Ok.

You know what’s really hard? Driving with tears in your eyes. Actually happened to me last Saturday night. I was on my way home from my friend Nick’s house after saying goodbye to some of my closest friends when I lost it. The sadness that had been building ever since our last year together began came streaming down my face. I’m one of those people that feels better after a good cry, so I let it happen. By the time I got home, I was fine. Well, that’s a lie. I wasn’t fine. But I was better. I know I’ll see all of these people during Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I’m afraid of facing life without them. I can do it, but it’s going to be tough.

My girlfriends have been nothing but awesome to me all throughout high school. I’ve shared some of my greatest successes with them. I’ve also made some of my biggest mistakes around them. But I know without a doubt they love me regardless just like I love them. I was incredibly blessed to find such a beautiful group of people (inside & out) and I hope they know how much they meant to me these past couple of years.

My friend Lori, for instance, can go from having a thoughtful conversation with me one minute to making fart noises with her hands the next. Mo, another close friend of mine, has always been down to earth and a role model to me ever since she sat down at my empty lunch table on a hard day in fourth grade. Emily and I practically grew up together and are still the same people inside that we were when we met at the young age of five. Lucy has been like a sister to me from the minute we became friends and has always seemed to understand me like no one can. Lisie has the most subtle yet best sense of humor and is one of the fiercest girls I know. I became close to Aimee in 7th grade and have always felt that she inspires me to be the best person I can be and truly understands what friendship and sisterhood is all about. Last but certainly not least, Katelyn finds joy in every situation and constantly surprises me in such positive ways.

I’ve made so many friends these past four years of my life that if I took time to mention all of them, I’m pretty sure my blog would stretch from here to the sun. They’ve shared their families, stories, homes, and hearts with me and have all helped me become who I am today. I feel immensely blessed. Leaving tomorrow for a new school where I know very few people, I also feel incredibly alone. This morning, however, I realized I won’t be alone at all. And neither will any of my friends. Sure, we’ll all make tons of friends in no time (well…hopefully!), but there’s also someone who’s always going to be with us no matter where we are, who we’re with, or what we’re doing. And that’s Jesus Christ. I just hope and pray that all my friends know how much I truly love them & how much I’m going to miss them. But I also hope they find comfort in realizing they too are not alone and never will be. No matter how far they are from home.

Here’s to Tenth Avenue North seeming to know how to sum it up perfectly  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J95rAr0gOFU ,

Amanda

How can you not smile waking up to Snoop Dogg?

Ok.

In my opinion, the first few moments of our morning can really shape how the rest of the day will play out. When my alarm clock went off this morning, I immediately thought, I have exactly one week left in this house. Not a great, calm, healthy, or relaxing thought to wake up to at all. And it’s affected me to the point of having a headache and being overwhelmed by/frustrated with a lot today.

As a kid (actually this is even true now), I absolutely hated waking up to the sound of my dog barking. Or worse, my dad mowing the lawn. Or even worse, my mom vacuuming. All those noises I associate with negative thoughts. Now, however, especially during the summer, I often wake up in my comfy bed to a quiet house, the sun shining through my windows, and the smell of brewing coffee wafting through the air. But as my move-out date approaches, nearly all my mornings have started with me in panic mode over my ever-growing “to-do before college” list.

I realize over these past few days I haven’t really felt like myself due to my morning jolts into reality. While I do have a lot on my plate, it’s not healthy for me to take all of that in the minute I wake up. I think many people run in to the same problem by waking up and immediately stressing about their daily agenda. Starting your day off like that is almost asking to ruin your mental state for the next however many hours you have left that day. So from now on, I plan on making a concentrated effort  to start my days in a positive way. Either with a fun alarm (Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” right now), a positive thought, or simply no thoughts at all just to take in the few tranquil moments I’ll have for the day.

Here’s to starting tomorrow the right way, feeling super grateful that Mary Kate always understands my complicated thoughts, getting excited to see Landon Donovan and the US take on Brazil tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings with some ballers, and hoping I have enough time in this next week to see everyone I want to before leaving for Miami,

Amanda

I stumbled upon this picture this morning...hilarious, right?!

Ok.

I’m going to be completely open and admit I have a new addiction/obsession: stumbleupon.com. I’m warning you right now, if you don’t have hours of free time on your hands like I sometimes do during the summer, do not even think about getting on this website. You will be hooked and you will be hooked fast. Before you know it, you will have stayed up for 3 days straight clicking the “stumble” button. Let me explain….

