Ah oui, Paris!

This past week our group has explored Paris, with the guidance of our professor, the local Marianne Robins. She grew up in a suburb of the city and so it was great to have her show us the ins and outs of the city. We saw a lot of the major tourist sites, and also some not-so-touristy places that related to the semester's themes of marginality, travel, and peace & conflict throughout history. Despite the cold weather (it rained today), and the really annoying junior highers from Ireland who thought it was fun to run through the halls of the FIAP hostel at all hours of the night, screaming and slamming doors and keeping us awake, I really enjoyed Paris. In my mind I think I had pictured Paris in springtime or summer--warm and sunny and colorful, so it was different than my expectations. But Notre Dame and the Palace of Versaille still awed me. And thanks to Nyquill, I was able to get some solid sleep in the noisy hostel. Here are some photos from the week:

The Paris Mosque, some of which is modeled after the Alhambra, which we saw in Granada.

The Pantheon, a monument to the leaders of the French Revolution and Republic.

The outside of Notre Dame. The church is located on a small island in the river Seine, which runs through the city of Paris.

Inside the church, and the altar at the front.

Me and Kelsey outside Notre Dame. The architecture is super intricate and the building is huge!

Victor Hugo's grave in the Pantheon. Many other famous Frenchmen are buried in the crypt beneath the monument.

The Shoah Memorial, to the Jews who died in World War II. The Hebrew word "shoah" is used in France instead of "holocaust." Shoah refers to the destruction of the Temple, one of the greatest tragedies in Jewish history.

Marianne gave us a tour of the Right Bank, where we visited the monument at Place de la Bastille--where the castle of Bastille was stormed during the French Revolution. We also got to see the Jewish quarter, the outside of modern art museum, and other interesting buildings.

This is the outside of the Louvre, the famous art museum. The building takes up a whole gigantic block in Paris.

We didn't go into the Louvre because there wasn't time but we did get to see and go inside the famous glass pyramid in the courtyard by the museum.

We walked down the Champs-Elysees toward the Arc!

Me, Allison and Hannah by the Arc de Triomph!

 On Saturday I visited the palace and gardens of Versaille with some friends. It was incredible to see the intricate gold designs of so many rooms, most funded by King Louis XIV. My favorite room was the Hall of Mirrors, a long corridor featuring tons of mirrors and golden statues and chandeliers. The high ceiling was painted with a huge fresco, depicting the Roman golds and scenes of French military victories.

The expansive gardens were amazing too, with trees and lakes and canals and statues as far as the eye could see. I bet in the springtime they would have been so colorful with everything in bloom. Even in the rain, though, it was gorgeous.

My photos from Versaille aren't uploaded yet but I'll post them when I can.

Tonight we saw goodbye to Paris and "bonjourno" to Venice and a week in Italy! We're taking off for a night train in about three hours...that should be an adventure. I'm stoked for the Italian food though! Since I've already been to Rome, I'm also excited to revisit some of my favorite sights there. It's crazy that our semester is almost half over--after Italy we head to Istanbul to meet with the other half of the group before going to the Middle East.