Perhaps we should spend ONE weekend in France...

We've been to Paris on five occasions this trip...FINALLY we got to see it!

First stop, Le Tour Eiffel! The hardest decision of the day for the group was whether or not to take the stairs. We (partially) opted for YES, and after 668 steps, those of us who did were a bit winded. The view was spectacular, though! We could see for miles. We didn't realize how big Paris is until we could see it all. Paris is special that way; a long time ago, they passed a regulation that no buildings could be taller than six stories tall in the inner city, so nothing blocked our view. Beautiful! We also returned to see it twinkling the next night. =)

Friday night = Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles! We'd waited so long and it was better than we could've ever imagined. YAY!

What do you do when you're King Louis XIV, crazy and rich? What else?! Build the Palace of Versailles, duh. It just has like a bazillion rooms and fountains. Saturday morning was spent exploring this beautiful estate and its gardens. We thought it was ridiculous - all the extravagance. Fun still.

Later we walked all over the city. We saw Notre Dame, St. Chapelle (680 square meters of stained glass), the Arc de Triomphe, les Champs-Elysees, and all the neat buildings. AND tasty ICE CREAM, aka glace Berthillon. This was a very full day as you can see. But hey, we're tourists, that's what we do. Dinner was delightful and sitting down for it was all the better.

So, we saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Nike, and bunches of other things just as artsy but not famous. The Louvre itself was gorgeous too! We definitely got the full view...(meaning) we went through the whole thing, which is a feat if you've ever been there! All of Sunday morning was spent here. Speaking of Sunday...HAPPY FATHERS DAY to our dads! Thanks for paying for all of this! =)

To wrap it all up, we are officially done with class. We finished our last of three final tests this morning. We know we passed History, but the rest is up in the air (haha j/k...kinda). It's weird to think that we're leaving in two days after being here six weeks. Just think, one more week and we'll get to see your smiling faces! Friday we train to Switzerland, then it's off to Italy until next Wednesday! We're sure it will fly by like all the time here has.

Au revoir to all of you and to France.

With love,
Danielle and Kely