Tuesday May 23- Paris

 We began today a bit later so we were able to sleep in. So far, the breakfast has been super good in Paris. Each morning I got a baguette with cheese and some sort of salami. Our day began at the French Open where we watched a 19 year old American play against a 26 year old woman from Spain. This was the preliminary rounds but it was still an exciting game to watch. We also got to look inside the larger stadiums, where the final matches will be played, and watched a tennis player warm up for a few minutes. It was much colder and cloudier than we expected so a few people bought sweatshirts or merch from the store. 

After the French Open, we set out to find lunch. A bunch of us all crammed into this little sandwich shop. There was a bit of a language barrier and the entire menu was in French so it was a bit difficult to understand what food we were ordering. They put ketchup on Selby’s vegetable and cheese sandwich which seemed like a weird combination. Versailles was our next stop! We took the train out and the palace was stunning. It was enormous and we couldn’t believe that people genuinely lived there at one point in time. My favorite room was the Hall of Mirrors. They had different apartments designated for various kings or queens. Each apartment was very ornate in decoration. Lots of the ceilings were painted and the rooms had gold accents. We looked it up and learned everything within the palace was equivalent to over 50 billion dollars! The equestrian portion of the Olympics will take place at Versailles. I’m super excited for this because, while we didn’t get to enter the gardens, they looked beautiful. 

We made our way back to the Eiffel Tower area and walked around to buy postcards before our fantastic dinner. The Versailles group ended up running into Josh at a little cafe! We all caught up at a group dinner at 20 Eiffel, a michelin grade restaurant. It was a three course meal where we pre-picked our meal ahead of time. A bunch of people in the group tried escargot as an appetizer. My personal favorite course was the dessert where I enjoyed a crème brûlée. The dinner was bitter-sweet because it was our last night with Professor Ryan (we miss you Professor Ryan!). We ran to catch the 9pm river cruise and just barely missed it! Luckily, we were able to easily hop on the next cruise. The cruise went along the Seine so we got to see everything from the water including the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame, and the Louvre. As it got darker out, the city began to light up. A portion of the river cruise followed the same course that the Opening Ceremony will take place. We got back to the hotel pretty late so a few of us hung out on the balcony before going to bed. We attempted to see the Eiffel Tower from the balcony but the side of the building was in the way.