Paris in the Snow

Today I woke up and peeked out my window to find everything covered in a layer of fresh snow. I don't think it snows in Paris very often, but it sure is pretty.

After breakfast, we split up into two groups, and I went with one group to Montmartre where we explored a little bit and then found our way to Sacré-Coeur, the giant basilica on the top of the hill. We climbed up about a million stairs, turned around, and beheld a spectacular view of Paris which my camera really could not capture. The basilica itself was incredible; there was a service in progress when we went in, and I think their organ is temporarily broken, which is sad, but the nuns were singing a capella which was pretty wonderful, echoing throughout the basilica's hugeness. After, we wandered around Montmartre for a bit and then headed back to the hostel for lunch.
Then, as a group, we all went to the Hotel de Ville. Honestly, I didn't really know it existed before today (didn't do my research. Oops), so I had no idea what to expect. We were lead into a giant building after handing over our bags and going through a metal detector. Clearly this place is important to the Parisians. Once inside, a woman began telling us about the building, and what I heard was actually surprising and (I thought) really interesting. It was incredibly beautiful, ornately decorated, and painted all over with scenes that were representative of Paris. She told us that the building had never been a king's palace or the living place of any important person. It belonged to the people. It was the people's palace. In the largest room, there are huge mirrors lining one wall, and windows looking out on the streets of Paris on the other. At Versailles there is a room (the hall of mirrors) where there are tons of mirrors that reflect the grandeur of the gardens outside. The ones at Hotel de Ville reflected the streets of Paris, which truly belong to the Parisians. Anyway, I'm getting carried away, but I learned a lot of incredibly interesting things about French/Parisian history while I was there. Also, after a while, I had completely forgotten that our guide was speaking French.

After that, I went to get coffee with Scottie, another girl, and our two monitrices, Barbara and Juliette. We went to Starbucks (ughhhh) because that's where Barbara and Juliette wanted to go. I thought it was pretty funny, but after a while I learned that there is no Starbucks in Rennes, and Barbara likes to go there to eat cheesecake. Apparently no one in France eats cheesecake, so Starbucks is one of the few places you can find it. It was Juliette's first time eating cheesecake EVER. She liked it.

In the evening, we took a boat ride on the Seine, which was lovely and provided an incredible view of Paris. After that, we were on our own for dinner, so a few of us wandered around the Latin quarter until we found a crêperie and had crêpes for dinner and desert (really, it couldn't be better). We found our way back to the youth hostel and were very proud of ourselves. Paris is especially charming at night, and everywhere still has Christmas decorations up, which I think is very endearing. The French don't want to put an end to their party.

Tomorrow we leave (at 7:30 a.m!) for Rennes. By tomorrow night, I will know my host family! Ahhhhh! Wish me luck, everyone!