Paris

My family took me to Paris for the day. Which ever American said that Paris was not that great was incredibly wrong. Paris was beautiful, exciting, and most of all fun! We took an open bus tour which drove past all the most important parts of Paris: La Tour Effiel, Napoean's Tomb, Notre Dame Cathedral, The Lourve, and so much more. I expected to feel really out of place, seeing as I would be going with native french speakers.....but almost all of Paris is tourists visiting the city. So if you ever go to Paris, don't worry about feeling out of place- because you clearly don't speak french and at that point it would be obvious. We went up to this great place (i forgot the name) but it is a city on a hill. WONDERFUL. You can see all of Paris from this great site and its filled with clasic french decor, beautiful street lights, and tons and tons of people just lounging around. There happened to be police men standing guard outside of this huge church and people gathered all around for a rally. I asked my host father about it and he said that inside were thirteen immigrants who were being held prisoner. The French apparently don't approve of immigration either. And so the rally was in protest of the government claiming that the people inside should be granted citizenship and set free. France has the best free health care system in the world and so many people flock there to recieve these benefits. Belgium, however has the best health care system if you have both insurance and the government run system (according to my host parents).

This was such a beautiful day for me to spend with my new family. We got loswt inthe subway system, ate delicious food, and enjoyed a sunny day in Paris together. Oh- and I almost forgot, there was a buildind and it was built in the 70's or so and it is just for offices, but its meant to look like a window. The quote "La Grande Arche" is: IDEA, AN OPEN CUBE, A WINDOW TO THE WORLD, A SYMBOL OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE, THAT ALL MEN CAN MEET FREELY. I thought this was beautifully poetic and inspiring.