Bon Soir!
Another busy, busy, day in Paris. We had the French daylight savings time today, so we woke up what felt like an hour earlier, (yay jetlag and daylight savings!). After yet another phenomenal breakfast, we walked in the rain, (il plue!) to the beautiful Notre Dame. From down the street, we could already hear the bells from the church and what sounded like a choir of angels coming from inside. Lots of people were lined up outside already, and so we got in line behind them and waited to enter the church. When we first walked in, the service was already under way and the priest was speaking French into a microphone so that his voice echoed throughout the chapel. The service would switch between him speaking and the choir singing. During it, we were able to walk around and see all of the amazing architecture. Notre Dame is one of the largest, most complexly built buildings I've ever been in. The stained glass is so beautiful and reflects rainbow colors across the walls. The outside is rich with flying buttresses and the inside has these huge domed ceilings. I'm not religious, but being in Notre Dame made me want to be Catholic. After we'd finished our exploration, we walked to the Foundation Cartier museum where we met up with Angelo's parents again. Inside, there were a couple of exhibits by Bruce Nauman. It was all contemporary art, some of which was quite disturbing. None of us really knew what to make of it, but it was an interesting look at the commentary that the artist had on the human condition. Next, we went and had an huge lunch at a little cafe, complete with creme brûlée and had a nice couple of hours off our feet. We'd intended to go to the Musèe d'Orsey after that but by the time we'd walked over, it was closed, so instead we walked through le Jardin de Tuileries to a museum called Jeu de Paume. Joue du pomme means apple juice in French, so the museum's name is sort of a play on words. There were two photography exhibits there, one by Taryn Simon, and one by Florence Henri. Simon's exhibit had a series of photos about wrongly convicted criminals, one about war conditions in other countries, and one about things people tried to smuggle through customs at the airport. You'd be surprised how much is forbidden! Florence Henri's exhibit was mostly about her style of photography and how she used different elements to capture different things, whether it was landscape, portrait, or still life. Finalement, we were so tired and our feet hurt so much, so we walked back to our lovely little hotel and ate Gyros and crêpes for dinner. Tomorrow, I think we're going to the Louvre, as well as having time to wander Paris and hopefully see the Arc De Triumph and the Eiffel Tower! Our French is improving so much every day, and we're so happy to be here.
We hope everyone at home and at Putney is well!
Bon Nuit
The France Group
Ps. I promise photos will come tomorrow!!! The internet in my room doesn't work very well and all the photos are on my phone so I just need to find the time and motivation to transfer them so that you can all see our lovely Paris!!