DAY ONE/Two, July 17-18:We left Pdx on July 17, 1:05pm, a group of 38 students and parents from West Linn High School took the big yellow school bus to the airport where we boarded Lufthansa flight 469 to Frankfurt. Arrived in Frankfurt, Germany 10 hours later, snaked our way from one end of the airport to another, literally going down hallways, down steps, up steps....it was a maze....to catch the transfer flight (1 hour)to Paris, arrived 10:30am July 18th,met at airport by Monia, our tour guide for the week, very experienced and classy lady! We were taken by bus to Adagio Parc La Defense hotel, given an hour to settle into rooms, met up in lobby (bare bones lobby, but it works) to learn how to use the metro system. Went by metro to Notre Dame. Had 2 hours to wander around the church, the Seine. Met up at a statue take the metro to the L'Opera metro stop, walked to dinner at a cafe that caters to tour groups on the Left Bank. (When dinner was done we took a CLOSE BY metro stop home....the walking was too much for Dave P and MJ S....and me!) At the restaurant our places were set already, with a simple lettuce salad already at the place setting. A dinner plate of rice and chicken breast topped with a mushroom sauce was served for the entree.
DAY TWO, TRASH YOUR LEGS DAY!!! Saturday July 19: Great breakfast at the hotel: boiled brown eggs, ham slices, cheese slices as well as a spreadable feta-like cheese, pastries, croissants, yogurt, applesause, coffee, juice. You could create a mini lunch with the items offered at breakfast if you wanted to. Lunch was a camembert/tomato/cucumber sandwich at the bottom of Versailles Garden with a peach ice tea (we all shared the meal, approx 10 euros) Dinner was at ZAK, a couscous place. We had a bus tour with Thierry, a dapper and funny tour guide, around the main sites of Paris, then on to Versaille. He gave us a 'whisper set' tour through Versaille, often cautioning us for pickpockets. The bus dropped us off in Paris, near L'Opera, and we had a tour of Fragonard, I didn't buy any of the perfumes...they were too overly scented!! We shopped at LaFayette department store, and D accidently left the digital camera behind in the restroom...it was GONE 5 min later when he remembered and returned for it. We met up at L'Opera steps at 7pm for dinner. We took the metro line 3 to Place de la Republic and had dinner in the 11th arrondisement, at Zak, a couscous restaurant, on the Rue de la Fontaine Au Roi! The plain couscous was served with a vegetable sauce, with garbanzos and gooseberries as condiments, a delightful combination!
Day Three: Sunday July 29th: I AM BEAT! WE took the Metro to the Louvre, spent 3 3/4 hours there, from 11:15-3pm. Then we walked ALL THE WAY to the Champs D'Elsysses, probably 2 miles .....From 4pm to 5:20 we had free time. Try to find a cold drink and potty...? Good luck. My legs were like wood by this point. I could not have walked up to the Arc De Triomphe to save my life. We did find a toilet inside the very cool hip Toyota showroom. We sat down on some benches and pretended we were very interested in the display upstairs while we cooled off, used the WC, drank water and splashed our faces in the shallow rectangular sinks. The Citroen store had a very cool spiral display of cars. We met up outside the McDonald's and took the metro to FLAM, in Montparnasse. There we had our tarte flambe (a thin crust pizza) 'learning experience' after dinner we walked to the nearby Montparnasse tower and took the elevator to the top of the 59 storey building. It was a great vantage point to view all the other 'high points' of Paris such as the Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, L'Opera.
I repeat myself below....so bear with my haphazard recollections...
DAY FOUR, "FREE DAY" Monday, July 21, 2008: This was a much more 'gentle' day. We shopped at the nearby Monoprix store for our lunch, gathered at 11:30 for the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, our 'timed' entry for the elevator to the third floor was at 1:30pm. David and I walked from the second floor all the way to the ground! Whew! That was thrilling! I don't like the sense of being suspended over nothing! I held onto the railing, even though we were essentially caged in on all sides! Buying tickets for the Eiffel Tower had to be done online, and our guide wanted to wait until we were arrived and settled to confirm this event, based on the other points of interest in our tour schedule. She also suggested we take a boat ride on the Seine (additional cost, but not too expensive: 11 euros) using the Bateau Mouches, after the Eiffel Tower experience. Some students had hoped to visit Disney Paris (or Eurodisney) but no adult wanted to go with them (which was required by EF Tours) and the students themselves didn't want to miss the Eiffel Tower. It was suggested that we bring our own picnic lunch to the Eiffel Tower, it is traditional to eat your lunch on the grass there. It was one of my memorable times, for sure, resting in the sun, looking up at the Eiffel Tower. After the Bateau ride we walked all together through/up the Trocodero (again, another Butan death march) for some great views of Paris. In the evening we ate dinner at Les Balcons, in the Montmartre area, a restaurant with several indoor balconey levels. Our dinner was a delicious roasted chicken with scalloped potatoes. Then went up to Sacre Coeur and hung out till 10pm to see the Eiffel Tower light up.