The other night, I was flipping through a Miami planner/guidebook I got at orientation. In the book, current students make suggestions about different activities to try, restaurants to eat at, places to visit, etc. One of the pages has a list of things to do when you’re bored (i.e. looking for an escape during a boring class). A student suggested trying stumbleupon.com, so naturally, I did. Well, I’ve been “stumbling” non-stop ever since.

Stumble Upon is a website where users can select things that interest them (animals, the environment, psychology, fashion, sports, etc). After making these selections, stumbleupon.com will find websites, articles, pictures, blogs, or quotes online that relate to your interests. These websites will appear in random order and are all completely different. They do, however, share one commonality: they’re all so darn interesting!

“Stumbling” all day isn’t such a bad thing (unless you have serious work to do) and so far I’ve learned a lot of facts I would never have known before. It’s much more productive than Facebook stalking/tweeting/scanning people.com, in my opinion, and if you have the time, I’d check it out. Maybe a lot of people already know about it, maybe they don’t. Just thought I’d share, especially with all my friends getting ready to go to college. Hey, we need something to do to take our minds of studying those first few weeks!

Here’s to stumbling upon some pretty great stuff this morning at Starbucks, being completely in love with Taylor Swift’s new single (not a surprise!), watching Christmas movies with my sister every night until I leave for Miami, trying to decide if I like ABC’s new show Bachelor Pad or not, and looking forward to 25 cent drinks tomorrow,

Amanda

Ok.

Well long time no blog! Silly me for thinking I’d have a lazy summer that would allow me more time to blog. In fact, the exact opposite has happened. This summer has been significantly busier than most, but I have no complaints about that. Not in the least. From Paris, to work, to parties, to getting ready for college, to 2 week beach vacations…I have had the summer of a lifetime.

When things get this busy, I typically figure out what my priorities truly are. This summer I actually sat down, whipped out a green marker, and wrote a priorities list. I’ve heard that’s supposed to make things easier (or at least that’s what Oprah says). So when I sat down to write the list, I realized my list is probably very similar to most:

1) God

2) family

3) friends

4) fun & fitness

5) prepare for Miami (and my future)

6) my job

…

99) my blog (obviously)

Anyway, after writing the priorities list, I threw it away. Why? Because the list was stupid (for lack of a better word). The order was not stupid. The people & ideas on it are not stupid. I just came to realize while I was writing that the idea of making a priorities list for myself is pointless. I kept asking myself what the point was behind this list. I hate doing things that have no meaning, and to me, the list was meaningless.

I didn’t want to write my list this summer, I wanted to live it. It’s useless to say that God is on the top of my list if I don’t actually treat Him like He is. And what good is it to put my blog even on there when it clearly hasn’t been much of a priority at all? (don’t get me wrong – I love blogging, but with a summer like I’ve had, it tends to fall by the wayside)

Basically this summer, my goal has been to have my actions display my priorities clearer than that green marker ever did. And though I’ve strayed at certain points, I’m sitting here on one of my last days of freedom content with the balance I’ve been able to keep. So while my precious priorities list is probably decomposing in a trash dump right now, it is as alive as ever in my life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Here’s to not just saying but actually treating our #s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. like they’re important to us, feeling super grateful for all the incredible experiences I’ve had this summer, wondering if I really am ready for this next stage of my life, and loving that I get to spend time with my best friends tonight,

Amanda

Last night I had almost 10 days worth of clothes, shoes, and new purchases to pack before we left this morning bright and early at 8AM. I was so bummed that yesterday was our last day, but I was glad about a few things. 1) We had an incredible trip. In just a week we managed to see, learn about, do, eat, and buy everything we were hoping to on our trip. So I’m leaving with a

flight hoooome!

feeling a of accomplishment. 2) The journey back is always fun. Although I do hate flying, it’s always fun getting 9 hours of quiet time on a plane to watch movies, pray, flip through magazines, and mess around with my family. Plus on international flights, they’re very good about coming around and offering drinks around the clock. Pretty sure I had 5 waters, 2 coffees, and orange juice so far. 3) We’re coming home to our house. Vacationing is fun, but nothing beats your own shower, bed, kitchen, etc. 4) I get to see all my friends finally (and Scruffy too!) I can’t wait to hear about what everyone was up to while I was gone. And last but most certainly not least, 5) I am a Clever. And if you know Clevers, you must be confused as to why I was ok with coming home from a vacation (normally very traumatic for anyone in my family). Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt that I’ll be heading for the beach in just 25 days (the ocean may be oily, but I’ll get to spend some time with my 21839018 cousins which is always awesome). Coming home seems not so bad after all…oh who am I kidding,

