Notre Dame, La Rive Gauche, et Galleries Lafayette. Oh my!

Friday morning I took half the group to Notre Dame. We saw the gorgeous rose windows, barrel vaults, and of course, the flying buttresses! Then we walked around the Quartier Latin to the Sorbonne. We stopped to have coffee and shopped a bit. Then it was back for lunch at school and to meet up with the other half of the group, who had attended classes with their host students. In the afternoon we all took an open bus tour. It was the best way to see all the monuments of Paris and get great pictures; however, it was sooooo cold. Thankfully it was not snowing or raining, but it was so cold that by the end of the three hour!!! bus tour, I could not feel my hands or feet at all. In the middle of the bus tour we were able to get off and see the Opera House and the Galleries Lafayette store. We then had to haul it back to the school to get there on time. I was late to skype my 8th grade class back in New Orleans, but I eventually got them on the computer and spoke to them briefly in French, of course. That was fun. Fabienne and I went out to eat and strolled around town again Friday night.

Saturday morning, I woke up early and met five of my students at the school. We went back to la rive gauche (the left bank) around the St. Germain area while their host students were in class. (The French have class on Sat. mornings because they don't have school Wed. afternoons) Clayton, a senior, and I tried to go see St. Chapelle church while the 4 girls had a coffee, but unfortunately it was closed due to the weather. I'm not sure why freezing temperatures would close down this church, but they did. We will try again next week. Instead, we walked around Notre Dame and up to the Pont Neuf (new bridge) to take some pictures of the Seine. We then all went back to the big shopping area by the opera house from yesterday. The best part were the window displays at Printemps, another department store. Each window had Alice from the upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie dressed by a different designer. Inside there was an entire display of Alice and the tea party decorated by La Duree, a very famous pastry shop, known for its macaroons. This afternoon Fabienne and I had crepes for lunch and then went shopping, or as it is known in French, "fait les magasins." This evening we drove to the St. Germain area to get a chocolat viennois, which is basically a fancy hot chocolate, but we could not find a place to park, so we had to go back towards her apartment and get one at a cafe/bar nearby. However, I didn't mind the circling around in a car at all because we drove on the street right by the river, next to the Eiffel Tower, in front of the Louvre, next to Notre Dame, and across beautiful bridges. At night with all the lights on the river and buildings illuminated is definitely Paris at its best. I'm now totally exhausted and will be sleeping in tomorrow!