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Ok.
Besides the sunburn, I also had one of my favorite days in Paris. It was 75 and sunny, just absolutely beautiful. I started off the day walking from my dorm to Notre Dame to check out the cathedral in the sunlight. The last time I was there was during a blizzard, so it was a nice change up. I also wandered into the American grocery store in that neighborhood. It made me so excited to go home in 19 days! It's not that I haven't enjoyed my time abroad immensely, because I have, but I mentally prepared myself to be here for four months, and now that it's at the end, I'm itching to go home. Anyways, the grocery store. It's a good thing I didn't find this place before now, because I could have gone broke. 9.50 euros for a small jar of JIF peanut butter? Please. I'm desperate but not that desperate. It was harder than hard to pass up on the overpriced black beans however. Lately, my friend Jacqui and I have taken to listing all the foods we're going to eat when we get home that you can't get here, and Mexican is at the top of both of our lists. Tacos are in order for my first night home.
After Notre Dame, I walked to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with Jacqui to take a cruise along the Seine. We've been holding onto these tickets for months now. The first day of our program, January 6th, they thought it would actually be a good idea to go on a river cruise. Really? 30 degree weather is not made any more pleasant by being on the water on a gray day. Thankfully, the tickets were good for six months, so we ditched, and finally got around to going today. It was lovely, but I also suspect the cruise is where the sun decided I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy the day like a normal person. Paleness is a handicap, I can get burned walking from the car to the store. I should apply for a parking permit.
The cruise was wonderful, and afterwards we sat on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower like real parisians. Just delightful. Our last thing today was to ride the elevator 56 floors up to the top of the Tour Monparnasse. It's the only skyscraper in the center of Paris, and man is it ugly. Sticks out like a sore thumb and totally ruins the panorama of the city. However, if you are in the building, this becomes less of a problem. What is a problem is the huge group of Japanese tourists that budged in front of us. Karma got them later though, one of them started coughing so hard she had to sit down for fear of passing out.
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| 56th floor of the Tour Montparnasse, see the Eiffel Tower in the background? |
