We have been in Paris for about five days now, and this is our last official day in Europe before we get back on a plane and hop across the pond. We have seen many famous things here, like every single subway stop in Paris. Just kidding, although it feels like it.
We started out our adventure by going to Versailles and seeing the palace of King Louis XIV. After traipsing around palace, we got to see a concert opera in his own personal theatre inside the palace. That was pretty cool!
The rest of the days we have roamed the city doing whatever we could find to do. Kaitlin and I spent one of our free days roaming the 5th avenue of Paris (Champs Elysee) and looking in all the big stores. Yesterday morning we met up at Notre Dame and heard the Oklahoma State University Chorale sing inside the cathedral.
That was really amazing. The echo in Notre Dame is unbelievable, although normally you wouldn't get to hear it because a respectful silence is expected.
After leaving Notre Dame we all went to the Louvre and saw some amazing artwork. Jordan, Meredith and I stood in a mob of people for about 15 minutes to see this famous lady.
Even though the Louvre is famous for all the paintings it has, we have seen so many that we were ready to see something else. I took the advice of my friend Corey (who went to the Louvre about 3 months ago) and we directed ourselves toward the Egyptian and Grecian art. After walking through the Islamic art as well (which had some really pretty pottery) we decided that the Louvre had beat us, our feet hurt, and we were ready to get out of there.
Today we will see the Eiffel Tower tonight before having a farewell dinner. Then tomorrow we board our flight at 10:45 and leave for America. I don't think I have ever missed my country so much as I do now.
Even though my adventure through Europe has come to a close, this traveling music teacher isn't done yet. In just a few short days (July14) I will start my two week adventure at Camp Caudle in Arkansas. I am very excited to see what God has in store for me there, and I am ready to serve whoever God puts in my path.
Blessings from Paris!
As I mentioned before we have been studying these past two weeks in Prague, and have been hitting the books pretty hard. We had only one free day here when we didn't have any class at all, but everyone decided to take advantage of it.
When I first got my map of Prague, The Prague Botanical Gardens had caught my eye, and from then on I knew I had to go there. Thankfully my friends Emily and Alli were game for going with me, so on our free day we set out to have a grand, flower filled, adventure.
The Gardens themselves are outside of Prague proper, and close to the countryside in one of the suburbs. There are many parts to the Gardens, but we entered through the vineyard, and made our way to the Japanese Garden where we sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet. There was probably about 15 to 20 acres of gardens, but we only saw about the first third in out 4 hours we spent. I don't really have words for how beautiful and peaceful it was, but I hope some of my pictures can speak for me.
Alli enjoying the view.
Well as I'm sure you could tell, I haven't posted in a while. We've been in Prague for almost two weeks, having classes and tests almost everyday. I am done with all of that except for one final and it feels AMAZING. Summer and studying just don't go well together. But for the sake of my readers I will go back in my mind to my experiences in the great country of Austria.
My first memory of Austria is from the train. After we left Venice, I became very excited to see how the landscape would change as we switched countries. I noticed the towering mountains first, and then the tall apartment buildings disappeared replaced by small, perfect houses built like cuckoo clocks. We spent about 7 hours on trains that day, so I certainly got my fill of the Austrian countryside.
The next day a small number of us attended The Sound of Music Tour, which was definitely had memories of a lifetime. We visited some places from the movie like the gazebo and the grounds of the house (where Maria and the children fell out of the canoe).
My favorite part of the tour by far wasn't any of the places from the movie, it was the long ride out into the Austrian countryside while singing along to the music from the movie, and the small fishing village we visited while there. The movie came alive to me while our whole bus sang "Do Re Mi" while gliding through the alps. At the village I got to venture off by myself (because the whole town was tourists and it was basically like an American Resort for campers & backpackers) and take some pictures of the breathtaking lake, mountains, and harbor.
Austria is my favorite place I've been so far, and I would love to return to this little town to hike the mountains, sail on the lake, and just breathe the air.
