"Where are they?" -game of the century

See one of my favorite games to play here is the "where are they?" game. Let's be real here-it mostly focuses on where is Miley (yep, Cyrus). So we see a house and we are like, "yeah pretty sure that's Miley's house" ha. But another favorite is with the Bourbon descendants-like all the King Louis' relatives. I mean it's a legitimate question much like the Brady Bunch kids: where are they now?

So we had to get this text (okay as I am typing this this same dumb bird has flown into my room 4 times-it keeps taking stuff off the floor and flying off-this shows you what kind of place I am staying in)

Parisian Park- prettyyy sure TG Hunter forgot to tell us the name.

Anyway one night we went on a guided walking tour through a Parisian park (Hunter as the TG (tour guide)). In our text book for school there are recommended walks. So we end up in this cool park that backs up to the Arc de Triumph and the Champs Elysees.

BUT as we were walking we found what I believe to be one mansion of the current Bourbon descendants (gated and all-which is a big deal for Paris-just saying). This size of house in this arrondissement of Paris means that you are either Miley or a Bourbon. But since the waiting list for this sort of real estate is like 100 years- I've ruled out Miley and placed the Bourbons as the winners.

And this is only part of it- my camera couldn't capture it all

We then walked through the area of town where Big Deal Muslims live--probably the descendants of the Shah of Iran, current King Abdullah of Saudi, Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, and potentially even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran (obviously there was no sign indicating this-but I firmly believe in the potentiality of it).

For safety (my own of course) reasons I did not take pictures. (It's Foch Street or in French Rue de Foch- google map it) (please)

ALSO there is this fabulous pastry shop/restaurant/macaroon capital of the world called Laduree

The logo pic/pictures from their website are all you get because you can't take pictures inside. This is because of all the Big Deals-like Miley that go. SO of course I went- totally bummed because I didn't even find a Spice Girl and they are old news.

But me and Katherine obviously had to buy something since we went inside. So we bought a box of six famous macaroons-I'll probably never eat one again-and by probably won't I mean I will never.

So first of all I am totally dressed down so I'm already intimidated coupled with the fact that I don't speak French--making the potential of my experience being successful low. Me and Katherine go in and she moves through beautifully. I freeze & panic. I have no idea which ones to choose OR how to say them French. So I go by color first and flavor second.

I get:

1. Vanilla (that says vanilla)

2. Chocolate

3. Cherry

4. Raspberry

5. Mint?

6. ROSE PETAL (it looked the prettiest)

We then go to meet up with Hunter, Tyler, and Scott for lunch. We bring the macaroons. So after lunch we proceed to try them all. All is fine until I get to the rose petal- a part of me died inside. it has yet to come back. As Tyler so finely put it- it's poison.

It's like eating perfume- but worse.

The mint- also did something very terrible- I was imagining mint chocolate chip-but negative. I should have envisioned a mint plant- mint leaves made chewy- no lie. still not over it.

So macaroon days are forever gone.

This is week THREE of TEN by the way! During this time we have added a new one to the group-Alex. He's from North Carolina and talks like it. He actually was added earlier but I was not accepting it due to I can't remember now but something rude he kept doing-repetitively.

But none the less he's a ginger. This is really hard for me because at home- I make ginger jokes-weekly.

Ginger Club now formed-

Hunter and Alex teamed up-they are the only ones qualified to join.

So it goes like this: oh hey look it's the ginger club.

It's clearly exclusive. I always tell Hunter he's a risk to marry- a risk that one of the kids might turn out to be one. But with Alex- it's a for sure. No worries- he embraces it.

This picture was taken at Les Invalides. This is where Napoleon's tomb is. For some reason this day was really hard for me to pay attention. Could some one ask Alex why he has to carry a bright red backpack? I feel like that just encourages me to laugh at him.

The next day we make Louvre trip number 2.

Famous words of Hunter: "Yeah Anna just meet us at the Loo Vra". (correctly spelled Louvre). So funny--that's West Virginia for you.

Anyway today was the first day we saw the Mona Lisa- Hunter was slightly disappointed in its small size- I was too. I am not sure what was worse its small size or the large, overwhelming crowd of tourists that seem to never leave it.

The tourist heads actually speak more than the painting- literally dawn to dusk this is what the exhibit looks like.

