Thursday, Melissa and I had the chance to travel and we chose PARIS! Neither one of us have ever been and when one is only 2 hours away by the fast train (318 kmh = 197 mph and no stops once you cross the French border) one must take the opportunity when it presents itself.
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| No school = Roadtrip! |
We set out to conquer the City of Light (or Love, depending on who you ask) within 10 short hours (including getting off the train in the city, navigating the Metro system and then walking around to the sights without benefit of a real map or travel guide and getting back to Gare d'Est on time for the train back). Neither one of us speaks French very well (or to be completely honest, at all 😂) so I experienced possibly for the first time in my adult life not really being able to communicate in a country I was deliberately visiting. My one semester of college French came roaring back as the day progressed but that doesn't mean I could communicate with anyone other than successfully asking for "six croissant s'il vous plait" and saying "merci" A LOT. I definitely know how my students feel!
We started at the Metro and rode to the Louvre where we took photos with the pyramid and some of the buildings.
The weather was beautiful and after checking to see how much a hop-on, hop-off bus cost (30 EUR per person, nein danke!) we then decided we could walk to Notre Dame cathedral and then to the Eiffel Tower (we could see it, after all. It didn't look sooooo far away). After walking to Notre Dame and taking a relatively quick peek on this inside (the recorded voice saying "SHHHHHH" every ten minutes was creepy!),
we invested in a hop-on, hop-off bus ticket to get everywhere else (you know what they say about hindsight). We visited all the major sites, including the Eiffel Tower, the Arc d'Triumph, the Obelisk, the Opera House, the Moulin Rouge and we walked the entire length of the Champs Elysees. We also were offered free ice cream for being at the right place at the right time while waiting for the bus at the Tuileries.
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| The leaves make this photo! |
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| Where we found Izzy and her host family! |
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| I had to get a picture of the Art Nouveau metro stops! |
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| I cannot afford anything on this street except perhaps the Burger XL at Le Mac! |
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| Nothing is better than free ice cream! The fudge ball in the bottom of the cone made it. |
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| Guess where! |
Over the course of the day, we walked almost 20,000 steps (tracking courtesy of Melissa's fitbit). It was fun to be tourist for the day, and truly, I would go back to poke through the Louvre, the Fashion Museum and also stroll through some neighborhoods (except for maybe Montmartre, just riding the bus through there made me feel like I needed to take a shower because one of the streets is more or less the red-light district). Boulangeries and patissieres
are everywhere and I have to say, the croissants still tasted delicious this morning (Saturday) for breakfast.
I apologize that the blog is a few days behind, but as we were interviewed by SR1 (Saarland Media) on Wednesday and then on TV Thursday night, we are a little slow in updating. 😏 Updates from students coming again soon! Bis bald! Frau S
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