Today I would talk about and describe is a person I've met while I've been in Paris.  The person I would like to describe is a man who helped us when we were lost.  When we were leaving the Arc de Triumph yesterday, we went the wrong way and ended up lost.  After a while when we had decided to just go back to the Arc and backtrack to the Tuilerie Gardens, an old man (no offense) came up and asked us if we were lost and needed help. Of course we did, so he helped us find our way back.  During that time we came to like him and found out that he had graduated from Stanford University and had received his MBA there.  He also had a good sense of humor and when dad told him that he got a degree in business he said "not in monkey business, I hope!"  We all laughed when he said that.  Finally, we  knew how to get back he said goodbye and left.

It has been several days since I have done my blog in Paris but today I went with my friends to the amusement park Jardin D'Acclimatation.  While we were there we went on many of the rides some of which were roller coasters and others spun and went up and down.  One of my favorite rides was that spun and went up and down at the same time.  One thing I would like to say would be what was the best thing so far out of everything was the park today.  what Made the park so special was that one I began to get over my fear of roller coasters and that I was with my friends to experience it.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

As usual I can't remember how long I've been here but to start as always I'll start of this blog by saying what I've done today.  Today we went to for the first time a inflated model of Stone Hedge that you could jump on.  After about an hour of this we decided to head back to the apartment. When we got back we did school for about an hour and then we went to the lock bridge, or Pont Des Arts.  We added more of our own locks with messages on them and threw the keys into the Seine.  This symbolizes our commitment to the person on the lock.  From there we walked to Notre Dame and lit more candles to remember Jan Jan.   Then we went to the comic book store, and finally back again to the apartment.  I have to describe two of the meals I've had recently.  The first is dinner tonight, called Croque Monsieur.  It is a dressed up ham and swiss sandwich with an edible white robe of cheese and butter!  Yesterday I had a fantastic meal on Rue Marbeouf.  The restaurant was one that my family had visited about 6 years ago on another trip to Paris.  It consisted of fried crusted shrimp with a string like pasta that had a white creamy sauce with basil as well as tarter sauce (forgive me if I spelled tarter in the wrong way).  Anyway the next thing I would like to write would be the most interesting I have done this week.  The most interesting thing I would choose would be going too disney land paris.

It has been several days since I have done a blog update.   Anyway, for the past two days we have gone  to Euro Disney or Disneyland and today we had school and french class to start the day off and then went to the opera house.  While we were in disneyland we went on a few rides (mainly because most of them are kid rides or roller coasters and personally I'm scared of roller coasters.  (Don't repeat this to Wes).  ANYWAY, some of the rides we went on were:  Star Tours which is a simulator of flying in a starship with a crazy droid as your tour pilot that takes you on an adventure.  Another ride we went on was teacups which soon regretted afterward when I became sick from dizziness.  A third ride we went on was called Buzz Light Year.  If you have watched Toy Story one you know what that is.   That was our day in Disneyland.  Today as I said we had school in the morning as well as French.  After that we went to the Paris Opera House which was quite spectacular.  When we got back to the apartment we got ready for dinner at Alfredo Positano.   When we got back I started this blog.  I think we are all caught up now don't you think?  Anyway goodnight or good afternoon to you :p lol!

yesterday I went to the lock bridge where me and my friends put on locks that said the three amigos. we all thought this was pretty funny until we saw wyatt drop his lock key on to a boat almost hitting someone. when we were done we went to the ltuillerie gardens where we all bounced on the trampolines for a while. Eventually we went to the park and made ourselves sick spinning on the spinner (that was an unintended pun) and eventually went home.  When we got home we had some schoolwork and our moms brought movies. over all we had a great time. 

It has been two days since I have done my blog so here's what has happened so far.  On the first day we went to the Musee d'Orsay where we saw art from 1838-1931 more or less.  We met our guide Marie outside the museum and the first piece he showed us was called La Despoir.  Our guide Marie told us that it was a statue from the classical school of art.  This means art from the middle ages to the 1800's, where all subjects of art whether paint or sculpture were about mythology or religion or the royals.  An interesting fact about the classical sculptures is that the eyes were blank meaning that they did not have emotions represented in them.  As we traveled through the museum we learned that most statues represented a story.  One of them told they story of an evil man, Ugolin.

