Some Life I Have Going Me!

The next morning, I eagerly woke to begin some more adventures. Breakfast buffet. Good food too. Crepes, brie, ham and an endless amount of Nutella. A pleasant way to start my morning. After a quick meeting, we were off to the Louvre. Once again, more giggling. Size alone. 652,000 square feet. 35,000 objects from prehistory. Fact. you can't do the Louvre in one day, most likely, not even in one week.

Then museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, which was originally built as a fortress in the 12th century. The museum's famous pyramid design was done by I.M. Pei, a master of modern architecture. I was taken away before even entering, so you can imagine what the entire experience had been like for me. After walking through sculpture galleries, and rooms filled with wall to wall paintings I arrived at the museums largest attraction, the Mona Lisa. It struck me as strange that I had walked through room upon room of religious painting, ones of Jesus, the last supper, Mary and angelic figures. Right there in the mix, the Mona Lisa. Why?

The Mona Lisa wasn't the only painting or work that got me thinking. For this reason, I developed an appreciation for art that I had not had prior to this trip. I now love a day at the museum. As a group, our time at the Louvre was cut short, so another visit sometime during my stay was definitely in store.

After leaving the museum, we strolled past the Palais Royal to the Place De La Concorde, a beautiful public square. After exploring its landscapes and surrounding buildings we found ourselves at the Arc De Triomphe. The Arc De Triomphe is a monument to honor soldiers of Paris. It is a massive structure that centers in the intersection of 11 major avenues. The view from the top of it was amazing. We enjoyed it so much that we made an attempt to eat lunch there before being scorned by a security guard. After soaking in the sites from above, we went back to ground level for a trip to the Orangerie Museum to take a look at some works of impressionism. They had two entire galleries dedicated to Monet's Water Lilies. I really enjoyed the way that he would paint the same scene in a variety of ways, including time changes and depth changes.

After a couple of hours at the museum we headed up to the lively Latin Quarter. The area is known for its bistros, so we went as a group for a traditional french dinner at Bistrot de la Montague. We had a nice 3 course meal which included french onion soup, pouched salmon, a cheese dish and of course, ice cream. Our professors graciously treated us to this fine meal, along with unlimited wine. Some life I have going for me! While we sat eating, IN PARIS, a guitarist walked throughout the restaurant energizing the group. Before we knew it, everyone was up dancing, led by our fantastic professors.