Mardi!

(Blog post for Tuesday, May 31, 2011)

Now I remember why sleep is good! When I woke up, I felt like I'd been resurrected! And I was ready to take on the day! :D

I met Keller-Anne and Alex this morning for a window-shopping (and actual shopping) spree. We met first at THE Paris Opéra Garnier (yes, the Phantom opera house) and walked to some shops from there.

First on the list was Galeries Lafayette. I was expecting it to be a department store like Herrods, but I was completely wrong. It was more of an indoor designer strip mall. All of the designers had boutiques, including Burberry!, Langchamp, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc. And there were something like 7 floors. I've never seen so much designer bags, perfumes, clothing, and accessories in one place at one time.

More striking to me than the stores, however, was the building's architecture. Everything was either marble or gilded. And there was an atrium in the middle of the "store" with stained glass. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Anyways, after Galeries Lafayette, we went to the more affordable H&M across the street, which is one of my most favorite stores EVER! It has incredibly well-made clothing for very affordable and reasonable prices. When I visited my friend Colleen Healy in Chicago, I got my favorite LBD (Little Black Dress) at H&M, in addition to some khaki linen pants and two silk corsage flowers that I absolutely adore! Here are the recent additions to my H&M wardrobe from Paris!

We left H&M and went to the place where we were supposed to met Mme and the rest of the group for an evening boat tour on the Seine River. Immediately after we exited the metro station, I spotted the golden flame at le Place de l'Alma, a golden replica of the flame on the Statue of Liberty. It is directly above the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed. I got chills knowing that she lost her life directly beneath my feet. At some point during this trip, I want to lay a flower at the flame, which is an unofficial memorial for Diana, and I think it would be neat to leave a part of myself there with her. Any suggestions on what type of flower I should leave?

Then, as I kept walking, I looked up and I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time! It was super exciting seeing two monuments in such a short time span! It almost felt like I was on a movie set because it was hard to believe (and still is) that I was in Paris! I mean, I was standing down and across the river from THE EIFFEL TOWER!!!! I can't wait to go up in the tower and see the wonderful sights Paris has to offer! I bet the twinkle lights on the tower are super pretty too! :)

We soon realized that the metro rendezvous point had been changed, and we scurried to the new location to see where we're supposed to meet tomorrow for our Sarbonne orientation. We ended up returning to the metro station with the flame to catch the Batueaux Mouche for the river tour.

The river tour was really nice because it allowed us to see all of the big sights in one sitting and from their famous views along the Seine. But it was SO COLD! I could barely feel my face halfway through the tour. And it was WINDY! Little photographer me was able to weave my way through the crowd and get a seat on the front row of the boat so I had a great view of everything...until people started getting up to take pictures. Grrr...

But I was able to get shots of the Eiffel Tower from underneath the bridge like in the Paris scene in An Education! I think I might do a walking tour based off of the places featured in the clip...

After the tour, I went back to the house and cooked microwave lasagna for dinner. It was actually really good! The cheese on top was spectacular, of course! :) Tomorrow, we head to La Sarbonne to get our class placements! Hope for the best!