Eiffel Tower, How I Love Thee...

We had a fantastic week here in Paris! It was so fantastic to see the sun finally come out to stay. A big group of us got tickets to the France-Lithuania soccer game on Wednesday and we all sported our France attire and cheered for les bleus! Karin, Zach, and I left a little early so as to avoid crazy crowds on the RER. After parting ways with Zach, Karin and I had a number of guys approach us when they saw our France jerseys and ask us how the game went. One particularly cute guy continued to talk to us, and I exercised my vocabulary by explaining that we left the game early, but the score was 1-0 when we left. He then asked us if we left early to go to a pub. Karin replied yes with a smile on her face, because she didn't quite understand what he was asking. I had to turn the other direction to keep from laughing at her. The score for our stupid mistakes: Me, 1 - Karin, 0. We were taking a different way home then usual, but apparently I'm just used to our usual route. I was pretty convinced that we were supposed to get off at a certain place, and I was only thinking how embarrassing it would be to miss our stop when the really cute boy was still right next to us. I all but dragged Karin off of the train, with her saying "Are you sure this is our stop?" But alas, it was not our stop, and I got us lost once again. Me, 1 - Karin, 1. It was a tie. But France still won! Allez les bleus!Waiting for the RER to go to the Stade de France. This is my big smile apparently!

Karin and I did one of our last walks for our Paris Walks course and we found ourselves in a beautiful garden with blooming flowers surrounding a fountain. We brought some chairs around and lounged in front of the fountain and got a little sun on our faces. It was fabulous! We proceeded to "gallivant" around Paris, as Karin likes to say, and we did a little mustard shopping for my brother-in-law (yes Taylor, I got you the spiciest mustard that money can buy!), and stopped at our very favorite Laduree, then ate macarons and basked in the sunlight on the steps of l'Eglise de la Madeleine. I don't think a more perfect day is possible!
I got a visit from my friend Tressa Oswald this weekend too! Tressa and I have been friends since 4th grade. We've found out that our dads went to law school together, and her mother used to play the harp with my aunt. We have two sets of siblings who were friends in high school, and our younger siblings have carpooled to Carden Memorial for the past couple of years, so it is only natural that we have been friends too! She is currently working as an au pair in Switzerland. She has been there since about the same time that I arrived in Paris, and she is staying until August. It was so fun to have her come visit me here!

Tressa and I walked around Paris on Friday and saw some of the sights. We went to Sacre Coeur, then to Place de la Concorde. From there, we walked up the Jardin de Tuilleries to the Louvre, then stopped at Notre Dame. Crossing one of the bridges over the Seine, we encountered a rather exciting group playing music with the funniest dancer in the world! We think that she was maybe supposed to have a partner, but couldn't find one. Don't worry, I took a video!

On Saturday, Karin, Tressa and I slept in a little late, then went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe! We got gelato (of course) and then watched the morning session of conference at 6 in the evening. I loved watching conference all the way over here! It is so much easier to stay awake when I'm not sitting on my ridiculously comfortable couches at my cabin. My family usually goes up to Bear Lake to watch conference, and the times that I have been awake, I'll look around the room and see that EVERYBODY, including mom, dad, aunts, and uncles, is sleeping. I blame the couches. The Champs-Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe

After conference we went outside to take pictures of the sparkling Eiffel Tower. I decided that I truly am in love. I think I'm going to miss the Eiffel Tower more than anything else here in Paris! I come home in 10 days, so I'll have to visit it as often as I can until then!