Friday 7:00 a.m. wake up call was a rude awakening from the deepest stage of my REM cycle. Thanks jet-lag. This will be true for every morning in Paris.
Delicious hotel breakfast and café and we're off on a morning bus tour.
Tristan explains some things on our way up to the Arc where we will meet our local guide.
Someone asked him about the healthcare system and he explained some of the differences.
It's obviously cheaper for patients than our system. But I didn't realize it's cheaper for doctors too. Education is free so doctors don't start out with a bunch of debt. They can't make as much money since their salaries are partly controlled, but the no debt thing must be nice. They also don't have to do all the liability insurance.
Tristan, "We are not really a suing nation. It's like, 'Oh. I'm dead. Too bad.'" (did you say that in your head with a French accent? because it's funnier that way)
Other things he said: Parisians pay high taxes and it's hard to become super rich, but there's also not the large amount of extreme poor. I guess this is true. Tour guide's word against yours.
Just picture her in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Arc instead of on stained concrete.
Well, anyway. We met our next guide at the Arc. Big ole Arc. A triumphant arc. Arc de Triomphe.
Here's our guide. Leif from Sweden. So, new accent... not quite as lovely as the french accent over the English language but still fun to listen to.
Either Louis 14 or Napoleon had the Arc built (ok wikipedia says Napoleon). We took in a lot of info on this day about both of these guys as well as some other Louises? Louis's? Loui? (more than one Louis). I couldn't write down much of what the guide said. I did try some, but those notes don't make a bunch of sense now. A bus tour in the morning is already recipe for car sick Emily so I most certainly couldn't risk glancing down to type up notes. In any case, it's Napoleon's and he built it I think to show off his wealth and power. The traffic around the arc is insane. It's a round-about. There's no yield signs or lane lines to help you navigate the round-about.
Oh yeah. There's Napoleon on the front. Tristan says he was not really that short. He was average height for that time. 5'5" or so. But he was surrounded by tall soldiers. I bet his enemies started that short rumor.
In the middle of the arch is the arch flame. It is for the unknown soldier. It was set up after WWI in which France lost 1.4-1.7 million people. (more than all our wars combined).
Unfortunately we couldn't get out at the arch. So off we went down the Champs'Elysees (I knew what that was this trip.) They had just had the July 14 celebration. Which apparently they do not call Bastille Day ... that's just us English speakers. They just call it July 14.
Bus pictures are pretty awful but here are the bleachers and other constructions being taken down from the celebration.
Neo Classical style church
"The President would never say God bless France. People would be like 'Who's God?' Religion is a sensitive subject with all the history of religious persecution. Protestants. Jews. Etc."
Also a church wedding doesn't matter at all. You have to have the equivalent of the court house wedding then you can go have your church wedding. Two weddings happen if you want the church one. Also they don't call it Same Sex marriage. Just "marriage is for everyone."
Next we have the Opera house. Like, Phantom of the Opera house. Whoever had this built did not want trees on this street. Most streets in Paris have trees (which really makes it that much more of a beautiful city) but not on this street. He did not want trees obstructing the view of this opera house. Leif also said something about a legend of the lake underneath it...which would be how the Phantom traveled in and out.
Look, 3 lanes of traffic and no lines. Insanity. Some streets did have lines. But not all.
This is a church. The Church of the Invalids. It was originally a hospital for Napoleon's soldiers. Now it's a church and Napoleon's averaged height body is in there.
iiiiiiittttttttt's TOWER TIME. We did get to stop here for photos. So here you go:
Selfies with monuments are soooo fun.
Doesn't this look so real?
I could jump much higher in the summer than the winter. At least 4 layers and two pair of pants in January.
Cheerleader jump prep. Clearly the Northwest Jr. High cheer judges didn't know what they were doing when I made it on the squad.
Selfie selfie fun fun fun
Hey everybody meet Heather from Atlanta, my roommate. She is as fun, cute, and crazy as she appears.
Swedish Leif was leading the other group through the palace but luckily AP Euro History teacher Darrell was with Kathryn and me in the gardens and he knew a whole bunch so I got to ask all my stupid questions. Like, "Does France have a current royal family?" My hunch was no, since we never hear about it. Turns out I was right. But Darrell said there is a group of people that meet every now and then to like...calculate the lineage just in case the royals make a come back.
Greek and Roman statues built in the gardens. Since Louis couldn't jet off to Rome and such (you know, cause he was the king. He had enemies and no jets) he just had Rome come to him.
