Bordeaux & Paris: SB 2K14

It seems I finally have a minute to blog! Things have been seriously crazy with school winding down. It was so hard to go back after having ten straight days of wine and pastries with my mom. :) Two and a half week spring break flew by unfortunately but of course, it was perfect. My mom and I crammed as much of Paris as we could into one short week: seeing all the sights, people watching for hours and eating delicious cheeses. We also made a small trip to Bordeaux, France! Of course, it was beautiful. Small town feel in a big city.

We stayed in an apartment about 15 minutes from the center of the city, where all the action was. In one day we walked the entire thing, seeing everything we could.

one of the many awesome city squares

Le Miroir d'Eau (mirror of water)

 This thing was so cool. It's the largest water mirror in the world. We visited during the day as well but it was much cooler at night with all the lights being reflected.

Just some cool architecture. Unfortunately we didn't have time to do any wine/vineyard tours (since it is Bordeaux) but that didn't keep us from trying their wine of course, along with a delicious three course meal where everyone in the restaurant were english speaking tourists..they're everywhere!

Yum. We also went to Rue Sainte Catherine! A famous Bordeaux shopping street. My picture doesn't do justice to how huge and awesome it is. It was really like an outdoor mall but better because there was such a wide variety of stores, from designer to thrift shop. The hours spent shopping were well worth it since my mom found a purse and I found some shoes (the fourth pair I've bought in Europe oops). 

Rue Sainte Catherine

So that's Bordeaux! I could live there. This is a very condensed version of my spring break since it's impossible to remember all the things my mom and I saw! Hours at art museums, baguettes every day and miles of walking. :) Two of my favorite things we did was a boat tour on the Seine, it was basically a huge water taxi that goes past all the tourist sites and it was awesome. We also did a tour of Notre Dame, which I didn't even know was possible before hand. It was great, I learned so much! Can you believe I'm excited about learning?

Ok here are some pictures from everything we did in Paris! 

Notre Dame

Attending mass on Easter Sunday at Notre Dame is probably one of the cooler things I've done in life.  Although the entire thing was in french and bible words are somewhat outside of my knowledge in the french language, I could understand enough for it to be worth it. Awesome.

Yummy cheese plate. Who knew adding jelly to bread with cheese was so good? 

Le Louvre

Four hours spent at the Louvre, and we could have spent four hours more. It's literally impossible to see everything in one day. I've been there probably ten times now and I haven't yet seen the whole museum.

Musée d'Orsay

I LOVE D'ORSAY. My mom visited at the perfect time because they currently have a Van Gogh exhibit that's seriously amazing. Also, if you're unfamiliar with this museum, you may have seen it in Gossip Girl when Blair meets Prince Louis. :)

Sacre-Coeur

one of many pastries we tasted

just had to throw this awesome pic in

of course

And finally.. :)

Jardin du Luxembourg

So that's about it. The days with my mom were amazing and much needed after being family-less for the past three months.

I can't believe spring break is over. My heart is breaking at the thought of having only three short weeks left. I can't even process having to return to reality. I'll be cramming as much of Paris into these last weeks as I can because YOLO. 

Next weekend you can find me in Germany, visiting my Dad's cousins who I haven't seen since I was five and really don't even know. Eek! :) Then after that I'll be working on my 12 page art history paper (in french), many presentations and finally exams. For once studying abroad actually feels like I'm in school.



Interesting fact: Two more people have asked me about guns in America/if I own a gun.