Our trip to Paris easily tops any trip I’ve ever been on. Yesterday was a great way to end it, as we didn’t really have a plan set in stone. We woke up late, went down to the Latin Quarter for breakfast, and spent some time just wandering around. I found a quaint bookstore full of hundreds of classics- from Camus to Goethe, they had everything. There were books on fashion, cuisine, art, tennis, history – all things I absolutely love. I bought copies of “Waiting for Godot” and “The Little Prince” in French. They’re two of my favorite books, and I can’t wait to challenge myself to read them in another language (totally geeky, I know). To de-geekify myself, I also grabbed an issue of the June/July French Vogue and it is exquisite. The ads inside are unprecedentedly creative, and the columns are ten times more radical, out-there, and opinionated than anything you read in the US. I love it.

After some shopping, my dad and I were craving the French-style hotdog he had the other day, so we both bought those while my mom and sister had sandwiches. We ate lunch so close to the Seine River that I could touch the water and within perfect view of Notre Dame. Surreal. We strolled along the Seine afterwards, where street merchants sell some of the oldest books I’ve ever seen from little wooden stands. I picked up a book that was written in 1687. 1687! My dad swears the merchants just claim the books are that old in an attempt to rip off gullible tourists, but it was obvious these books were ancient. Trust me! We also got some great French wine (which we packed in the suitcase – fingers crossed the bottles haven’t shattered turning all my clothes a lovely deep purple…) While we were out, I also saw a pen that looks like a baguette, so I had to buy it for my dad. With having to spend all of Father’s day on a plane, I felt bad and knew he’d love it. He’s had a baguette in his hand the whole time we’ve been here, either hitting us with it, trying to make games with it, or just simply finding any way to annoy the hell out of us with a foot long piece of bread. Hilarious….most of the time.

As Saturday evening fell upon us, we realized we had to go to church since we’d be flying all day Sunday. We decided to go back to St. Francis Xavier church to have mass with St. Madeleine Sophie:) I was able to understand much of it this time too, and

St. Francis Xavier church

loved the homily. I wish I could’ve sat there and translated the whole thing for my family without being disruptive! After mass, we took the metro to Saint Germain and ate at a pizza restaurant. The wine and four cheese pizza I had was unlike anything I’ll ever be able to find in America. I’m really going to miss all the wine and cheese. And bread. And creme brulee (which we all had for dessert). Again, good thing we walk everywhere! We went home completely stuffed, packed up, and went to bed.

Sunday morning started early (6:30AM and the sun was already up – I’m starting to wonder if the sun ever goes down in Paris…) We packed up everything, brought it down the 5 floors of our apartment building, and took a car to Charles De Gaulle. It was so sad to see the city fade as we drove away, but I really hope that’s not my last time in Paris. I have a feeling it won’t be, hence not saying “au revoir, Paris” (goodbye, Paris) Rather, “a bientot, Paris” (see you later, Paris). We got to the airport which was already buzzing and waited in line to check in for almost an hour. Everything went smoothly, and our flight ended up being delayed so we had some time to mosey around and look through the shops near our gate. Then we boarded the plane for 9 hours of the same movies (I can almost quote all of “When in Rome” and Percy Jackson still made me cry at the end even though I’ve seen it now 3 times), airplane refreshments, and no leg room (not good when you’re 5’9 going on 5’10). But everything was great, and I was with the fam which is all that really matters. We landed in Dallas around 3PM, went through customs, checking in bags, and security all over again. I really don’t mind it, but I’m really not a fan of the whole having to take your shoes off deal. Not to mention, I’m one of those people that gets stopped overtime for random searches (because I look super threatening, right? Hahaha) Our gate in the Dallas airport had a Starbucks so I had to stop for an iced coffee. At that point I had been up for almost 22 hours and needed the pick-me-up. We boarded (with some pro US Women’s soccer players, might I add!) only to sit in an airplane under the hot Dallas sun for 45 minutes. Not so pleasant but we it looks like we’ll make it to STL ok so no complaints:)

I’m going to get off for now so I can try to sleep before we hit STL (this onboard wifi has been great!) I can’t wait to curl up in my own bed and recover from this brutal jet lag by sleeping all day tomorrow…

Here’s to Paris exceeding expectations, sitting next to/near an Australian on every flight we’ve been on, wishing American Airlines served hot chocolate (this plane is freezing!), praying us and everyone else traveling tonight gets to where they’re going safely, and feeling so grateful (today especially) and everyday for my one-of-a-kind super sweet dad,

