July 23, 2009

Today was quite the long day, mostly because from 4 till 10 or so we were walking around Paris. We started the day off with class. We discussed the economy of France; it has been so amazing to be in the very countries that we are studying. After class we had lunch on our own until 2, when we had our tour of Paris. For lunch we had, of course, kebab! It was dirt cheap, and I now have saved 20 Euros! After lunch we took a tour of the city and got out at a few places. It was an okay tour, we had seen most of it the night before.

Me at the Arc de Triopmhe

 After the tour we had the option of being dropped off by the Opera House (which was the same house that Phantom of the Opera is based off of!). From there a bunch of us headed towards the Seine River and then on to the Arc de Triomphe. We took the route that went along one of the most famous shopping streets in the world stopping at some neat stores including a Renault Sport store that showcased some of their race cars. The Arc was amazing to see in person after having seen it or read about it so many times before. From there we headed back towards the river and across the oldest bridge in France that Russia gave in the beginning of the 1900s to France. 

View from Alexandre III Bridge.. look at that sky!

It had been raining on and off all day and so on the bridge the sky gave an amazing display of light and darkness with the Eiffel Tower in the scene. From there we headed down the river passing by one of the palaces where oddly enough the President of Cameroon was coming in for a visit. We got to watch him and his reception – it was amazing. A bunch of us got tired after that so we took the metro back to the hotel, only we went one stop too far and had to walk a bit more. I would say we walked, all in all, around 4 miles or more tonight. Hopefully it will stay clear tomorrow and Saturday. The Lourve is free for anyone 18-26 tomorrow night so we plan to go and see the Mona Lisa.

 

Notre Dame

One thing I forgot to mention when we were in the Hague. Some of you may have seen this on the news lately, but representatives from the North and South Sudan were in the Hague for arbitration on an oil field in the Sudan. The UN Court of Justice is in the Hague and so the leaders from both the north and south were in the city. It just so happens that the northern leaders were staying at our hotel! We got to see them and a few of the people in our group talked to them. They seemed nice, it was just surreal to see these leaders from such a ravaged country here so relaxed and calm.