Heidi and Zak Attack France!

Heidi and Zak are here in France! It's been so nice to have someone here who can see what I see! Studying abroad is so much better when you're able to share it with people from back home, even if they only get a taste.

Hah, I say studying abroad quite loosely. I'm skipping all but one day of class this week in order to spend time with them. It's been pretty awesome! I met them in Paris on Saturday and left Sunday afternoon. We saw:
--Versailles. Zak is from Versailles, Kentucky, so he was able to see the real thing! My favorite part was Marie Antoinette's little hamlet that she had constructed so she could go to it and pretend to be a peasant. How uppity is that? Erin tells me that she used to have the sheep perfumed and dyed to match her dress for the day. There was a small farm in the hamlet and it was so full of the cutest sheep and goats you have ever seen! What a beautiful place, even if the flowers in the gardens haven't yet grown.

--Sacre Coeur, which I've been to before. This time it was night. I love Paris because things are just as spectacular by day as they are by night.

--Musee D'Orsay. Definitely more fun than the Louvre. I was beside myself being able to see Monets, Manets, Van Goghs, Toulouse-Latrecs, and so much more in person. If you've ever seen Moulin Rouge, the Musee D'Orsay is the train station that Ewan McGregor arrives in when he first comes to Paris. If you ever go to Paris, don't miss it.

--Notre Dame. I didn't take pictures there because we really went to get ice-cream at Berthillon, a very famous ice-cream shop, but the line was so long that we got way overpriced ice-cream at Haagen-Daaz instead. Boo.

Sunday they came to Normandy. We had lunch in my favorite restaurant in Bayeux, Heidi and Zak saw the tapestry, and then we went to a park to relax. I have a cute story about that, but it will have to wait for another post.

Today we went to Le Mont St. Michel, an abby on an island. It inspired Gondor in The Lord of the Rings, or so I'm told. Truly spectacular and beautiful, enormous, and surrounded by quicksand!

Tomorrow we're going to go to the Loire Valley to explore some chateaux! I love being here, especially when people I love so much can be here to enjoy it with me!