Amanda

So sorry I couldn’t finish yesterday’s post last night but I was dozing off and didn’t want to make typos! So we took the Montparnasse/Saint Germain route along quite a few times. It was super cold and we hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we stopped along Boulevard Saint Germain for an early lunch. My dad, who has an unexplainable love for hotdogs, had asked all week “I wonder what the hotdogs here taste like? Can we stop and get a hotdog? Did you see that hotdog? Should we get hotdogs here?” etc. so we stopped at a brasserie where they were selling footlong hotdogs. He of course, ordered one (which is actually two dogs in a French baguette smothered in cheese) & devoured it. And I’m not really a hotdog fan, but I tried it to be adventurous and ended up really liking it too. I might even get one tomorrow if I see them! I of course stuck with my usual, a chocolatey pastry…never disappoints:) Then we did some shopping up and down the street, got super lost, and then found our way back to the bus. Although we got lost, I managed to find a great pair of shoes and some other good stuff along the way.

After hopping back on the bus, we headed to the Latin Quarter near Notre Dame. Because we had done so much walking, we were ready to rest and cool off a little. We ordered gelato at a tiny cafe off a side street and it was by far the best gelato I’ve had in my life. I got a combo of dark chocolate, coffee, and pistachio. Heaven. When we finished, we got back on the bus to take a new route – the Bastille/Bercy route. We met an old woman from California on this bus who was an archaeologist and had been to 93 different countries. She was one of those people I’d just love to sit down and have coffee with. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain while we were at the top of the uncovered bus, so we moved to the inside. We got to see the Bastille, the Assemble Nationale, the Centre Pompidou, and the more modern part of Paris. In this area, there were skyscrapers, more cars, wider streets, etc. To me, the whole thing seemed like a bit of an eye sore compared to the old and historic heart of the city.

We switched back onto the bus line we had been on earlier and stopped to have dinner at a famous cafe called Les Deux Magots. The restaurant has served the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and Julia Child. The meal was wonderful as was the beer! We’ve seen people drinking red beer every where here and have been wondering what it is. I finally asked the waiter last night and he told me it was simply regular beer with grenadine in it, so naturally, I had to try one…and I liked it! Then, we left to go watch the France/Mexico World Cup game at a bar. The crowd was super rowdy and hilarious. Everyone’s faces were painted, glasses were shattering, people were yelling or cheering, and I learned a ton of new French cuss words as we watched Mexico defeat France. Although France lost, it was a great game and a great experience – one I will never forget. We walked home, watched some commentary on the game, and then fell asleep.

Today, we slept in until 9 and woke up to a great weather forecast: sunny and a high of 70! It was one of the nicer days we’ve had all week. On our way to the metro, we ran into an open air market that went down three or four streets, so we decided to walk through. Seeing all the fresh fruits, veggies, cheeses, and breads was fun, but I began to regret walking through when we got to the meat and fish section. Fish were laid out on ice and smelled awful. I turned my head away, only to lay my eyes upon freshly killed ducks and chickens…with their heads still on. I wanted to cry. Actually I did. It was disgusting. Then we left to get some coffee, nutella beignets, and a baguette before taking the metro to St. Francis Xavier church. When we got to the church, we walked in and immediately saw what we had come to see: Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat. I’ve gone to Sacred Heart schools since I was 5, and today I had the chance to see the foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart – the same society that sent Saint Philippine to St. Charles to open a school where my grade school now stands.  It was surreal and moved me to tears. Man, I did a lot of crying today! Anyway, St. Madeleine Sophie’s body was recently discovered to be miraculously incorrupt, meaning she still looks the same as she did when she died. Her body was moved just last year to St. Francis Xavier where everyone who visits can see her. It was kind of creepy, I’m not going to lie, but very cool at the same time. I lit a candle for all the Academy of the Sacred Heart & Villa Duchesne families!

Afterwards, we wanted to see the Palace of Versailles, so we took the metro to a station where we could catch a train to take us there. The train was double decker (so of course, we sat on top) and the ride was only 30 minutes or so outside of the city. We passed quaint country homes and beautiful gardens on our way, and when we arrived, we found the Palace without problems. We chose not to tour the inside because 1) it’s a long tour, 2) it’s an expensive tour, and 3) we really only came for the gardens. Which were, by the way, freaking sweet. The palace was built by Louis XIV as a home for the nobles. He wanted to distract the nobles with parties and games in the gardens so they would stay our of politics, essentially making him the dictator of France. Bad. But smart. It was easy to see how the nobles were distracted because the gardens are huge and so meticulously designed. After walking around for a bit, we headed back, picked up some Oranginas (the orange-soda type drink here that’s very popular) and hopped back onto the train towards Paris.

