Kären and Amanda explore Paris

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After our days of lots of traveling and not much sleep, we went to bed really early. As in 7:00. But it was good to wake up early and get a head start on the day. The plan was to see Notre Dame, but when we got there we discovered they were ordaining 9 priests, and we would need to come back another day. Instead, we spent the day walking around- a lot of walking around! We saw our first views of the Seine, the Eiffel tower and the Louvre. The Louvre was so impressive! I'd heard people talk about how big it was, and how impossible it is to see everything in one day... but it still didn't prepare me for seeing it in person. In general, there are just a lot of beautiful buildings. Even regular apartment buildings and stuff are beautiful!

The next day we went to Versailles. It was the place Amanda was the most excited to see. She assured me that both the palace and the grounds would be amazing. And they were. It's hard to imagine how they were even able to create it all back then. Besides the size, everything was so elaborate. How did they get so much marble? carve so many statues and intricate trimwork? and get so many paintings? I don't know.

So, this has not been a year for me and cameras. First, my camera was stolen in February at Carnaval. Then, I bought a replacement camera that I like a lot until the cable stopped working about a month ago. (You need the cable to charge the battery) I took it back to the store I bought it at in Colombia where they confirmed that the cable did not work, and told me I needed to go to a Samsung store downtown. About a week later I went, and they told me that yes, my camera was fine, but no, the cable was not. They told me they would order a cable for me and call when it came in. Of course, I didn't ever hear back from them, and I was so busy finishing up with schoool and packing that I didn't call them. When I did get home I figured I could just go to Best Buy and buy a wall charger or something. Which I did, but they told me that you cannot use a wall charger with Samsung camera- you have to have a cable. And you have to have it mailed to you. So, I had to wait around for the cable to arrive. When it finally got there, I charged my camera at Amanda's apartment in Seattle. I used it for an afternoon in London, but when I tried to use it in Paris, it wouldn't turn on. And now it won't charge either. I'm hoping that it will charge when I am back in London. I so wanted my own camera for this trip, and it doesn't work! I've been sharing Amanda's camera, but when we went to Versailles, her camera died! Luckily, her blackberry has a good camera... and her camera does charge!

A bridge we crossed covered with locks people had left.

The Louvre

It totally looks like this guy is sitting in the fountain, and we were excited to go in until we realized that there was actually a pathway there...

And the palace of Versailles...