After a 13 hour bus ride...

We finally arrived in Munich! 

Yesterday was our last day in France and it couldn't have been better weather. We took a tour of the Opera House, shopped in a ridiculous mall, and went to the Pompidou Museum. 

Mom/whoever- I'll be online tomorrow night (here) and afternoon (there) if you have internet access and want to skype. It will probably be around 3 in the afternoon. 

Au Revoir Paris!

Today is our last day in Paris! 

I really feel like we've gotten to do almost everything I know of that is really "touristy." This morning we took a tour of the Opera House (that Phantom of the Opera is from!) and it was incredible. Our tour guide had the entire tour memorized in english but not a word more. We tried asking her a couple questions and she would just repeat a line verbatim. 

Last night we went to a jazz concert in a really cute part of town and then like 30 of us took over the bar next door. It was the first time a bunch of people from our group had gone out together so it was really fun.

We leave for Munich tomorrow morning at 8 am, just as we've finally gotten the hang of how to sneak onto the metro without buying a ticket. 

On Thursday we figured out the hard way not to split up and try to meet again later. Chris and I went back to the hotel while everyone else finished up at the Louvre and we were all going to meet at the Eiffel Tower...which unfortunately never happened. Chris and I ended up on an 8 hour "date" all day in Paris just wandering around mostly lost. We had fun though and got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Arch de Triumph, the Champs de Elysees, and try delicious nutella and banana crepes. 

I think its the curse of blonde hair to be creeped on by random Europeans. An old man in the D'Orsay yesterday took a liking to it and walked up beside me, slipping his arm through mine. He stood there for a while and finally and unhooked my arm and kind of stepped away. He stepped back and blew me a kiss. Everyone in our whole group was with me because we were about to tour the museum and was staring at him. He started following our group and finally left when a field trip of 5 year olds going the other way passed us. Sooo creepy. 

The weather here has been absolutely fantastic for the past 3 days. Gorgeous and sunny but not too hot. We had a Subway picnic yesterday in a park by the Notre Dame. It was delicious but I made the mistake of assuming French mustard was similar to ours. I ended up with my nose runny, seaty, and nearly choking from the spiciness of the mustard. 

Until Munich, 

Kaitlyn 

Stanley vs. the Mona Lisa

 Paris is wet/cold and amazing. 

Our hotel is literally right on the Seine and it is gorgeous at night. (It is the one on the right hand side) 

We're staying in a Holiday Inn and thought this would be a great advantage when asking for directions but who knew there were actually 2 Holiday Inns in Paris...

France has been entertaining to say the least. Yesterday in the market a man came up to me and was gesturing talking to me in French. I tried to tell him I only spoke English and finally he just stuck out his hand like he wanted to shake mine. I stuck mine out and then he pulled me in a kissed me on both cheeks! 

Today we went to the Louvre and it was incredible. Taking a tour with you own personal art historian is awesome. One thing Professor Medina didn't count on though was right as we entered the room to see the Mona Lisa someone noticed that Stanley from the Office was sitting off to the side with his wife just nonchalantly people watching. I'm sure they thought that they had found a perfectly secluded hideaway from fans... until 44 American college students discovered them. After pro-conning the situation we decided that looking at the Mona Lisa from 40 feet away did not compare to shaking Stanley's hand so we took several group photos and ignored Medina's futile art pleas. 

Stanley 1. -- Mona Lisa 0. 

I'll put more pictures on facebook. 

Au Revoire! 

Darling, that's a 'orrible picture of you

  We finally arrived in Paris! Its been the longest, craziest 24 hours (?). I made it into London only to be politely insulted by the passport checker... "Darling, that's a horribe picture of you," he said. 

And on to Paris. 

We're all exhausted and just happy to be here. I don't think anyone has really seen the Eiffel Tower yet but we had a fantastic welcome dinner and first night out. 

I immediately regretted bringing such a large carry-on, especially in the airport in London where I had to drag it around for 3 hours. 

We're safe, tired, and (not) looking forward to tomorrow morning's 8 am lecture (only a few hours from now, local time) 

Preparing to Leave!

  Thanks to Mom and Dad I'm almost completely packed and ready to go to Atlanta and then Europe!