First day in Paris

We woke up to a beautiful morning for our first full day in Paris. We had breakfast as a group in the hotel and it was really nice that we didn’t have to pay for breakfast like we had to every day in London. After breakfast we got onto the train and went to a bakery that we saw the day before that looked really good and we wanted to try. It was right in Saint Michel Square where we were walking around the night before. After we got our bakery fix we started walking to where the first modern Olympics were planned. Pierre de Coubertin invited all of the leaders from around the world to come to Paris to talk about how to universalize sports because around this time was when sport was starting to become very popular throughout the world but each country had their own rules. People in the United States were not playing sports by the same rules that the Germans or the French were and Pierre de Coubertin wanted to change that and also wanted to start the Olympics. All of the leaders met at Sorbnne at the University of Paris develop what we recognize as the modern day Olympics.

From there we walked to a park, which in the middle sat the Queen’s summerhouse at Luxembourg. This building was so amazing it was so vast and it was surrounded by a huge garden and a park where there were people sitting outside and enjoying the weather. From there we walked past the apartments where F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the Great Gatsby. It was really cool to see because I don’t like many books but that was one that I did really enjoy.

From there we walked to the Saint Sulpice church that was in the Da Vinci Code. The design of it was so nice and there were sculptures all over the building and it was full of stained glass. Then we went over to the Louvre. I always just thought that the Louvre was the little triangle and that was it but I was quite mistaken. It was huge and there was so much to see. The Mona Lisa was very disappointing because it is very small and I personally don’t understand what makes it better then other pieces of artwork that are there. I feel like the statures and the sculptures that are there are more impressive then any of the painting. From there the group broke up and some people went one direction in the Louvre and one went the other way. The group I was with was there for a good two hours until we were all done looking at art. Then the group I was with just started walking and we ended up near the Arc De Triomphe. From there we got on a train and headed back to our hotel where I am now currently sitting her writing this. We will go out to dinner later and see where the night takes us.