Lots of exciting things have been taking place, actually I guess I've just been going to some exciting places, but nothing REALLY exciting has happened. On Friday, after class, our group took a bus up to Chartres, which is about an hour north, where we had a tour of this amazing cathedral. We had this really knowledgeable tour guide who showed us around, and told us about all the stories in each pane of the stained glass windows. It was so interesting to hear about what certain things symbolized, that you would never catch in just looking in the cathedral on your own. For example, on the wall outside the cathedral, there are statues of biblical characters, and if you study the statue of Abraham holding his son Isaac closely enough, you will notice that he is standing on a lamb. It symbolizes God providing the lamb for his sacrifice instead of sacrificing his son. All the statues had something interesting on which they stood and it was so cool to hear the stories and the symbolism behind it.
After arriving back in Paris from our half day excursion, a group of friends and I found yet another mexican food restaurant. Yes, I do eat that atleast once a week here, but I have to get my fill! This particular restaurant was quite delicious, and its guacomole has been the best so far.
Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day in Paris, so we walked up to Montmartre, which is a hill in Paris where you can see a beautiful view of the city. There is also a square in the center of the area, where artists sit and paint and sell their work. It is so cool to see artwork in the process of being made. While we were up on the hill, we also visited the Sacre Coeur (meaning sacred heart) which is a beautiful white cathedral that was built solely from donations by the community. In my opinion, it is the most beautiful church in Paris.
The past three days in Paris have been completely sunny and atleast 50 degrees. I think that is a record for the most sunny days in a row for Paris :) But it has been nice to sit outside and just enjoy the weather!
Today I bought a ticket to travel to Amsterdam this weekend, so I'm very much looking forward to that trip!
If anyone who does not have my email is interested in updating me with what is going on in their lives, please feel free to write me at claire21@uga.edu. I love emails and hearing about updates in your lives!!