Day One: Paris

Today we arrived in Paris at 9:40 in the morning. 13 hours of flight was brutal, especially when I spent the last 9 next to a girl who got up every hour to puke or worse. Needless to say I got very little sleep. However! Paris did come at last.
When I first arrived I noticed that the saying that Europeans are quieter than Americans is very true. I actually really like it. It's not a silence. Just not annoying and in your face all the time. The next thing I notced is that French is a lot more musical than is portrayed in French films. I always felt like it was more guttural or harsh. It's actually very pretty. It was so cool. I could even understand select words I read or heard because the are cognates with words in Spanish or English.
We checked into our hotels which are rather nice. The area... That's a bit different story. After the hotel we learned how to ride the metro. I'd never ridden one before! So it was a new concept for me. I'm still not quite sure where to get off because the pronunciation and the spelling are many times very different from one another.
From there, we went to the Pompidou. We ha lunch in the cafeteria. None of us knew what to get. No one spoke English and we weren't quite hungry yet. It wasn't a great success. I really like the concept of the Pompidou though. It was a novelty for it's time.
We then walked around and saw Notre Dame. While we were there, a man was drawing the most wonderful chalk drawing. I love chalk art. So cool. We didn't go in Notre Dame because we didn't have time. Tomorrow in the early morning we have the opportunity to revisit Notre Dame and go inside. I think I will wake up and go. I badly want to, but it depends on how jet lagged I am still.
After Notre Dame we went to the Musée d'Orsay. I wasn't expecting too much but I really liked it. Most of the arty was 1850s or later. The sculptures were amazing. The were probably my favorite part. They were modern or romantic and have a rough unfinished look. So much emotion is combated through that look.
After Orsay we took the boat ride on the Sienne. (I don't think I spelled that correctly...) unfortunately I couldn't stay awake for most of it. We also went to the Effiel Tower. It is so much larger than I imagined!! I knew it was big, but not that big. It was amazing! Then when we were going home we made an unexpected stop to the Arc de Triumphe. That was pretty.
Tomorrow is our last day in Paris. We have more things to do! Lost of tomorrow will be a free day. I'll post pictures when I have access to a real computer!