DAY FIVE: Tuesday July 22nd: Musee D'Orsay, the former train station, near the Louvre. Rode the metro, put in the French SYM card in my cell phone with Monia's help, lost contact with David immediately before actually entering the museum, spent much of my time worrying about this, and asking others (when we stumbled upon them) to let him know we were on the third floor, working our way down. It is amazing how much time/energy it takes to reconnect with someone. I didn't enjoy looking at the art as much, because I was anxious to reconnect with David. He finally found US, bless his heart, on the third floor. He'd been on his own, not particularly worried "we are all in the same building" he said (yes, and with a few thousand people to boot!) Once all together we looked at art, and liked it, especially the scale model of the Opera House (how little of it is the stage/audience area is surprising). We walked through the Tuileries Gardens and ate lunch at a tented hamburger place. The owner was very solicitious, though I had to watch the bill carefully...he blithely overcharged for the sprite drinks! This was not the first time someone 'overcharged' and then smilingly corrected it when I pointed it out! (the other time was for a sandwich and drink near Notre Dame...my first experience in speaking French and ordering for us) Ah, tourists, what do the locals take us for? Fools? Or just overwhelmed tourists? More likely....
I really wanted to find a small garden on the tip of the Ile St Louis, which we did (not impressed) and we walked down along the Quai of that island, then over to Ile de la Cite, crossing the pedestrian bridge to take photos of Notre Dame (the more famous views of it, with the flying buttresses in full glory). We walked through a convent area, that had lovely paper shops...oh, such creamy papers and inks displayed tastefully in the windows...I'm seduced by these tactile objects....
Our meeting time/place was McDonalds on the Champs Elysses (ok, I can't spell)...I got us off the Metro two stops too soon...we walked like crazy the last mile...I was fuming, I was so frustrated that I mixed up Charles DeGaulle Etoile stop (where we SHOULD have disembarked) with Champs Elysses Clemenceau. At least I had the cell phone working, and left a v/m for Monia that we were COMING! Our dinner was at a buffet on the Avenue de Wagpam, Rue Beaujon. The food was good, the variety excellent. I was craving vegetables and wasn't disappointed.
DAY SIX: July 23, 2008: Trip to Giverny!
Ah, we needed this pastoral break badly! A bus took us to the countryside, to Monet's home in Giverny, still a quiet, small village, unspoiled except for the big carpark for tour busses! We toured his home and the gardens, then walked down the main road to visit his grave at the churchyard. The bus dropped us off at L'Opera, and we had free time until meeting at L'Opera at 6pm for dinner. Dave and I took whoever wanted to join us back to Montmartre. Walked all over the Sacre Couer area, order crepes with egg, cheese and ham for lunch, bought some scarves, listened to street musicians, sat at an outdoor cafe and ordered ice cream and water. The water cost more than the ice cream. Met back at L'Opera for a metro ride/walk to L'Auberge restaurant (near the Folies Bergere) for our farewell dinner. This little restaurant is where Lynn's dad ate when he was in Paris after WWII. It was a poignant moment for Lynn!
The students were fantastic, wonderful, easy going TROOPERS on this trip! Our tour guide also remarked on what a good group we had. I was so proud of everyone's spirit of adventure and remarkable stamina. There was very little complaining despite the heat, and being hungry and tired at some point during the day. We saw SO MUCH of Paris and learned how to get around on our own in this wonderful city.
The students were fantastic, wonderful, easy going TROOPERS on this trip! Our tour guide also remarked on what a good group we had. I was so proud of everyone's spirit of adventure and remarkable stamina. There was very little complaining despite the heat, and being hungry and tired at some point during the day. We saw SO MUCH of Paris and learned how to get around on our own in this wonderful city.
Day Seven: July 24, 2008. We SHOULD have taken a 7am train this day, but because of my forgetting 'military time' we showed up at the Gare De L'Est in time for a 7pm train (good thing there actually WAS a departing train at this time! the last ICE train to Kaiserslautern). As it was, we took it easy this day, shopping at La Defense, and going up the elevator to the top of the Grande Arche. WOW! Pretty freaky heights! Dave was coming down with a cold, so we went to the corner Apoteke, where we consulted with the pharmacist. Pharmacists are allowed to diagnos and 'prescribe' medications in France, as a result doctor visits are way down in France. Two medications were suggested, and we bought both. He faithfully took the meds, and was much better each day! He was able to really sleep at night too, though had some med-hangover the next mornings. We caught the train to K Town (after buying new full priced tickets...no credit for the tickets already purchased at a 'deal' online at home) and arrived at 9:30. We travelled at speeds up to 200mph on the ICE train. It didn't feel that fast, but the train really swayed and rocked at times! It was wonderful to greet Tommy and Wesley in Germany (Anna wasn't sure about the new invaders).
I will save the Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Berlin 8 day trip for a new blog.
Favorite French words: Accueill (a-coy) Pont de Neuilly (bon de nu-yee) Concorde (con-CORD!)
Porte Maillot (porta MY oh!)
Other post trip thoughts....I recommend EFTours to use for group travel. They made everything possible with the least amount of headache for me. Next time I vow to journal my day faithfully, however cryptically, however exhausted, because I failed to do this on this trip! I would also document each event with at least ONE snapshot, as an additional memory aid!
