Monet

We never get sick of this view :)

Our travels yesterday took us to places in Paris that we never even knew existed! We started out Pont de Grenelle, the only bridge in Paris that can be used by the metros, cars, and pedistrians. Exciting, eh?

The Pont de Grenelle took us out to Allee des Cygnes, which is a man made island in the middle of the Seine that is so great to walk along! We were hoping for better weather, but it was still fun. We probably ate about 30 gnats each, but it was worth it.

Auguste Bartholdi made a few miniature Statues of Liberty before making the full-scale one as a gift to us in America. This is the second one we've seen here.

Karin and I got a few giggles out of this one! I think the bus driver was perhaps new...? The bus was stuck on a corner and ran into that car, and their solution was the pick the car up and move it. I guess if it gets the job done...

And the Marmatton Museum...I might be in love! This museum is home to so many Monet's. I decided that the reason Impressionist paintings have always been my favorite is because my favorite game when I was little was Concentration, the game where all the cards are face down and you have to find matches. The set that I always played with was of Impressionist paintings, so I am thus rather familiar with them. I wouldn't be able to tell you the artist or title, but all of the pictures on the cards are at least familiar to me.
I made a new friend in the museum too! I was initially scolded by one of the guards for taking a picture of the painting (my flash was off and there were no signs that said I couldn't!) but then I was approached by another older guard asking if I was Italian. I took it as a compliment. He asked where I was from, then asked if I was Mormon, then asked why we don't drink soda. I corrected him and told him a little bit about the Word of Wisdom, then he went on to ask about art in Utah (I don't know a thing, but I tried to sound smart) and then said a few sentences that went right over my head. Oh yeah, this was all in French by the way. I'm somewhat conversational! So I kept telling him that I couldn't really understand what he was saying, then he repeated himself for a 4th time in perfect English! I took it as a compliment again that he thought my French was good enough to keep speaking to me in French and not trasferring over to English just because it would be easier. He left to make some rounds of the room and then came over and kept talking to me in French a couple more times. I was happy to have made a new friend :)
Karin and I went to the giftshop after spending a long while in the Monet rooms and I splurged! I bought a very overpriced Impressionist Concentration set that is identical to the one I grew up with and a big book about Claude Monet with a bunch of his paintings on it. They weren't cheap but I feet like they were both wonderful purchases!
We continued to explore the Monet exhibit and take in as much of the beauty as possible. Then we lost track of time, realizing that we were supposed to be somewhere in 5 minutes that was an hour away. We ditched that plan for our night and ended up meeting up with our friends Jill and Caitlin and going to a Ping-Pong-Pancake party with the missionaries and their English students. We were spoiled with pancakes in the shape of the first letters of our names and our pick of any 16 year old boy that was just about drooling over us. They basically giggled a lot. Haha
Us girls stopped off at Champs d'Elysees to end the night with some ice cream at Haagen-Dazs. We learned that it is about twice as much if you get it at a sit-down restaurant. But soo worth it at the same time! It turned out to be a better day than I had expected! I think mostly because I was on a Monet high for the rest of the day after the museum.
So I had a dream during Relief Society today. Don't judge, you'd fall asleep too if you had to travel an hour to get there on time and then it was all in French. Anyway, it went something like this, and I quote, "Whatcha got in Texas that we ain't got seven times better of in South Carolina?" Needless to say, I've been having a large number of dreams every night and they are getting increasing more weird. I blame this one on my French teacher James who is very proud of his South Carolina roots.