Super Tourist: Part 1

So I am home now and have been awake since 4:30 am this morning. I guess that is what a London to Phoenix flight will do to your sleep patterns! Any way, I had such a great time it is hard to know where to begin. I thought I would break this up into several posts-Paris and London. There is no way I could post all of my pics, so I will have to narrow it down... somehow.

Paris

I arrived at about dinner time after three flights and restless sleep. I was picked up from Charles de Gaulle Airport by a guy in a turban holding a sign with my parents' names on it. I was expecting this, so I (in very broken French) identified myself as the party for whom he was seeking and off we went. It was raining so we walked as much through the airport to the cab as possible. He had to drive me for about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, where I found my mom waiting in the lobby. It was a relief to know I had finally made it to the right place. After stowing my gear in my room (which I shared with one of the Baylor students--Janelle), we went out for Chinese food and then I crashed.

The next day was Sunday and it started with a bus tour of famous sites. The first stop was the Arc de Triomphe (please excuse any misspellings--my jet lagged brain is not functioning quite normally yet). It was beautiful--so huge and majestic. This is my favorite shot I got of it:We also stopped at Le Hotel des Invalides (hospital for those wounded in war--mostly it is a historical landmark now, but apparently they still have a few hundred patients staying there). Here is a pic of it--I never went inside, but would have liked to.
On this same bus tour we went by the hotel Princess Diana left before the car crash, and then by the tunnel too. I was surprised at how short the tunnel was--it appeared much longer to me on the media. C'est la vie (that's life). There were other great things on this tour, but the only other picture I will show is the Eiffel Tower. I never went up it during my stay--was always on the run to do other things and the line was always so long... but what's a trip without at least one regret, right?After the bus tour we went to Mountmart--which is a church up on a hill in Paris. This area is where the artists hang out and a lot of them were working and trying to sell their work that day. There were also a lot of charming shops near the curch. We had lunch here. I ordered a Monsieur Croque, which was supposed to be a grill cheese sandwich with ham in it. This is what it turned out to be--yum yum (can anyone say dinner tonight?).
After Mountmart I went with some of the students to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. It was the first Sunday of the month, so all the museums in Paris were free that day. Needless to say it was crowded and warm there, but I did find the Mona Lisa and a number of other famous art pieces. This picture shows the crowd in front of the painting. Overall I would say the Louvre is very cool. I can totally understand why they say it is overwhelming now. So huge...
Stay tuned for more Super Tourist travel info. More to come later today ;)

Scripture of the Day: D&C 121:27