Back in March I responded to an email from Kaitlyn at EF (education first) tours which led to a phone conversation about planning a trip for 2015 Spain with students... which led to an interest meeting... which led to students actually signing up... and that led to EF offering me a (mostly) free teacher training tour to Paris. Yep a 5 day trip to Paris with everything paid for except 3 meals and tour guide tips.
Chris Robinson was my chauffeur to the airport since Joe was getting re-certified for AP.
We departed at Wed. at 9:00 a.m. to make it in time for my 1:12 flight out of Memphis. There is absolutely NO need to ever get to Memphis airport 3 hours early. None. I know that now. Plane over to Atlanta and then one to Paris. I had 4 flights last time.
Front row aisle seat for my overnight flight = lots of leg room = score! Also nobody sat to my left so double score.
I did like they said. I slept the whole way. But sleep really means waking up every ___ minutes/hours
when your head almost rolls off your neck and then dozing back off until the next interruption.
Some notes I jotted down on the plane:
I had tried to learn some French from an online app. This only made me love the consistency of the Spanish pronunciation more. French is insane. Est, es, and et are all pronounced "eh." Anyway, I tried to order some water on the plane in French. I even googled water before we took off to make sure. It said "eau." Fail. I said "ooo / ewww" She looked at me funny. Then said "de l'eau?" I left off 2 necessary articles. I decided then that I would cut Mom and Joe more slack for their struggles with the Spanish language... but not with English, Mom.
And when I tried to speak it I felt like such an idiot. Big silly grin on my face. But this is good for me. This is how my students feel.
Luckily a lady opened her window as the sun was rising. Splotches of pink were all over the sky and water that I couldn't even tell where the water ended and the sky began (doesn't Forest Gump say something cheesy like that about heaven and earth?).
Dinner was some beef and mashed potatoes. -- Turns out I will eat several versions of this meal. While traveling, anytime there's a food opportunity (especially a free one) I take it even if I'm not that hungry. And I eat everything offered. The second my stomach gets empty, things get bad. I get motion sick. Or just start to have a low blood sugar melt down. So my motto is stay on top of the hunger. And I always have snacks.
Landed in the Thursday Paris morning with no problems. I did a little teeth brushing/face washing/etc. in the bathroom and assumed everyone else in the bathroom doing this was with our group b/c we all had been told that we would have no down time between landing and touring. And that was true. I did not know who was in my group until we exited the airport.
A group of red-shirted EF staff met us at the exit and took us to the bus where we met Tristan. Tristan would be our main EF tour guide for the next 3 days. He was a long lanky French fellow which = charming accent that woo'd all the southern women in our group. Along with the cute french accent he would word things in precious ways.
Tristan (talking about being careful crossing roads in big cities with students): "And London...You don't want to even try to understand where the cars come from in London."
After the bus driver slammed on the breaks Tristan says casually, "Are we killing anyone now? No? Ok."
Also, "The French don't believe in God. We don't. Sure, everyone is Catholic. But that is because it's a culture. No, they don't believe in God but their new religion is vacation. The french take their vacation very seriously."
The goal of the tour is to prepare teachers to lead their own tours next year and the main way they do that is letting us experience an EF tour first hand. So, like a student trip, our bus was full of ~40 people. All teachers from the Southeastern region (MS, AL, GA, SC, TN)...mostly women, but about 5 dudes.
After about an hour in a warm bus we made it to our hotel. It's tricky in Paris b/c "hotel" is on a lot of buildings but not all are hotels. Hotel apparently can just mean building. We dropped our bags in a room since our rooms weren't ready and we gathered outside.
EF experienced teacher tour leader Scott
They asked for volunteers to be "chaperones" (in order to mimic a student trip). I volunteered since not many people were jumping up to do it. All it meant was I had about 5 people in my group and each time we came together I had to make sure they were all present. Good news is since they weren't students it didn't matter so much.
Tristan and the group
Look how teacher / tourist everyone looks. Especially with the little name tags they gave us.
Traveling with EF = they do it all for you. Even getting on the metro. Tristan buys all our passes at once and then hands them out to us. Then tells us the stops to get on and off. Which is great b/c Paris metro is a wee bit confusing. As well as the language. Tristan told us to get off at (and this is what we heard) "Sha tow lay de aisle"... some of us requested that he spell that. Good thing b/c it was actually Chatale des'Halles, which was not at all what I would have been looking for on the metro map.
Cool metro exit
Some pretty sights as we walk along towards Notre Dame (our lady).
This guy below is John. More on him later.
I can't really remember what Tristan said this was. Keep in mind we are all severely jet-lagged and functioning on little to no sleep.
