Pardon My French: The Road Goes Ever On & On

Day Twenty-Four:
Tuesday, May 28th

Today was a little rough because I had to get back to "real life" (well, as real as life can get in Paris) and go to class again. However, at least this morning was exciting--My roommate ended up passing out on the metro. It was nuts and I am totally useless in a crisis situation, so I just kind of sat there like an elephant in the mud.

Me:

Luckily, this awesome French woman grabbed my unconscious roommate, yelled at everyone to get out of her way, got off the metro, and found us help. I'm so grateful to her and she is a testament to the fact that the Frenchies are not all complete jerks. There are so many wonderful people here!

After that crazy start to my day, we had class and lunch. I tried foie gras for the first time. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of that. I also tried escargot for the first time today and I was shocked by how much I loved it!

Sorry snails, but you were delicious.

Then, we all watched Ever After together as a class because this weekend, we are headed to Dordogne, where the movie was filmed. I love Ever After--it's basically the only film that I can stand freaking Drew Barrymore in--so, watching the movie got me so excited for our class trip!

I sure hope this that something like this happens to me in Dordogne this weekend!

After that, we went to the Musee D'Orsay, which is pretty much my favorite museum of all time. There is so much cool art here, especially the huge Impressionist gallery on the top floor. I especially love the fact that this museum was built out of an old train station. It's seriously stunning!

I also went to the Jardin des Plantes today:

It was lovely, but the real attraction for me was the zoo. I've always loved zoos. Then, I found out that this one has a few red pandas--my very favorite animal of all time!

And then, I saw the real thing:

Best day of my life. I was so happy I felt like crying. To put it in perspective for you, it was eerily similar to how Kristen Bell reacts when she sees a sloth:

Pure joy.

I finished the day by going to see a play called Le Cantatrice Chauve (aka The Bald Singer). It was fun, but I honestly had no idea what was going on. It was a pretty confusing play...and it did not help that they were speaking crazy fast French the whole time!

Day Twenty-Five:

Wednesday, May 29th

Today, we met for class at a restaurant called Le Train Bleu. This is a beautiful place built during La Belle Epoque in the train station Gare de Lyon.

This restaurant was pretty to look at, but the prices were outrageous! What's more, the service is terrible. Our waiter was the biggest jerk. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this place!

Then, we checked out some "Passages Couverts" around Paris.

These are the original shopping malls and they've got a lot of cool history! Plus, you can find all sorts of weird stuff to buy. Anyone in the market for a fez?

After that, we all found a Chipotle and a Starbuck's in the area, so we all went a little crazy and ordered a bunch of American food. No shame.

The last place I went today was the modern art museum at Centre Pompidou.

I've never really taken the time to appreciate modern art before, but this was some seriously cool stuff...if a little on the bizarre side:

Some of the stuff was pretty weird, but I thought this museum was so much fun! It's definitely a cool one to see because it's so different from most of the others here.

Day Twenty-Six:

Thursday, May 30th

I got up bright and early to catch the train to Dordogne. Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was pouring rain on us the entire day. But, there were castles to see today so, we all pulled out our umbrellas and braved the storm. The first castle we saw was Chateau de Hautefort.

This was Prince Henry's castle in Ever After!!! So cool!

The second castle we saw was this super old one called Chateau de Beynac. Behold:

Then we headed to this famous town in Dordogne called Sarlat where we stayed the night. It was there that I had the best dessert in the world at this restaurant called Le Quatre Saisons. It was a delicious strawberry tiramisu. I have never tasted anything so divine in my entire life. Gah, I love France.

Day Twenty-Seven:

Friday, May 31st

Today, we woke up early and headed to the Grotte de Pech-Merle. This is basically a giant cave discovered by a couple of teenagers in the 1920's. It's full of prehistoric cave drawings and it was probably one of the coolest things I've seen since coming to France. The grotte was a little freaky though. My imagination was running wild with all of the scary cave creatures I'd seen in movies as a child. The whole time we were down there, I kept expecting one of these to pop out:

Or one of these:

Or perhaps the most frightening of them all:

Fortunately, I escaped the cave safe and sound. And it was actually really amazing! One of my favorite things I've ever seen!

After that, we headed to a couple little towns in Dordogne. One of these was called Saint Cirq Lapopie and it has the reputation of being the most beautiful village in France. And it really is incredible. Here are just a few pictures:

I cannot rave enough about this place. I'm in love with it!

After that, we headed to this town called Rocamadour. It's a sight of a religious pilgrimage. It was pretty cool too! After seeing that place, we packed up for the day and headed back to Sarlat. I spent that night watching The Princess Diaries with my friends in our hotel room. Not a bad day :)

Day Twenty-Eight:

Saturday, June 1st

Well, I can't believe it's June. That breaks my heart a little bit. The time is flying by so fast....

This morning, we all checked out the famous market of Sarlat. This thing was huge and there was so much to buy there!!! I tried to give myself a budget and I just got a few things so that was good. I really wish I could have bought everything there though!

Here's the market:

And here's a couple of pictures of the beautiful town of Sarlat:

After the market, we all got on the train and headed home. We did have a fun experience on the train today. A guy came and sat in our area on the train at one point. When he walked away, one of the girls in our group said she saw him sticking something in his pocket as he left. We all quickly checked our bags and my friend Ashley realized her iPhone was missing. So, she took off down the train, found the pickpocket, grabbed his jacket, and found her phone like a bad-a. She was so awesome about it. That's been our first incident with a pickpocket here in France and we totally took him down!

When we got home, I went for a run with a few of my friends and someone chucked a bottle of beer at our heads. Today's been a little sketchy in France for some reason! After that, we all went to this bar in our sweaty work-out clothes. And we still had guys coming over to talk to us. Word.

Day Twenty-Nine:

Sunday, June 2nd

Today was so cool because Elaine S. Dalton came and spoke to all the youth of Paris. Sister Dalton is something of a hero for me, so getting to see her speak was a dream come true! My friends and I were right on the 3rd row and I could literally feel her love for everyone coming off her as she spoke. She is so genuine! And she loves France so much. In fact, she told us that she's convinced that French will be the language spoken in the Celestial Kingdom!!! She spoke a lot about virtue and purity. She also reminded us to "Have the temple ever in your sights." I thought that was really cool.

After her talk, I got to meet her. I felt like a little kid on Christmas. She turned around and she told us such wonderful, empowering things and hugged all of us. I'm so grateful to have been able to hear her and meet her today!

100%!

Day Thirty:

Monday, June 3rd

I visited quite a few places today. I visited 2 malls: Les Halles and Galeries Lafayette. Galeries Lafayette is incredible! Highly recommend that one--everything is organized beautifully there! And look--there's a super cool dome, right in the middle of the shopping center:

I also went to a couple of churches: Saint Eustache and the Madeleine. These were both super cool!!!

Here are a few photos of them!

Saint Eustache:

Madeleine:

The other thing I did today was to go to the National Library of France:

This place was so, so legit. Look at all those books! It was like the library out of Beauty and the Beast!!! Unfortunately, my friends and I couldn't actually go in and walk around this room. That's only for long-term French students I believe. I was so sad about that! I needed this lady to defend me:

After that, my friends and I went to FHE and then called it a night!

Day Thirty-One:

Tuesday, June 3rd

Well, class lasted for a while today. When we finished, a few of my friends and I headed to the Tennis Open at Roland Garros!!! This was such a fun experience and I felt super classy watching professional tennis in Paris!