european adventure: france

april 27:

we started off the morning with a two and a half hour bus ride from belgium into amiens.  the largest gothic cathedral in all of france is in amiens.  the amiens cathedral is auh-maze-ing!!  see for yourself:

after our adventures at amiens cathedral and the markets around the town we got back on the bus to head the rest of the way to pari!  paris is quite great.  it was only about another two and a half hour ride into paris. i was so excited to head into paris.  i mean i have only been dreaming my entire life to be there and i was only hours away to be there.  we checked into our hotel then headed out as a group to go see the notre dame.  i don't think its possible to get sick of cathedrals.  current obsession: cathedrals.  cathedrals and paris cafes.  we took loads of pictures with the notre dame. 

^^isn't she beautiful?^^

we wandered the outside of it.  the backside of it is gorgeous. there is pretty trees and there is better angles to see the flying buttresses.

to get to the backside of it, you have to cross the pont de l'archevêché.  that is a nice fancy word for bridge.  i think.  anyway it is the most amazing bridge in all the land.  its covered with millions of locks.

tradition is: you go to the bridge with your lover and lock your love onto the bridge, throw the key into the seine river below, and your love is locked onto the bridge forever.

^^oh my glory, there is sooo many!!^^

^^look at all those locks... and that cathedral^^
^^stacy, me, taylor and holly^^

our wanderlust for adventure drove us in the direction of the pantheon.  naturally, we got lost a couple of times, but happened upon the cutest cafes and nicest people.  i think i took pictures of every street because i became so obsessed with the architecture.  

^^which way.. which way^^

i found this door throughout all our wandering... and i'm quite obsessed.  also, fun fact of the day:  i saw this door on pinterest after i had already been there done that. this girl right here is feeling on top of things.  (please, don't judge)

also... found this on the way to the pantheon

^^some street post. a nice obolisque. and the eiffel tower. ^^

annnd.. finally we found the pantheon..

there is practically a straight shot down from the pantheon to the luxembourg gardens.  gorgeous.  parliament was inside the gardens.  also gorgeous.  there was neat statues inside the gardens as well.  

actually there are neat statues everywhere... on door frames or sides of apartments. also gogeous.  lets just say that paris is gorgeous.  after the gardens we went to the latin quarters where we found the real american dream.  right in paris, france.

then we realize that it is almost twelve... and since our professors made curfew be twelve we thought we should head back to the hotel since we had no idea where we were or where the hotel was.  then i look to my right and start freaking out about the big pretty building on the other side of the river.  so we took our picture with the really big building, even though we had no idea what it was.  

^^picture just for fun with random building.. mainly to pass time cause we're so dang cold!^^

we kept waking and kind of forgot about the building for a bit.  i looked to my right again, and the building was still there.  holly, stacy, taylor and i started discussing what it could be.  i mean, it was gigantic!  no normal buildings are that big.  we kept walking and walking and turned the corner to cross the bridge to go explore it.  there was big glass triangles in front of the building.  um, morg, duh!  it was the louvre.  

wow.  and you thought i was freaking out before.  now i was really freaking out.  the triangles were light up and the building had this pretty glow to it.  the stars couldn't have been more perfect.  there was some fun street performers.  and i was there with three amazing girls that were soon becoming my best friends in just these five short days.  europe was treating me well.  so well.  as you can imagine, due to the slight detour at the louvre, the four of us were terribly late for curfew..  so it was a shower and off to bed for our four tired little selves.

april 28:

on this day we woke up quite early... sometime in the six a.m. hour.  blast, i was getting so tired.  we walk evvvvverrrryyyywherrrreee. all day, everyday.  its started to get quite exhausting.  the only break we get is when we're on the metro... this day was sunday.  sunday funday.  it was a funday... a long day however.  first we walked to the pompidou center.  its a modern building with some modern art statues and such.

then we went to church.  see what i believe here.  

after church we went to the orsay museum.

^^just waiting in line.^^

um, amazing.  i went to the impressionism floor.  yes, floor.  this museum was huge!  not as huge as the louvre, but huge.  i saw things by monet, renior, manet, degas and van gogh.  can you imagine if edgar degas was my art teacher?  um wow.  i wish.  or any of them really.  after the orsay museum, holly, stacy, taylor and i wandered off on the train to go to the palace of versilles.  and i thought i was obsessed with architecture before.  the palace was stunning.

the gold on the building was glittering in the sun.  and it was great.  the line was forever long.. but lucky for us we were all art students, so we got to cut the entire line and got in for free of charge.  lucky us.  this literally was so so soooo amazing.  the chandeliers, staircases, curtains, frames, beds, chairs, rugs, the fire places, my favorite was the famous hall of mirrors.