Had no idea the Hut was so international.
My oh my have I missed outdoor cafes. At every corner.
I think Henry the 4th (what? roman numerals are hard) was murdered here..??
yes. Wikipedia just confirmed that my memory is correct. "He was assassinated by François Ravaillac, a fanatical Catholic"
The top three DO's with EF tours are:
1. Carry money and passports in a money pouch in front of you and ideally under your clothes.
2. Pack light. Real light. The bus doesn't have room for all your stuff.
3. Wear comfortable shoes.
This teacher seems to be in violation of at least 2 of those guidelines. Probably all of them, but I didn't see her bags.
She's also in violation of --hey you're dressed like a 15-yr old hootchie.--
This place was in Ratatouille (I've had to look up all these French spellings. French is nuts.)
It's when the cousin is trying to explain to the main mouse that humans are bad. Look what they do to us rats. (There are dead rats in the window) Yessss, I know it's an animated film. But the animation version is just like the real one. 
More teacher tourist shots
Totally forgot what was said about these next two pics... Old church tower?
A building that said hotel but wasn't a hotel.
River time
Last time I stood over this river:
This time:
Behind me was a place along the river where they closed the road to make a man-made beach. It's there for like a month or so.
Those 3 towers are where lots of executions happened. I am pretty sure they said Marie Antonette (dang.. hang on ) Marie Antoinette (thanks google) was beheaded here.
In the beginning I couldn't help but compare Paris 2.0 to my first Paris trip (in January 2011). Last time I stood in front of Notre Dame it was FREEEEZING. I should mention here how very hot it was for my 3 days in Paris. The weather channel said in the 80's but I think it felt hotter than that. Either way. Sweat fest. I tried not to think about the unseasonably cool weather MS was having.
Emily in 4 layers Paris 2011
Emily in 4 layers Paris 2011
Less layers
Also there was no line in January. I doubt you can tell from this picture. But the line snaked around in a semi circle around the plaza in front.
Inside -- much more crowded. In January I remember entering and feeling the holiness of this grand building. It was darker and quieter... and something about taking refuge from the frigid winter air into the comfort of this candle lit space added to the holy effect.
What was nice about Paris 2.0 was that I didn't feel the desperate need to take pictures of every single thing since that feeling happened the first time around. Someone even asked me why I wasn't taking as many pictures. I didn't say it but I thought, "I have all these pics. And let me tell you how many times I've looked at them." But I was already saying "When I came to Paris" or "When I lived in Spain" way too much.
This was my Notre Dame team (we weren't assigned or anything. This is just who I ended up buddying up to)
Kathryn and Mandy both from MS and John from ... well, can't you tell?
John was all Georgia. I believe he said (referring to the metro): "It smelled like game weekend after Georgia plays Auburn." With a lovely southern accent of course. John wore Georgia apparel every day.
After Notre Dame we walked to get famous ice cream from a place Chris told me to go. Bertillon? No. Berthillon. It was super creamy and goooooooooooood. I think I still have chocolate on my teeth here.
Then, coffee was a must after grabbing some baguettes. Iced coffee was a real must. Also, Tristan had told us that A) there are not many restroom chances in Europe. and B) if you do find a public one...don't. Go buy a small thing in a cafe and use that bathroom. So we did. (also a forest gump line)
I also did not have a smart phone first go-round so this trip involves a LOT more selfies.
When the whole group gathered back together at our meeting time and place two of my group members were late. Like I said, who cares when it's adults. The two that were late were these know-it-all French teachers. The real upity one was always late.
Oldest tree in Paris
Me, acting like an old tree so that I would remember why I took a picture of a random tree.
While we waited on the late people Tristan demonstrated how we can teach the difference in Roman and Gothic architecture. Remind me to show you one day.
Fun fact I learned: The word "Gargoyle" comes from the French word that is like to gargle. And gargoyles were like gutters for Gothic churches. They spit the water off the roof.
Oldest bridge in Paris. But it's called New Bridge.
Tourist poses
This was unbelievable. So, in 2011 this is what this next bridge looked like. It doesn't even have a significant name. But people started putting locks on it. Lovers. And tossing the key in the river.
Fast forward to 2014-- the bridge is COVERED in locks.
And Tristan explained how Parisians hate this lock bridge trend. It is not some tradition. I don't know how it started but it's really annoying to the locals. And it's tearing up the bridges (there are a few where this is happening). The weight of the locks is bringing down some of the wiring. They have to take bolt cutters ever so often to cut some locks off. It's pretty ugly now, in my opinion .
looks like a beehive.
This guy is selling locks on the bridge.
No body cares, Lynn.