When we got off the train, my mom and sister decided they wanted to shop some more on Saint Germain and ended up buying some great Burberry bags while I shopped up and down the 5 story Ralph Lauren store. The first dress I looked at was – well, just guess how much it cost….4,000 euros! Which is over 4000 dollars. Crazy! After shopping, we went out and had a late lunch around 6PM. There was a drunk outside of the restaurant that kept trying to wander in. It was funny, but sad too. There are so many people here that beg on the streets or walk around drunk. They really need some prayers. For lunch we all got salads and mine had quinoa in it. I’m starting to really love quinoa and I’ve had it now a few times at restaurants…anyone know of a good place to get it from the store?

Lunch filled us up so we went back to our apartment to rest. We laid around for an hour or so before it was time to leave to catch a bus at 10PM. This bus would drive us around the whole city for an hour and a half at night so we could see all the monuments lit up and shimmering. It was pretty cold so we bundled up and sat on top of the bus in the wind. All the monuments were artistically lit up and so beautiful. The Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower were especially brilliant. People had flooded the streets in celebration of the tie between England and Algeria just a few hours earlier. A lot of Parisians immigrated from Algeria or have some connection to the country, so all I could hear from the top of the bus was “VIVA ALGERIA!!!” Everyone was honking their horns up and down the streets and people were hanging out of cars singing and cheering. The spirit was mind blowing. Cops lined the streets as well to make sure the partying didn’t get too out of hand. Pretty funny. The tour ended at 11:30PM but we were all starving so we went to eat at the same restaurant my mom and I had eaten at on our first day in Paris when we came 10 years ago. We all ordered fries and warm sandwiches to warm us up, then headed home. On our way back, we saw hundreds of people on roller blades going up and down the street to celebrate the England v. Algeria game. It was certainly a sight to see! Now we’re back home, super tired, and ready to get some rest. I can’t believe tomorrow’s our last day…

Here’s to getting such good use out of this pocket metro map that it now has holes in it, indulging in creme brulee again today at lunch, wondering why the clouds here always look orange at night, and hoping tomorrow is going to be warmer than predicted (mid 50s),

Amanda

Just got home from watching the France v. Mexico game at a bar a few streets down from our hotel. The World Cup spirit is everywhere here, and I’m getting so into it! I’ll talk about that later in this post but for now, I’m going to start with yesterday’s adventures. I woke up at 7:59AM to realize I had one minute left to sleep. Somewhere in between 7:59 and 8:00, I fell back asleep. Waking up is near impossible now, but the excitement of the day somehow manages to drag me out of bed every morning. It’s awesome. My parents went to pick up fresh flowers at the flower market for our apartment while my sister and I got ready. Then we all went straight to the Louvre museum to catch the open tour bus route.

The bus travels on four routes. The main one hits the major stops in the heart of the city (Notre Dame, Musee d’Orsay, Champs Elysees, Trocadero, Tour Eiffel, etc) so we took that around before deciding on a place for breakfast. We stopped in the Latin Quarter to pick up baguettes, asiago bread, and Starbucks coffee (we had to!) for breakfast. Starbucks coffee is actually super cheap compared to coffee you order at cafes. We sat outside and enjoyed breakfast until pigeons began to attack (not unusual at all unfortunately) so we hopped back onto the bus to ride around the city.

The tour bus has been great because you can plug in earphones to hear information about all the sites as you pass them and (even better) you can sit on the top and get a view of everything from higher up. Plus it always makes for an interesting ride, especially going down streets lined with trees. Let’s just say a few branches took out my sister on Boulevard de St. Germain des Pres. We made our first stop at the Arc de Triomphe and climbed all the way up a never-ending spiral staircase to the top where we had a beautiful view of the city. After climbing that many stairs, we stopped to get slushies to cool us off. Then we shopped a little more on the Champs Elysees. The Swarovski store stands out the most to me because the staircase in the front of the store was shimmering and full of crystals. My dad got tired of shopping pretty quick, so we picked up the bus and took it to the Eiffel Tower. Yesterday was one of the clearest days we’ve had since we’ve been here, so we seized the opportunity.

