French Museums and Lost Tickets (Day 28)

Everyone is bound to have a day where everything goes wrong... it's just a little unfortunate that for us that came on our last day in Paris.
It was a long day. LONG. And really stressful for a while there.
The morning started off good..we ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel and brought our luggage to the Gare du Nord (the main train station) where we stored it while we went to explore the city some more. First stop was the Louvre! We got there probably around 9 or 9:15 and the line to get through without prepaid tickets was insane, but fortunately we had our museum passes, so we just walked right in, no wait, no problem. We definitely tackled the Louvre the right way. We walked around a ton on the top two floors and saw almost no one. And let's take a moment and remember that this is the biggest museum in the WORLD. There was SO MUCH to see. It was absolutely insane. It was also crazy overwhelming, and we only scratched the surface on our short visit. After our hour or so with no crowds, we very quickly hit up the Mona Lisa (and took pictures of the crowd around her) and then saw Michelangelo's "Slave" and the Venus de Milo. Some pretty cool stuff. We finished and headed out around 11:15.

Outside the Louvre

Every wants a picture of Mona

Michaelangelo's "Slave"

Bailey taking a selfie with Venus de Milo

We were already pretty exhausted from walking around for two hours, so we sat outside the Arc de Triomphe du Carousel (not the actual Arc de Triomphe, but a mini model or something) and had a really cool view of the Eiffel Tower that totally looked fake. This picture brings back some not awesome memories because it was here that our luck turned sour.

The mini Arc de Triomphe

Real Skyline... Real Tense Memories

Like I said, we were already super exhausted, so we were trying to plan the next part of the day when Kindal realized that she had lost her train ticket. As in her train ticket for our train back to London. The train that left in 6 hours. And she had lost it in the Louvre. Did I mention that's the biggest museum in the WORLD?? After some debate, we checked the Louvre lost and found and then decided our best bet might be to try to find the Benfells by some miracle and if not, at least to hit a few sights along the way. We walked from the Louvre to the Pompidou, which took a lot longer than we thought it would, and decided while we were there we might as well go inside. The Pompidou was actually really neat! I had no idea what to expect, but it is this super sweet modern art museum and even the building has a neat modern look to it.
We spent about an hour there (no luck finding the Benfells) and then went and got some water and Crepes to eat. We did see the LDS missionaries twice so that was really neat!
Then we took the metro back to the Louvre, but they still hadn't found it. (It should be noted that thanks to our museum passes we never once stood in line waiting to get into the Louvre, which is basically a miracle in itself).
The next hour or so was pretty miserable as we waited for one of the professors to arrive to hopefully sort things out for Kindal. There were no seats so we sat on this metal pole for quite a while. I guess we would have probably been sitting around at that point anyway, because we were just so exhausted, but it was kind of a bummer that our last day in Paris wasn't what we wanted it to be.
Fortunately, Dr. Benfell got it all sorted out for Kindal and we made it through customs and to the train just fine, but there were 6 girls in the group who got stuck with a not very nice customs agent who wouldn't let them through, and they (along with 20 or 30 other passengers) missed the train, and had to take the next one.
I really did love Paris, despite not fun last day experiences, and I am looking forward to returning at some point.
Au Revoir for now!

87 Million Square Feet of Palace Grounds (Day 27)

So I guess I thought that going to Fontainebleau yesterday would be the height of the history nerd in me freaking out....uh I was so very wrong about that.
Today, after a breakfast of crepes and croissants, we took the Paris metro (way sketchier than the London Underground) and then a train outside the city to THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES!! It was seriously one of the coolest things ever.
We didn't actually end up going through the Palace because there were literally THOUSANDS of people in line (see image below) and really there were only a few rooms I wanted to see anyway.

Do you see all those people? THOUSANDS

Instead, we spent about 4 ours exploring a "small" portion of the Royal Garden. I cannot even explain how massive the gardens are.. I mean everyone always says that they are massive, but even with that preparation I was still totally taken aback...massive does not even begin to describe the size of these palace grounds. No wonder the people of France were a little irritated with their monarchs! I could easily have spent days in the gardens alone. PLUS it was SO incredibly beautiful. My mind was completely blown by how awe-inspiring it all was!

Eh just a casual view of the Grand Canal

What? Check out those hedges!

Much Garden, Such Amaze

Look at me being all artsy

How often do you think they have to trim these?!?

I just really like this picture

OK so there's the palace from the back

IT IS SO BIG

Just one of many random classical garden features

More pretty things..

HOW IS THERE STILL MORE TO SEE???

Who takes care of this?!? It is seriously PERFECT!

