"I came like a King, left like a Legend"

This morning I awoke and grabbed breakfast, I was unusually tired and discovered a few bruises above my eyebrows from the day before! Let's just say I had not gotten the hang of some of the metro entrances like I thought I had. Last night was a fun night full of dancing and experiencing the side of Paris that all of the young adults do! So since we got back pretty late I decided that I would sleep in a tiny bit and then head over to the art museum that features a bunch of art from a number of different artists. It is called 59 Rue de Rivoli, and it is located in the heart of Paris. It is a place that is full of artists studios and you can walk up the one winding stair case and enter the different workshops of the artists! I met so many creative and enthusiastic artists who each found their own muse and created their own style of art! I enjoyed the artists and how they each expressed themselves! A few of my favorite artists in the building had made their workshop into a piece of art, this included painting their floors, creating their ceilings from broken glass, and taking many different objects and placing them around the room to create their own room of art! One man was visiting for a brief amount of time and his room was all of the way at the top of the stair case and he has so much talent! He can paint pictures of people that look so life like and real, each painting portrayed the person perfectly and showed the emotion that they were feeling so clearly. He painted people by themselves, animals, families, and he even made weaved paintings which were very cool! Another awesome thing about this place was that the walls around the main staircase were painted and they depicted so many different things, you could tell a lot about what most of the artists painted or enjoyed based on what was on the walls closest to the artists door. This place was so unlike any other art museum I had ever been to because it was made up of many different styles and nothing was set out on the walls behind glass, there were no security guards or clean floors, the place was a painting of its own.

Part Two

We met our class around 3pm and boarded the metro to Montmartre. Montmartre is a huge hill that is about 130 meters high and contains a very famous and influential cathedral called

Sacré-Cœur which stands at the tallest point in the city. Montmartre also is the home to a very nice artists district, and Lapin Agile.

Lapin Agile is a very famous cabaret in Montmarte, it was named "Au rendez-vous des voleurs" after about two decades the name changed to "Cabaret des Assassins" and the walls were decorated with portraits of famous murderers. The cabaret receives this name because a group of people broke into the cabaret in a robbery attempt and they killed the owner's son. In about 1875, the artist Andre Gill painted a picture of a rabbit getting out of a cooking pan and the locals started to call the night-club "Le Lapin a Gill" (Gill's Rabbit) and over a long amount of time people started calling it the Nimble Rabbit Cabaret (Cabaret Au Lapin Agile.) An interesting fact is that the original painting of the rabbit was stolen

in the 1800's so a reproduction was made which is what I saw when I visited the area. Another interesting fact is that Picasso made an oil painting that helped to make the cabaret world famous, it is called "At the Lapin Agile."
The artists area was so neat because many were set up on the square and man were they talented. The majority of the pictures contained pictures of the Eiffel Tower in black and white with splashes of color here and there or in the Eiffel Towers most recent color brown. The art ranged from abstract paintings, to self portraits, and remakes of famous art pieces. I enjoyed looking at the paintings because I have never been to a place where artists gather together like that and you have such a massive selection to choose from and you can even haggle the price! I love the idea of being amongst such talented individuals, it inspires me to be a little artsy (even though I have no artistic talent at all) and paint!
MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PLACE OF THE DAY was the Sacré-Cœur church! It is a roman-catholic church that has a ton of history behind it. The church is of course located in Montmartre which is also known as the "Mount of Martyrs." After France was defeated and the Germans occupied a good part of France Alexandre Legentil and Hubert Rohault de Fleury vowed to build a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart as penance for infidelity and sin because they believed that everything that was going wrong in France was due to spiritual instead of political causes. Years later the vow was approved by Cardinal Guibert who was the Archbishop of Paris and he chose Montmarte. After hearing all of the amazing history about the church we were able to explore it, I did not have time to go inside but one thing that I did wish I had seen was the Organ that is inside of it! The grand pipe organ is considered by many to be one of the most remarkable in not only Paris, but the rest of France and Europe! It was built in 1898 and it contains four keyboards, a pedalboard, and 78 stops and keeps its original key actions. I know this might be boring for some of you reading this but I think that it is magnificent because I used to play piano so I have a fascination with pianos, and organs. This organ is also classified as a national monument which was official in 1981. Good news pertaining to the organ is that has to be restored every so often, however the latest restoration has not been completed and it has been decades. The bad news about the organ is that it is in a state of decay and it is a very advanced state because the pipes are covered in dust and that messes with the pitch of the instrument. More good news though is that it is played every so often, at the six weekly office in the least. I hope that one day I am able to return just to hear the organ play before it is retired! Did you know: that it is the most widely-heard pipe organ in the world, behind Notre Dames?!

