At Long Last... well Pt. 1

So. Paris Trip.

Okay, we left on Monday morning and went north to the city of Beunne. In Beunne we visited a really old hospital. It was kinda cool, it had a lot of really old tapestries and had a really cool colorful roof. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures there because my batteries were dead. Fortunately that afternoon I got some when we stopped for lunch. That evening we headed west to the city of Blois. It’s right on the Rhone river, and it also has a really cool Chateau. There a group of about nine of us ate at this really small pub that apparently only knew how to cook with mayonnaise and egg. But we had some really good discussion around the table, so it was worth it. After diner we headed back to the hotel and went swimming for a few minutes.

The next morning we went a ways out of the city to the huge Château Chambord. This is the biggest Chateau in the Rhone valley. Unfortunately it was grey and a little drizzly, but we spent a few hours in the Château wandering around. Some rooms were furnished while some were bare. There was a whole entire huge room full of antlers on the walls. We decided that this is probably one of the most fairytale like castles in the world, and some decided that it is where they shot some of the movie Happily Ever After.

After a while we boarded the bus again and headed north to Chartes. There we stopped for lunch and for general wandering. A group of six of us ate lunch and then walked to Chartes Cathedral, which has the pretty stained glass in the world. It was beautiful. The colors are so vibrant, and it is a huge building. We spent a while in there wandering around, looking at the glass, and then we headed outside and wandered down some little back alleys. Finally we boarded the bus again to head into Paris. Once we got to our hotel we were a little surprised; it was a bit lower quality then our first hotel, but we decided that it wasn’t too bad because at least we were in Paris and close to the Metro. That evening a group of us went into downtown, near Notre Dame, and five of us girls ended up going out to eat at a cute little restaurant. It ended up being kinda expensive, but it was really good and filling. I had tomato and basil and mozzarella appetizer and then vegetable lasagna. Then we hung around this little English bookstore called Shakespeare & Co for a while.

Our second day in Paris, the third day of the trip we left early for Versailles. Once there we took a guided tour through the palace. Our tour guide was hilarious. She was in her early 60s and had this red dyed hair and was wearing this bright fuchsia lipstick, and this eighties teal and blue shirt and high waisted khaki pants. Needless to say Versailles is huge and it took us a long time to get through. It is ridiculously ornate, and a lot of the rooms are refurbished according to how it looked the last time it was occupied. Pretty cool, but in my opinion it was a little to over the top. After our tour of the building, Sarah, Leah and I wandered around the garden and the back area and then ate lunch. After lunch we boarded the bus again and headed back into Paris, where we had a bus tour with the same guide all over Paris. We stopped at Les Invalides, a huge cathedral dedicated to soldiers, and where Napoleon is buried, or I guess enshrined.

After Les Invalides we went over to Notre Dame, where we were supposed to have a guided tour, but unfortunately they were having a funeral. And apparently this wasn’t just any funeral, I guess the French equivalent of Mother Theresea died, and so they were having a funeral for her in Notre Dame. Outside it was packed with hundreds of bystanders and inside were a huge amount of State officials ad foreign diplomats, including the French President Sarkozy, who we saw leave. So that was kinda cool, but we didn’t get to see Notre Dame inside. Then late that afternoon we were dropped off in Montmarte and had some free time around there until supper where we ate together as a group. We had French Onion Soup and we had Pasta with mushroom sauce.

On Thursday we had the day free to ourselves. Sarah, Leah, and I headed down to the Arc de Triumph and walked to the Louvre where we meet up with a lot of other people from our group. Once at the Louvre we split up and wandered around the Louvre. Everyone else ended up spending a couple of hours in the Louvre, but I ended up spending the whole day in the Louvre, and by whole day I mean I spent seven hours in the Louvre from eleven to five. Once I left I realized that I hadn’t eaten lunch and I ended up getting coffee and a muffin and headed over to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with everyone else.

We all met under the Eiffel Tower at six and went to the top to see the view. It took forever to get to the very top level, but once we were up there the view at night was really pretty, a little windy, but really pretty. It helps that they light up the main attractions at night too, like Notre Dame, the Arc, etc. Once we got down from there, we took a boat tour down the river. It was also pretty, but most of us were really too tired from our busy day to truly enjoy it.

On Friday we all got up early and packed and headed to Fontainebleau. Quite honestly I wasn’t too impressed, but it was still pretty cool to be at the place where Napoleon lived and surrendered his command. We all wandered around there with the little personal hand held tour guides. Then we left a most of the students at the train station and headed back to Collonges.

So, that was the Paris Trip. I think my favorite part would have to be the time I spent in the Louvre, and I actually didn’t get to every part of the Louvre because the whole wing with the Dutch and Flemish schools (which are my favorite) was closed. I was really disappointed, but that does give me an incentive to go back someday. Oh and I saw the Mona Lisa, but quite frankly I think it is a little overrated.

Well, Italy is still to come, so, you have that to look forward to.

Au revoir!