Family Time!

What a week ! As you know my family came to visit me and we had an amazing time!

                I met them at the airport in Paris on Friday, and we spent the weekend there! Friday we visited the Musée de l’armée and basically wandered around seeing all the fancy shops, a few Cathedrals and what not. Saturday we saw the Catacombs (spooky!) the Eiffel Tower and went on an impromptu dinner cruise on the Seine! It was so amazing! All the monuments and famous buildings were lit up by then so we could easily pick out the Louvre, the Musé d’Orsay, Notre Dame, etc. Also the food was delicious, so it was a fantastic time. Afterwards we meant to go see the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées but it started pouring on us! As in we were soaked immediately so we turned back and called in a night. Sunday we got up bright and early because Versailles AND the Louvre had free entry! So we went to Versailles first and holy crap, it was stunning. We got to see the Palace including but not limited to the King’s and Queen’s rooms, the Hall of Mirrors, as well as tour the gardens in the back. Definitely makes the list of most beautiful places I have ever been. Next we hurried back to see the Louvre! We found a side entrance so we skipped the huge line out front (suckers!) It was amazing! We didn’t have much of a plan except to see the Mona Lisa (she’s still looking good!) so after that we meandered through ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works. We exited through the front because of course we had to see the pyramid and the lovely courtyard. After that we had to catch our train back to Angers!

                This week I had all my midterms and my family needed to catch up on sleep because I didn’t really let them while we were in Paris. There was way too much to see for them to be sleeping all day! So we took it easy and enjoyed our time together. They got to walk me to class and I showed them around town. We saw some of the nice parks, two cathedrals (a “young” one built “only” 200 years ago and the other building in the 1300s!) and the chateau during the course of the week. Thursday my host family had us all over for dinner! It was so much fun! They invited a neighbor who works for my school and is also American to help me translate (my family doesn’t speak any French and my host family doesn’t speak English!). The food was delicious (as always) and we had a really great time. It was nice to show my family where I live and who I live with and they feel much better going home and knowing first hand that I am in good hands here.