“HEUTE!!” WE WERE THERE ON THE RELEASE DAY OF HP 7!!!!!!!! (but we weren't staying the night...:( no midnight party for us)
ps. we're in ulm, germany.
das ulmer munster! catholic cathedral turned protestant church... the tallest spire in the world!
us with pythagorus!! (ulm is also known for its exquisitely carved oak choir stalls.)
just so you can see him a bit better.
stufen are STEPS, people. that's a lot.
but it's the highest in the world. of course we had to climb it!!
some of our group...
a view from the steeple. i'm not going to lie - sometimes those gargoyles really freak me out. luckily dr.loos explained them to me: they're personified evil CAUGHT IN STONE. which means that then evil can't enter the building. good news.
creepy man, too.
almost to the top! one last flight of stairs!
the final ascent
i like this person
met in the middle!
we're on top!!!!
dear format: your tshirts have officially been to the top of the world's highest church spire. sincerely your adoring fans, sarah and emily:)
back down was even scarier...
isaac sleeping comfortably
checking out metz, france (OUR FIRST FRENCH CITY!)
the metz cathedral
there were swans on the river!! it was beautiful!! and so FRENCH
an OH MY GOSH WE'RE IN FRANCE! shot
happy smart car!! there were so many smart cars here!!!!
i liked these leaves
our first museum... musee marmottan. it used to be the house of an industrial tycoon who REALLY liked monet. he donated his house to the city when he died, along with all of his art collection. now it has one of the biggest collections of monet, as well as other impressionist artists.
isaac and a french chops!!!! CRAZYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!
the following are some wandering-paris pics
a first sighting of the eiffel tower!
smart car!! and parisian apartments
i really like the colored glass
cate, seonaid and sarah waiting for the metro
ANOTHER hey there delilah!!
as our welcome-to-paris present, they decided to make the eiffel tower sparkled for us
up on montmartre - the “bohemian” neighborhood!
almost a full moon!
everything was decorated so cute!
ok, note to self. girls taking pictures in front of the moulin rouge = TOURISTS = easy targets. duh. which also means it's hard to get a picture by yourself... this man practically RAN over to get into our pic... continue.
these boys followed suit.
we got tough and finally got our pic
so this is it
late night crepe pick-me-up
notre dame on sunday morning!
the organ's ending processional
the outside of notre dame
sainte-chapelle
inside sainte-chapelle - this was the royal family's private chapel. the downstairs was for courtiers and other important people but the upstairs was reserved EXCLUSIVELY for the family...
downstairs windows...
upstairs!! the walls are completely covered in stained glass... this creates the most magnifecent effect!! my breath caught in my throat when i walked in. i think that this is what i would imagine heaven to be like... the light was absolutely beautiful.
hmmm. let's see. bottom black ones are me. then clockwise, cate, maria, ashley, denise, sarah. i think. anyway, huddling to ward off the freezing cold
downtown paris somewhere
after mass and looking for lunch
...these are just-wandering-paris pics...
i know what “le chat noir” means now! (the black cat!!!) YES!!!
you put in a deposit and then you can rent a bike!! what an amazing system!! people are riding these all over the city!!
another one of those i'm-napoleon-and-i'm-in-love-with-myself monuments
all the river shots are the seine, by the way.
grandpa and uncle tony: accordians (especially with clarinets) will always hold a special place in my heart....
a pretty and colorful pole!!
this is where we're going!
the best tour guide in all of europe.
(one of) the burghers of calais
“take my picture!” ( a portrait of balzac)
the thinker
the kiss
going in...
napoleon's tomb!!
rollerblades are cool in paris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
le tour eiffel. (i just tried to sound cool and french there, so hopefully i got the article right. hmmm.)
i'm pretty sure that this is one of those things that you have the right to take and post a million pictures of. so please excuse the next ten...
we're on top!! (and it's FREEZING!!)
boats under bridges.
the metro was SOOOOO cool. and so easy to figure out, even for girls who spoke little or absolutely NO french. all i have to say is that if you can pull off a public trasportation system that huge and complex that foreigners can figure out, BRAVO. props to the parisians!!
the controversial glass pyramid (but dr. loos loves it, so that's all the assurance i need)
we're here!!
the nike of samothrace!!! this is what i wanted to see the most of all.... she is SO BEAUTIFUL!!! and an original from the greek hellenistic period... oh my gosh. she is so perfect, and that is all. i love her!!
our tour guide (just a little bit of perspective to this magnificent piece of art)
you can just FEEEEEL the wind blowing. oh my god i love this!!!!
so i really don't feel bad giving you thirteen versions of this one, either
she's framed from every angle. i know i'm not the first to fall in love, but seriously... this is real.
sometimes people commision artists to copy these famous paintings. amazing.
da vinci.
do you see the sheer mass of the people in this room?? do you see that little painting in the back?? it's a fight to get close, let me tell you.
and there she is.
turns out that some people come to the louvre for the sole reason to see this woman. these signs are everywhere in the museum pointing you in the right direction...
renaissance sculpture room
the dying slaves by michealangelo
a jab at da vinci...
this was beautiful
really, it was an amazing building. old castle and completely modern museum all-in-one!
the courtyard
a mummy!!
there were quite a few (the louvre has the largest ancient egyptian exhibit outside of egypt)
paris drivers are absolutely INSANE. road lines and signs and lights really don't mean anything. you do whatever you want to get where you need to go. and do they HONK!!! it's worse than new york. i don't think you could ever pay me to be a cop directing traffic....
apparently the last parisian earthquake left this building in a bad state
LE POISSONS!
jen and mary
ashley and kaitlyn
everyone is just looking so cute for the cruise on the seine! (sarah and alyssa!)
