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Danny's Summer '06 Study Abroad
This morning we had our 2nd music class, and we discussed the jazz concert from last night (what a waste of 20 E by the way), but apparently jazz music and blue jeans are the only lasting American influence on French culture. So after class we went to the Opera National de Paris-Garnier, and went on a tour of it (w/ our flamboyant tour guide). It was amazing, from all of the marble and onyx on the handrails of the staircases to the golden room it's amazing how much the French value their architecture. Apparently every column is worth now ½ million Euros, and there was 30 of them in the main entrance that's a freaking 15 million Euros just on the columns in that one room. Anyways we didn't get to go inside the main auditorium b/c they were practicing. After that I went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed up it (an amazing view once again, but from a different perspective, being able to see the circle surrounding the arc and the streets that branch off of it). Then I went to Notre Dame area to buy some pictures, which I split the price with someone and took a nap in one of the parks nearby. After that we had to meet w/ our group for the Pompidou, a modern looking building w/ modern art. Unexpectedly the modern art museum was closed for the year, but we looked around at some the other modern art that wasn't close, I don't know the difference (one room had random crap scattered on the floor and they called it art, another room had projections of porn images, another had a blank projection, and so on). Then we tried to find a nice restaurant for a real French meal, but it ended up not really being all that French except for the chocolate mousse, oh well. Then the group that I ate w/ headed to Sacre-Coeur (sacred heart, there was a huge fresco above the main alter that had a huge image of Jesus w/ a golden heart, we couldn't take pictures though so that kind of sucks), an amazing cathedral at the top of a hill, kind of in the middle of nothing. We found a local store and got some bottles of wine and just watched the skyline as the sky got dark. What an amazing way to end the Paris trip. I'm not looking forward to the 8 crammed bus trip to Zurich.
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