Enfin, le week-end est ici!

Bonjour tout le monde!

The weekend is finally here! I have a really fun (and busy) weekend planned, so I thought I would give you the heads-up on where I will be going.

Tomorrow, I will be going to Versailles with the group from Auburn. Versailles is the grand palace built by Louis XIV in the second half of the 1600s, after he moved the capital of France from Paris to Versailles. It is one of the largest palaces in Europe, and consequently one of the most expensive. It is about forty-five minutes outside of Paris by train, and the group will be leaving tomorrow around 9 am.

Sunday, Kaylin and I are taking a day trip to the city of Strasbourg, which is a city that sits on the border between France and Germany. It is about a two-and-a-half hour train ride west of Paris in the province of Alsace. I am more excited about this than Versailles because I've been wanting to go to Strasbourg for a long time. There is a lot of German influence there since it has been tossed between Germany and France for centuries, so the culture is an interesting mix of French and German. Even the language is different. The people there speak a dialect of German called Alsacian, in addition to French. I am so excited to see this city and the culture there. I'm honestly not really sure what to expect, which is the best part!

Tonight Kaylin and I are going back to the Louvre for the fourth time. We go every friday night because it is free for students. We still have a lot of ground to cover, but I think we have been to more than half of the museum by now. Before we go to the Louvre, we will go to Jardin Tuileries, which is a huge park across the street from the Louvre. There is one of the biggest ferris wheels I've ever seen right on the bank of the Seine, which sounds kind of scary but this city has really gotten me used to heights, so I think I'll be okay. The Place de la Concorde is also right next to Jardin Tuileries, so we will go there as well. The Place de la Concorde is where King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded during the French Revolution. It is full of history!

I am so excited about this weekend!