62. There's No Such Thing as Too Many Pictures

Today I found the filter settings on my camera. Just in time for the Friend Family Eiffel Tower Photo Shoot. In the end I'd say we got a nice range of pictures, from "Old Time Movie"to "Classic" to "Soft" all the filters had their fair share of usage. Over 60 frames later, all the girls had glamor shots.

 

As usual, we saved one day for the Rick Steves walk of the city. After which, Brody declared it was the worst day of his life. I guess 3 miles is his limit. We started at Notre Dam, and stopped into tourist shops along the way. We ran into a group of younger Americans walking around in all black outfits with Super colorful ties. Aunt Anne couldn't resist finding out who these people were. Turns out they were a choir from Michigan who sang at Notre Dame that morning! Of course I took that opportunity to mention the trip I took last year with the highly esteemed Purdue Musical Organizations where our glee Club performed at Notre Dame Cathedral as well. I think it was a start of a beautiful friendship. 

 After we slowly made our way toward the cathedral so Rick could tell us all the important parts of the cathedral.We took in the details as a whole and then took some time to look at certain parts of the facade. Like this saint holding his head. In the catholic religion, when people get their heads cut off and still move around a little afterwards they are called Cephalophores. This is a miracle and they become saints.

 Around the back there is a World War II Memorial that is underground. It is open at the top to show how it was like to be a prisoner during this war. Paris was one of the first places to be taken by the Nazi's, the family had an in depth discussion regarding how they should have put up a bigger fight.

 This year Arden is taking her classes online, and one is Photography. She made the mistake of telling us that the topic for this week was "People and Relationships." Of course it is our responsibility to help her out! We would point out great photo opps whenever we could. There was great emphasis on couples we spotted "Whispering Secrets" as Brody likes to call it. Today though, we just found a nice backdrop and let our inner Friend model side come out. Here's the best one.

 Our last stop was to the Arc de Triomphe. We took a pass on crossing all 10 lanes of traffic as Aunt Anne had done while visiting the arc and went for the underground tunnel. When we walked into the daylight we saw that something was happening. There was a military prep school all decked out and standing in lines. Then we noticed a lot of other military people about. I can't report what was supposed to happen, because an hour later all the further they got was more lines and a cleared out space. I feel we had the dedication to the cause standing around for an hour though. Our walk home was down a hoity toity shopping street. These are the types of places where I feel extremely under dressed and unworthy. That doesn't stop us from peaking in a few places! 

The rest of our night was spent eating baguettes - a habit that is likely to make it home with us - and going through Aunt Annes clothes to get a change in wardrobe for the rest of the trip. We are now decked out with new tops, travel pants, and a scarf that I am pretty sure Scarlet will wear every day and never get sick of. For only having two and a half days in Paris, I think we did a pretty good job of hitting the highlights!