*Paris: Chapter Four*

Thursday morning was a little bit of a late start for everyone. We were going to have breakfast at 9:30, and Milja and I left at 8:00 so that I could run. We still went along the Seine, but since she was walking, and not on roller blades, I ran back and forth. Really, it shouldn't have been that complicated for me to figure out that after thirty minutes of running we could turn around and go back, and we'd get back in thirty minutes, since she was walking the same pace the entire time. Somehow I did manage to make it complicated though, and waited 40 minutes to turn around. Then we actually ended being gone for about an hour and a half total. Everyone else was running a little bit late too, so by the time we'd eaten breakfast and gotten out of the apartment it was 11:30.
Again, we took the metro for a little ways (I had metro tickets falling out of my pockets for few days after we got back), and then walked to Sacre Coeur. The church is at the top of this really big hill, and first you have to walk a ways up the hill through these streets that are basically just tourist shops and nothing else. A ways before the church there are stairs, and just like at the Eiffel Tower, there's tons of immigrants trying to sell things.
We went almost all the way to the top where the church was, and then there was a man standing on the stairs playing his guitar and singing. Tons of people were sitting on the stairs listening to him, and we sat down too. From the stairs you could see over the roof tops, and the apartments with lots of chimneys on top. The weather was really sunny and warm, and sitting there listening was just relaxing. For probably an hour we sat and listened to him playing his guitar, and then we went back up into the church. A lot like Notre Dame, it was really quiet and dark inside, with lots of candles. We didn't stay there for very long, but afterwards we stayed at the top of the hill and walked around a square which was full of artists selling their paintings and making caricatures.
On the way back from Sacre Coeur the first thing we wanted to do was eat, since it was almost 4:00. We sat in a park and ate French bread with brie, while we watched these groups of men play a game with metal balls. Another moment where it felt like we were really just "being in France." Then we walked some more (surprise!) to the museum where Napoleon is buried. By the time we got there though, the museum had just closed to visitors, so then we had to turn around and walk back, which took us about 45 minutes, though we were walking really slowly and relaxed along the Seine. We all ate dinner together again on Thursday night, and then played cards all of us together for a long time.

On Friday morning, we had to be out of our apartment by 10:00 in the morning, so we got going a little bit earlier than usual and cleaned out the rooms. Then we walked (!) to LaFayette which is this huge shopping building that sells products from a lot of different high end stores at lower prices. Still though, everything there was super expensive, so we went to H&M for a little bit, then met everyone else at the very top of the building for coffee. After we ate, it was back to the apartments for all of us. Then our family went to the train station, and Erik and Marja loaded back up into the car for the drive.

That, my friends, is the end of my novel about Paris! I know this post is a little bit rushed, and not very detailed, but I am definitely ready to get back to writing about life here. Paris was a ton of fun, but having been there, I am still really happy that I chose to come to the Netherlands. I think it fits me much better!