Versailles, Napoleon, and a boat cruise...oh my!

This morning I met the kids at school, and we headed out to Versailles. They enjoyed Marie Antoinette's room the most after the Galleries des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors). Despite the fact that we often found ourselves trapped in Japanese tour groups, we managed to squeeze through the gold-drenched rooms of the castle, and get out to the gardens. I had to kill some time before lunch, so I led the group thru one of the maze-like gardens. Then I went in two circles. They were not fans of that! When we finally came out of the maze, we were back on the main path, and this one boy said, "Are you kidding me? We could've just walked right here!" Whatever-fresh air is good for them. It was there that I realized I was wearing a scarf that Libby, a student on the trip, gave to me for Christmas about 3 years ago. We took a picture commemorating this discovery. The whole group ate lunch at La Flotille, a restaurant on the garden grounds. We all had mushroom and ham omelets, salad, fries, and a pear tarte. Delicious. The kids liked it as well, and even were able to sit and eat for an hour and a half. They are becoming French so quickly! We walked back to the castle when they had to have a break and sit on the steps. I made fun of them for all being Varsity sport athletes, and yet I was the only one walking quickly and not needing a break.

After Versailles, we went to Les Invalides, where Napoleon is buried. Wow. Obviously someone thought highly of himself. He had a whole church built just to house his tomb, which is located under the giant rotunda. It is ginormous. And when you walk in, you have to go to this circular wall and look down at it. You can go down a flight of stairs and be eye-level as well. On the bottom level, all around the walls are carvings of him in the walls in different religious/god-like scenes. Napoleon complex much? One student, Sam, wanted to know if it were too much to expect something similar for his own tomb. I assured him, no. We then had an hour to explore other parts of the museum. It's all a military museum with several different exhibitions inside. I chose to walk through the WWI and WWII part. Several students also did this one. I thought the WWI stuff was very interesting just because I don't know as much about WWI as I do about WWII. The WWII part was interesting as well because it told the story from a French perspective. Of course, early on it became more about England and the United States. All of the uniforms were American, and the pictures were all of Eisenhower, McArthur, and Churchill. So I felt as if I were in the DDay Museum, only with less stuff. They eventually moved to the Resistance, but it was underwhelming. The most interesting thing to me was a sign pointing the way to different streets, but all the "streets" were named German things or were German offices. The French name for the street was written very small underneath.

Les Invalides is basically just set back from La Seine River, so we walked up to the river and hung out on Pont Alexandre III. It's my favorite bridge in Paris. We took pictures, did some dancing, and then headed over to the Eiffel Tower. We bought crepes to eat and took them on our boat cruise, which leaves at the base of the Tower. Though it was windy on the water, we braved the cold to sit outside where the pictures are better and where you can wave and blow kisses to the people walking on the banks of the river. Always fun.

At last we met the hosts at school at 6:30. Fabienne and I took the metro to her apartment, ate dinner, and watched a French sitcom. It was amusing, but certainly not something I'd watch on a regular basis. It was a series of vignettes and no one in one vignette knows the other vignettes' characters. How do they have a plot out of that? Well, they don't. So typical French. It's just people sitting around and talking.

Tomorrow I get to be the guest "question answerer" in Fabienne's English class in the morning, and in the afternoon we are off to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

We've arrived

The flight was long, and I didn't get a lot of sleep, but we all arrived in Paris this morning excited to be here. No one's luggage was lost either. We went to the French school and were greeted with a snack of pastries, candy, and cakes. The students all met their hosts, who were wearing either Saints jerseys or Country Day apparel. While they had one last class, we went on a tour of the school.

During the tour, the kids and I were surprised to find out that the library at the school stays open until 7pm for all students, and til 11pm for older students in more rigorous courses. Of course, the kids go to school until 5:00 everyday. They can then work in the library if they need to, may eat dinner at the school, and then return to the library until 11. Whaaatt? These are very dedicated librarians! Also a tour highlight-the place where they practice high jumping and pole vaulting. It's on top of a terrace, three floors above the cement courtyard. The mats were right up against the fence/barricade, and we all gasped in horror thinking about if you just went too far on that jump you'd be flat as a crepe on the ground below.

