Day 4 - May 24th - Saturday

Today was Paris touring day! We left the flat around 6am for the speed train station, where Philip and Heidi Kapitaniuk met us with their friend Noemy. After a two hour train ride through the country, we headed straight to the Eiffel tower. We climbed to the second story, took pictures, looked around, then got onto a "Big Red Bus" tour! We rode around the city on the second story of the double-decker bus, while the voice in the headphones they provided told us about the history and significance of the sights we passed.

My favorite part of the day happened when Philip rushed us off the bus at one of its stops and took us up the stairs of a huge mall nearby. We ascended all the way to the roof, where we were directly across from another rooftop... one bedecked with a statue of a rearing horse with outstretched wings... the same statue that the Phantom of the Opera ran up on to sing/yell from after spying on Christine and Raoul on the rooftop! :D I have been in love with the story of The Phantom of the Opera for about seven years, and today I got to see the outside of the Palais Garnier, where the story takes place and much of the 2004 movie was filmed! SO MUCH HAPPY.

After we spent some time on the roof (taking lots of pictures and with me basically dying of excitement), we got back on the next Red Bus and viewed some more of the local sights. We stopped for lunch, then traveled to Notre Dame cathedral (which all of us lovers of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" were pretty much thrilled to death to explore). We then stopped by the Arc d'Triomphe (August Rush, anyone?) and headed from there to Montmartre, where we took in the gorgeous view then split up to do some shopping. When our day finally came to a close, we boarded the train and (thanks to the magic of headphone splitters, two pairs of headphones, and my tablet) Jenna, Danny, Jake, and I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame for most of the ride home. :) It was so neat to see all the places we had just been (Notre Dame, the Palace of Justice, the city streets) in cartoon form! The artists did an incredible job on that movie, by the way. It's amazing. Once home, after a quick dinner of cheese, pate, and crackers, we headed to bed. Tomorrow is church!