5/21 - Introduction to Paris!

Hi everyone! Hally and Elizabeth here, to tell you about our first day in France! 

The first group of students arrived in Paris between 5-7 am. We all met at the CDG airport where Patrick rode on the train with us into the city where we were smoothly handed off to Juliet and she guided us in using the metro to get to our lovely hotel! To our surprise all of our rooms were ready so we were able to freshen up before leaving to explore! Many of our rooms overlook a little courtyard and we can open our windows and chat across the way! 

Juliet's brother Joe, who lived in Paris for many years, met up with us at the hotel and we all got back on the metro to ride to the city center to begin exploring!! We walked along the Seine River and ate some lovely sandwiches from a patisserie and brought them to eat in front of Notre Dame! 

We then ventured more into the city center, crossing over the river where we enjoyed a cafe and played some cards and people-watched. This was a great introduction to slow Parisian life after the busy rush of public transport that morning. We then walked past city hall, which was decorated for the Olympics! We then went into Les Halles which is a sprawling partially underground shopping center; some shopped while others explored the streets nearby. We met up again and stumbled upon the beautiful cathedral église Saint-Eustache built in the 1400s with towering ceilings, intricate stonework, stained glass, and beautiful murals. At the end of the night at dinner, many people said that this cathedral was their favorite part of the day! 

We proceeded to the Old Palaces of the French royal family before the revolution. Domaine National du Palais- Royal has beautiful gardens, trees, and flowers in the courtyard to relax and take in! The stunning architecture of this Palace was just a taste of what we would see when we walked across the street to the Louvre! As we walked through the archway into the main courtyard of the Louvre, the Cour Napoleon, audible gasps were heard as the group took in just how large and spectacular the Louvre is! We will be going inside the Louvre on 6/1 and seeing the outside just built excitement and anticipation. 

We walked down into the Jardin des Tuileries, and we ran into the rest of our group! Patrick had gone back to the airport to pick up the 4 remaining students whose planes landed later in the morning. They also went to drop off their luggage and grabbed a bite before heading to the Louvre to explore with us! We all roamed around the beautiful gardens admiring the statues, fountains, and florals. Easily the most beautiful gardens we have ever been to!

Next some students who had arrived later went out to explore Paris even more with Patrick while the rest of the group, who were starting to really feel the jet lag, went back to the hotel for a much-needed break! We rested for about an hour before heading back out to climb the many stairs to reach the Montmartre neighborhood for dinner! We wandered around the romantic streets coming to the Sacre Coeur Basilica which overlooks most of Paris and had our first real sighting of the Eiffel Tower We will be coming back to the Sacre Coeur Basilica steps later in the trip to have a picnic dinner as the Montmartre neighborhood is very lively at night! 

At 7:30 we arrived at a wonderful Italian Restaurant. The restaurant was quite empty as 7:30 is considered early for dinner time in France! However, we were very hungry and eagerly dug into Bruschetta, and Burrata appetizers before our wine and delicious pasta dishes were served! While we ate we recapped the day each saying a rose (favorite moment of the day) bud (something we were looking forward to) and thorn (a challenge we encountered that day). 

In discussing the day we concluded that our main noticing were: 

• Patrick, Juliet, and Joe are the best tour guides ever! They are so patient and knowledgeable! We would have been completely lost without them 
• The history and age behind all of the buildings and architecture 
• The size of the Louvre! 
• The diversity of local Parisians
• The subtle differences in fashion and style compared to America. (no athleisure?!)
• That Public transit is much more maintained and available. 
• The city itself is not very accessible to persons with physical impediments. (i.e., no ramps, lots of stairs, no audible signals for street crossing) 
• The language is beautiful but so hard to read and pronounce to our English trained tongues. 
• The different areas of Paris all have their own unique qualities.
• When riding the train from the airport in pairs we noticed that the quality of the suburbs vs the city was the opposite of the United States where it is typically nicer and wealthier in the suburbs. 
• We noticed the care and pride that Parisians have for the culture which is deeply integrated with their many historic landmarks. We reflected that the US does not really have the same emotional ties to places and buildings that seem to help unite and create a clear national identity among Parisians. 

After dinner, we did a little more exploring of lively Montmartre, saw the Eiffel tower sparkle from afar, and got some gelato for our walk back to the hotel! 

Tomorrow we will be going on a guided visit to the Mundolingua Museum of Languages before we have a picnic lunch under the Eiffel Tower. We will explore the gardens of Luxembourg before returning to the Eiffel Tower for our tour. We will then have dinner at an outdoor food hall and shops called Ground Control. 

Today felt like the longest day ever but it was so fun to get to know Paris and each other better!

Elizabeth and Hally out!