Hearts for Chartes

So I successfully made it to Paris! I'm sure you could already tell. The bus ride was a little long, but the stop in Belgium was great, though short. But it was long enough to have some chocolate :)

We arrived late on Wednesday night though, so nothing too exciting happened. But Thursday we started early with a bus tour. Our guide took us all over the city, provided lots of history and photo opportunities. It was nice to get a brief intro to the city. Afterwards we stopped by the Musee d'Orsay for a visit. It used to be a train station (I think) and was converted into a museum. The building is almost as sweet as the works inside. Yet another museum where you can't take pictures, but it was still phenomenal. It definitely fueled my obsession with post-impressionist work. It definitely reminds me of those pictures made up of a bunch of pictures compiled into one - where when you stand back they form a picture, but it is a picture made up of tiny pictures. Hopefully you all know what I mean. But it reminds me of that, but it's not done on a computer, but with strokes of color. Or sometimes just dots of color. So cool.

After the museum, we definitely did some wandering. A group of us walked from our hotel to the Arc de Triomphe. It was quite a long walk, but we saw a lot on our way. And we passed through a really cute park where we stopped to lay in the grass and chat for a while to rest our feet. The weather was absolutely beautiful so hanging in the park was almost as great as roaming the city. Once we set off again, we finally made it to the arch. Some great pictures were taken, and then we enjoyed the walk back. Once we made it back, we took advantage of the mini kitchens in our hotel rooms. The stove is tiny, but there is dishware and silverware which is incentive enough. We cooked some pasta, chicken and enjoyed cheese and wine for the evening. Around sunset (which is like 10 here - something I'm still not used to), we went to the square outside our hotel. We didn't actually get to watch the sunset because we were surrounded by five story buildings... but it's the thought that counts. It was a relaxing, but fun evening!

This morning, we set off on the bus to Chartes Cathedral. Excuse me while I proceed to ramble because I'm beyond obsessed. I thought I was in love with Westminster Abbey, but that was nothing. Chartes is absolutely beautiful. Simple, beautiful, wonderful. The architecture is wonderful - rose windows, flying buttresses, two different, but both magnificent spires. The gardens around it are adorable, too. One of my favorite parts is the labyrinth in the middle of the floor. In the middle of the church, there is a circular labyrinth you can walk. According to my professor, you can cover almost 2 miles if you walk it. I'm not sure I believe that, but who knows. It's a prayer labyrinth and I believe you are supposed to pause everytime you reach a bend, and reflect before turning the corner. At the middle, you reach a circle enclosed by semi circles. You spend time in each semicircle, working your way around until you step into the middle circle for the very end. As I was making my way around the circle, there was a group of people who would occasionally join in a chorus. It was random, and different the few times it came, but still phenomenal.  Just their voices helped me experience the acoustics of the cathedral, as well as the visual aspects. It was absolutely phenomenal, and if I could think of a better adjective, I would use it. I love, love, loved it. In case you couldn't tell :)

One other thing I love: nutella crepes. They are wonderful and I'm almost living off them. But I see no problem with that.

After Chartes, we drove to Versailles. It was huge, and elaborate, but I didn't fall for it like I did Chartes. It was also a little disappointing to only see a few rooms, be surrounded by a MILLION people while you do see them, and not get to see the gardens. The gardens abruptly and unexpectedly closed while we were inside, so we did not get to wander around them. It was more than a little bit of a let down, but these things happen. Because of it, we did come back to Paris earlier and have time to wander around. I finally got some pictures of the Centre Pompidou, which is right around the corner from our hotel, and a few of us enjoyed some "soldes" too.

As for now, I'm off the enjoy Paris because Paris is always a good idea.