Aurvior Paris!

Thursday morning we loaded all of our stuff up on the coach, and then we set out to the city for a few hours. The plan was that we all had to meet back at the hotel at 4:00 to head to Amiens. So, we had about seven hours left in Paris!

First we headed over to the Rodin museum, but finding it was closed we wandered around the outside of Les Invalides-where Napolian's tomb is. It was actually a gorgeous building, and right by part of this veterans hospital. We took a few pictures, and headed back to the Rodin museum.

 Now we had one reason for going to the Rodin museum-The Kiss. The Thinker and Hand of God where also very nice, but The Kiss took the cake for best sculpture we saw. It was so realistic and stunning, especially in the smaller version he did first to map out what his plan was. It is truly stunning.

After that we headed back into the city to the Pompidou museum. It is all modern and contemporary, not really my thing, but it was cool. I explored a couple of different styles:cubism, dada, surrealism, etc. It was all very interesting to me. Not really my cup of tea but interesting still the same.

After exploring the Pompidou we were so done with museums. So, you know what we did-went shopping! Because what girl can leave Paris without something cute. For me the downfall was a pair of heels. For a friend it was a new coat. Another friend found scarfs, and another a beautiful blouse. And although we shopped on the low scale side of Paris, we still found things we loved.

And the best part is when someone says-"Oh where did you get those cute shoes?" I can answer... "Oh, Paris"

Awesome? I think so. I definitely think so.

Also, it just felt great to put heels on. I didn't bring any here because getting to church is such an ordeal, so buying these was one of the best things I've ever done.

As we were heading through a narrow side street of shops it started to rain. As my friend and I laughed and walked down the road a sweet older man, playing his accordion said "Bojur ladies". It was the perfect France moment. It was at that moment that I decided Paris really was a romantic city for a reason. It was perfect.

We met back at the bus, after having lunch at the same pasta bar. And said our final goodbyes to Paris. I promised myself I will come back sometime, and probably only for about 3 days again.

Jessica said it best: "Paris is my love affair, but I'm so glad London is my committed relationship." I couldn't have put it better. Paris, I had a good time. I enjoyed the view, the interesting things, and new ideas, but my real love is London.

Soon we arrived at Amiens. The reason we go here is to see the Cathedral of Amiens, and hit the war sites the next day. In my opinion though the reason we stay in Amiens is to fall in love with France. It is exactly what I pictured France looking like-the cute little shops, bakeries, churches, and homes. It was stunning.

And our hotel there was Versailles compared to the one in Paris. I've never been more excited about a hotel.

That night we all headed up the street to the Cathedral and Dr. Seeley talked to us all about the outside sculptures. It was so neat to learn so much about it. It was beautiful.

After this a few of us went and got pizza at a local shop where we watched their version of old school MTV-like where there are actually music videos playing and chatted with the locals. They made fun of us for getting excited about Justin Beiber, we made fun of them for calling their downpour a drizzle. It was exactly what I pictured France to be. Four of us took our 2 pizzas back to the hotel and each downed a half a pizza while laughing and chatting. It was so much more relaxing then our time in Paris, and such a nice break from the go go go feeling of the big city.