A little perspective

That pink dot is me. The huge building is the back corner of Versailles

Seriously this is just there randomly in this huge forest-y area.

The Palace. Ummm

More garden features...

After exploring the grounds at Versailles for a while, we decided to hit up some big sights with the rest of our day... after we ate of course.. I had quiche and Creme Brulee..the French are definitely doing something right when it comes to food. Then off to see the sights: First, of course, we walked along the River Seine and saw the Eiffel Tower. It is so beautiful! I did not expect to be so impressed by the metal-work and the overall architecture of this monument!

Seriously isn't this incredible?!

Hey look! Me and the Eiffel Tower!

Then we went to Notre Dame Cathedral. None of us are Catholic, so we had no clue that today was actually the Feast of Mary Magdalene and we happened to get there just in time to hear the last service before the Cathedral closed for the day. That was really neat to be a part of as well!

Notre Dame

There's the island where Notre Dame is

I am kind of bummed that we only have one day left in Paris, because this is such a neat city and there is so much that we won't have time to explore. I guess that just means that I will be back someday!

The Chunnel Leads to France (Day 26)

The EuroStar

At approximately 4 a.m. this morning, we headed out the door to catch the bus to St. Pancras International Train Station, and at 5:30 we boarded our train, which took us through the Chunnel (UNDER the English Channel), and when I woke up at the end of the train ride we were pulling into PARIS, FRANCE!!
Don't get too excited though, because we were only in Paris less than an hour before we boarded a coach and headed into the country. (OK, you should actually probably still be excited because France is awesome!)
Our first stop was in Chartes, France, where we disembarked the coach and headed straight through town to the Cathedral that is the dominant feature of the small town. The town really hasn't grown..well at all... since medieval times, so we got a feel for how prominent the Cathedral was back when it was built. We had a guided tour by Malcolm Miller (who has been around for a VERY long time studying this place), and it was really neat. The Chartes cathedral has the largest collection of stained glass from the 12th-13th centuries and it is so cool. I loved hearing about the stories that are embedded in the art of the windows.

The Chartes Cathedral

A glimpse of the beautiful restoration work being done

Chartes Cathedral

Here's that Stained Glass I love

After Chartes, our next stop was Fontainebleau...aka one of the Royal Palaces. We went through the Grand Apartments and barely scratched the surface of all there was to see and learn. The European Studies student in my was freaking out a LOT, and the college student in me could not even imagine living some place so big (I mean really, I have like half of a dorm room to myself and these royal families had SO MUCH SPACE). We also walked back to the courtyard and watched some giant carp swim in the mini-lake back there, and walked a little ways through the giant park that is also part of the palace.

Inside Fontainebleau

View from the Main Entrance to Fontainebleau

Half of the exterior of Fontainebleau

Kindal and I should be models promoting Fontainebleau

We ended the day back in Paris, at our lovely hotel right next to the Bastille. For dinner we scavenged some baguettes and cheese and it was absolutely wonderful. Plus we watched American cartoons in French, which was much better than watching the News (which was the only channel in English).

Food

Some Spiritual Reflections (Day 25)

Today was another wonderful day in the Wandsworth Common Ward, complete with my one little Sunbeam and playing the Organ in Sacrament Meeting. It was a very relaxed day and I had some good time to ponder and reflect on some things. One of my best friends reported to the MTC for his 2 year LDS Mission in Boston this past Wednesday, and it has given me the opportunity to step back and think about the Gospel and my testimony of Christ's teachings as I bade him farewell for two years and continue to prepare for my own missionary service.
The Sacrament Hymn that I played today was 193: I Stand All Amazed, and as I was playing and reading the words I was very impressed by the second verse. It reads: "I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine, to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine, That he would extend his great love unto such as I, sufficient to own, to redeem and to justify." This is something that I think about a lot as I ponder the gift that is the Atonement of Christ and the blessing that is His Gospel. We must have a divine purpose and divine roots because I can think of few other reasons why He would suffer to save us all. He truly does love each and every one of us, and I need to remember that and strive to appreciate and be more grateful for all that He has given to me, and to serve those around me and follow His example.

I Went to the Opera (Day 24)

To start off today's adventure, Kindal and I decided to finally brave the experience that is the Portobello Road Saturday Market. Luckily we went before the unbearable crowds showed up, but there were seriously SO many people on one not very wide street. It was pretty neat- it was so cool to hear all the different languages and see all the diversity, both in people who came to the Market and people who had booths there.
This afternoon was something I have actually been looking forward to a little bit: THE OPERA! We got to go inside THE Royal Opera House...the one and only. It is SO massive! I definitely did not realize how enormous it is until we got to our seats. I sat on the farthest row back in the corner, probably as far away from the stage as you can possibly get..and yet I could still hear the whole show (which is done entirely without artificial sound amplification) perfectly fine. Not that I could understand it anyway because it was in Italian. We got to see La Boheme, which is a CLASSIC, and includes the necessary heart-wrenching ending. I had a really great time, it was way more fun that I ever imagined it would be!

