Day 9- May 27

 (giant hotdog that I had for lunch when we stopped at an outdoor cafe during our bike tour)

 (I love the Eiffel Tower!)

 (back of Notre Dame)

 (Sacre Coeur, highest point in Paris)

 (really sleepy at this point, but feeling obligated to take this picture of all of Paris behind me)

 (reeealy excited to see Mona Lisa)

            I am so exhausted today. 

This morning we got up early for our bike tour of Paris.  We used the same company we used in London- owned by a former Aggie.  We spent about four hours riding around Paris, seeing many of the famous sights and buildings.  This bike tour was a bit more scary than our London tour- imagine 30 unskilled bikers trying to hold their own against the traffic of one of the most popular cities in the world, all while trying not to run over each other.  Despite all this, everyone in our group made it back safely in one piece.

After our bike tour, a group of us went to visit Sainte Chapelle again.  We made it all the way over to the church, this time in time to be allowed inside, only to find out that Sainte Chapelle is apparently on strike.  I didn’t know that a church could go on strike, and we have no idea what they’re striking against (I’m pretty sure some key details were lost in translation), but regardless, we were not allowed to visit Sainte Chapelle.  I’m disappointed because I was really looking forward to seeing such a beautiful church, but I guess this gives me an excuse to come back to Paris again someday!

We went from Sainte Chapelle to Norte Dame again, because some people with us had not seen it yet.  This time I did not go inside but I went around the back and sides and saw other pretty parts of the building that people probably usually overlook.  I even got to see a bride and groom taking their wedding pictures at the back of the cathedral, which made me happy.

Then we took the metro all the way to Sacre Coeur, a church on a hill that is the highest point in Paris.  We went through the church, and then spent awhile looking out over the entire city.

Our last event of the day was visiting the Louvre.  We rode the metro back to the center of town, then grabbed a bite to eat while waiting for 6 pm- on Fridays the Louvre is open late (6 pm to 10 pm) and is free for people under the age of 26.  The Louvre is a HUGE museum and extremely popular, so there were people everywhere.  My favorite things were seeing the famous Mona Lisa painting, and looking through the Egyptian wing of the museum. 

Now I’m back at the hotel, organizing my pictures and catching up on class assignments.  It’s 9:30 pm and lots of people are going out tonight, but my body is just getting more and more exhausted each day so hopefully I’ll get a full night of sleep tonight.