Château de Chantilly, and PARIS!!!

Sunday after church I got to go visit the Château de Chantilly which was really very cool. It's complete with a real moat and some huge fish things that could probably eat people I think. Most everything in there was French so unfortunately I don't know much about the Château itself, just some things about the artwork and such. The gardens looked amazing but it was a rainy day so I did not wander them much. I spent a good three or four hours out and walking around in there. It was really nifty and I did put some pictures up on Picasa and Facebook.

Today though was a SUPER adventure because Jennifer and I got on the train this morning and went to Paris for my first time!! It was really wet and kind of cold again so we tried to do some inside things. On the sub as we were going in an accordion player got onto the train with us and played! He was really good and it was so very cool. We started out at Notre Dame where I discovered I'd left my SD card in my laptop at home and only had enough space for 5-7 photos on the camera which was super lame but I was sort of okay with that knowing I'll get another chance to come back. Jennifer took one picture of me in front of it but then I realized that went straight to my camera's internal memory and I don't think I have the cable to transfer it to my computer haha!! Those two or three pictures I took inside may have to wait until I get home to get moved to my computer. :) I took a couple of the amazing windows. The church is just amazing and breathtaking especially when I consider the fact it was built without any fancy equipment, just piece by piece by someone's own hands carefully sculpting and crafting and putting all the pieces together to form this amazing building.

After that it was still kind of spitting although not all out raining and so we went in a few little shops behind Notre Dame. In one I was able to find an SD card for a pretty decent price so I decided it's not too bad of an idea to have two SD cards anyhow in case one gives out (eh Sara??) so I picked one up. I also got one or two other odds and ends for different people and got many ideas for others but being the terrible decision maker that I am refused to buy too many things today in case I see something else even better later. I can always come back. :) We went to lunch at a nice cute little cafe and I had salad, quiche, and a yummy chocolate cake that was pretty dense and fudgey with some coffee. Yum! I could definitely live the French life!! By the time we finished eating it had stopped raining so we decided to walk by the Seine to the Louvre. It was so fun to visit with Jennifer and hear about what God is doing in their family's life and how they came to France! Along the way I snapped photos here and there of the things we saw and just tried to soak in the atmosphere. It was so very very cool!

By the time we got the Louvre it started to rain again and there was a very long line to get in, so we'd maybe only have an hour or hour and a half to look before we needed to catch the train back to Chantilly. We decided to wait on that (or I did anyway) and go look in the shops around that part of town. After we had located a little crepe shop and got some yummy warm crepes with nutella we walked around and ended up near Saint Eustache and the l'Ecoute. :) That was fun! But of course it was raining again and so we took refuge in the underground mall by the metro station. I decided I very much liked a lot of the French clothes. I do NOT get into the skinny jeans that are everywhere but they had some super cute cardigans, cashmere sweaters, knit tops and dresses.

Well as they say all good things must come to an end so we made our way back to the train station to go back home again. It was so much fun to just kind of wander through Paris! I didn't feel any pressure to see everything in the rain because the plan is for me to come back hopefully more than once before I leave so I can see more things. I will also feel more confident now if I venture out maybe the first Sunday in September to see the Louvre (it is free that day!), maybe I will be able to find someone to go with me. In three days I leave for London and how exciting is THAT in and of itself, but even more fun and exciting to me is that I will get to meet one of my longest best internet friends!! I'm so very very blessed, God has done EXCEEDINGLY abundantly above and beyond all that I could even imagine. I'm so grateful for these incredible opportunities He has given me!