We have been in Paris for 11 days.  Today I went to the science museum, or Citie des Science.   I think this is the best place in Paris to visit.  When we got there the first thing that we did was play a game where there were four people and an animal above our heads that everyone else could see but you.  The object was to give other people hints on which animal they were, but not give the animal name.   Once we were done with that, we went to the next attraction which was to see how fast you could run a certain distance.   I held the record between us with a speed of 5.26 meters per second.  The next and probably the best thing we did was go to a place that you could point cameras at areas and record others.  There were five "studios"  that you could record, all of which could be played on a television in a living room area.  The funny part was when Wyatt and JT started fighting on a magic carpet scene and JT looked like he had actually been pushed off a flying object.  We continued this fun until we became slightly bored with it and we moved on to the next exhibit where it was water themed.   Once our time in the exhibit was up we moved on to the upstairs museum area.

For this blog I'm not sure how many days I've been in Paris.  Anyway it's been two days since I've done my blog so I have a fair bit to write about.  Yesterday we went to the market and got chicken and potatoes for lunch and then met up with the Longorias.  Then we went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed all the way to the second level.  During the climb up the tower I took pictures which you should see below.  The best photos I took were at the top where I could get a better view of Paris.  On the way down we stopped and got some souvenirs.  When we finally got to the bottom, we crossed the street, Quai Branley and got some french fries.   We took them and on the Batobus back to the apartment.  The Batobus is basically part water taxi and part sightseeing boat.  It travels up and down the Seine all day in the same loop, stopping at the same places along the way.  Our stop is the Musee D'Orsay.  The next day,  we had school in the morning as usual and then proceeded to take a tour of Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb is located.  Invalides is a museum that once was a military hotel, or military home for veterans.  Louis XIV built it for his soldiers so that they would have a place to live after they had served in his armies.  There we saw some flowers surrounding words around Napoleon's tomb.  We learned that the words were the name of one of the battles that he fought and won.  As we were walking towards the bottom levels of his tomb we discovered that the back of Napoleon's tomb was and still is part of a hospital and a war museum. We then visited the tombs surrounding Napoleon's and found they were his family's tombs.  After we had toured the building we went to the cafe next door and got hot chocolate.  As soon as we were done we went back to the apartment and had dinner and finally went to sleep.

Day eight in Paris!

Today I was thinking of last year's Paris trip, when I went to an amusement park called D'Acclamation.  There are lots of rides, as well as a roller coaster and a fun water park all in one place.  Today, though I didn't go to this park or one of this type, I had a lot of fun walking to another kind of city park which I speak about right below.

Today, we went for the first time to the Jardin des Plantes.  This name means literally " The Garden of Plants".  It really seems to live up to its name, since we saw what seemed to be a large garden with a mansion at the end.  I soon found out that the mansion -as I had perceived it- turned out to be a Museum of Science and Natural History.  There is a also a huge Museum of Evolution, a live zoo and a Green House Garden, all in the same place.  As we were leaving, we accidentally ran into a small neighborhood corner park, with an upward spiral walkway that ended with a peaceful wrought iron kiosk with a little seating area.  We all played hide and go seek around the bushes and I even saw a tree from Crete that was planted in 1738!

If I compare this trip to Paris to the last one, there are few remarkable differences.  First off, unlike the other trips, we have learned more from the tours and have visited new places.  One of those new places is today's Jardin des Plantes.

 

Day seven in Paris!

 I can't believe that I've been in Paris for a week now!  Today I did some school work in the morning.  In the afternoon we went to Notre Dame.  This time we were there to remember out dear friend Janet,  or Jan Jan as we called her.    We lit candles to remember her,  so it was a sad visit.  However, we were glad that we did it.  After we left the church we went to Luxembourg Gardens and on the way there we saw that Boulevard Saint Germaine had closed for a roller skate race which we soon found out took place every Sunday.  Finally we went to see Ana's apartment and rest after almost 3 hours of walking.   It is late, almost 8:00 and we are back in our apartment.  Good night.

