31 March 2010

France- Day 2

18 March 2010; 7:41 am (Paris time)-


Last night we went and looked at Notre Dame Cathedral. We took lots of pictures of the river. After that, we wandered around and got lost for a while, but found our way to the Café Creperie, where we had crepes. I had a crepe called the Belle Hélène, which had ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, maple syrup, almonds, and pears on it. It was one of the tastiest desserts I have ever had. We had breakfast of croissants, hot chocolate, and baguettes, which were also good. I lost my hat today, and I think that I left it at the crepe shop. We are going to look for it today. I hope I find it.

18 March 2010; 9:55pm (Paris time)
We went to the Louvre today. We saw the Venus de Milo, tha Mona Lisa, and many other famous works of art. I was amazed at how large the whole place was. I was so happy to be there because in all my architecture books, I saw the great center pyramid, and I have always wanted to see it, and today was that day. I was so excited. We had lunch outside of the pyramid. I had a salami sandwich and an éclair for lunch. We saw the obelisk in front of the garden of the Louvre. It amazes me how someone was able to bring the obelisk all the way back from Egypt. We later went to the Pantheon. We saw Focault’s pendulum, which hangs amazingly high in the building. I learned that St. Genevieve was the patron saint of Paris and that St. Denis was the first archbishop of Paris. I thought that it was great that both St. Genevieve and St. Denis were helping and encouraging the French when Attila the Hun came to Paris. We also saw the National Convention statue and the memorial of Denis Diderot, editor of the first Encyclopedia. I also saw the crypt in the Pantheon and saw the coffins of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Alexander Dumas, Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, and Louis Braille. Afterward, we went to see an old Roman colosseum that was turned into a park. We had Salami, Cheese, and a baguette for dinner. We are going to see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumphe tomorrow.