European update 7/18

Hello everyone,

Sorry I have been out of touch. We only have Merry K's IPOD to write emails, but I just remembered that I have my phone, too. I can write a lot faster on my phone. More practice I guess. ;)

Anyways, yesterday we all headed out to the Arc de Triomphe and waited in line for an hour. We finally realized that it was closed that day due to a celebration. Sigh. Oh, well we at least got to see the outside.

Next we headed on down to the Louvre. Wow, what a huge building!! At least four floors of great things to look at. Of course we only ended up looking at two floors, but still walked about 3 1/2 miles in the building. We decided to see two things: the Egyptian exhibits and the Mona Lisa. It took us at least three hours to see just that. :) Yes, we only spent three hours at the Louvre, looked at two floors and then left. I know some of you would spend days in there, but not me.

On the way back to the metro I decided to play Marilyn Monroe on the sidewalk. Actually I was minding my own business and just happened to walk over a pretty strong gust of wind coming from the vent on the ground. Up went my skirt...oh dear. At least I was wearing a pair of shorts underneath and was still decent. All of us girls were laughing quite hard after this. Yet, the boys missed the whole thing. Not that I am complaining. Haha

Today we took a day trip to Versailles to see a beautiful palace. The weather here has been wonderful. It reminds me of home. :) Today was cool and a little windy. We enjoyed looking in all the colorful rooms and walking along the green gardens. We had lunch that we had packed in the gardens while listening to some classical music being played on some speakers for all to enjoy.

Later for dinner we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. This is number three on our list. The first HRC was in Rome, second in Venice, third just now in Paris and the fourth will be in London.

One thing that has been annoying here are all the posters for the new Harry Potter movie. They are everywhere, especially in the subway. We have to wait till next week to see it. Only a week away!

My fingers are getting tired from typing this all on a Blackberry, so goodnight all!

Ladybug

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Today we took the train up to Versailles and spent a few hours there. You can definitely tell what kind of group we are when we're all sitting on the train with our nose in a fat book. The palace itself was certainly lovely, especially the Hall of Mirrors, but it was Marie Antoinette's chateau that made the biggest impression. Unlike the palace, it was light and big without being overwhelming, and the pink and green marble and white stone was much nicer than the dark fold and heavy fabrics of Versailles. The gardens were huge but not noteworthy.

That was all we did today. As the trip goes on, we're taking our days more and more easily.

It's quite a challenge to cook in this apartment. We did finally find a grocery store with food other than rice and beans and milk and canned veggies, but our supplies are a bit limited. No sugar or honey for the tea, but teacups, and I had to use the bottom of one to crush the egg salad. We also can't have pancakes because none of us can figure out what "baking soda" is in French. Oh, the things they don't mention in guidebooks.

For a couple days now, there have been an extraordinary amount of street musicians...but in the subways. They are surprisingly talented, though, even if it's not the most fun for one's ears when they're performing in your subway car. We've also noticed that almost all the beggars here are handicapped, instead of just poor. We'll definitely enjoy being able to walk down most streets unsolicited when we get home.

(Oh, and last note: we did end up watching Twilight in French on TV. It's at least a little less cheesy when dubbed, but we were laughing at it anyway, for some of the intonation of the dubbing, but mostly the translation. Edward calling Bella "parfait" was cute enough, but at one point it sounded like he called her his "croissant" and we were chortling madly over that.)

Love to all,
Merry K