Waiting in line for tickets was one of the most annoying things we’ve had to do here. Not because the wait was long, but because street vendors were constantly coming up to us every other second asking us if we wanted to buy something from them. I’d be talking to my sister and then feel a tap on my shoulder, only to turn around and see a strange man shoving plastic Eiffel Tower toys in my face…scared me every time. We finally got tickets and went all the way up. The city looks incredible from the sky, and the design of the city becomes much clearer. It was, however, easy to see how we got so lost the first few days as streets go in every direction imaginable. 6 or 7 streets may cross at the same intersection…it’s unbelievable! We spent a good amount of time at the top (even met some St. Louisans!) and then made our way back down so we could grab some lunch.

We didn’t have to walk too far before we found an outdoor cafe. I stuck with a salad since I wanted to have room for ice cream when we went back to the Eiffel Tower area to catch the bus. The ice cream was fabulous and we headed towards Montmartre/Sacre Coeur on the route. Well, in Paris when a shop wants to close for the day or workers are done working,they simply close and go home. Which is what our bus driver did. Although the buses were supposed to stop running at 8:30PM, he decided he was done for the day at 7PM so we ended up having to take the metro to Sacre Coeur. No worries, we found it! Montmartre/Sacre Coeur is one of the highest points in Paris. After climbing 3ooish steps to the top, we finally arrived at the beautiful Sacre Coeur basilica at sunset. We walked through the church and stayed a little to pray inside. It was personally a very moving experience talking to God in such a beautiful church, surrounded by people from countries all over the world who are just as in love with Him as I am. Leaving the church I definitely felt hopeful. Awesome.

On our way out, we saw a street performer hanging from a light post juggling a soccer ball in sync with Usher’s “I Can Transform Ya.” I’ve never seen such talent. We did some shopping in the area and got some great stuff. Then we had dinner at a buzzing cafe nearby where for the first time I tried duck, escargots, and foie gras. Gotta say, I loved them all. My favorite? Definitely the escargots. Very surprising. Topped it off with…take a guess – creme brulee. I’m obsessed. We took the metro home, watched some MTV (I’m starting to learn some of the French top 20 hits…not bad!), and fell asleep instantly.

I slept pretty soundly until the wind pushed open the window, slamming it against the wall and jolting me out of bed. I thought someone was trying to break in! Slept like a baby after that, though, and woke up again to gray skies and coooold weather. This was the first truly cold day we’ve had since we got here, thankfully. Put on some jeans, a sweater, and a scarf and headed out to pick up cafe au lait to warm up on the way to the bus stop. We picked up the tour bus and decided to take the second route that travels through Montparnasse and Saint-Germain….

Here’s to continuing the rest tomorrow:)

Amanda

So yesterday and today started a little rougher. After a few days of go go going, it was almost impossible to push off my covers and get out of bed yesterday morning. Not to mention it was a little colder (mid to high 50s) so I was not looking forward to that. After we got going though, it warmed up to it’s usual high 60s low 70s temps. We stopped for breakfast (chocolate crepes and coffee!) and then took the metro to a tour office. At the metro stop, we met a family who had just flown in from Texas. They seemed as lost as we were on our first day, so we stopped to help them & I explained the workings of the metro system to the four of them. I never want someone to feel as lost as we did on Saturday! Afterwards at the tour office we picked up info on how to get to the Palace of Versailles (doing that on Friday) and tickets to ride on a double decker open bus for the next few days. We see those driving around everywhere and they look like so much fun. We also signed up for a tour of Paris on the double decker open bus at 10PM Friday. We’ll be able to see the city at night with all the monuments lit up and shimmering.

After picking up all the information, we decided to visit the Musee d’Orsay. We had planned on going to the Eiffel Tower, but it looked pretty cloudy so we wanted to wait until a clear day. Our trek to the museum turned out longer than planned, but getting

vanGogh's "Self Portrait" was the first painting we saw

lost always means finding hidden treasures on the back streets you take to find your way again. After walking probably 5ish miles and across the Seine river, we were finally at the museum. Some of van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Gaugin, and Rodin’s greatest works are on display in the halls of the Musee d’Orsay so it was definitely a treat to see all of that. No pictures or video are allowed in the museum (not sure why) but we managed to snipe a few…don’t tell the museum cops! After spending a good couple hours walking around, we decided it was time for lunch.

