OBAMA!!!

So since Saturday the family and I have done lots of touristy stuff. Sunday we went to the Basilique of Ste-Denis, which is where all the kings and queens of France are buried. Megan and I have been wanting to go there for awhile, but since it's in kind of a sketchy suburb, we didn't want to go alone. It was an amazing trip, the area was not nearly as sketchy as I expected. The basilica was beautiful and it was so cool to see the tombs and monuments to all the French monarchs I've learned about for years! And I survived my trip to the French "banlieues"! One of the cool things we saw there--the preserved heart of Louis XVII, the son of Louis XVI who died at age ten for the crime of being the king's heir after the king was guillotined. After that we ate lunch and went to the Eiffel Tower! The line was incredibly long and it was cold, but it was cool because we got to see the view during both day and night, since it was dusk when we went up!

Monday we went to L'Arc de Triomphe (and climbed 284 steps to the top--cool view though!) then walked down the entirety of the Champs-Elysees, to the tune of Alexa's complaining, and then to the Opera Garnier, which made Alexa happy because I told her it was where the phantom lived. Next, the Galeries Lafayette, already decorated for Christmas, then Notre Dame and the Ile-Ste-Louis. We finished off the day with dessert in my host family's apartment! Everyone got along really well, which was fun.

Yesterday and today I had class, so I just met up with the family for dinner, but yesterday was SO EXCITING! Unfortunately, we don't have a TV and I did have to go to class today, so I didn't stay up all night, but Megan and I did set alarms for 3 am and 5 am to get up and check our computers. When we woke up at 3:15 it was 177-63 Obama, so we woke up again at 5:15 to find out that McCain had just conceded and the race was being called for Obama. I was SO happy. I wore my T-shirt today and was so proud. I felt really, really patriotic for the first time ever. Being in a foreign country, we can sometimes get anti-American sentiment, but today all of France loves America. I am so excited for the next four years!