Giverny - lots of flowers

So my French civ class took a fieldtrip (yeah we still get to do those in college!) to Giverny, Monet's house where he painted the waterlilies. It was GORGEOUS! A lot of these are just nature shots, but they're pretty to look at. :)




Cute little painter's shop in the town



This store was adorable - a girl's dream shop :) Full of floral prints and soaps and perfumes, etc. etc....



In front of the cute shop



You know the drill... "love me some color accent!"



And again



A little cafe



I think it was also a hotel



His gardens were huge! He had no front lawn - it was all just flowers :)



Like this...



...and these...



Yay we're here!



Haha, hiding behind the lily :)



Look - a bee!



It sprinkled a little bit while we were there



In front of his house



I love the contrasting pink and blue



Ok, so this picture is semi-illegal... Pictures were allowed but I didn't use flash! I just fell in love with his dining room and kitchen - love the colors



There was a "picture monitor" in the kitchen so I couldn't get a whole photo of it, but once I was outside I got this shot of a wall... All walls were covered in these (and variations of these) tiles - it was so pretty! It might seem like that much tilework would be overwhelming, but the rest of the kitchen was super-simple so it worked... Quote of the day: "I thought artists were supposed to be poor... This place is rather nice - I'm dissappointed" (Minna)



DO NOT DISTURB THE FOWL.



THE FOWL



Pretty pansy :)



Guess where I'm heading... :-D



More pretty pansies :)



Some of the group: Isabel, me, Mat, Tania, and Gerardo



Look how pretty!



Mat got all 'artsy'



Those famous lilypads :)



I really wish I could come live here



Cause it's GORGEOUS



So pretty!



The bridge - look at all the wysteria!



I really like this shot



I would love to bring a good book and a cup of tea out here



Yeah, I can be a creeper sometimes :)



Say *CHEESE*



Pretty flowers



The bridge was covered



Parting glance



Another bee picture :)



I have no idea what this was... So random and so... uncoordinated? It didn't go with the rest of the place at all



Made me think of Madeline - just a row of purple flowers



Pretty n'est-ce pas?



Before the haircut...



After the haircut!



I'll get some ones with it curly up soon!

What to do on a 4 day weekend in Paris

Ok I did it AGAIN. Pictures are all funky out of order - sorry... Just start at the top and you'll get the gist of what happened. :)





Ok, this guy was absolutely hilarious. While we waited in the line for an hour, he would come up behind unsuspecting tourists across the street and walk beside them, put his arm on their shoulder, etc. and scare the crap out of them. The best times were when he approached a group of middle-school aged kids and another time when he crouched down and came up behind a dad and pretened to be the kid that was walking a couple steps behind (he held the dad's hand for 30 seconds before the dad turned back and freaked out!). Mom, I know you won't think that it's funny but if you'd been there you would have seen it was all in good fun :)



Lovely view



THERE WERE SO MANY STAIRS



Francisco accompanied me for the day



With some of the famous gargoyles



You can see Sacre Coeur!



Great view of the city



Notre Dame ("our lady") watching over Paris



This picture doesn't give a good representation of just how tall this tower was



Entering into Quasimodo's territory



Up the stairs



Quasimodo's bell!



Yup, he's eating grapes :)



A famous view of the city



Waiting for our turn to walk down the 400+ stairs



Pompidou! Where the outsides are in and the insides are out



Up, up and away!



First works of art I saw when I walked in



She's probably 12 feet tall



And made of paper mache babies



Cool huh?



I want this painted on my bedroom wall



???



Geomtric yo



Haha funny/creepy looking man



I'm so bad at remember names of paintings and the artists that made them



Can you see the likeness? ;-)



Moooooooooo



My first Picasso



This one fascinated me



Look - it's C3PO!



My second Picasso



You can see the Eiffel Tower in random bits



Like my skirt? Bought it in London for 7 pounds!



Outside of Pompidou... It's a cool looking building but stuck in the middle of Paris it really is an eyesore compared to everything else



Yet again



Gotta love the light show! :)



Beautiful flowers - check out the prices! 12 euros for an arrangement like that???



The random church I stopped in



I liked this



Spiral marble staircase



An old pipe organ!



It's quite a bit smaller than Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur but beautiful nonetheless



Yup, that's what it's called



From the outside



Haha... ha... ha... (grand = big, hommes = men)



It looks like any other building... But look at it's name....



Oh my gosh the Pantheon is HUGE



The pendulum that proved that the earth moves (it rotated around the pendulum, which is hung "in space")



I cannot begin to describe how immensely huge this place is



Voltaire is buried here



Marie Curie



Victor Hugo



Alexander Dumas



Cool angle



The Pantheon is ginormous



There were huge wall paintings on every available wallspace



Joan d'Arc



From the outside



Yup, I was here! (This is what you get when you site-see by yourself... Random pictures at funny angles)



A couple that got married in the church I visited!



Dum dum dum dum, what's inside???



Oh. My. Gosh.



Could I have a lifetime supply PLEASE???



Sooooooo good



Cute little old couple



Haven't taken one of these in awhile... I had to wait 10 minutes to get this shot cause there was this woman who would not stop looking at the map.



Musee Rodin



Guess what I found.... :-D



Rose Garden



This baby was adorable!



The Thinker!



Me not thinking and the Thinker.... well... thinking...



Musee Rodin



Statue



Me and statue



Cool door thingie that I forgot it's name



Miniature Thinker



Lots of detail



And babies



Parting shot



Another statue



Tomorrow I'm going to see les Invalides



I was so surprised when I saw this. Yes, this is a "gas station" on the side of the road... Can you believe it???



Another side of Paris - I couldn't believe I was in the same city!



See how different?



Finally went to see it



Yup, me and Arch de la Defense



What a great end to a lovely day :)