Earlier on Thursday during my Medieval Art in Rome class we went into a chapel in the Scala Sancta which is the church where you go up the stairs on your knees. Mom wanted to go to this one when they visited but we couldn't find it.
Later I went back to school for my Italian quiz and then jetted back to my apartment to pick up my luggage for Paris! We got into Paris at around 10:30 pm and saw the Eiffel Tower from the plane at night, it was gorgeous. I wish you could see something cool when you fly into Rome but everything that is big and impressive is lower down due to the flooding of the Tiber River. (And the airport is far from the main city)
We met up with my friend Caitlin's sorority sister from Penn State who was studying abroad in Paris. Then we got back to the beautiful hotel we stayed at "Hotel California" ironic, I know.
The next morning we walked around Paris for a little and went to the Musee d'Orsay. This museum was GREAT! It had an exposition from Monet (my favorite), Manet, Van Gogh, Degas, Cassat, and many more. In 2nd grade my teacher Mrs. Tobias was really into impressionism and art so that is when I started loving Monet and impressionism. I was even able to walk into a room with paintings from all artists and decipher which ones were from which artists without looking at the tags! This museum was a breath of fresh air because we are so used to old Roman medieval art with Jesus and Mary all over them. The Musee d'Orsay was definitely one of my favorite parts of Paris.
Later we walked along the river and went to the huge opera house but it was closed so we couldn't tour inside :/. Then we went to the Galeries Lafayette which is the biggest department store (kinda) I've ever seen in my entire life. There are about 5 stories and they are all filled with designer bags/jewelry/clothes/everything. The other girls are big shoppers so they loved this. At one point I pulled a "dad" and held everyone's bags, sat down and told them to let me know when they were done! We did end up going to the Longchamp store and I got a bag there (I've been wanting one for about a year now and I needed a new bag for books since my Vera Bradley one is dying on me ... sooo I got a bag in Paris! stereotypical, I know.)
We met up with Caitlin's friend again and she brought us into the Latin Quarter and we had a great fondue dinner! One was a big pot of melted goat cheese and the other was a different kind of fondue where you put blocks of cheese under a flame and then wait for that to melt. We had potatoes/meat/bread to dip in - it was awesome! Later we went to Notre Dame to see it at night (its gorgeous and gothic). There were street performers there with a big crystal ball and they were playing with fire, twas interesting.
The next morning we continued walking around the city but unbeknown-st to us that Saturday was a bank holiday so almost everything was closed. Because of this we walked along the river to the Eiffel Tower, had crepes (I had chicken and cheese - surprisingly good!) We then took a boat tour up and down the river where we went down towards Notre Dame and circled the island. We each had our own phone like devices where we heard our tour in English. Towards the end of that boat tour the weather started getting cold and rainy. We went back to our hotel and then went out to dinner at another French restaurant. Then we went back to the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkle at night. It was so amazing and gorgeous when it sparkled. I think it only does that for about five minutes every hour. We met up with some other kids from IES that were there for the weekend and sat outside the Eiffel Tower waiting for the next light show. Once it started sparkling again we popped champagne and ate our baguettes we got earlier from a pastry shop. We then took the elevator up to the top of the Eiffel Tower for an amazing night view of Paris.
On Sunday we went straight to the Louvre. Unfortunately, since it was closed on Saturday, all tourists went there on Sunday earlier in the day. We had a semi early flight out of Paris and couldn't wait on the 3 hour wait to get into the Louvre which I was kind of upset with. But I heard the Mona Lisa isn't that impressive and that is the main draw to the Louvre. I was able to get a picture with the big pyramid which was in the movie the Da Vinci Code! After that Kodak moment we walked around the gardens and then made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Once there we climbed to the top (the stairway is reallyyyyy narrow and made me a bit claustrophobic. Finally at the top we had another view of Paris during the day at the center of all of the main streets. There is a "modern arc" along the same street as the Arc de Triomphe that we saw too.
After the Arc we went back to our hotel, picked up our bags and headed to Rome! We got back early enough that we were able to unpack / relax / and get school work done (which hasn't happened most Sundays due to our late flights and delays/cancellations). On Monday I had a full day of class and then my roommate and I met up with other IES'ers to go to this "chocolate bar" where they have mini shots of bailey's and mint in a shot made out of chocolate! I wanted to visit there before we left so it was cool to see/eat!
On Tuesday I had a field study with our architecture teacher Babs at the Olympic Stadium where I went before for the AS Roma soccer game. That night we went to another themed bar called "Ice Club". It's a pretty small room all made out of ice. The seats/bar/wall/igloo entrance is all made out of ice! They gave us these huge poncho's that made us look like astronauts to keep us warm. The glasses with the drinks in it were even made out of ice!
Wednesday was Cinco De Mayo so we went to La Cucaracha, the ONLY Mexican restaurant in Rome! Thursday I had a field study for my medieval art in Rome class to the S. Cecilia in Trastevere church (which I visited with my parents when they visited). Then I had my film class where we edited our films that we made. I then had my Italian class where I got back my quiz and I got an A on it!!!! Woo! Later I met up with Mick at the Vatican and we walked towards Piazza Venezia and had a pint at Scholars, the Irish pub! We didn't go out that night because we had to be at IES early in the morning for our trip to Tivoli. There we first went to an old villa with ruins everywhere which was made by Hadrian (the person who supposedly planned/made the Pantheon). We then had lunch and then went to the beautiful Tivoli gardens. Unfortunately it decided to downpour there so the fountains and the garden weren't as appreciated as they should have been.
The rest of the weekend was full of me going grocery shopping/laundry/cleaning up/ resting/ writing papers / and studying for my Italian final next week!
Here are the pictures from Paris: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042074&id=1376760021&l=65ca1f9931
Ciao!
-Krista
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