It's never terrible to have accordion music in the background as you travel through Paris...even if it's on the terrible lock bridge.
Tristan: "And this doesn't make sense. Why do you want to lock up your love? Love should be free like a bird."
The name on coke bottle thing in Paris... you have Javier, Camille, and Quentin.
The Louvre 2.0. I learned a whole lot more on the Paris 2.0 tour, thanks to EF/Tristan. But that is not true about the Louvre. This was the one place we didn't have a guide. Tristan couldn't be our guide in there. Not allowed. Which is a shame because, like last time, I just wandered the Louvre to see the famous stuff and staring at all the other things in ignorance.
Still amazed at the lame Mona Lisa. or "La Joconde" in French.
Here is the painting across the room from Mona.
And here is Mona. I was standing pretty much right in between the two. She's so small. So blah. I did not fight the crowd to get up close and personal with her this time.
I don't know how I managed to miss this beauty the first time around. She was definitely worth it.
Venus knee kiss
Mandy: Why do they all have... um... their things...
Me: you mean their penises?
Hercules certainly should thank his sculptor. Not all the statues got such a prominent pecker.
We were getting pretty exhausted. (Me Mandy and Kathryn. Somehow we lost John at the beginning)
Mandy and Kathryn hadn't been here before. And, given our exhaustion, I thought Napoleon's apartments would be our best bet at staying coherent. Better than looking at artifacts we knew nothing about.
And I mean, who gets tired of seeing this?
This is wear Napeleon sat as he planned his first war....? not true. But could be true.
Need tour guide so bad.
After the apartments we STILL had like an hour. We could not do it. Physically and mentally spent we found a lushious red couch. Sitting was amazing. Mandy was brave to lie down. I was afraid of falling asleep. At this point my feet and back were killing me. I sat and stretched on the floor. Took my shoes off too. I decided in this moment that I will not return to the Louvre without some sort of tour guide (electronic or person ...either is fine). It is just too big to walk around and speculate. So until then, screw the Louvre. I think there's some statistic that if you looked at every piece in the Louvre for 3 seconds it would take you a billion years. I can't remember the exact time measurement. But it's crazy. At least a year I think.
After the Louvre we are now going on over 24 hours without proper rest. Tristan takes us by some places. This garden. Some small palace by the Louvre where Louis had some sex. I honestly couldn't tell ya. I was busy telling my feet to move.
The Louis Voutin ...Vuitton store
The closest I'll ever be to these shoes.
And FINALLY a place to sit and eat. The first dinner was on EF. I would like to restate how hot it was. And I also should explain how much Europeans do not have AC (or at least AC according to our standards). Not on buses, hotels, or restaurants. I knew the hotel would be like this. But I didn't think about restaurants or about how hot I would already be before even entering the restaurant. I didn't really have AC concerns my last tour of Europe.
"Take a picture of me being a moose next to my mousse"
I mean, can you see the glowing, sweaty forehead? My whole back and legs were soaked after this.
Back to the hotel time! (keep in mind this still involves a lot of walking and metro-ing)
At the beginning of the day Tristan said, "you will probably hate me at the end of the day. B/c you are so tired and I am still making you walk and stand and listen to things." He was so right. It's the hardest day to get through. I sure hope my students are on board for all this.
Here we are waiting for our luggage room to open.
They told us who our roomies were. You have to pay extra for a private. My roommate was first told her roomy wasn't there. So she thought she was going to get a private room for free. Then things got changed around or something and I ended up with her. She was cranky. She said so. I thought "great...she's all pissed she didn't get the private room" But in the end it was the best thing ever. I loved her. But that first night she was exhausted. She hadn't slept at all on the plane. Which may be the best plan. B/c she fell asleep instantly while jet-lag kept me up.
Between jet-lag, the sky staying light until 10:30, the warm AC-less room, and her snoring (which I denied when she asked the next day).... I had a pretty hard time going to sleep most nights. Which is crazy because I was BEAT.
This picture was out my window at 9:55 p.m. (we were on the eighth floor. The window opens and there is nothing stopping you from throwing yourself out of it)
But not Heather. She slept like a damn baby every night. Luckily, the hotel had wifi so I was able to text people over iMessage (I definitely couldn't do that a few years ago on my Samsung) and get on social media.
Aaaaaand it's only been Day 1.
P.S. We got Juicy this summer and I neglected to blog about her.
She was born to Joe Green's cat at camp around Easter and we decided to get her at the end of special session, which would turn out to be our last Special Session for a while.
Except for later that summer when Joe and Chris Robinson were in charge of a session at Camp Hardtner in Louisiana.
I'm going into training asap.
ReplyDelete