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| It is Thursday, June 12. A week into my trip.
We had a relaxing beginning to the day. F and I went to the store and the Patisserie to pick up breakfast stuff. I am liking our hotel. It is in a nontouristy neighborhood. It is next to a loud bar, but other than that it is great. We are on the 4th floor. The toilet is half a flight down and shower on the 3rd floor with a sign that says "out of order, use shower on the 2nd floor". So a little hike, but not totally inconvenient, especially for the price.
We ate breakfast in our room and then headed out to the Triumphal Arc and the Champs-Elysees.
We strolled down the famous boulevard, stopping for milk and MacCafe and Coffee at Starbucks. We made our way slowly across the river. It was beautiful (although cloudy and rainy). You can see the Eiffel tower from the bridge.
 
After crossing the river we found a cafe for lunch, just in time. After we got our food the sky opened up and it poured!!!! After lunch we went to the Rodin Museum. I love this museum. Filled with his great sculpture set in a beautiful garden and house. Below is the Thinker, the most famous sculpture by Rodin.
Then we headed, slowly again, to the Orsay Museum. This has a very fine collection of Impressionist art. Lots of other stuff too, but my feet could only view the impressionists. They were too tired.
We walked around the area for a bit looking for a place for dinner and found a great Creperie. We had dinner and dessert Crepes. It was really good and the owner was really nice and friendly.
We then hopped the metro (actually the RER, which is more like a suburban train, very weird, it would not let me out so I lost a metro ticket). We got out in time to view the Eiffel tower at dusk and after dark. Very beautiful.
And that was our very full day!
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| This is day 6 of my trip, Wednesday, 11 June. Paris! I made it at last! It has been my dream to go to Paris since I was in High School, sitting in French class and learning how to use the Paris Metro. I arrived in Paris with my friend F in the late morning. We spent the morning trying to figure out how to get to our hotel and then stopped for lunch in a Cafe. We went to the Shakespeare and Company English bookstore. I was good (since I am on a very tight budget for this trip) and did not purchase anything. I brought a small suitcase and a normal sized backpack only, so I do not really have the room to take extra books home. Right across the Seine on the Ile de la Cite is the Notre Dame Cathedral. Since we were so close, we had to go. 
We were expecting our friend J to be arriving around 3 pm, so we headed back to the hotel to wait for her. She did finally make around 4:30 and we were so excited to see her that we spent the evening in the hotel room talking and playing cards. | | |
| It is day 3 of my trip, Sunday.
I spent the morning in church with my friend F. I really enjoyed going to her church, an International church in Leuven. It is always awesome to worship God with other believers from around the world. In the evening her Bible study came over for pancakes and some time studying the role of women in the church (they are going through 1 Corinthians).
In the afternoon I walked the "Garden" tour of Leuven. Very beautiful day for it! The sun finally came out, the first time since leaving Russia.
In the Botanical Gardens:
This is a section that used to be a place for nuns called the Beguinage.
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