France in a nutshell.

So this past week I went to France. And I adored it. I ate amazing food, saw some of my very favorite artwork, and went to places I've always wanted to go to.

So here is a summarized version of the busiest week of my life. Due to the fact that my computer is currently struggling, I won't be able to post pictures for a while. So some of you probably won't read this post, because you're the kind of person that scans the text part of a blog and is only really looking to see the pictures (guilty.) But I'm writing it anyways, because I mostly just do this for my mama, and I know she loves me and my blog no matter what. So here you go!

Food I Ate:

• 5 croissants
• 4 crepes (1 ham and cheese, 1 egg, ham, and cheese, 1 sugar and butter, and 1 nutella and whipped cream.)
• 3 diet cokes (curse the Europeans and their lack of Dr. Pepper)
• 2 slices of pizza
• 2 white chocolate magnum bars
• 2 ham and cheese baguettes
• 1 scoop of caramel and pecan gelato
• 1 gyro and fries
• 1 steak and fries (I don't recommend getting steak in France)
• 1 bag on strawberry bonbons

If you're reading this and thinking that I must have spent way too much money on food, you're right.

Places I Went:

• Vimy and Compiegre (war sites)
• Chartes Cathedral
• The Palace of Versailles
• The town of Versailles (adorable.)
• Notre Dame Cathedral
• Sainte-Chapelle--the walls are almost completely made out of stained glass windows. So blessed to see this on a sunny day.
• L'Orangerie--a museum devoted to works by Monet
• Jardin des Tuileres--the gardens of the Louvre
• Musee D'Orsay
• The Eiffel Tower
• The Louvre
• Arc de Triomphe
• The Moulin Rouge
• Musee Rodin--an entire museum devoted to my favorite sculptor. So happy.
• Madeline Cathedral
• The Opera House--the inspiration for Phantom of the Opera. Also where the movie was filmed.
• The Pompidou--my new favorite modern art museum.
• Amiens Cathedral
• Lots of WWI sites--Albert, La Boiselle, Beaumont-Hamel, Thiepval, and Serre.

Things I Saw:

• The Hall of Mirrors
• Marie Antoinette's bedroom
• Paintings by all my favorites--Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Delacriox
• The Mona Lisa
• Some of my favorite sculptures--The Kiss, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo
• The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower
• The Eiffel Tower sparkling (every hour, on the hour)
• Missionaries
• A women getting pick-pocketed
• My fill of stained glass windows
• The Louis Vuitton store
• A break dance circle
• Cemetaries filled with soldiers from both world wars
• A line of over 100 British taxis transporting children with terminal illnesses to Disney France. The taxi drivers do it annually, and pay for it themselves. This was one of my favorite things to see.

Things I did:

• Walked through trenches of the wars
• Took a ferry across the English Channel
• Climbed 43 stories to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, and then rode an elevator to the top.
• Posed for lots of pictures with old Asian men
• Ran through the Louvre
• Danced on top of the Arc de Triomphe
• Broke a bottle of perfume in Sephora (actually, Devri broke it. But I witnessed it.)
• Took a boat ride down the Seine River
• Listened to Mass at Notre Dame

What I loved:

• Hearing everyone around me speaking French
• Replying to everything with bonjour, merci, and au revior!
• Sleeping on the bus rides
• The French countryside
• The fact that no matter where you are in Paris, you can find a pastry shop within a five minute walk
• The sunny, warm weather
• Trying to find the Eiffel Tower every night on the hour so we could see it sparkling
• All the lovers having picnics and dancing by the Seine River at night
• Waking up every morning and realizing that I was in France.

I loved every  minute of this trip. Even though France is dirty, the men are creepy, the people smell, and there is an extremely high likelihood of getting pick-pocketed, you really can't help but love the place. Even though I was so grateful to get back to my clean, quiet London, France will forever hold a special place in my heart.