At noon we all went home with our "Frenchies." I gave Fabienne presents, and then in order to try to keep me awake, she took me out shopping. Hmm, why not? What else would I do in the first three hours of being in Paris? I didn't actually buy anything, but it did keep me up. The weirdest part of this outing was that Fabienne casually said to me "I have to stop by the Pharmacy to bring back medicine." I responded, "Oh, did it not work or something?" in a befuddled tone. She said, "Don't you take unused medicine back to the pharmacy in the U.S.??" "um, NO!" So apparently, even if the box is open, you can't throw away any medicine. You have to take it to the pharmacist. Over the counter, prescription, etc. Fabienne say they recycle it. Oh my god!! I'll never take French meds. Ok, ok. She said they didn't give it to people. But I'm not so sure. She thought it was odd that we just throw them away, even if the box is unopened. I asked, "How do they know someone didn't poison it?" To which she said, "Huh? Why would you do that?" See, clearly France is not full of crazies who go around tampering with medicine and give it back to the drugstore to be recycled. But is it?!

I am now anxiously awaiting her to get back from a meeting, cook dinner, and go to bed. I'm becoming delirious. More tomorrow when I can think more clearly.

Paris encore

Tomorrow I'm off to Paris with 20 kids. Mon dieu! Sacre bleu! Will I survive? Will they? Will we all return intact and alive? Stay tuned as the story unfolds over the next 14 days.

"I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles"

The last day in Paris was one full of laughter. I think I laughed harder today than any other day remembering funny things we've done the whole trip and of course laughing at ourselves throughout the day. We've had such a great trip, and today was a great way to end.

We started on Rue de Rivoli for the sales. There were so many people, this time mostly Parisian. We got a couple of things, but no big splurges. Then we went back to the Champs where Crawford and I had to pick up macarons at La Duree, the best macaron shop in the world. The picture above is of their pastries. Everything there is amazing. Lily and Nicole had sampled them earlier this week. Then we trodded back to the hotel, exhausted again from walking in the heat. We took a long time to pack our suitcases. I didn't think Crawford's was going to close. He had to kneel on it, and even then I could feel the zipper creeping along, struggling to close. But somehow he did it. The girls too packed all their stuff and are sleeping tonight in the clothes they'll be wearing on the plane.

Tonight was my favorite night so far in Paris. We met Fabienne in the late afternoon and headed to the Louvre. We spent a while seeing Mona Lisa, Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, Venus de Milo, and much much more, including the Egyptian exhibit. It was amusing as the kids walked thru the large painting hall as if there weren't anything on the walls. Fabienne and I had to call them back to see the Delacroix one. Actually I think it's just they haven't studied it yet and so didn't really know what to look at. But we attempted to have several short art history and Louvre history lessons.

After walking briefly past the Palais Royal (another reference to Charade) and the Comedie Francaise, we went back to the Champs Elysees for dinner at Chez Clement. The restaurant serves typical French food in a countryside decor. Mostly it's copper pots and silverware hanging from the ceiling or as the light fixtures. We had escargot as the appetizer. That was my first one ever. Lily and I had to hold hands while we ate it. I was glad she was there with me! I liked the flavor but not the texture, and so don't think I'll be eating snails again anytime soon. Of course, I had to try it once. Crawford loved them and ate about 8 total. Fabienne taught us how to eat them and then dump out the sauce and dip the bread in it to eat. We all ordered roasted chicken and fries except for Fabienne who got beef tartare. She let us try it. We agreed that it tasted like pepperoni, but we took issue with eating raw meat. Those French will eat anything!

As a typical French "dessert" we had a camembert cheese plate. We were so full after this, but Crawford, Lily and I wanted one last crepe nutella. So we all went to the Cafe George V (5 in roman numerals, not the initial V. like Nicole thought) for dessert. It was delicious. We said goodbye to Fabienne and to Paris and went back to the hotel. Nicole and I have plans to pick up croissants and pain au chocolat early in the morning before heading to the airport. One last French pastry before we go! Well I say one....