The View from my seat

Kind of hard to see, but that's the Royal Inscription

The Orchestra and the expensive seats

Seriously...THE Royal Opera House

The Professor's Kid Joins the Fab Four (Day 23)

Today was a day of actually doing a lot of good studying and essay writing. We had an awesome Humanities lecture on music (understandably my favorite topic) and after classes were over I hunkered down and spent a few hours on my Brief Essay on Literature. I chose to write about the War Poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, which holds special significance for me as an avid student of European History. Dinner was the most American thing you can probably think of: Hot Dogs and Potato Chips.
We had some special visitors at dinner tonight: a senior missionary couple who were asked to come to the London Centre and visit with the students (us) about our experience on the program and at the Centre, coming soon to a Church Publication near you. That was pretty crazy and it was really neat to be able to talk to them and be able to share my experiences with the Centre and the London program.
So the weather here has actually been terrible, and not in the way I expected..it has been up in the high 80s, low 90s and it is miserable without AC. So while we were fully intending to go out and do something, Kindal, Kim and I ended up laying in the drawing room, trying not to melt for a large portion of the evening. Also a drunk man on the fourth story across the street waved at us and said hi and that was a terrible uncomfortable but also hilarious episode.
Probably the crowning moment of the night (and *spoiler alert* an event that would change the rest of our trip) was when we spontaneously decided that Matt (son of our Humanities professor) needed to come play cards and get magnum bars with us...so we summoned him via social media, went out in the rain and got ice cream, and played progressive rummy until close to midnight. And so was born what Sister Benfell later dubbed "The Fab Four".

365 Feet In the Air (Day 22)

This morning, fairly early off, we made our way as a group to St. Paul's Cathedral. THE St. Paul's Cathedral. It was SO cool. And also SO massive. In a way that is just hard to believe. The architecture is really interesting because Christoper Wren, the architect of lots of buildings in London (see I did actually learn things on this Study Abroad) wanted both the outside and the inside to look equally impressive. So the outside of the Dome is actually not the same as the inside, it is built higher up with this really interesting internal structure so that the inner dome still looks like.. well a dome.

On the main level of the Cathedral there is just so much to see, and so much history that comes from this building. Of all the the things to see, probably my favorite, or at least the one that stuck out the most to me, was these two white crucifix looking things protruding from the wall in the Nave, that looked kind of like they were rafters or pieces of some building's internal structure..or something. Upon further investigation I learned that they were actually installed earlier this year in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Great War (that's World War One to all you Americans). 

St. Paul's from the front

The Stone Gallery

Next up was the most insane set of stairs ever. Ugh. Stairs have become the bane of my existence on this trip. And these ones take the cake. The first stop is up this nice wide stone staircase, it's like 120 steps or something, so pretty annoyingly long, but not too bad compared to what was to come... and the first destination is the famous Whispering Gallery- where you can say anything next to the wall and someone all the way across from you can hear it perfectly. And the great thing is it totally works!! The second stop was up a narrow stone staircase that was kind of scary but mostly just really long: the Stone Gallery. This gallery is actually outside and there is a really neat view of the city from there. OK, now remember earlier where I explained about the architecture of the Dome and how the outside and the inside are not actually the same structure? Well, the last leg of the hike up St. Paul's was actually up a metal, spiral staircase in between the outer and the inner domes, topped off by a tiny little narrow stone staircase that led to the Golden Gallery. Even though it was ridiculously cramped at the top, the view was TOTALLY worth it.
St. Paul's really was incredible, the whole atmosphere of the place is very neat. With people walking around as the listen to a recording tell them about the history of the building in political spheres, religious significance and cultural events, the experience punctuated hourly by religious messages intended to edify and uplift. To be honest, it wasn't quite as spiritual as some of the other Cathedrals I have visited, maybe because it is such a huge tourist attraction, and even though it is still used as a house of worship, the history of the building has become more important than the worship that takes place within.

My View from the Golden Gallery

Proof I Made It All the Way To The Top

Looking Down at the Front of the Cathedral

After St. Paul's, Kindal and I went to the Wallace Collection to do our Humanities homework for the day. Basically it is a huge house that has been turned into an art collection and it is really cool! It has a totally different vibe than, say, the National Gallery, and the collection of art is obviously very prized and valued by the owners. I seriously love the homework assignments I have here in London!!