A travel day for sure! Roll call at 7:30 for breakfast, depart hotel at 8:45 and hang on tight! We zipped under the English Channel at 334.7 kmh, changed time zones and ended up in Paris Gare du Nord with...OUR CAR SERVICE THERE WAITING ON US!!! Hurray Hurray Hurray. As long as we have 3 minibuses waiting for us NOTHING can go wrong now.
Those long train journeys are always a good time for snacking, talking, playing and napping - all of which were highly welcomed :-)
And I have NEVER seen such seamless teamwork unloading our luggage from the train. Bravo Bravo Bravo! These students have obviously been trained to the hilt. What skills they have and the adults GREATLY appreciate their honed skills. And when you have 21 bags that are WAY TOO BIG to begin with, luggage loading/unloading turns into a non-trivial task. Your students were tremendous with it today.
After AGAIN loading all of that just-unloaded luggage back into our minibuses off we set to our hotel on rue Cujas just below the Pantheon and just a block from the Sorbonne. It's a great centralized location with several easy metro stops nearby. Without luggage the Metropolitain is THE way to travel in Paris...as long as you have a chip and pin credit card, that is. And luckily we knew this was coming and were prepared. Another small blessing that makes our stay in Paris much less stressful. I personally bought 120 metro and RER tickets today. That's a LOT of zipping around in Paris!
What excitement to arrive at our hotel front door with our rooms waiting with Air Conditioning and an Elevator...this day just keeps getting better! The Hotel Latin Excelsior has been remodeled a bit and is going to give us a very comfortable place to spend the next 3 GLORIOUSLY airconditioned nights :-)
Our first order of business was to zip over to Montmarte to Chez Justine for dinner. We arrived a little earlier than planned which was ok with them and boy, am I glad we did. Only 3.5 hours later we were finished. Nothing goes too awfully fast in Paris...especially a meal!
We even had ime between courses to practice some metro-mapping skills with Mr. Margene.
After dinner we headed back to the Metro to burn through another 21 tickets to zip over to the Champ du Mars RER stop where everyone was in great anticipation to see the main attraction for the evening...The Tour de Eiffel or the Eiffel Tower as we all know it. And it was a sight to be seen. I had already been talking to Emme and Elise about their excitement to see this monument. I had told them to take their expectations and just make them LARGER because the Eiffel Tower is just so unimaginably HUGE! Not until you see it in person do you realize the grandeur of it all!
We came to do our oohs and aahs at the tower tonight because, well, it's PARIS and who doesn't go to the Eiffel Tower on their first entrance into the city of lights??? Nobody - that's who! Tomorrow evening is our "official" Eiffel Tower trip up the glass enclosed elevators all the way to the tip top. What excitement there will be - no doubts about that.
After many pictures, a few souvenir laser light pens, and a trip to the Eiffel Tower restrooms (which were closed - go figure) we made our way over to the rue Cler. A very fashionable pedestrian avenue in the 7th Arrondissement where our favorite little crepery awaits. Ulysses has served more CAK students than you can probably imagine. Tonight was no exception as Ulysses himself greeted the students, his daughter prepared all 21 of our crepes along with 21 bottles of drinks and even 21 visits to the loo! Thank heavens. A family friend also takes a group picture of us all with Ulysses and his daughter front and center. Many many thanks to them for their years of service to our students!
After we finish our last crepe and bid our fond farewells we just happen to look at our watches to see it's half-past MIDNIGHT! No Way - how did the time slip away from us so quickly??? Another 21 metro tickets later and we're back in our hotel room for devotions and sleep sleep sleep. Among other things Mrs Mynatt tells the students "It's going to be a busy day tomorrow" - we all laugh. Of course it's going to be busy - is there any other way? We've got Notre Dame, The Louvre, Arch de Tromphe, Versailles, Dinner with Phillipe at LaVarangue and lastly, a visit to the tip top of the Eiffel Tower.
Just now I look at my watch and gasp as I can't believe my eyes are actually reading 2:43 am! As much as I would like to stay up and upload a few more photos for you I don't think my body will allow it.
Mrs. Mynatt and Mr. Margene and Miss Haley are taking good care of your students. From the laughter and excitement and the oohs and aahs they sure SOUND as if they're having a good time. Thank you, parents, for allowing us to spend this special time with your dear students and to show them new sights and sounds and cultures and see them grow in their knowledge, wisdom, confidence and experiences. They are a delightful group, and I'm sure you'll be hearing MANY a story when they get back home to you.