Thanks for reading. Can't wait to see everyone. Au revoir et a bientot!

After sleeping for about 5 hours, we got up and went to the Eiffel Tower. We were in a great spot in line, and the minute it opened they closed the very top. This was due to elevator problems. They said it would be several hours before it was fixed, at minimum. Since this was our third attempt, we decided to go up anyway to the second level, which is still high up there. On the picture that appears to just be a close up of the tower, take a close look to find three men hanging from the metalwork. They are currently repainting the tower, which requires basic mountain climbing equipment and a desire to be hanging from great heights. Add this to the list of jobs I never want. Paris looked beautiful of course from up high and the lack of crowds was nice too.

From there we went to the Musee Rodin to see Rodin's most famous sculptures, including The Thinker and the Gates of Hell as well as many statues of intertwined hands and people. The marble works inside are all wonderful, but the more famous ones outside are fun to admire and to photograph creatively. I thought the three guys looked as if they were doing the Single Ladies dance, so I joined in with its signature move. We figured The Gates of Hell was also known as Lily's front door, so here's a picture of her going home. haha. And of course Crawford is certainly the more interesting thinker. How lucky that he just happened to be thinking in the exact same pose as the man on the pedestal.

We then went to the Opera Garnier. Paris' opera house best known as the setting for The Phantom of the Opera might be my favorite building in the city. Nicole said she liked it the best of everything we've done so far. It is decorated to the point of being gaudy, but somehow manages to pull it off. The grandeur of the grand staircase is matched only by the hall of chandeliers overlooking the city below. We were steps away from the Galleries Lafayette at this point. We went up to the 6th floor in the department store to eat lunch while looking out big windows onto the rooftops of the 9th arrondissement. Galleries Lafayette has nine floors in its main store. While the top floor sells wedding dresses, the third floor exclusively sells "seductive clothing." Crawford picked up a couple of things while we were there.

At this point we were so tired that we all came back to the hotel and took long naps. 5 hours of sleep is not sufficient for Paris in the heat and crowds. After resting, we ate dinner with Fabienne on the Champs. Fabienne taught them about how to order un carafe d'eau, which is free tap water. Nicole wanted ice as well, and ordered both beautifully in French. They bring the water in a large carafe and the ice in an ice cream bowl with a serving spoon. Coming off her fabulous ordering, Nicole made a faux pas and poured the water directly into the bowl of ice and used that as her glass. The rest of us drank the water out of the nice glasses that were provided that were not in fact bowls. Fabienne, ever so French, is not a fan of ice and could not believe that Nicole would 1. pour water into a bowl to drink and 2. want that much ice in her drink at all. We definitely all backed Nicole on #2.

The last picture is of me and Fabienne at the very moment she tickled me in the side. As I'm the most ticklish person ever, it made for a great picture. Tomorrow is our last day. The big sale period starts tomorrow, so we are going to Rue de Rivoli to go shopping and tomorrow night we'll go the Louvre.

Montmartre and Versailles

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We started today off at the Moulin Rouge. Always a good place to begin anything. We then walked up the hill to Place de Tertre, the artist's square of Montmartre, winding our way down cobblestone streets to Sacre Coeur. The church is beautiful inside, but you aren't allowed to take pictures. Oh well. I actually prefer Sacre Coeur to Notre Dame I think because it feels more like a church inside and less like a touristy cocktail party. No one is allowed to talk in Sacre Coeur. I mean, Notre Dame is fabulous, but Sacre Coeur also has a great story behind it. It was built by the poorest people of Paris around 1870 and its unique Greek architecture style make it more interesting to me.

After visiting the church we had lunch at a cafe near Place de Tertre-crepes and sandwiches-and then did some shopping in the souvenir shops. I always like wandering around Montmartre as it is my personal favorite spot in Paris, especially the square with the artists. It's so bohemian.

