Paris holds the key to protestors and too many decisions

PARIS! So the trip to Paris took about 13.5 hours...when it could have taken about 8.. Our bus driver insisted on going about 50 mph the entire way there. The only thing I have missed about America is how much faster we drive. BUT the drive was INSNANELY beautiful. And I know I keep saying the drive to each place is beautiful but it really is. It's so much prettier than I thought it would be. In Germany and France there ae just fields and fields of canola flowers that line the horizon as bright as the yellow brick road and the greenest green fields and trees that look like a fairytale Forrest and little villages that look like Bell's village or Snow White's cottage and everything is so cute and whimsical it's amazing. ANYWAYS we get to Paris pretty late with my friend Brynne and I singing "Paris Holds The Key to Your Heart" from Anastasia as loud as we can. Love that song. We started singing it when we first spot the Effie Tower. So we start our first day on Monday just doing a walk around tour of Norte-Dame and go to the Spanish quarters and get SUPER good falafels and go thrift store shopping where I got these gorgeous real leather Anastasia like ankle boots for only €15. They still smell like an old man but I put some dryer sheets inside them and hopefully that'll make them smell nicer. Anyways, Notre-Dame was gorgeous! Kept singing the "God Help The Outcasts" in my head while I was in there. Did not realize how magnificent it was in person. Sooooooooooooo pretty. I REALLY love French gothic architecture I've decided. So after we get home from the day we find out that only about 3 hours after we left Notre-Dame there was a man who shot himself at the alter inside Notre-Dame. Scary! They had to evacuate everyone in the square and it made pretty big news.

So while in Paris we've seen a bunch of museums and churches including the Louvre, D'orsay, Pompedu, Rodin, Saint Denis, Sant Chapelle, and a couple of other museums and churches I don't remember the names of. Got to sprint through the Louvre at 10 at night to see the Mona Lisa with no one around it before it closed. That was a funny sight to see. The guards were laughing and cheering
us on as we were running haha. Another day at the Louvre we watched a funny Asian lady running
through some of the galleries taking pictures of every single painting she saw.  I wish I could show you in writing the way she ran up to each painting and without even looking at the painting snapping a quick picture and then running to the next one crashing in to people and running in her bright yellow 3 inch high 90's sneakers. I heard once that if you spend 30 seconds at each painting it would take you over 2 weeks to see everything in the Louvre. We only get 3 days but maybe this lady was trying to set some sort of record haha.

Anyways. Besides the museums and churches our free time is up to us on what to do.. So far I think I have just picked the wrong groups to do things with. Still haven't been to the Eiffel Tower, still haven't seen the Arch of Triumph, still haven't seen moulin rouge or the opera house, and I lost my chance today of going to Monet's garden becaus everyone that wanted to go flaked on me last minute. I was pretty sad today actually because I was looking at some of my old journals before I left and I wrote down a LONG time ago that said on my bucket list I wanted to see them so I told everyone that I was gonna go and I was gonna do whatever it took to get there. After getting to Paris and realizing
how difficult it was to travel there I realized that it would be very dumb to go alone especially with
what happened in Notre-Dame and how bad I am at directions and stuff so I knew others were planning on going Sunday so left my trust into doing it then. Sunday comes and after church and a museum and after asking everyone like 10 times if they were for sure going everyone bailed and said they were too tired. My heart sank as I realized I wouldn't be able to go. One of the girls even talked about just going the next time she went to Paris. Sorry, but I don't know the next time I will be going to Paris and I don't mind that nobody wanted to go but I'm just mad that I was so close to going and everyone flaked last minute. If there's one thing I try never to be its a flake. When I say I'm going to something I go or I try my hardest to make it there. Some of us may never get a chance like this ever again and I am very sad that I haven't been able to do anything I want to do really yet because people have changed their minds last minute or been too tired to do things. I'm probably being overdramatic right now but I am just upset. We really only have 3 full days left in Paris and 2 of those days are day trips to Versailles and Chartres so I pretty much have one day to do all the things I want to do. I may
just end up going myself on Tuesday. I'm tired of waiting for other people. The worse thing is is that
idk if I can go out anymore on my own though because today there was the biggest protest that Paris
has ever had in history (including the revolution) revolting against the passing of gay marriage in France. This also had to do with the man who commit suicide at Notre-Dame. Apparently he commit suicide to make a statement and so over 2 million peopled gathered near the Eiffel tower with family signs and no gay marriage signs so that he didn't "die in vain" but honestly him killing himself is breaking up his family so I feel like it was a little contradictory that they think gay marriage is breaking the family but killing yourself is ok, because he's a martyr or something. Anyways. Some girls in my group got stuck in the riots and were stuck there for a good few hours before some professor from a university here who knew English helped them get out. Glad they are safe. But now we're not sure if things around Paris will get worse. Some of the trains and metros were blocked off and closed too because of it too so that's also a different problem for us.

The one thing I did get to do though was of course the magical DISNEYLAND PARIS! After a day at the Louvre our professors told us that since we had some extra money we saved from the hotel because we squished 3 in a room instead of 2 we each got an extra €100 to spend on whatever! I really wanted to do Disney but I wasn't sure if I wanted to save for fun stuff like broadway in London or the Harry potter museum or other things but with the extra hundred me and some great girls got to go on Friday. It was amazing the day of the 20th anniversary so we got a discount on our tickets and because it was pouring rain we walked on every ride. It was amazing. Best day I've had in Paris. Hope I can do the real things I'm suppose to do in Paris before I leave. I of course have more to say about Disneyland Paris but I am tired and need to go to bed. So that's all for tonight. Only less that 2 weeks left! Don't wanna come home but at the same time I am exhausted. Bittersweet.