We spotted a few great restaurants on our way to the museum, so we back tracked and ate lunch at a cafe outside of the Forum des Halles shopping area on Rue St. Honore. We sat outside (most people do) so it was pretty chilly with the wind blowing, but warm chicken and tomato paninis warmed us up. After lunch, my mom and I made a bee line to the shops. We shopped for a while in the three level mall, and I loved stopping in Gap and Forever21 just to see how they compared to those in St. Louis. They were actually quite similar but prices were higher and there was less color. That didn’t surprise me at all as most of the people I’ve seen tend to stick to neutrals like black, gray, khaki, white, etc. French fashion is really quite interesting but I’ll have to discuss that another time when I have more energy!

After some good shopping we headed down the street to pick up pastries for goûter (the word for snack in French). I chose a fantastic apple tart that was fresh out of the oven…it hit the spot! We decided to be cute and sit on what is called the most romantic bridge over the Seine while eating our desserts. We had a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. The people watching was great too. Everywhere you looked there were unashamed lovers going at it…always good for a laugh:) Then we headed back to the metro to go home and rest before dinner. Metro stops are always interesting too. But, like I said earlier, I will blog about that more when I find the energy.

After staying in for a couple hours and doing our usual (watching French & English music videos on MTV with an occasional flip

creme brulee...my favorite dessert so far

over to Sonny with a Chance/Spongebob/Dora [yes, they do have Dora in France and yes, she speaks French too apparently]) we went out to have dinner at a place across the street from where we had breakfast. The brasserie was small and dark inside but the wooded walls and dimmed lighting made it feel very homey. Dinner was great as always and we walked home tired and ready for bed.

So, that was yesterday. Today was awesome too, but I wanted to catch up a little on yesterday and can’t seem to find an ounce of energy to write anymore. Maybe when I wake up (in less than 5 hours) I’ll have some time. I’ll definitely be needing an expresso shot or two!

Here’s to Paris continuing to captivate me, wishing I had 500,000 euros lying around somewhere to buy an apartment here, wondering why the guy across the terrace always has dinner at 12:30AM, feeling like everyday on the streets of Paris is a fashion show, and wishing I could get creme brulee at home as much as I do here,

Amanda

Today started with waking up to the sound of squealing children at 8AM. I immediately hopped out of bed and went to open the doors to the balcony outside of our room. I looked down onto the terrace to see kids running about. It was pretty cute. We all decided to get up and get going early so we could visit the Louvre museum. We took the metro straight to the Louvre (sans problème!), and had breakfast at a nearby cafe. My whole family ordered eggs and toast, but I couldn’t pass up the chocolate filled croissant. Any day that starts with chocolate is bound to be a good day. We were finished by 10 and walked around the outside of the Louvre before going in. We saw the pyramids (which are actually a great source of controversy in France as they are much more modern than the architecture that surrounds them) and strolled around the gardens as it began to rain.

With the rain coming, we headed inside and got tickets. I didn’t realize there was a mall inside the Louvre as well, but since my dad was with us, shopping was completely out of the question. There’s always tomorrow…Anyway, we proceeded in and literally walked through every hall the museum had to offer. We saw ancient hieroglyphics, tombs of pharaohs, the Code of Hammurabi, a bunch of naked Greek god/goddess statues (you can only imagine all the fun we had with that), the Mona Lisa (surprisingly tiny!), the Last Supper, the Venus de Milo (man that girl has abs! On the downside…she has no arms), Napoleon’s chambers, etc. Paintings and sculptures I’ve only seen in the pages of history textbooks were right in front of me, close enough to touch! But of course, I didn’t for fear an alarm would go off. That certainly didn’t stop my dad, though.

After we had walked a million miles of hallways in the Louvre, we were ready for a lunch break. We ran to a cafe to eat inside as it was still raining. Again, a great meal that ended with the best chocolate mousse I’ve had in a while. I was worried the rain would prevent us from going on our cruise down the Seine River, but just as lunch ended, so did the rain. Couldn’t have asked for it to be more perfect. With the sun out, we headed down to the water and walked right onto a boat for a cruise up and down the river. We got to see all of Paris from our boat and of course got a lot of laughs from the speaker system that announced every landmark in 5 different languages: French, English, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese (definitely the funniest). The weather was perfect until the wind picked up at the end, so after stepping off the boat, we decided we’d do some walking around the Champs-Elysees to warm ourselves (and our wallets!) up.