Louis brought all the nobles from Paris out here so he could keep an eye on them. With luxuries all around (booze and women) the gardens were just a big frisky French fest -- according to Darrell-- and this got the nobles out of the way so Louis could govern how he wanted. And they weren't like old dudes. I'm pretty sure this is the Louis who was king at a really really young age... like age 5 and then got to be for real in charge at age 18...but then again that could've been another Louis. Either way. These were young nobles with nothing to do in a garden with lots of hiding places. Naughty nobles.
Skinny dipping pond --- I made that up. But possibly
Looking back up to the palace
We were really starting to cook at this point. Totally appropriate since Louis 14 was the sun king.
Next was our tour with Leif through the palace. They keep it real in there. No AC... or none that you can feel. So just like the old days.
Map of the palace before we began:
We get a headset so we can hear Leif. Otherwise there would've been absolutely NOTHING heard.
But it only goes in one ear and it was kinda hard to tune out the rest of the noise. Guess who travels with ear plugs? Like, everywhere I go. But especially in situations like a overnight plane ride and randomly assigned snoring roommates. So I had them in my bag and voila!...auditory problem solved.
This ceiling is the second largest fresco next to Michelangelo's in the the Sistine Chapel... or maybe it is the only other one besides the Sistine Chapel. That would be more impressive. Either way. It's fresco. Which I do remember sucks to do b/c the paint has to stay wet. The painter has to start all over if he messes up. Or something like that. Fresco = pain(t) in the butt.
People people everywhere. And lots of Louis 14 statues, paintings, busts
Here's venus on the ceiling. And gold is really awesome.
Louis Louis Louis. Louis bust and Young Louis Portrait
Older Louis portrait. Isn't it funny that he got finished dressing like this and was like, "Yep..(or Oui.) This is it. I look good. This is how I will be painted and remembered. How's my wig? Too big?" And then who was like, "Louis, we need more leg. More leg Louis. More, more leg. That's it. Lift those royal robes. Let's see the whoooole leg. There we go..."?
The king bed.... not king size though. Is that an example of irony?
Old old clock. And portrait of one of the queens.
Walking selfie in the hall of mirrors. Can you find me? White shorts green shirt.
To the left, to the left
View to the right.
Mirror selfie...but obviously the best part is the precious man who made it in the selfie.
After the hall of mirrors we go to the Queen's wing, cause you know king and queen didn't stay together. Remember, the queens only role was to produce a baby king. I can't tell you how many times Leif said this.
Queen's room and a bust of Marie Antoinette. Someone had to be present for the making of the new king... to make sure it was really the king's baby. Or maybe it's being present for the birth. That doesn't make sense though. How annoying is it reading this blog? Sorry my info/memory/knowledge is so weak.
Never ending chandelier mirror trick
Queen's jewelry box over there in the corner
Different Louis portrait... let's say it was the 16. I feel pretty confident in that. He was the one with Marie Antoinette right?
This next picture is the main thing I remember. It's Marie A. and her kids. The daughter is to the left and the other two kids are boys. I think the crib is empty to illustrate a baby that died.
I can't remember how but the oldest boy dies. "which is good because now he will not see what is going to happen to his family" - Leif. French revolution starting. They come get Louis and Marie A. from Versailles. I'm not sure in which order the deaths happen but they are executed--beheaded-- in those towers by the river. They decide to let the daughter live and she goes to Austria (I think... or some country) to live with family. The youngest boy (who would now be the next in line king) is locked up in a cell all alone and abused. He dies in his own feces.
Other things I learned about her and the French Revolution: It did not start because people were starving. People were not starving and Marie A. did not say "let them eat cake." People in Paris were doing alright. That's the main thing I remember... I think it started because the middle class did not have enough voice in important matters.
People didn't care fore Marie A. because she didn't stay up in the castle like a good queen. She would go out and around like Princess Jasmine did and hang out with the commoners. She was also so young.. like 15, and she just wanted to be a teen. Girls just wanna have fun.
This middle part of the palace is the first part that was built. I wanna say Louis 14's dad built this part and it was his hunting lodge. It was brick-- the rest of the palace is not brick. Brick is not fabulous. The rest of the palace is limestone or something. Louis 14 build Versailles out of France materials so people were like "yay louis 14" because it was good for the economy.
We turned in our ear pieces and had a minute to run through the princess rooms or go to the bathroom. Since I had sweat out every ounce of moisture from my body, I went to see the princesses. The French didn't do queens in charge like the English. So these princesses never had a shot.
