Europe

Since Matt and I have been home for a full week--and our jet lag is pretty much worn off--we decided it was time to post about our adventurous European discoveries. Let's start with Paris.

Eiffel tower, shmeiffel tower. While we did take time to take in that most functional of all apparatuses (it is a radio tower), we were perhaps more taken by the extremely expressive art of Rodin. Here is his sculpture of Victor Hugo, listening to his literary muses while pushing out the din of us rather normal (and non-muse) humans.

In the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, each big window has a partner mirror across the way. That's about it--except for all the innate opulence. Oh, and the billions of visitors. Not-so-fun fact: the queens had to give birth in public so that it was verified that the child was the king's. (Not to question it further, but wouldn't it be more appropriate to verify that the child is the king's by witnessing the conception? Not that anyone would want to witness that...)  

In the city of wonderful food, Matt and I found this Japanese restaurant that served up some great pot stickers and wonderfully filling miso soups. All for the cheap price of 6 euros a piece. (Believe me, a $10/person meal is pretty cheap in Paris.)

Church in Paris was our most adventurous discovery, by far. I had printed out a map from maps.lds.org for a chapel, but the map took us to a small alley with NO church. We did have the address (which, interestingly enough, didn't match up to the map...), so we used our guidebook, people on the street, and famous landmarks to help us problem solve until we did find the church--only to find it was locked. But then we saw a sign that invited us to come in by pressing a button and walking through the big blue door. We did so, only to find church was not in session. All signs said it was supposed to be sacrament meeting, but no one was there so we figured it was a district conference day.

Tomorrow I'll take you through Barcelona!