Make it count

Monday, June 30th

Abigail's Graduation Trip - Day #4

What an awesome day today! Really, really special -- we all just agreed upon this over a late night recap at the Indiana restaurant/pub - where we ended the evening. A bit of a tribute to Univ of Indiana - the 'soon to be home' for Abigail

Today was the first official day in which we were all full participants. The day started around 9am (we are just about all fully recovered from jet lag). The first order of business was changing hotel rooms. We have 4 nights in Paris -- split between 2 nights in separate locations. We rolled our bags just down the road a bit to our new place --- Le 20 Prieure Hotel. Excellent spot -- in a nice, vibrant area -- very near the Republique. We have 2 rooms. Keith and I (Kyle) are sharing one room. The girls (Ab, Maddy, and Kelly) are sharing the other.

After check-in, we decided to walk over to the metro train at the Republique. This is a huge square in the city - named after the French Republic. We took a few photos and then took the train up to the Sacre-Coeur. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacre-Coeur Basilica and often simply Sacre-Coeur, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the Montmarte, the highest point in the city.

I took us up the side steps to the basilica. I enjoy this entrance point, because you can only see the church once you peak the last few steps. Tremendous views. We toured the church and took some great pictures. A nice time to just 'take it all in' - appreciating the vastness of the city below.

We next walked down the hill through the Montmartie section of the city. We enjoyed a nice stroll through some of the more colorful sections of the city. We came upon Moulon Rouge, and found the metro back to our hotel area.

We had a sit-down lunch at a pizza/pasta place near the Republique. This enabled us to take in the views of the square and appreciate a bit of French flavor. After lunch - back to the hotel for a short break/relax time.

After a couple hours of recharging the batteries -- off to the Hotel Deville. The World Cup game between France and Nigeria started at 6pm local time. We got off at the metro at the Hotel Deville stop. Wow! Packed! We found our way to street level - and instantly became 1 of thousands of fans all gathered together to watch the game on an outdoor screen next to City Hall. (France has really cracked down on outside viewing parties as there has been some incidents in the past. Due to the increase excitement - the city agreed to have the outside party at the City Hall -- with added levels of security present) This was one of the best parts of the day. France ended up winning 2-0. It was unbelievable to see, hear, and feel the excitement of the gathered crowd. During each goal, fans danced, cheered, waved country flags, lit off flares, and sang national anthems. Few times in your life could you ever experience more raw passion then at a World Cup viewing party in Paris - during the French match. We even enjoyed a couple macaroons from McDonalds (voted the 2nd best macaroon spot in Paris) next to our spot for a little added flavor.

After the game -- we double-timed it out of the crowded streets and on to the Lourve. The Lourve is the famous art museum in Paris. It's enormous. We didn't go in today - but took a ton of great pictures on the exterior. Everyone agreed that the glass-shaped pyramids were more impressive in person than one could ever imagine.

Time was flying -- we wanted to see the Eiffel Tower when the lights first come on. I remembered from my trip a few years back that the lights generally come on around 9pm in the summer. We hit the metro and took a connector to the Trocadera (the viewing area on the over side of the street from the Eiffel Tower). There was an issue with the train --so we aborted the mission. We took off by foot. Luckily, we found that the lights only turn on at 10pm this time of year. We each bought a banana and chocolate crepe (unbelievably tasty) and sat down under the perfect-weather evening to watch the Eiffel Tower come to life. Wow - a take home moment of the day. Really special. It doesn't get much better than this.

After a ton of photos -- we took the metro back to our area of town and hit the Indiana Restaurant to end the night. A great day in a great city ---- lucky to be apart of it.