Pere La Chaise Cemetery & Luxembourg Palace

Today we went to a really cool cemetery that I didn't even know existed until they told us we were headed there! Pere La Chaise Cemetery. Apparently tons of really famous and influential people are buried there. There was even a map of where to find famous people like James Morrison, Chopin, and others :) Pretty cool stuff! We went there to get inspiration for patterns, so I basically ended up taking pictures of TONS of different doors to the above ground caskets. It was a cool experience though!

After we left the cemetery, we headed to Luxembourg Palace. On the way there we saw a movie being filmed at the location below (group of people on the right side of the picture), so that was kind of fun. I didn't see anyone I recognized however, bummer.

Laura and I found a really cool art exhibit with lots of random work like this jacket below dipped probably hundreds of times in white paint, and hanging on a car hood... random? Yes. Cool? You could say that.

Laura and I were inspired and wanted to create our own artwork. As we waited for the group to congregate together again, we talked and drew this with our feet, haha.

Versailles

The golden gate in front of the palace.

Creepin.

Almost everyone was excited to be there...

Backside

The gardens were massive and beautiful, here are a few shots.

Everyone taking a picture of the same thing... that didn't happen often...

Picture perfect cottage

Typical faces for us on this trip...

Sacre Couer & Our Eiffel Tower Picnic

Our group trip for the day was to the Sacre Couer. After taking the tube, and getting off right in front of the Moulin Rouge (probably planned) we walked up and down a few flights of stairs and past some cool shops to get to the top of the hill, where our final destination would be.

THE Sacre Couer

Of course some of us couldn't go all that way up the hill and NOT climb the dome... so we did just that! The view from the top was incredible, all of Paris was in sight!

Some cool architectural details.

On way back to the tube, we walked through a few shops, and we passed this gelato place called Amorino. I hadn't had gelato yet, so I decided I couldn't pass up this opportunity!

The store was well designed and fun, and I'm SO glad I got gelato, so worth it! It was even cool how they put it on to the cone... almost as it putting petals on a rose.

We made it back close to our hotel and we ran to the grocery store to grab some things to have a picnic at the Eiffel Tower.

DANI

MARY

STEPHANIE

And of course, myself.

The food was delicious, and the setting was movie worthy. Imagine sitting on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower, there is a cool breeze blowing under the warm summer sun. As you eat you listen to a woman playing her cello beautifully next to a large tree... and you can also faintly hear the sound of kids playing in the backround. The company is perfect, and everyone is relaxed and enjoying their surroundings. Most perfect I must say.

T'was a good day!

Paris Opera House, and the long walk to the Grand Arch

I remembered sketching the Paris Opera house for one my classes in school. I never really knew too much about the place, but it definitely exceeded all of my expectations when I finally saw it today.

The inside was spectacular, crazy ornate details from floor to ceiling in every room. Below is just one picture from the inside to give you an idea of how cool this building is.

After we left the opera house, we did some shopping down one of the main streets in Paris, lots of expensive awesome stuff to say the least. Stephanie really wanted to walk to the Grand Arch, it didn't look too far away, so we decided it would be worth it to walk down there and see it. When we finally (after a good 1-2 hour walk) arrived at the city, the Arch was in good view now and all of the modern buildings around it were a site to see! Not the usual Paris that everyone is used to seeing!

There was tons of really cool modern art throughout this courtyard between all of the modern business buildings, very cool!

Don't worry Steph, we're almost there!

When we got there, after a terribly long walk, we were greeted with an awesome view and live music!

After leaving for the day, we got some pizza at a local artisan pizza restaurant by our hotel, and of course, it was delicious.