We awoke to another beutiful morning and rode the bus to one of my favorite places, Versailles. The night before, Lisa and I had listened to the soundtrack of the French musical, Le Roi Soleil (the plot is based on the life of King Louis XIV who had Versailles built), so we were both even more excited to visit the palace.Walking up to Versailles’ golden gates never ceases to completely amaze me. I can’t even imagine living on such expansive grounds, let alone having the means to create them! Each room was more fascinating and elaborately decorated than the next, but my favorites will always be the hall of mirrors, with its many chandeliers and Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, with its pink, delicately detailed bed coverings. The interior design here is a little too elaborate for my tastes, with intricately patterned fabrics often lining the walls, but the regal beauty of the rooms cannot be denied.
Although the palace itself is remarkable enough, my absolute favorite part of the Versailles experience is the visit to its gardens. The second time I visited Versailles was when I was studying abroad in London last year. When I visited then, it was February; the trees were without their leaves, there were no flowers planted, and everything looked stark and a bit sad. That was not the case this time around, and we stepped out onto the back steps of the palace for a tremendous view of the fountains and topiaries along with the palace’s truly expansive lake that seems to stretch on for miles.
In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful views I have seen. We walked through the gardens to reach the bus, which took us back to the hotel to get ready for our second concert at La Madeleine.
To me, the façade of La Madeleine has never seemed to be what a church of its stature should look like. The building’s architecture lends itself much more to being a judicial building and is much more reminiscent of a temple than of churches commonly associated with European style. However, its interior speaks for itself, with its large altarpiece depicting Mary Magdalene being carried up to heaven by angels. The Renaissance art here is beautiful. What a gorgeous place in which to sing!
After our concert, we changed, had a quick dinner, and visited the Louvre, an Art History student’s paradise. The minute we walked into the main lobby, I began to recall all the essays and projects that my Academy classmates and I worked on 
in Art History. At the time, the artists and paintings were only words and pictures in a textbook. But since then, traveling with CCVA has allowed me to visit the very places where the artists stood, see and in some cases touch their work!Before I knew it, I was again face to face with one of my favorite sculptures: the winged victory statue from the Hellenistic period of Grecian art.
I was thrilled to be able to share the story of the statue with my friends. Actually, the statue used to be a fountain, which created the first documented piece of dramatic art, involving all the senses to evoke emotion. I can’t exactly say why it’s one of my favorite pieces, but I think it’s stunningly beautiful.
We moved through a gallery of religious paintings and icons before reaching one of the most famous pieces of art in the Louvre, the Mona Lisa. In my opinion, the experience is rather anticlimactic, since the painting is so much smaller than many imagine. It is almost as if her iconic smile is one of taunting, watching the faces of semi-disappointed museum patrons as they realize that her portrait isn’t as glamorous as they had expected. Regardless, it’s an incredible feeling to stand so close to such an important part of Art History; perhaps it is true that great things come in small packages.
After seeing the Mona Lisa, I visited some of my other Art History favorites like Medusa’s Raft and The Coronation of Napoleon. After about an hour in the museum, a fraction of the time you truly need to see even the highlights, we went back to the hotel in the hopes of getting enough sleep before another early wakeup call!
We took the scenic route, passing the Moulin Rouge as well as the houses of Renoir and Toulousse-Lautrec. The art history nerd in me was ecstatic! We reached the monumental church at the top of the hill and were given free time to explore. After walking around the tiny artist village and making a visit inside of the Sacre Coeur itself, the group walked back down the hill and rode the Metro to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of the most famous streets in the world, for food and shopping. This night, instead of eating together as a group, we were given meal vouchers so that we could eat at any restaurant that would accept them. Lisa and I had a fabulous dinner together then squeezed in some shopping time before we had to meet up with the rest of the group near the Arc de Triomph.
After visiting St. Thérèse’s tomb and spending some time in the Carmelite chapel, we walked up the hill to the house where she lived. The tour was short, but we were able to many interesting things, like the school books and toys from St. Thérèse’s childhood as well as her hair! (She had her hair cut when she entered the convent, since it was difficult to wear a veil with long hair)
Next, we drove to the cathedral where we would be singing. After rehearsing in the beautifully and colorfully mosaiced lower basilica, we performed our third concert of the tour, featuring our all-female piece, Thérèse’s Canticle of Love. What an honor to sing finally sing it in Lisieux! Surprised yet again, we gave an encore to our audience, and afterwards, one of the priests at the basilica congratulated us, saying that he hoped that music like ours greets him in heaven.
Before we left, we took a quick peek at the beautiful and ornate upper cathedral and then practically ran to the bus to make our way to Paris! Most of us couldn't help but catch a little shut-eye, but our tour guide woke us up just in time to see our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower dominating the landscape of Paris. 
Just before the ceremony began, however, we learned that one more person would be joining us: a WWII veteran. He told us his story about his time serving in Germany and his subsequent careers as a teacher, principal, and superintendant of schools in California. What was so much more striking, most impressive to me, was the way his eyes seemed to shine when he talked about America and how lucky we are to live there. What courage. What loyality. Truely, the Greatest Generation.
And what of those serving right now in Iraq and Afganastan? Isn't their sacrifice as great? Greater, at a time when service is more likely to mean working in a soup kitchen or building a house in an inner city neighborhood, where love and honor of country seems harder to find? This place gives all who visit a deeper appreciation for all those capable of the Greatest Sacrifice.
We made a quick trip to Omaha beach to collect sand before going back to the hotel for dinner and an evening in. As we had been anticipating, Lisa and I took advantage of our “privileged room”, relaxing, journaling, and reflecting on the trip so far with our robes, slippers, and free sodas of our choosing. What a wonderful end to a powerful and emotional day!
Practically the entire congregation joined in singing with the cantor, and it was clear that the small parish was a close-knit community. It was also exciting for me to be able to understand so much of what was being said during the Mass. It’s nice to know that four years of French class have indeed, come in handy.
After the concert, the parish priest asked to take the group’s picture outside and, with some help translating, told us how our performance touched him. 
Unfortunately, when we arrived, scaffolding was covering much of the castle’s front façade. Since it is so large,however, there is almost always a good shot from some angle.
After that evening’s dinner, we got ready for our debut concert in France! I was already excited for it since we had such a wonderful experience during out small village concert last year in Italy, and Vendôme, host town of our first French concert, was just that sort of venue. From what I could tell, the church was almost full, and the audience was very receptive to the choir, smiling and nodding after each song. Because the program ran a little long, we left several selections out, but as soon as we exited the church, we heard a steady, rhythmic clapping.
The best kept secret of this small restaurant, however, is its discothèque. None of us had known about it the last time we ate there, and we were shocked when a door on the back wall of restaurant opened into a dancehall complete with disco balls and strobe lights. 
