21 Years and a City of Love.

> Birthday weekend in Paris= Success!!

But before I get to that, I have another FREE museum day experience to share.

May 2^nd was the first Sunday of the month, so I eagerly searched online for museums that I had yet to see in my semester so far in Paris. There are so many museums; it is easy to go months without ever even knowing about them! I quickly decided my plan of action for the day: Musée National du Moyen Age Thermes de Cluny de Paris (Cluny Museum for short), and the Musée de l'Orangerie.

First up was the Cluny Museum. Formerly the town house to the abbots of Cluny and the residence of many other occupants, the building itself is beautiful! Lots of beautiful architecture and design are within its walls.

Walking through the museum, it was definitely a different type of art than I was used to. It was great to see ancient books of the Middle Ages with each page so delicately designed. It brought back all the memories of Disney movies that start with a storytelling book, yet here I was in front of one that was actually real and not a cartoon.

One thing I noticed while in the museum was the amount of tapestries on display. They were everywhere to be seen! Known to be some of the most famous from the middle Ages, the six tapestries known as La Dame à la Licorne are housed here. They were amazing to see in person!

After my short visit to the Cluny Museum, I made the quick walk over to my next destination; Musée de l’Orangerie. I have actually walked past this museum many times before and never even realized it was a museum at all! Located right next to the tuileries garden, Musée de l’Orangerie is a large gallery for several impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.

My favorite portion of the museum was Claude Monet’s set of water-lily paintings, known as Nympheas. The way that the paintings and the building combined forces was a beautiful experience, as when you stood in the middle of the rooms, it felt as if you were actually staring off at one of his infamous ponds.

The rest of the museum was great as well, filled with paintings from Picasso, Soutine, and others.

My second FREE museum day was just as great as the first, and I am so happy that Paris gives me the chance to do things that I normally wouldn’t be able to do on my budget!

NOW, onto my birthday weekend!

From the moment I sent my forms into ISA for my semester abroad, I was excited for experiencing my birthday overseas.

I had envisioned where I would be, what I would do, and who I would be with while in Paris on my birthday. I realized last week that I had put a lot of pressure on myself to have the best birthday ever, considering my location. It finally occurred to me, Friday evening, that I already had one of the best birthday stories I could ever hope for; I was in Paris! Everything else was just going to be a bonus. So with that mindset, my weekend began.

Saturday I went with my program to the palace of Versailles. I was so thrilled when I found out we were going there the day before my birthday! For most of those who know me are already aware, I was born in Versailles, France, just blocks from the palace. I felt so lucky to be going back right before I turned 21.

We got our tickets and audio guides, and headed into the entrance of the palace rooms.

One word to describe the inside of the palace: crowded. Tourist season has begun to climb, and my friends and I can definitely tell. Seeing as it was exhaustingly hot and crowded inside, my friend Kiyomi and I made our way pretty quickly through the various rooms, obviously taking time to listen to the interesting facts on each and observing the great differences of each room.

An aspect to the Versailles palace that I had never noticed before were the amazing patterns and colors everywhere you looked. In each room, there were dozens of fabrics, metals, and crystals that combined to make a thick texture; a feast for the eyes.

After exciting the palace, we moved onto the next portion of the Versailles experience: the palace gardens. Known worldwide, the King’s gardens are such a beautiful site to see. Dozens of fountains, acres of perfectly groomed trees and shrubbery surround the main walkway, leading to a massive grand canal.

Kiyomi and I eagerly started exploring the playground of history. The two times I had visited the palace in high school, it was too early in the year for the greenery to have bloomed, so I was ecstatic to see that everything was in full spring swing.

As we walked toward the main path, we heard music coming from somewhere. To my surprise, they were playing classical music through loudspeakers for everyone in the gardens to listen to! It was such a cool way to experience the gardens. It made you feel like you were there hundreds of years ago, just like the royal family.

Ouch. Too bad for you, Cleopatra.

