Stillwater French Trip 2010: 03/10/10

Bonsoir!
We made it safe and sound- and packed in a full day at that :)

The flight over was nice and quiet, but a little rocky towards the end due to the strong wind. Once we arrived, we met Andre from Language and Friendship. All of the luggage arrived in one piece and we were directed to our coach bus, which brought us promptly to the hotel. Talk about being well taken-care of!

Our hotel is nice and cozy. Luckily, we were able to store our luggage while students visited various cafes for lunch. We were able to check into our rooms and recoup for a minute before heading on our "promenade."

We walked along the River Seine and enjoyed a nice afternoon around Notre Dame. Mme Parr treated us to some wonderful knowledge about the Gothic architecture and carved statues on the facade. After a visit inside, we climbed the numerous circular steps all the way up to the towers. Here, we could capture a wonderful view of Paris- la Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur et plus- along with the gargoyles. Unfortunately, among the 30+ of us, we were unable to track down Quasimodo, but we did get to see the grand bell :)

After Notre Dame, we walked further along the Seine to the Louvre. We will visit the Louvre next week, but this was a chance for some fun photo ops. As the afternoon wore on, we took our maiden voyage on the Métro and it was a success!!! I'm very proud of our petit-choux (little cabbages), as they are behaving very well. This comes as no surprise.

We enjoyed a wonderful group dinner at Chez Jenny, after another successful Métro trip. We dined on a wonderful 3-course meal: des salades de tomates, du poulet normande, et de la mousse au chocolat (tomato salad, chicken with potatoes and mushroom sauce, and chocolate mousse). On a bien mange!

It was one last Métro ride back to the hotel and it wasn't hard to get the students set in their rooms and ready for "des beaux rêves" (sweet dreams). We are all tired from the flight, walk, fresh air, and food. I think we will all sleep like bébés.

Please enjoy the following photos. I hope to share videos soon, but they take longer to import and upload. I'm planning to get them up by the weekend.

Tomorrow, we plan to visit Montmatre and Sacre Coeur, enjoy lunch and a visit at the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee, then a guided tour at the Musee D'Orsay. Once the wind settles down, we will plan our excursion on the Eiffel Tower (when the wind is very strong, they close the top portion).

Thanks for reading, and A demain!