Good night from Paris!
Those long train journeys are always a good time for snacking, talking, playing and napping - all of which were highly welcomed :-)
And I have NEVER seen such seamless teamwork unloading our luggage from the train. Bravo Bravo Bravo! These students have obviously been trained to the hilt. What skills they have and the adults GREATLY appreciate their honed skills. And when you have 21 bags that are WAY TOO BIG to begin with, luggage loading/unloading turns into a non-trivial task. Your students were tremendous with it today.
After AGAIN loading all of that just-unloaded luggage back into our minibuses off we set to our hotel on rue Cujas just below the Pantheon and just a block from the Sorbonne. It's a great centralized location with several easy metro stops nearby. Without luggage the Metropolitain is THE way to travel in Paris...as long as you have a chip and pin credit card, that is. And luckily we knew this was coming and were prepared. Another small blessing that makes our stay in Paris much less stressful. I personally bought 120 metro and RER tickets today. That's a LOT of zipping around in Paris!
What excitement to arrive at our hotel front door with our rooms waiting with Air Conditioning and an Elevator...this day just keeps getting better! The Hotel Latin Excelsior has been remodeled a bit and is going to give us a very comfortable place to spend the next 3 GLORIOUSLY airconditioned nights :-)
Our first order of business was to zip over to Montmarte to Chez Justine for dinner. We arrived a little earlier than planned which was ok with them and boy, am I glad we did. Only 3.5 hours later we were finished. Nothing goes too awfully fast in Paris...especially a meal!
We even had ime between courses to practice some metro-mapping skills with Mr. Margene.
After dinner we headed back to the Metro to burn through another 21 tickets to zip over to the Champ du Mars RER stop where everyone was in great anticipation to see the main attraction for the evening...The Tour de Eiffel or the Eiffel Tower as we all know it. And it was a sight to be seen. I had already been talking to Emme and Elise about their excitement to see this monument. I had told them to take their expectations and just make them LARGER because the Eiffel Tower is just so unimaginably HUGE! Not until you see it in person do you realize the grandeur of it all!
We came to do our oohs and aahs at the tower tonight because, well, it's PARIS and who doesn't go to the Eiffel Tower on their first entrance into the city of lights??? Nobody - that's who! Tomorrow evening is our "official" Eiffel Tower trip up the glass enclosed elevators all the way to the tip top. What excitement there will be - no doubts about that.
After many pictures, a few souvenir laser light pens, and a trip to the Eiffel Tower restrooms (which were closed - go figure) we made our way over to the rue Cler. A very fashionable pedestrian avenue in the 7th Arrondissement where our favorite little crepery awaits. Ulysses has served more CAK students than you can probably imagine. Tonight was no exception as Ulysses himself greeted the students, his daughter prepared all 21 of our crepes along with 21 bottles of drinks and even 21 visits to the loo! Thank heavens. A family friend also takes a group picture of us all with Ulysses and his daughter front and center. Many many thanks to them for their years of service to our students!
After we finish our last crepe and bid our fond farewells we just happen to look at our watches to see it's half-past MIDNIGHT! No Way - how did the time slip away from us so quickly??? Another 21 metro tickets later and we're back in our hotel room for devotions and sleep sleep sleep. Among other things Mrs Mynatt tells the students "It's going to be a busy day tomorrow" - we all laugh. Of course it's going to be busy - is there any other way? We've got Notre Dame, The Louvre, Arch de Tromphe, Versailles, Dinner with Phillipe at LaVarangue and lastly, a visit to the tip top of the Eiffel Tower.
Just now I look at my watch and gasp as I can't believe my eyes are actually reading 2:43 am! As much as I would like to stay up and upload a few more photos for you I don't think my body will allow it.
Mrs. Mynatt and Mr. Margene and Miss Haley are taking good care of your students. From the laughter and excitement and the oohs and aahs they sure SOUND as if they're having a good time. Thank you, parents, for allowing us to spend this special time with your dear students and to show them new sights and sounds and cultures and see them grow in their knowledge, wisdom, confidence and experiences. They are a delightful group, and I'm sure you'll be hearing MANY a story when they get back home to you.
Good night from Paris!
Crepes look yumz!
ReplyDelete3.5 hour meal sounds good to me too!
- Nate
Thank you for sharing so many details and pictures of your experiences. I can't wait to read the blog everyday. It also helps me to know how to pray specifically. I'm thrilled the car service was waiting when you arrived in Paris.
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