Hello!

So yesterday before a two hour nap (the only time we slept the entire night and day), Mallory and I went and at a chinese restaurant, which was just ok...but on our way back we saw these delicious pastry's from the window. We didn't get any, but we certainly drooled a little bit. While we were waiting for the walk sign at the crosswalk this lady comes running at us and yelling. I thought she was going to steal something from us at first until we saw her holding a card and receipt in her hand. Mallory does this thing when she doesn't have food for a while, where her mind gets a little bit hazy. Well we saw the result of that! After that, Erica, Mallory and I all went around Paris to see everything. First we took the Metro (Paris' subway system) to Notre Dame, which was absolutely beautiful. It's pretty amazing that such detail could be done that long ago. Usually there is a tour that you have to pay for, but for some reason the doors were open to the public. When we walked in we took a few pictures and music started playing...Saturday night mass started! It was all in French, but it was still so neat to be able to see mass being done at Notre Dame! The inside was even more beautiful than the outside. The stained glass windows, high, arched ceilings, and the pillars were just unbelievable! After that, we went down this alley type place (which I think was called Little Greece) that had a ton of Greek restaurants. We decided to go to this small place that had huge kabobs with all kinds of meat and fish. When I saw huge, I mean huge! I couldn't finish all of them. The food was delicious..and I tried a new Greek beer called Mythos. Dad, you should try it! When we were leaving, our waiter (an older man), started lifting the statues cloth up...if you know what I mean...so of course we took a picture with it :) haha it was pretty funny! After dinner we went to the Eiffel Tower. Seeing it on pictures and on tv does not do this thing justice! It was huge and soo pretty! It seemed the biggest when we were directly under it. We didn't go up in it because the lines were really long. Seeing it was all I needed, anyway! After a ton of pictures, we decided to walk and get on the Metro to the Arc de Triumph. It was also a lot bigger than I had expected and really pretty! Our hotel wasn't far from the Arc, so we decided to walk back and after all that walking we needed a drink. We found an Irish pub on the corner by our hotel, where I drank a red beer called Murphy's Irish Red Beer...try that one too Dad! We didn't stay long; after two drinks, Mallory and I's two hours of sleep was catching up to us, so we decided to go back to our hotel. When we were all trying to fall asleep, Mallory and I got the giggles every time there was silence, so I'm kind of wondering what it will be like in the hostels. I don't think my new roomies will like it if we laugh every time we try to fall asleep!

The next day we got up and went to the Louvre. Here is a hint for anyone who is planning on going to Paris...the Louvre is FREE on the first Sunday of every month! We were worried about lines being long because of that, but when we got there, the lines weren't too bad and moved really fast. We didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there, and believe me...you could spend DAYS there. It was so big! Erica had been there before, so she kind of knew her way around and where the things that we wanted to see were. We saw all types of things, but who knew the Mona Lisa was so small! Of course, there were a TON of people taking pictures, but I got a pretty good one. We got through the Louvre in about an hour...which seems unreal, but it is possible! We ate and got on a train to Versailles, which is about a half hour southwest of Paris. Erica decided it was probably a good idea that we get some wine and drink that on the train to Versailles. It was a terrific idea, I must say :)

Versailles is beautiful!!! I absolutely love it here! We took a cab to our hotel and were absolutely stunned. We were fortunate enough to have my mom use her points to get us into a nice hotel. It is called the Trianon Palace, and that is exactly what it is. We have these huge French doors that open up onto a small balcony that overlooks the area close to the Palace of Versailles and we even can see some sheep! Apparently the HBO series, "John Adams" was filmed here for an episode. After we took pictures of the room and dropped our bags off, we headed to the Palace of Versailles. Saying that it is huge and beautiful is an understatement, it's actually indescribable. We took pictures outside by one of the gardens and outside in the front and got tickets for a an audio tour. We got lucky because after 3pm it only costs 10 Euros instead of 13.50. The tour was really neat, seeing where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette slept and especially the Hall of Mirrors! It was so beautiful. I recommend this place to anyone! After the tour, we decided to walk around the gardens, which after a certain time are free. So if you decided to come here, take the tour after 3 and take the walk through the gardens after around 6pm. The gardens are absolutely breathtaking. There are flowers, trees cut like squares, fountains, pounds, statues, just amazing landscaping! They go on and on and on...forever! They are so big, you could spend an entire day walking around them. The view of them from the Palace is amazing! One of the things that we learned on the tour was that Louis XIV gave Marie Antoinette her own estate, the Trianon estate, which included our hotel! I wasn't kidding when I said it was a palace! Afterwards, Erica had to go back to Paris and Mallory and I ate at this cute little place called the Square. Ironically, we ate American food! It was good and it ended up being this French bread pizza type thing, so I'm not going to say it wasn't American. The part of town we were in had such cute buildings, shops, and restaurants!

After dinner, Mallory and I came back and wanted to go swimming. We got all the way into our swimsuits and downstairs to find out it was closed. We were so upset, because the pool was soo pretty! Instead, we each took a bath in the sweet bathroom and put on our bathrobes and slippers! It was a really relaxing night, which is nice to have right before the next couple of crazy weeks! We topped the night off, by being classy and eating Raman Noodles out of cups. :) It was a lot of fun! Anyways, it is way too late and I need to get to bed. Our train leaves tomorrow at 7:20am from Paris, so we have to have an early start!

Good night and see you tomorrow from Munich!

Love and miss you all,

Sarah