CETTE UNE LONGUE SEMAINE!!!

This is what to much exposure to "French Culture" will do to you.

This was near La Defense which is like the Manhattan of Paris. It is where all of the business buildings and skyscrapers are. No I have no idea why this giant water fount was there but it sure made for a refreshing walk.

The famous Opera House. There was a suite that had a plaque on it that said "Reserved for the Phantom". So moral of the story... The Phantom of the Opera is based off a true story.

The Catacombs!

Though I don't look it I was actually kind of creeped out to go in because the sign above my head says "You are entering the empire of the dead." Do you blame me?

We woke up at 5 to go see the Sunrise at Sacre Coeur, little did we know the sun rises in the East, the opposite side of where we were.

Some of the gang at St. Germaine.

My best friend Deba and me after I made the first African leather bracelet purchase in my life! CHEERS!

After not going to college and never getting a job "in the name of art" Cooper Epps now draws portraits of his much more successful and well known older brother on the streets of Paris hoping to earn enough money to get his next "art" fix...

The French Open!

...Again

Saint Chapel... "Holy Chapel" in English... you think someone would have named their church that before the French.

No real story with this one... just enjoy.

PENDANT LA SEMAINE!!!!

On top of l'Arc de Triomph! This was pretty cool. You could see most of the city from one spot even though these annoying spike things were all in the way!

Yep... the Mona Lisa.

For all the Da Vinci Code fans out there this is the Rose line. We tore up some tiles looking for clues but all we found was a trip to the Police station.

This starts all of the Versaille pictures. This place was pretty incredible. This is one of the many summer cottages of Marie Antionette. She also had her own little farm out there. It all looked like something from the movie "Tangled".

A ceiling

A hall

Outside of the palace is the Grand Canal. They had row boats available for rent so the seven of us rented two and went out for a boat ride in front of the Palace... when in Rome right?

I was the only one on the boat with my rowboat merit badge but I figured I'd give everyone else a chance.

A big statue

A big organ

A big gate

A big cheesy smile

A big tower... ok I better stop. So the whole group had a paid for lunch in front of the Eiffel Tower. The whole week actually was perfect weather for anything.

One of the awesome Metro entrances in Paris.

This is some of the group who all went to "Fountainebleau". Fontainebleau is a castle out in the countryside where French Royalty would go to when they were not at Versailles.

Amy, Paul, and I on our first trip to the Eiffel tour.

The "Labrynth" found in the Chartres Cathedral. It was pretty sweet. Your are supposed to find your way through it while contemplating the mysteries of life. The only thing I could really think of "Why is this taking so long."

One of my favorite cafe's in Paris

This was pretty neat. At 10:00 every night the Eiffel Tower "twinkles. I guess its a system of strobe lights or something.

This is us arriving at Chartres. I'm trying on Mckenna's glasses.

This is Malcom, our fearless tour guide. He has been a tour guide at the Chartres Cathedral for over 50 years. He said that he loves having students from BYW haha.

One of the incredible stain glass windows at the Cathedral. With most of the population being illiterate the way the general population learned the Bible stories was to go to the closest Cathedral and study them from windows like this. This one told the story of Adam and Eve as well as the Good Samaritan.

Ya...speaks for itself.

Just hanging our one day before lunch. Oh ya thats the Palais de Luxembourg behind me...no big deal.

LE CENTRE POMPIDOU

After my culture class the five of us that did not have the photography class at 3 decided to got check out the Museum of modern art. Outside the Museum is this now famous woman. For many years this woman has sat outside of the museum and played that "thing" (none of us know whether to call it a violin or what) and people give her some money. Jason Miraz made a music video here where he plays and sing a song he wrote around the one note that this woman is able to play. You can you tube it. Any way listening and trying to talk to her for a bit we went inside. I have never really cultivated a taste for any sort of art but this was able to help a little. I must admit some of the "art" that some people think of is just incredible. Here are some pics.

These are globes that the artist placed balls of duck tape on to symbolizing something that I did not really catch. But it was cool all the same...I guess that is all that makes modern art modern...it's cool.

This is us on the back side of the Eiffel Tower. That is Paul, my roomate, and Amy. We have an awesome group from BYU and I think that we actually going to join an art study abroad group which would be pretty neat!

LE TOUR D'EIFFEL

Well after being here going on a week I finally got to go to the Eiffel Tower. It was absolutely the perfect day to go. It was about 70 and breezy and sunny! After classes a group of us went to the Jewish quarter and ordered a "Falafel" which is some sort of Jewish food. It was good. The next picture shows you the store. So with our Falafels in hand we went to make our excursion to the Eiffel Tower. Again, It was the perfect time to go not only because the weather was fine but also not as many tourist were there on the weekday. So we got all the pictures that we wanted and enjoyed taking our time getting them!

BIENVENUE A PARIS!

After all of the delays, cancellations, and missed flights I finally made it! It has been a blast so far and I cannot wait to see the rest of the city! I got into Paris at 7:00 am Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day catching up with my group in the city, meeting my host family and getting over the jet lag. Heres some more pics!

A l'EGLISE

Church was a blast on Sunday. We got to meet the entire ward and had Sunday School with the Young Single Adults who are here in Paris. My comprehension is actually a lot better than I thought that it would be and my conversation skills are coming along. I bore my testimony during sacrament meeting but I still sound very american but its coming along.

This is the Church building that we meet at! It was built in the 17th century and is one of the most expensive church buildings that the church owns! It is pretty awesome! The ward members are extremely open. There were some little differences but it is so nice that for the most part the church is the same all around the world and you can find instant friends anywhere in the world!

We also had our first FHE last night. There were about 10 of us there from the study abroad group and the rest were Parisian young adults. We had a very good lesson about the Book of Mormon which is still true even in France! Then we played a game and dessert... however this was not your average LDS after FHE refreshments... We had some incredible pastries!