinating. Some of the people in our trip weren’t into it but I thought it was really cool how much time and effort is put into a bell. You never think about that. This foundry also repairs bells. They had in the entry way a bell they are getting ready to prepare made in the 1500’s. It’s the only bell of its type left in the world!

William Conquerer - We went to the town where William the Conquerer -King of England and Duke of Normandy lived. Here’s the DL on him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_England

We went through his fortress and church it was really cool but the woman spoke in REALLY fast French. This just in when you can’t understand a language you tend to zone out…I definitely zoned. But the architecture was really cool! The Bayeux Tapestries are the story of William the Conqueror and we went to see them as well! These Tapestries are soooo old yet still in great condition and we got English guides during that so I actually understood what was going on! I forgot how much I love history! After we saw the tapestries we had a while before we had to get back on the bus so we went to the “Snack and Drink-Fast and Tasty” restaurant. I love the name of it! We ate French fries and ice cream! It was a great treat to have something familiar.

WWII Museum - We spent two whole days in the Normandy area going to all the WWII memorials, monuments, and museums. I love the history of WWII especially after learning so much about it during IB so this really meant a lot to me. The Peace Museum we went to was very cool with a lot of artifacts and memorabilia. I took a lot of photos. It’s cool because they have a lot of artifacts here because it is Europe, ya know? It’s where the war ACTAULLY occurred. There was a bench that said No Jews Allowed. That was pretty intense. Also there were real Nazi flags. It’s just crazy to think how huge of a part of history it is. I loved the Normandy area because they absolutely LOVE America and Americans! I mean all of France loves Obama but these towns have American flags hanging from houses! It was so nice to feel so welcome and honored!

Still to come:

American Cemetery

Omaha beach

Beach town

And then PARIS!

Photos - Written post coming tonight!

On the boat on the Seine

Cheese aisle at the grocery store

I love Paris!

Sacre Couer

Arc de Triumph