This Louvre day = lots of play time and little listening time. It was so hot, crowded, and I was overly laughy (if that's a word).

So after 30 minutes of being banged around by tourists (I can't write which kind because it might make me look like a racist of the worst kind and obviously I am in France to experience, mature, and learn new things).

Nonetheless, there was one certain kind of tourist group that kept running us over. Then as we are studying some art Tyler looks at me and is like: Anna-go pull her pony tail. I look over and die laughing- then run after her to take a picture.

I don't know whether to be jealous she has this much hair or sad that the only thing I think is: horse.

We spent a majority of the day taking pictures of odd people rather the subject material of the class. As I would say, I can google that and get a better picture on the internet (i.e. Mona Lisa)-pretty sure I'm 100% right.

This is Hunter and Megan. Megan- hilarious! She's North Carolina too. She helps me survive long museum days.

Megan & Anna

The two days before this I wore my hair up- they kept telling me I looked Asian. so rude.

This is my rule: if I walk into my room from the shower and feel the least bit warm--the hair goes up.

FRIDAYYY!

Friday night was a definite highlight! It was the first night of the World Cup! So we went to the Eiffel Tower and watched France vs. Uruguay on a huge screen.

We brought Hunter's bed blanket ha and all sat together.

Alex, Caitlin, Sarah, Hunter, Lacy, & Scott

Sarah, Hunter, Lacy, & Scotty

VERSAILLES

Saturday was definitely Versailles day. I cannot say I was over joyed about this at first because last time I went I was miserably hot, stuck in rooms with no air and wayyy too many people, had to avoid Jamaicans selling trinkets no one cares about, and did not understand French history.

But I went and it turned about to be so sweet. It was rainy at first but mainly just overcast and cool. The wind was blowing and all signs of heat were gone. It was also kind of embarrassing because I definitely sort of matched it- I wore the sparkly gold leggings that were supposed to be worn the week before but it was too hot. So I had to adjust my outfit schedule. haha.

But we just went at our own pace with a handheld thing that told us history instead of an annoying tour guide. Hence the nerdy strings around some of our necks- basically everyone minus myself.

Please keep noticing how everyone is wearing their audioset strings ha.

Hall of Mirrors! Last time I was here half of it was under construction-so whoop for getting to see it finished! I actually love French history sooo I thought it was great.

oh hey it's Hunter. Another famous Hunter quote: "I mean I feel like all of this sort of looks the same."

BUT the BEST part was after the palace we took a mini-train through the gardens to the Grand and Petit Chateauxs. So Cool.

Apparently even on the grounds the royal families felt the need for a "vacation" home. This is the big chateau- my second favorite. Even Napoleon spent a great deal of time here. I also get that it looks like I have a butterscotch shade of leggings on- in person they definitely fall into the gold category. Maybe I'll never take pictures in them again. ha.

Grand Chateau

MY FAVORITE! Yayyyy! This is Marie Antoinette's Petite Chateau that Louis XVI built just for her. It's def. not petit. And yes, we still had to go through Tylers TTP spill. . . at every stop!

Tyler: "Hey guys true to period? doubtful." haha so funny.

This was also one of my favorite places- it's a mini house for parties! This petite petite house is in the garden behind Marie's house. Here she could open up all the doors and have a party. So cool! Me and Hunter ran around and looked in all the windows--I was wayyy in to it.

I attempted to take a picture through the window- you can kind of see! So pretty!

? Found in the book shop. Idk.

I feel like this is another example of a failed translator. It's so hilarious. You find these places around Paris where clearly someone is clearly trying to be cool and use English but the translator/machine has totally butchered it. One was a restaurant/food shop called "Snack Take Way". hahahaha.

So I am about to leave to go to the South of France/the Rivera/the beach. So yeah I am def. taking like a 12 hour train to get there. So since the French do not have a legitimate FDA like the U.S. I just went to the pharmacy and asked for sleeping pills. They just give them to you (like the U.S. prescription kind). Odd. So anyway I googled them and they are the same kind found in Heath Ledger. What does this mean? I am using them anyway. Hopefully this will be as painless as possible.

Marvin will once again be proud- at my door sits one backpack and one purse. huge, huge accomplishment.