clint and sarah
plus isaac
karley and me!
seonaid and jen!
notre dame from the river!
ashley, karley, cate, clint
sarah, anna, sarah and emily
mary and cate!
the tour eiffel!!!
happy gazers
allison and emily
the arc de triumph
champs elysee
versailles!!!
the chapel from upstairs
the most fabulous group of asians i may ever see in my life (so maybe you can't tell from here, but take my word for it.)
a beautiful portait bust of louis xiv... i hear it was his favorite.
the famous hall of mirrors. mirrors were really difficult and expensive to make back in the day, so this room was created to display the power and magnificence and wealth of the french economy/monarchy and whatever else. just their amazingness in general, i guess.
it was beautiful.
so this was louis xiv's room. and this is what happened here: he considered himself a sun-god. as in, he made up this sweet tradition of the “rising sun” ceremony every morning... hundreds of courtiers and whatever would be present for his awakening... because he was the sun. hmmmmm....
inside the chapel
a cornation of emperor napoleon's wife.
the first view of the gardens (which i must admit that i found much more intriguing than the building itself). it was a perfect autumn day to be out there!!
me, cate, sarah and liz
trumpeter swans!
another reference to the sun god....
liz!!!
i miss crew!!!
and cross country!
these grounds are public now. anyone can ride around or boat or run here... maybe we should move to versailles and pick up on these fringe benefits?
marie antoinette didn't like her husband very much so she built herself her own place...
dancing darling
can you even believe the colors on this tree??
a cottage! maybe for the gardeners or something??
back to versailles
the back view
a statue on top of the musee d'orsay
this was originally built as a train station for the world exibition back in the 19th century. since then, it's been turned into an art museum... we were particularly interested in its amazing selection of impressionistic art!!
a view through the main section
you can see sacre couer up there!!
wonderwall!!! this was a tuesday night... it was amazing how much was going on!!!
down in sainte michele... students' quarters. it was awesome down here.
the amazing chartres! this cathedral contains the oldest and most complete original stained glass in all the world!! something like over 150 of the 180 panels are original dating to the 12th and 13th centuries!!
an explanation by dr. loos
a chartres veggie market...
dedication to mary was really popular for these cathedrals...
those three windows are from the original buliding before it was burnt down. this facade survived, and so they are the oldest in the world!! we are talking 1100's here... they're are almost 900 years old!
this was the most amazing tour of the entire trip, i think. our guide has dedicated his life to this chuch and it's windows... SO AMAZING. he was teaching us to read the pictures.
he explained that in an illiterate culture, the best way to convey the stories was by the artwork... you wouldn't believe the insane symbolism in this glass and in the statues. we may know how to read, but i'm pretty sure that most of us are hopeless at the intricasies of SEEING, as he put it.
st. anne holding mary... and the coronation of mary, queen of heaven by jesus.
the chapel in the crypt where we attended a french all-saints day mass.
the church burned down in the 12th or 13th century ( i forget exactly) but the facade and steeple remained. the people left the originals, and then rebuilt the rest... that's why the two steeples are so different. i think it's kind of cute:)
brioge!! (we were working on the french food thing:)
yes. the bus is PARKED. in the middle of the street.
overlooking paris from the front of sacre couer
this church was built around 1870, after the seige of paris in the franco-prussian war. the parisians suffered terribly during this time, and so afterwards, they built this beautiful church as a symbol that god still lived in paris... in thanksgiving for their survival. it's at the top of the hill in montmartre, and looks over all of paris.
we tried getting the tour eiffel in the background. that didn't work, but oh well. just imagine it's over that fence back there...
see??
our crepe man.
delicious!
darling montmartre! (this is the bohemian neighborhood again)
paris at dusk
jenni
this is where our hotel was
we're now in reims at THEIR cathedral! (short tour inside, then wandering the town. we had to come back to see the stained glass behind the altar because there was a mass going on.)
aaron still doesn't like the smell of smoke. hahaha
in a little park near the cathedral
gorgeous cate.
cowgirl WAHOOOOOOOOO
hi aaron
harry potter EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the whole world loves him!!
hai mae!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please.
lunch.
cate says that this says THE LOVE OF GOOD BREAD. they aren't lying. i think that's all they eat here.
a street fountain.
we're back inside and behind the altar! marc chagall made these windows in the 1970s... they were beautiful!!
and now you've guessed...
we found the champagne cellars!
yes, that bottom number means that there are nearly 9200 bottles of champagne in this cave...
these caves were originally dug by the romans in the 3rd century. they're super old.
PEACE
the room where champagne sediment is taken out. it's a tricky process...
YES!!! that is our champagne...
cheers!!
katie, mary, maria, dr. loos, and jenny
a list of their champagne selection
cate's FABULOUS parisian coat!!!!!!!!
a night in strasbourg... yet another adorable town!!
the strasbourg cathedral
we made a little break in a quaint little town called scheidegg. here's some documentation of our exploration...
wow.
”doing something german“
the new boots shot
and, umm, german cowboys. do you get that from this picture??
i love german.
inside our room at the gasthof!! it was orange!!!!
our adorable gasthof in reutte, austria
castle on the hill!!
on the walk up to neuschwanstein
the leaves were GORGEOUS!
a map of the layout
hurray castle!!
do you see the moon?
sunlight on the trees!!
we're in a real fairytale castle!!
it's a baby.
such beautiful views from the castle!
what sarah was seeing...
this was actually king ludwig's (the one who built neuschwanstein) dad's castle back in the day.
from the bridge
sarah b. and cate on the way up...
this is the top (or like two feet below, ok?? we had to get a picture!)
castle and lake... a view from the top!
maria!
marienbrucke from below
so this means we were inside, above and below! it was quite a day.
