My day off!

6/6/2013

My main boss was at a conference in Mexico so I didn’t have to go into work until noon because that was when my other coworker would be there. After being there for 20 minutes he told me I could leave because there wasn’t enough work to be done and he was just there to take calls. I gladly left and decided to sightsee a little! I went to see Notre Dame because I hadn’t gone in it yet. The line wasn’t very long so I quickly made it in. The exterior and interior are incredible! (As you can imagine.) There is so much minuscule detail and the stained glass windows and the area/stage for where the pastor would stand was beautiful with the dome stained glass ceilings and windows. One of the reasons I liked it so much also is because it’s right next to the Seine which is very pretty. The tour itself didn’t take long and I soon realized that I had made my way around the church and it was time to leave. Around the Notre Dame there are a lot of touristy shops. I had wanted to walk in them and look around for a while but I had not had time. However, since I was given the day off, this gave me plenty of time to check out some of the shops! I ended up finally buying a sweatshirt and also several other little nick-knacks. While shopping I was also trying to walk in the direction of pont neuf. I of course went the wrong way but ended up finding Hotel de ville. There was a free exposition going on at the time called Haute Couture. I decided I would go in and check it out. I can’t say a guy would enjoy this necessarily, but I was in awe during the whole expo! It was all about fashion and consisted of historic and modern dresses, designs, shoes, jewelry, and hats. I loved looking at them and was wishing that I could secretly slip one of the dresses in my bag! Haha just kidding... but actually. After the expo, I again mistakenly found Centre Georges Pompidou. This is a very modern museum and one of the most visited places in Paris. As one could expect based on the exterior of the building, this art in the galleries are very modern. I don’t mean to be a traditionalist, but I’d say about 25% was actual art and the other 75% looked like it belonged in the trash. While it was different, it was still very interesting to see. After the museum, I relaxed in near the pompidou fountain which again I would say was an “interesting” piece of art. After a while I walked around and went into some clothing stores that I randomly saw. I didn’t realize where I was at first but I ended up being on rue de rivoli which is well known shopping area. After a couple stores, I found a metro and went home. I had dinner with my host mom and prepared for the weekend!