Week 2

Last week was busier than the first week, so it went by much quicker, thankfully. As you may have already read, Erica & I returned from Nice to Paris on Tuesday afternoon. 

Erica then had a friend visiting from Canada, so we did some touristy-type things for a couple days. Wednesday we went on a free walking tour around Paris for about 3.5 hours. We saw a lot of things, but didn't get too close to many. After the tour, we returned to Notre Dame de Paris. I was very much frustrated by the fact that things were being sold inside the church and the ignorance of so many tourists. A cathedral, whether you are religious or not, is a place to be quiet; it is not a place to talk on a cell phone, or talk loudly to your fellow tourists, or any number of disruptive things. After Notre Dame we walked to le Louvre. There is one word to describe it: enormous. Seriously. We spent a few hours there and saw two wings, very quickly. We first went to La Jacond/The Mona Lisa, where we once again experienced the ignorance of people. There was a lot of flash photography happening. First of all, there is glass in front of the painting which means that if you use flash, the picture won't turn out as well. Secondly, paintings fade with flash. Flash photography is forbidden on all signs throughout the building. Common sense? Ability to read picture signs? Apparently non-existant. That aside, for art-lovers, the Louvre is quite amazing to behold.

Thursday we found our way to Chartres, which is outside of Paris somewhere, to see the cathedral there. This cathedral is very old and quite stunning. They were fixing the front outside, though, which was unfortunate. It was a very different experience than Notre Dame. There were fewer people and they were all respectful of where they were. We planned to go to Versailles, as well, but that didn't end up working out.

Friday I stayed in the residence and did pretty much nothing because I was not feeling well at all. I had a little fever off & on and a very stuffed up head. Saturday we did a bit of shopping in our area, found a frommagerie, and then found our way to an IKEA in a suburb. We bought comforters, so now my bed seems more like my bed, and a French press, so now we can make our own coffee! Hooray. 

Sunday I went to church here for the first time. I'll be attending an evangelical baptist church, I believe is what it is. It was good, except that I couldn't sing (I only sort of had a voice) and I wasn't able to follow the man who preached very well. I got lost at the beginning of the sermon when he read part of the Bible text from a different version than is in the pews, and it went downhill from there. I caught bits & pieces, but that's it. I'm sure it will get better. I'm looking forward to being able to sing.

~Lynette