Bienvenue A Paris

I don't even know where to start this one.

So, I went to Paris.

I met a friend who is studying in Oxford (Jane) and a friend who is an au pair in France - on the Swiss border - (Emily). We rented a small apartment on a street called Rue Saint-Maur. From here we went ALL OVER Paris.

We bought 3 day metro (subway) passes and saw paris.

On the first morning, Jane and I sat in a cafe on a small street and multiple Parisians passed us with baguettes in there hands - some stereotypes aren't so far off. We also saw Notre Dame and an area called Pont Neuf.

Our humble abode

Rue Saint Maur

Rue Saint Maur

Jane on Pont Neuf

Le Seine

Paris

Charlemagne - in front of Notre Dame

Notre Dame (My camera died after this)

With Emily safely with us,

We were on to Le Louvre, the Eiffel Tower

Musee D'Orsay, Sacre Coure,

No cameras were allowed in Musee D'Orsay

And Le Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysees, and The Eiffel Tower at Night

Thankfully Jane and Emily speak French pretty well. I got by with 'Merci,' 'Au Revoir,' 'Je voudre,' and, of course, 'Bonjour.' I did come into some trouble when I would speak first and find myself saying 'Merci' to a teller before we had spoken at all. Problems with a memorized vocabulary.

Going into this I was 'so-so' on seeing Paris. It seemed too cliche. But it won me over - completely. The Parisians did have their stand-offish ways, but the city was absolutely amazing.

I am so thankful and so incredibly blessed for this opportunity to go to Paris and to spend time with such good friends that I made at Rhodes - another blessing that I take for granted all too often. I missed celebrating Thanksgiving in the States, but I think it struck me here more than ever how wonderful a holiday of thanks is and how very much we all have for which to be thankful.

Love to all.