Mary is having a marvelous time at work! Love the job, love everything I get to do there! There are only two bad things, and I would appreciate your prayers about both of them: one is that the work is really starting to take a toll on my body. I'm often terribly sore, really fatigued, and I feel like I'm getting permanent foot damage from my shoes...who'd a thunk being a princess was such hard work! My two days off each week offer sufficient time to recover, but then I start right back to work without having accomplished much. The leads to the second issue: scheduling has been a little crazy lately. Since the start of the summer season on July 4, I have been working lots of night shifts, which is means I don't get to spend nearly as much time with the hubby. When we do have time together, one or both of us is tired out, and it's hard to go out at all. But this is our time in Paris, a precious time, so we don't want to feel this way!
Andrew has finally begun with his French class through the Sorbonne University, and he is really enjoying it. He really likes the teacher, a very stereotypical, older French woman, and everyone in the class is very nice as well. His French is really starting to come along! He had a short go at a job preparing desserts in a French kitchen, but for various reasons, it became obvious in about 3 weeks that this job was not working out, and he is now searching for other employment. Even with the schooling, Andrew still spends a lot of time alone because I usually leave for work just a couple hours before he comes home. Please pray that our schedules will be able to worked out in a more harmonic manner...I am currently in the process of trying to change my day off to Sunday so that we can go to church and have the rest of the day together!!
As far as Paris goes, we are loving everything that we've had the chance to see!! We still love our spot on the edge of the Jardin des Tuileries, and we enjoyed a picnic there last week. We've been exploring the St. Germain des Pres area of Paris, which is very charming and seeping with history. We celebrated France's national holiday -- July 14 (day of the storming of the Bastille prison during the French Revolution) -- with a wine and cheese picnic on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower! Some friends from Disney joined us for a fun but very crowded evening...
Thankfully it was overcast (even a bit of rain), because July 14 was a hot and muggy day. The sky was beautiful though, and I couldn't stop taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower as the sky would blow by in a sea of change.
There were masses of people around to watch the fireworks and enjoy the concert that took place right underneath the Tower. We actually arrived about 7 hours before the fireworks and this was the closest spot available (there were even more people behind us).
As soon as it was dark enough, the lights and fireworks were set off to light up the Tower.So interestingly enough, the celebration of the national holiday had nothing to do with the national holiday!! At least nothing that we experienced seemed to have anything to do with the French Revolution, but then again, it's rather a bloody and terrible remembrance. This year, the "theme" behind the national holiday was focused on the 120th birthday of the Eiffel Tower. So the entire fireworks show was actually the story of the Eiffel Tower...it was completely incredible! Light projections onto the Tower showed it being built, intricately, piece by piece. Later on, it showed the various roles the Tower has played over the years...
This part of the show was telling the story of the Tower's use as an antenna during World War I. Although now perhaps the most recognizable and adored symbol of Paris, the Eiffel Tower was very controversial for many years after its completion in 1889. The Eiffel Tower was commissioned for the World's Fair of that year, and was not meant to be a permanent monument. Many people felt that it was an eyesore that ruined the city, and one of the only reasons it wasn't torn down was because it was so useful for communications during the war. 
We are blessed with an great camera that takes excellent photos! I took SO many photos, but this was one of the best ones...This was also taken during the "war sequence" of the show, and you cannot really see from this photo, but the white on the lower half of the tower is actually a whole bunch of skeletons representing the dead, while the war rages on above.
Part of the beautiful grand finale!
A lovely evening...this was taken right before we started the 1-and-a-half hour journey home, half of which we made on foot! Andrew and I both decided that we had a great time, and we're glad that we went to the Eiffel Tower to have this experience, but we would NEVER do this again! And that's a wrap! It was really neat to experience another country's national holiday! Funny thing I should mention though, there seemed to be more Americans than French there...hmm!
The shot with the fireworks and the eiffle tower is seriously amazing!
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