Sixth day in Paris.  Today when I woke up I had school for about an hour.  We then met a guide and went for a tour of the Louvre. This was the second time this trip that we had been there but this time we learned more about the paintings.  One painting I found interesting was a large painting across the room from the Mona Lisa.  The significance of that painting is that one of the figures in the image would appear that it was moving depending on which way you looked at it.  The next piece of art that we saw was the Venus de Milo.  I was not particularly impressed by it mainly because after a while seeing a statue you get a bit bored by it. Over all I think that the trip to the Louvre was worth seeing everything we saw.

Paris Day Five
Today when I woke up I had French class which felt tedious after an hour or so.  We discussed how to tell people how old I am and reviewed numbers.  Then my friends came to take me to the Louvre.  When we got there I wanted to show the Orriks around the Louvre but I felt as if I was the one who was there for my first time.  While we were in the Louvre the first thing we saw was the Mona Lisa but for some reason, when I saw it, it was not as spectacular as when I remember from last time.  Another exhibit we saw was the statue of Venus, the Roman goddess of love known by the Greeks as Aphrodite.  For our final part of the day we went to the Jardin de Tuilerie , where we met up with my Mom. Then we got dinner at a small restaurant at the park where Josh ordered what seemed to be a raw beef patty.

continuing the tour

Day four in paris!  To start the day off I had an french class in the morning and learned how to say basic phrases in french like my name is Connor but to be more precise it means I call myself Connor. another phrase we learned was how to ask someone's name. Then we took another tour of paris by foot where we went under Noter Dam and viewed ruins of the roman baths.  From that we also learned that the roman baths could get up to eighty degrees. After that we headed to the Saint Chapel and discovered that it was one of the few churches that had a bridge in it.  then when it was time for lunch, I  had steak for the first time.  Finally we to the luxenbourg gardens and went to the most amazing playgrounds.

me and josh see how small people
in paris used to be

Third day in Paris!  Today we went for a car tour with our friends around Paris and learned a lot.  During the tour we stopped at Notre Dame.  We learned that at a point by the church there is a place called point zero which is the point where every thing else is measured from.  After that we got hot chocolate and continued the tour from which we learned that during the French Revolution Notre Dame was turned into a stable.  We continued the tour by going to the Louvre and seeing that the arc by the Louvre lined up with the Egyptian obelisk that was taken from Egypt by Napoleon, and the larger Arc de Triomphe.  Finally we went to the Rodin museum and then came back to our apartment.

Today was my second day in Paris and I had a blast. The first thing that we did was visit the Eiffel Tower with our friends, Josh and Chloe.  An interesting fact about the Eiffel tower is that it was built during the world fair in the year 1889 to show what the French could do.  After the world fair many people wanted the Eiffel Tower torn down because it didn't match the skyline of Paris.  I'm glad the Eiffel tower is still here today because I enjoyed walking up the first two levels with my friends and  seeing the city of Paris from one of the tallest structures in France.  After our "adventure" we went to the base of the Eiffiel tower and got crepes which is a traditional street food.  From there we hopped on the BatoBus, which is a boat bus that runs on the river and went to the Jardin du Tuillerie.
Tomorrow I hope to visit the Louve as well as visit the Arc de Triomphe.  So far being in Paris has been an amazing experience and am glad that I am here.

josh and me
at the Eiffel Tower
10.2.12

Chloe and Sis on the
 Batobus
10.2.12

I am finally in paris!  For the first day on french soil I have not done much. Although my brother and the others went to the tuillerie gardens I stayed at the apartment and just walked around  the city for a while.  Well that was my first day in paris not much but I think we'll do more tomorrow. During the flight I saw the Northern lights which were quite spectacular.

9/28/12

In two days I'm heading to Paris, France for a month. I can't wait to get there. This will be my fourth time there, but it seems there always something new to see. I think the best museum is the Louvre but, who knows, maybe I'll see something in another museum that I'll find more interesting than what's in the Louvre. Probably the most anticipated thing for most travelers would be the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. But I hope I get to see both of them. One thing that is probably not too well known by most people is the science museum.