In the afternoon Fabienne drove us to Versailles. Unfortunately the chateau was closed on Mondays (no one thought to look that up) but the gardens were open. And frankly, the gardens are the best part. There were people trimming the hedges all around with large plywood cut outs to get each plant perfectly shaped. Lily noted that that would be the worst job in the world. We stopped at the cafe on the grand canal for a drink and a rest from the shade. Upon returning to Paris, we had dinner with Fabienne on the Champs and then tried again to see the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was again closed because of crowds. So our new plan is to wake up early and be there a half hour before opening! Lastly, I included a picture of the space by the tower where there is a giant screen set up to watch every World Cup match. Definitely lots of interesting characters there. And on that note, I must go to bed if I'm going to be waking up early in the morning!

Quasimodo and his sister

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Well if you read the last post and are anticipating with intense jealousy the story of the bell tower, here it is! We first grabbed dinner at a cafe selling just sandwiches and salads. With the french fries, they gave you a little pack of mayonnaise and ketchup. There were cartoon characters drawn on the pack like "Smiley Sam" for example. Lily randomly got two packets with "Lily" as the character. How weird is that?! Lily took it as a sign of her universal appeal. As she says, "I'm kinda a big deal." Obviously.

We then went to see The A-Team. There is a place when you buy your ticket that tells you how many seats are left in the theatre. At the time of our purchase, there were only 456 seats left. 456! The theatre was in fact the largest one we'd been in. The kids all got candy- including gummy smurfs, gummy eggs, gummy cherry coke bottles, and gummy rasberries. They all agreed that while the smurfs looked the coolest, they tasted the worst.

And then we headed to Notre Dame. It was 10:00pm when we got there and still light outside. We made it in as the last group headed up for the night. Quel timing! There are over 500 stairs to climb total. We made it up about 50 before Nicole started panting. Laughing and climbing an old stone spiral staircase is nearly impossible. Crawford and I were having a hard time breathing because we were laughing so hard. Lily was the leader of the pack and obviously more in shape than anyone else. A million steps did not seem to phase her. When we did make it to the first level, the view was amazing. We were at the point of Notre Dame that is about halfway up, at the base of the bell towers. It puts you face to face with the gargoyles. Also, it is in the center of this "balcony" that is the center of Paris. All distances from Paris are measured from here. So at the time, we were not one inch away from Paris. You could also go see the largest bell weighing in at 13 tons. It only rings on major Catholic holidays, and I could see why. It was difficult getting the entire bell into one picture. Even going to see the bell was challenging because you had to squeeze your way into thru a tiny door and then up more tiny stairs. Crawford and Lily in the picture give you a better since of how tiny it was.

And then that's when we met Quasimodo's sister. The crowd was at a stand still. No one was moving forward to go to the very top, on top of the bell tower. And because of that, people wanting to see the bell couldn't get thru because those of us who had just seen it were stuck. While we were conversing with some eccentric Belgians who thought it best to just snuggle up and spend the night, here she came. An old French woman wearing a striped button down shirt and a long flower pattern skirt shoved her way thru the crowd to right in front of us. She asked a young lady to go backwards towards the bell room. The lady said she'd just come from there. The old woman, oh who by the way, was the exact same stature as Quasimodo, started to say there was another exit path to the right of the bell room. When no one moved and another lady tried to squeeze thru, the crazed French woman, shoved her away screaming at her in French and then kept saying, "a droite! a droite!" (to the right, to the right) Her voice sounded like a cross between a munchkin and an oompa loompa. It was so scary and yet so funny. The young couple started laughing and turned around, but they obviously weren't going fast enough for Quasita. She yelled some more all in French, "Why are you laughing? You don't know anything. You are only 20years old. I work here" And meanwhile she shoved her nails into MY back and started pushing us all back to the bell room. Crawford said, "Shay, why are you pushing me?" I was trying not to laugh so as to avoid being fussed at, but it was difficult with her scary nails pushing me. We all went back to the bell room continuously hearing, "a droite!" There was no exit at all. What is she talking about? And then finally, finally, someone saw a passage about 6 inches wide. You had to go in and turn 90 degrees while remaining sideways so as to not get stuck. Most people would not have been able to do this.

Anyways, after all that, we made it to the top of the top and the city at night was beautiful indeed. Coming back down 500 stairs in a spiral staircase felt like we were living a nightmare. It never ended! But it was no comparison to going up or being shoved by Quasita.