^^^hall of mirrors!!^

^^stacy and i^^

^^um, even the ceilings are amazing.^^

i secretly wish i was born during the height of the time of all the parties and balls.  can you imagine going to one there.  after the tour through the palace we went out to the gardens.  also gorgeous.

train ride back into down town paris, then dinner at an italian restaurant.  man, i'm excited for italy.  

^^thats emma. and all italian pasta and pizza. yum.^^

it was late and we were all tired.  so we found a metro and started our way back.  we ran into a little incident.  there we were, several feet below ground inside the dimly lit metro.  a man started following us.  not that that is a bad thing... but he was all sorts of high and drunk, and i'm pretty sure hallucinating.  he kept getting closer and closer to us.  he hovered over my should and almost grabbed me.  yikes.  my friend emma pulled me away with her.  the group of us girls were counting down the seconds until the metro came.  then out of no where an older gentleman stepped in between our group and the creepy guy.  the metro came and we got on.  and last second when the doors started to close he goes to jump on with us and the older gentleman pushed him off.  i've kind of never been more scared or grateful in my life.

^^this is us in the metro before the incident.
regardless of anything, i still looooove the metro^^

 april 29:

on this day we went to that gorgeous great big gigantic building.  yeah, i went to the louvre.  be jealous.  it was amazing.

^^i luuuv the louvre!!!^^

i saw the mona lisa... i mainly just peaked my head in the room.  because it is such a tiny picture and so so crowded.  but hey, i saw it.

^^this one's blurry... but at least you can see how little/crowded it was^^

others worth mentioning that i saw were the winged victory

the raft of the medusa

^^oh my gosh!! its so big and uuuuhhmazing!^^

the etruscan sarcophagus of the spouses

and this one that i can't remember what its called... but i remember learning about it in art history 101.. basically the artist was trying to portray true love.  the child is looking up at his grandfather with so much love and devotion and see's past his ugly nose

and basically everything in the entire museum! so you enter/exit the louvre through the triangle. love that.

after the louvre holly and i went shopping.  shopping in paris, can you believe it?!  well i got an adorable skirt.  and we wandered into the cutest little boutiques and shops.  they are everywhere.  and it was so fun.

^^so, that's me and holly... and some random family.
we're all just waiting to cross the street, then onto more shopping!^^

then we went to the sacre coeur... translation is the sacred heart of paris.  um gorgeous.  i think that all of europe is gorgeous, obviously...

^^check out that photographer.  can you say dedication?^^

^^not to mention the view.^^

there are street performers on every corner.  holly and i started heading in the direction of the eiffel tower.  now, fun fact of the day about morgan.... i have been obsessed with the eiffel tower since i was probably seven years old.  probably because i got a barbie cd player that played fur elise and had a picture of the eiffel tower as the cover.  been obsessed with the two ever since.  anyway, long story short i have always wanted to see it.  and we are just walking and eating crepes with some nutella and we turn the corner and BAM!  there it is.  the eiffel tower right in front of my face.

there was the most hilarious street performers too.   you know those moments in movies when it is in slow motion and it shows how everything is so perfect and happy?  well that's what this moment in my life would have been if it was a movie.  

^^i love them so much.^^

we took our time exploring around the eiffel tower.  then we had a boat ride on the seine river.  that was gorgeous and we could see the sun set and saw some major landmarks. 

^^holly, me, stacy and taylor.. just about to get on the boat^^

^^this bridge is important... i just can't remember why..^^

^^some government building.. but i just love the flags^^

^^louvre^^

^^notre dame^^ 

^^also the notre dame with sunset and a random bridge^^ 

^^the orsay museum^^

^^flags and the eiffel, doesn't get much better than that.^^

annnddd... a picture of the eiffel tower after our boat ride.. because there hasn't been enough pictures of it yet..

then we really needed to find some bathrooms before we headed of the the arc de triomphe.  can i just say how grateful i am for america, the land of the free.  however, it was the best euro i ever did spend.  

^^put the euro in, and the bathroom is all yours. when you gotta go, you gotta go.^^  

the arc was fantastic.  it was dark so the zooming cars lights around it were amazing.  you can see the eiffel tower from the arc de triomphe.  so while we were there we saw the eiffel tower light up.  it was a glittery tower of awesomeness. 

^^the man who took our picture here was such a grump...
i can't imagine why you'd want to be grumpy in paris... crazy pants.^^

^^cold. cold. cold.^^

on our way back to the hotel we got some shawarma.  it is the most greatest food ever created!  we just sat on our hotel room floor, eating shawarma and fanta.  for some reason fanta in europe is a million times better than in the u.s.  like soooo good.   

such an excellent way to end the last night in paris.  next on the adventure is roma!!  stay tuned.