After Versailles we were done with Leif. Apparently he was a little ticked off at us. One of the French teachers heard him complaining that we did not stay with him ... which is a lie. We tried our best but it was soooooo crowded. And the great thing is you don't have to stay by your guide cause you have an ear piece. He even said that. But he would try to gather us in a certain area to show us something specific-- This was a ridiculous goal due to all the people. He also got a little sassy with someone in our group for talking while he was as we moved rooms... but they didn't have an ear piece so they didn't know. An EF guy had given his earpiece up so a participant could have one. Being a tour guide has to be a headache. Tristan never acted like this though. He was so pleasant and polite but would keep us in line.
Tristan was in charge the rest of the day -- which was an optional excursion. Most of us opted in. We went to the top of this tower/building to get a view of the city. Going up the Eiffel Tower was out of the question. That line was soooo long and probably wayyy more expensive than this tower.
See all the pretty trees running up and down the street. Definitely didn't notice this in the winter...duh.
Here's what you all have been waiting for, you just didn't know it. I thought her platform flip flops and purple hootchie shorts were bad enough. Here is her day 2 outfit.
Tristan called her out. "Those are not good shoes!"
She said, "I'm fine!! I have arch problems."........ What?
Baby tower
We left the tower and went to the Saint Michelle (aka Michael) fountain where we had 2 hours of free time to shop and eat dinner.
Dead feet and aching body = find a café and order a drink.
Here is my roomie heather again. I don't know why but all day she carried these miniature jelly jars around.
Super fun chick.
Pretty trees across the street.
Down the sidewalk from us this street performer starts playing. What does he start playing? The worst song ever. Yep. You guessed it. Brown eyed girl. Blaaaahhhh. Don't get me started on Brown Eyed Girl. And it has nothing to do with my own eye color.
You can't ever here anything but American music almost everywhere you go.
But Mandy and Heather LOVE Brown Eyed Girl -- all brown eyed girls do.
We sat and sat at the café. The waiter was hitting on Heather in a cute, wordless way (since he spoke little English.) He kept asking her to go swimming later. That sounds creepier than it was.
Next we hopped down and across the street to a restaurant. It was a great afternoon. No walking and no shopping. Here I had my second meat and potatoes meal. Not mashed potatoes like the sketchy airport meal. But little fried potato medallions. And some creamy garlic sauce. It was delish.
We met back up with Tristan and the group at 8:30 and headed to a boat tour.
We traveled around the Seine and got another mini tour from an adorable French chick.
The EF staff also bought boxed Roseé? Rosay? Rosey? wine and served it to us in plastic cups. (Not included on the student tour)
Across the aisle from me was a couple who were on an actual EF tour (London, Paris and something else) with students. They said it was going well. So that was nice to hear. Tristan went up to the EF tour leader, didn't tell her he was with EF, and said "Ma'am? Are you with EF tours? Someone in your group had a heart attack."
She freaked of course. He gave her a cup of wine to apologize.
Adorable French tour guide. She gave the tour in French and English. The French accent is so pretty over English even if I couldn't understand it at times. A lot of times.
Tower from the river
This was to illustrate the nighttime and light. Her watch says 9:34 PM!
On the banks of the river we saw tons and tons of people just hanging out. Some drinking. Some dancing. All chatting. All ages.
Had to be a mix of tourists and locals. In Meridian, high schoolers hang out in the parking lot of Winn Dixie. In Paris, the banks of the Seine river. Same thing.
We also got to see a man peeing from the river bank. Too far away to see anything scandalous. I didn't get my camera ready in time.
This next bridge was something about lovers. You have to kiss the one you love when you go under it.
Couple in front of me kissing. I'm a creep.
Mini red tower
Paris at night is the best. I was disappointed we didn't get to go closer to the Eiffel Tower while it sparkled. But that's it in the distance... to the right of the tree clump.
After the tour the EF staff gave us the option to go home or come out for a drink. It was already like 10:30 and I was spent so I went back to the hotel like an old lady (with Tristan taunting our group as we departed for the metro.)
Orange wedges lady. Remember how she said "I'm fine" -- she was the only one sitting
as we waited for our train. People who make poor shoe choices never admit it was a poor choice on trips like this. We got back to the hotel at about 11:30. I could not have been happier to skip the drink, run through a cold shower and hop in bed.
Not only was it weird to be texting people from Paris and instagramming, but I could also check in on our new home security camera and see Richard Parker playing (because the camera was set up perfectly to watch cats on the floor but not at all useful for identifying robbers)
My frisky Parisian cat.
Only one more day left.
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