Today, we woke up pretty early to eat breakfast in the adorable hotel cafe. They had crossaints, pain au chocolat, baguettes, French yogurt, applesauce, cheese, and jams in small individual jars. We ate a lot so we wouldn't have to get lunch later, and then met Basia to start the day. She took us to the Marais, which is the Jewish quarter, and also a gay area. It is probably my favorite place in Paris. There are small boutiques with unique clothes and accessories, corner cafes, and quiet side streets with many gardens. It's comparable to Greenwich Village in NYC, which is my favorite area in that city. We walked to Place des Vosges first. It is a beautiful square with 9 houses on each side, thereby making it perfectly symmetrical. The square in the middle has fountains and statues. We went into Victor Hugo's house; he lived in the Place des Vosges. His house was very dark and had a lot of chinsoirie, since Asian culture had such a huge influence on Europe at that time. I sketched some of the things on the walls and copied his signature, which they had on an original letter that was under glass. His work desk was right there too. After that, we headed down the street to the Picasso museum. I'm not a huge fan of Picasso, but I found his work to be very inspiring. I liked his organic shapes and use of bright colors. See the pictures for more, its hard to write about it. Then, we walked around the streets of the Marais and Basia took us to a cool Japanese tea shop called Les Palace des Thes. We got falafels (a sandwich in pita bread made with cabbage, tomato, cucumber, and falafel balls with a cream sauce on top) and they were amazing! I felt really full afterwards though, since I had had a big breakfast. We went to the Musee Carnivalet briefly, but then most people went to shop for awhile. We met up with Basia again and she took us through the back streets to some cool stationary stores. One of them had invisible ink! I was going to buy some pretty cards, but then the guy told me they were 40 euro each, not .40 euro which is what I originally thought. We crossed the Seine to go to Saint-Chapel on the Isle de la Cite. We got there a minute after they closed, and they would still not let us up. Basia argued with the guy for a minute, but he would not give in. She said, "Welcome to Paris, they're b******s here." Then she told us that Saint-Chapel was built to house Jesus's crown of thornes, and that object was worth more than what it cost to build this huge piece of gothic architecture. The crown isn't there anymore, but there are still beautiful stained glass windows and religious objects of art inside. Most of us never managed to go back to see it. We walked down the street to Notre-Dame. it is so beautiful on the outside, but probably more so on the inside. Right in front is the center point of the city, and all distances are measured from that exact point. We then crossed another bridge to get to the small Isle de St. Louis. There is only one main street, and Basia showed us the strange variety of cheeses and meats they sold in the stores here. She then left us at a small chocolate cafe. Here, we ordered hot chocolate which was so thick--it was like drinking a melted candy bar. A few of the girls and I walked back to Notre-Dame to go inside afterwards. They were having mass, so I could only sneak one picture. It keeps going back for what seems like forever, and the ceilings are so high that everything echoes. I lit a candle for my Baba, Papap, and Mark. I also gave some money to the "for the poor" box and then we left to go back to the hotel. After dinner and getting ready, Julie, Allison, Bridget, Patty, and I went to the Latin quarter. This is a good nightlife area, especially because there are so many students around. Since it was Thursday it wasn't especially busy, but there was still stuff going on. The lights and street decorations were beautiful. We went to River Bar first and talked for awhile, and then we moved on the Student Bar. We sat downstairs in a cave like atmoshphere, and talked with the French students next to us. Julie also met two people from Chicago--the girl lived in Rome, and told us to email her if we needed a tour guide while there!! We had some trouble finding a taxi rank (you can't just hail taxis) but we eventually got into one and came back. Today was a packed day, but probably the best one!!!