We strolled for a good hour or two walking in and out of stores as magnificent as the paintings we had seen earlier today (Valentino, Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, to name a few!) The shopping experience was top-of-the-line. Men were waiting at the entrance of every shop to open the door, and some stores even served drinks! My mom, sister, and I were surprised to find we had to wait in a line outside to get into the Louis Vuitton store. Don’t get me wrong, I love to shop, but I didn’t end up buying anything. I just can’t justify dropping $700 on a purse or $2,000 on a pair of shoes. Even if I had the money, I still don’t think I could do it. Anyway, we were pretty tired so we stopped for dinner at a place called Chez Clement right on the Champs-Elsyees. We indulged in another fantastic meal (that ended with some extremely refreshing sorbet) and took the metro home.

We got home around 10PM, lounged around in our apartment watching music videos on MTV, and planned out tomorrow’s adventures. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be walking through the Musée d’Orsay, seeing St. Madeleine Sophie Barat’s remains at St. François Xavier church, and going up the Eiffel Tower!

Here’s to another successful day in the city of light, wondering if there’s a ghost in our apartment that keeps opening the door to my room, discovering my dad’s a closet Snoop Dog fan, seeing the cutest stray dogs near the Seine, and ending the day like I started it – with chocolate ,

Amanda

It’s time for bed and I’m happy to report I’m blogging today in a much more peaceful state of mind. Today’s been a lot better considering we’re a bit more familiar with the way the metro works and the city in general. We decided to sleep in today, as yesterday was pretty tiring (see yesterday’s blog). Sleeping in for us is typically 9 or 10 o’clock…well today sleeping in ended up being 12PM. To quote my dad, “I have never slept better in my life.” We showered in the door-less shower (water all over the floor…c’est la vie?!) and tried to get ourselves looking pretty. That’s a little tougher here as the bathroom is the size of my closet and my straightener doesn’t work through the converter. No worries though, we’re on vacation:) We then headed out to try and catch a tour that started at 2:30 outside the doors of Notre Dame. Well, if it isn’t obvious to you yet, we’re all a little confused about the area in general and didn’t make it on time.

Instead of running around trying to find it, we decided to stop and grab some breakfast at a street cafe. The to-die-for nutella beignet (just for you, Momma G!) and cappuccino made missing the tour seem like not such a bad thing. As we ate our snack sitting on a bridge over the Seine River, I finally got that “this is what Paris is all about” feeling. Since we were right outside of Notre Dame, we decided to walk through ourselves and explore. The line was long, but people watching certainly made time fly. We walked into the church and I was immediately captivated. Last time we came, I was bored by all the statues, paintings, and stained glass windows, but this time around, I really appreciated it. My dad and sister were cracking inappropriate jokes the whole time while my mom walked around and read everything. It was some very much needed time with Jesus after a hectic day yesterday.

We walked out and saw some cute little shops and brasseries in the Latin Quarter. My mom, sister, and I were drawn in to almost all of them. Scarves, pastries, shoes, books, coffee, etc. covered the walls of every shop…pure bliss. All that shopping had us pretty hungry, so we found a quaint little cafe down the street from Notre Dame for lunch outside. I had a great salad with bread (bread comes with everything and I love it…good thing we do a lot of walking).

Lunch was a fabulous break from all the walking, but after finishing, we were ready to explore some more. We walked down side streets and walked in and out of shops. We saw our first Starbucks here (no, we did not stop – we can get that at home!) and some other American stores (Claire’s, Subway, etc.) My mom and sister picked up some pastries while my dad and I ventured out to find ice cream (mmm pistachio & chocolate…my favorite). We sat in a beautiful park eating our desserts and then headed towards a metro station to get home. We found our way back without problems (shocking, I know!) and spent an hour relaxing in our apartment watching “Next” on MTV in French.

After our little siesta, we strolled down our street to find a place for dinner. A lot of restaurants are closed on Sundays (or whenever the chef feels like a vacation apparently…hilarious!), but we ended up finding a bistro at the end of our street. All of us decided on salads so we had room afterwards to indulge in some creme brulee (that was fantastic). We sat in the bistro just chatting until 11 or so and headed back down the street to our apartment. It’s strange because in Paris, the sun doesn’t set until much later, so walking down the street at 11 wasn’t too difficult as it had just turned dark. We made it safe and now we’re planning out tomorrow. Looks like a stop at the Louvre and a cruise down the Seine River…I’ll keep you posted!

Here’s to truly enjoying our second day in Paris, finally figuring out the metro, meeting some almost too friendly people in the Latin Quarter, seeing the biggest bubbles I’ve ever seen in the park this afternoon, and wondering why my sister insists on sleeping under 4 blankets when it’s about 75 degrees in our room,

Amanda