PART Three

In a bit of a hurry we raced off to get to dinner, but on our way we made a stop at one of my favorite places! The MOULIN ROUGE!!! If you have never seen the movie go and watch it, if you don't like musicals give this one a try! Yes it is a movie about hookers, but the love story behind it gives the movie life! Anyways I will not get into detail but if you have anymore questions, hit your girl up! So finally we arrived at our dinner destination, and we had a very American styled meal! It was a huge steak served with a cheese or black pepper dipping sauce served with AMAZING garlicky potatoes, and a very creamy molten lava chocolate cake (that's what we call it in the U.S.) and OMG was it good! I had to eat in a hurry but the food was perfection on a plate! I left as soon as the food was gone as did the guys that were going to the game with me and we took off with our sights on the Parc Des Princes.

The Parc Des Princes is a football (soccer in America) stadium located in southwest Paris, France. The stadium has a seating capacity of 48,712, and it is the home to the French football club Paris Saint-Germain. Tonight is going to be an amazing night because Zlatan Ibrahimović will finish out his career with PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) tonight! We arrived at the stadium amongst thousands of people, all were fans of PSG! I honestly can not say that I saw anyone supporting Nantes (opposing squad) at the game. Upon entering we made our way to our seats and not long after the guys warmed up the opening ceremonies began and the game was upon us! As the players entered the field the announcer would yell their first name, while the fans yelled their last.
For example:
The Announcer: Thiago
US: Silva

Announcer: Zlatan
US: Ibrahimović
And it went like this until the very end of the starting line up, which was as follows: Nicolas Douchez, Maxwell, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Gregory van der Wiel, Thiago Motta, Adrien Rabiot, Lucas Moura, Javier Pastore, Ángel di Maria, and the one and only Zlatan Ibrahimović!
Finally the game began, in the 17th minute Ibrah scored, the next was Lucas in the 43rd minute, with Marquinhos' goal in the 52nd, and to top off his career Ibrah scored his final PSG goal in the 89th minute!
and in the 10th minute of the game Ibrahimović received a standing ovation (which I most definitely participated in) and not long after this (17th minute) he caught a cross with his chest and knocked the ball into the turf which went over the Nantes keeper (Dupe) and into the net. In the 43rd minute Ibrah made a run which helped Di Maria pass the ball into Lucas who swept the ball in to the bottom corner.

HALFTIME: It was very busy, and full of people moving around

everywhere, but on the plus side PSG was up 2-0 thanks to Zlatan!

As the game began again Zlatan took a mean free kick from 20 yards, and Marquinhos (in the 53rd minute) reacted to the Nantes keepers attempt to save and..... GOALLLLLLLLLL! 3-0! Finally in the 89th minute of his last game Zlatan gave a sick header from a cross sent by Pastore!
After this he waved his children onto the field and then walked off.... HE WAS A FREAKING LEGEND! LIKE WHAT A BOSS!
As the crowds sang "MERCI ZLATAN, MERCI ZLATAN, MERCI MERCI MERCI ZLATAN!"
THE GAME ENDED 4-0!
As the game came to a close the field was then covered with tarp for a celebration. They did a digital timeline that ran up the field and had different effects like trophies and the years that they were obtained by the team! It was like a party with 40,000 new friends! There was a DJ, fireworks, and then as the players started walking out we yelled the last names and watched as they received their trophy for winning the league! There was an amazing tribute to Zlatan, and he was able to give a speech where he thanked paris,

his fans, and PSG! Last he proceeded to yell ICI C'EST (which we responded with PARIS) a few times and then that was the end of the festivities. The atmosphere was incredible, with all of the excited fans, and the ear piercing chants and ovations! It is an experience to see one of these games, but this game in particular, and in their home country surrounded by all of their die hard fans! The experience is unbeatable!
We left, boarded the metro which was packed and went back to the room to hand out and enjoy Paris for one more night!

One of the most memorable things that made me so happy on this night was to see how happy my friends were during and after this game! They were cheesing from ear to ear and were so care free the whole time, they talked about the game for a really long time and I loved to hear how awesome the experience was for them! I would never trade this memory for anything because those three guys honestly make me grin every time I think about that experience!

"I came like a King, left like a Legend" - Zlatan Ibrahimović