Fighting off hunger for the sake of being able to see everything first, Kiyomi and I made our way to the back of the forest to the cottage of Marie Antoinette. I had always wanted to visit this site, yet never got the chance to, so I was very eager to go. Upon arrival, we were surprised to see hardly anyone there at the moment. As we entered the area, the first thing we saw was the animal pen. They had geese, goats, chickens, rabbits, donkeys, and more being raised on the estate! Some of the animals let us feed and pet them, which was awesome.

Grabbing life "by the horns" is my new motto.

After our “zoo” experience, we walked over to the actual cottage area. At the first spotting of it, it looked like we had traveled straight back to when it was built.

Made for Marie Antoinette, this collection of buildings was a common “getaway” for the queen to escape the realities of living in the royal family and be a “civilian” for a time.

The beautiful pond in the center of several thatched-roof buildings made for an incredible location.

We walked to each building and got to read about what the purpose for each place was. After seeing all the different parts to the little village, we sat down for a while and let the scenery sink in.

After returning from Le Hameau de la Reine (The Queen’s Hamlet), we bought sandwiches and ate along the main walkway. As we finished eating, all the fountains turned on! I had never seen the fountains of Versailles turned on before, so I was amped to go through the side gardens to see how different everything looked. (For those wanting to see the fountains on during a visit to France, the website says that the water-show is only during the weekends from April to October. The day we were there, the fountains were on from 3:30p.m. until 5:00p.m.)

My favorite fountain at Versailles.

The first area had large bowl-fountains surrounding a center statue. This are was all very dramatic, as they had opera music playing loudly throughout the arena. It was beyond beautiful.

We made our way to the next location, a water show! For all my Missouri friends, this show put the Branson Landing to shame! Obviously some of the technology was not invented when the King lived there, yet the show was nevertheless gorgeous to watch, and awesome to listen to the music accompanying it.

More stops along the walkways were made, gawking at each fountain as we passed it.

I felt bad for this lady. Would you want water dumped on you for hours?

We finished the day sitting on the grand canal’s edge, watching people row by in boats and laying out in the fields next to the canal. It was a really beautiful day.

The next day was the day I had been waiting for, May 9^th, 2010!

I woke up and lazily got around to getting out of bed. I met up with friends in Le Marais area of town to get falafel! It was amazing, as usual. Since it was a great and warm day out (all I had hoped for on my birthday), we walked to the Seine and sat on the water’s edge, eating our food and waving at tourists on the boats passing by.

Beautiful day in Paris. Couldn't ask for more!

After lunch, we traveled over to Notre Dame and my friend Mia bought me the most amazing gelato I have had thus far in my life! One scoop passion fruit, and one scoop of brilliant pear. Completely satisfied already, I had more to my day!

The very center point of Paris, where all distances from Paris are measured from.

My friend Victoria and I met at Notre Dame and made our way up to one of my favorite areas of Paris: Montmartre. She bought me a coke, and we sat on the steps to listen and watch street performers, and take in the amazing view of the city. We stopped into Sacre Coeur where mass was taking place, and a nun sang a beautiful song!

Amazing street performer who did awesome tricks with his soccer ball.

Going back home, I got to have a wonderful birthday dinner with my roommate and host parents. We had salmon for the main course, and then crème brulée for desert! They put two candles in mine and came into the dining room singing Happy Birthday in English! It was so nice of them. On top of that, they bought be a book on the history of Paris, complete with pictures of these amazing models of what Paris used to look like. It was the perfect gift, as my host mom is a professor of the history of Paris.

Host mom and dad! Mme Forest and M. Pascal!

Birthday Cake, french style.

After dinner, I ended the night by going to the Eiffel Tower with my roommate to take some pictures and revisit the famous monument of the city. It’s always great to stop by every couple of weeks.

I found a lucky button in Dublin, and then on my birthday I found two lucky buttons in Paris! One by the Eiffel Tower, and one at Sacre Coeur.

At the Peace Memorial. Peace in all different languages.

Looking back at the day, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. It was a beautiful, relaxing day in Paris, complete with great food, good friends, and the city to welcome me into my 21^st year of life.

I’m really blessed, and so thankful!

This weekend is Rome, (unless the volcano tries to ruin my plans!) and I am so excited!

Affecteusement,

George