Wonderful "visite" in Paris

Bonjour from Paris! Melissa and I caught our flight with no delays!! Hip hip hoo ray...after the nightmare from my last journey to Europe when we were delayed for hours and missed connections. This flight over was a breeze. Off one plane...transfer terminals and immediately on to the international flight. We landed early in Paris, collected our luggage (what a relief ... last time no luggage for 4 days), met our driver and were whisked to the hotel where we met our tour guide Matteo.

Since there are four different groups we had to wait around a little while for them to come in. We walked around the area of the hotel, got lunch and snapped our first Paris shots. Once all the groups arrived we hopped on the Metro and headed to Montmartre (Mount of Martyrs). This is the highest hill in Paris, location of the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basillica, and where many of the Impressionist painters congretated (Monet, Manet, Renoir,...) We were lucky in that we were able to listen to a choir of nuns singing for evening mass as we toured the Basillica.

After a yummy traditional French dinner we headed to the Eiffel Tower where we had to stand in line to catch the elevator "to the top" for a little over an hour....I've never had to wait that long! I'm glad we decided to stay though because the evening was beautiful...cool and very windy...but magnificent! You can really see why Paris is called the city of lights when you are staring down at it from above.

Boy did that bed feel great after 2 days with maybe 2 hours sleep!

Today's agenda included a city tour by bus and the out to Versailles. I was particularly excited when we drove up to the Chateau of Louis XIV; much of the renovations that were going on when I was here several years ago have been complete (they are still renovating parts but not the ones opened to the public). We had a tour guide walk us through the Palace this year, first time I didn't have to give the running commentary to my students! Sylvia informed us of much of what I already knew but had some trivia they don't tend to include in typical history books. So definitely worth hearing. You'd think seeing the Palace 6 times might get old; no, no, no, no as Sylvia would say. Each time a different room has been opened the crowds are different/thinner so you see things from a different angle. We didn't have much time to view the gardens this year but were able to tour around a few of the fountains and enclaves to catch a peek at how things might have been 300 years ago. (I love my new camera, it is taking great pictures...no if the photographer could hold her hands steady....)

After Versailles, we rode the train back to Paris and then visited Notre Dame...no scaffolding!!!! Yippee!!!! Again we timed it right to observe evening mass. Doesn't matter what language mass is in, the procedure is the same and you can figure out what part they are on. The "bird man" was back in front of the cathedral and gave the students a big show...he would feed them and they would fly around, hover, and "do tricks". Very entertaining!

Following a delicious Tunisian dinner (Tunisia was a colony of France), Melissa and I broke off from the main group and headed to the Louvre to see "Mona". Slight turn around on the subway...got on the RER instead...oops, we made it to the "Musee" and had 30 minutes to see what we wanted to see...good thing I've been here before too, I knew just where to go so those who had never been could see what they wanted to...typical exhibits: Mona Lisa, of course, Venus di Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Raphaels and Leonardos.

Home to the hotel by a Parisian taxi...the girls had never ridden in a taxi...much less a Parisian one so this too was a great experience for them to write about in their journals...again seeing the monuments of Paris at night is spectacular.

To bed...5 am wake up call in the morning to catch the plane to Nice.

Ouveroi Paris!

Don't forget to check out the photo ablum. The link is above to the left.