Paris Day 1

For months I've been fantasizing about Paris, about cute little streets romantically lit by dim street lights, decorated by cute little boutiques.  But anyway, it was really nice seeing such a historical city that has been such an important place for people around the world. It was surreal seeing the Louvre, and the Palace of Versailles and places I've only seen on postcards.  Although I enjoyed the guided tours, I really enjoyed the free time. I loved walking around the little streets looking at art and tourist gift shops,and lunch was delicious. I had a steak because I thought Paris was not the place to hold back, and it was the most tasty piece of meat I've had in a while.  I don't really know how to describe Paris thoroughly because there's so much of it and there's so many things to describe, from the historical places to the graffitied outskirts, but anything else other than beautiful. It just is in its entirety. 

Teodora 

Howdy everybody, Joey here. 

Today was a late start, but we were able to pack the day with fun from start to finish. We started off with a quick but excellent breakfast of croissants, baguettes, and cappuccinos. In fact, a few even said that the croissants were the best they've had in their life. After waiting for our new bus driver in the lobby, we jammed into the smokey-smelling bus, complaining about how our old bus driver, Kurt, was gone. (As a side note, everyone loved Kurt, and I actually ended up marrying him in a game of MASH). 

Anyway, we drove into Paris, where the Eiffel Tower was hiding behind some buildings, but we won't be visiting there officially until Friday (if workers stop their strike). We did, however, have 15 minutes to take pictures from a location not far away. 

Our morning tour was not necessarily the best, considering the smaller bus, rain on the dirty windows, and inability to see most of the points of interest completely. It's a shame, really, because Paris is such a beautiful city bedecked with classical equestrian statues, incredible stone buildings, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. 

After that, it was off to Versailles, the palace of King Louis XIV. The massive château covers over 65,000 square meters, and has 2,300 rooms. In 1682 King Louis XIV decided to move into the large palace in the small country village. From Versailles, the "Sun King," would rule France with an absolute monarchy, in which a monarch has absolute power over a country. (Makes sense, right?)

At this time, France was the richest country in Europe. This was because everyone else was in debt. France had no central bank, and was still very poor. The Palace at Versailles crippled France's economy for many years, leaving Louis XVI (not XIV) to deal with the debt of the palace, XIV's wars, and even future support of the American Revolution.  Louis XVI then replanted the gardens at Versailles, as he fancied a morning walk and enjoyed the beauty of nature. This was also to change to a more English-style garden. Now, modern Italian art fills the yard. 

Enough facts. Versailles is incredibly opulent. Baroque masterpieces plaster the walls and ceilings, gold covers the gates and roofs, and amazing stone statues bedeck the halls. As a first time visitor, my breath was taken away when I saw the hall of mirrors. There could not have been more elegance in a single room. At the time, mirrors were rare, hard to produce, and expensive, so something of this size was nothing short of awe-inspiring. 

Anyway. After the tour of the palace, we went to lunch and had a variety of foods. At the meal, there was pasta, salad, steak, and sandwiches. Then we took off back to Paris, the capital and largest city in France. It has 11.8 million inhabitants in the city and suburbs or 105,000 inhabitants per square mile. 

Personally I'm loving France, and I also love learning, so it makes sense that I'm going to tell you some French  info and statistics. The current president is François Hollande and the constitution was signed in October 1958. The total population is over 65 million. 50 million are White, 6 million are North-African, and 3.5 million are Black. It was primarily catholic, and still is, but France has a particularly large atheist population estimated around 35%, and about 45% are catholic. 

So there we go. Joey out.