Last week our professors were here observing. It was so nice to see them. Dr. Self has been my professor for most of my CTED courses and I look at her as a mentor. She has such a kind heart and truly gets excited when she sees us doing what we enjoy and excelling in it. I was so happy that she was one of the two that got to come and observe. I felt so comfortable when she was in my classroom and she made my students feel comfortable also. With them being here I was staying after school most days trying to catch up on grades and teacher stuff. Being so busy I didn't really have time to think about my trip to Paris. I packed Thursday night in a hurry and didn't really get to start thinking about Paris until Friday the day we were leaving. Thank goodness Katie's teacher is very knowledgeable about Paris and Katie was able to get a whole itinerary planned out for us.
For this trip we decided to take the Eurostar instead of flying with the rest of the girls. The Eurostar is the train that goes in the chunnel which is a huge tunnel that goes under the sea from England to France. It was well worth the money. We were able to get a package deal and book a hotel along with our train ticket and it worked out really well. Friday after school we had Erica (my teacher) take us to the train station in Newmarket. This is the first time I have traveled via train at all. I have taken the tube into London but never the train. Katie had a one time experience with it but we were both pretty lost on how it worked after we got dropped off. We saw a really pretty British lady with her most adorable British daughter so I simply asked her if the next train was going into London and she said yes and explained what to do once we got on the train. We learned that if there isn't a train station at the stop, then you can buy the ticket on the train but if there is a station and you don't buy the ticket on the train then it is a 20 pound fee. There is not a train station in Newmarket so we just bought our tickets on the train. It was about an hour ride into London Kings Cross. Once we got there we crossed the street to the Eurostar.
The Eurostar is basically an airport but for the train. There are all sorts of restaurants and little shops scattered about. We printed off our tickets and then sat down for a nice dinner at one of the Italian cafes. We got on the train around 8 o clock. The seats were nice and big and perfect for a nap. Next stop--Paris!
After we arrived in Paris, the search was on. We had directions printed off of Google but it is always a little sketchy when it tells you turn left and walk for 3 minutes. We were dropped off at the train station but then had to navigate to the metro. Everything was in French and the only thing we could think of was the movie TAKEN. Katie's teacher had told her what to do when we bought tickets at the metro so at least we knew we could buy 10 metro tickets for 5 euros but the only problem was...we didn't know how to find the place we needed to buy them.
Since we took the train trip we were able to take bigger bags, cool right? Wrong! We thought it was awesome at first but when you're in Paris for the first time, with a huge Vera Bradley duffle, and don't know a word of French, you have "American girl" slapped right on your forehead. It was a little scary. We were making sure we were always looking over our shoulder. Once we finally found the Metro ticket station (which was very close, just hard to navigate when you can't read the language). Our Google directions told us which metro to get on and where to get off. That was pretty simple. Our hotel was only 2 stops away from the train station. We walked up the the stairs and right as we got to the top we were both in awe of what we thought was a mini Arc de Triomphe. Come to find out those arcs were at every main intersection so what I thought was really cool was nothing compared to the Real Arc de Triophe. Once we came back to reality we realized we were on a dark street and the directions that we had were very vague and everyone that we saw didn't look very approachable. So we just started walking.
There we were 2 Oklahoma girls in Paris... at midnight... with our luggage....with no clue of where to go. Every turn we made was a guess. We were looking for Best Western but didn't see it anywhere. Finally after a really scary walk through some very seductively dressed women, and men that looked exactly like the guys off of the movie "Taken", we saw the Best Western Hotel but realized it wasn't the Best Western Les Theatre that we were looking for. So we went in and asked for directions. They told us to go back where we got off the metro and it was right there. We were like "Are you kidding me? Ha!
So we walked back to the place where we saw the mini Arc de Triophe and walked the opposite direction from the metro and there it was. We almost passed it though because it was under construction and the sign was covered up. The only reason why I saw it was because I noticed there was light shining through the plastic and once I looked closer it was the Best Western sign. We walked in and they said "Are you Ms. Pulley?" I said "I sure am," and we got checked in with no problems. Our room was adorable but we were a little freaked out about the walk that we had just taken so when we opened the window to let some cool air in (because they don't have air conditioners) we were a little freaked out because there was scaffolding butted up right next to our window and our window had no screen. We were going to tough it out but the first noise we hear Katie about jumped off the bed. We had a good laugh and quickly shut it. Needless to say we just allowed ourselves to sweat that night. lol
Saturday-
Saturday morning we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit. We woke up at about 9 o'clock, which is sleeping in considering we get up at 6 every other morning for school. Once we got ready, we headed out for some breakfast at a place that one of our teachers had suggested. We knew it was around where the Louvre was so we headed that way. As we were walking there, it began to POUR. Now rain in Paris is suppose to be romantic, but when you have your whole day planned for being outside, it isn't as romantic as all the movies. We didn't care though, we were on a mission to find an umbrella. We have purchased wimpy umbrellas before, but living in England (where it rains ALL the time) and we wanted a nice, heavy duty umbrella. We were coming across all these vendors that were underneath a pavilion so we started looking. We finally found one that we really liked, but they were 16.50 euros. As we were trying to decided, a man walks up to us and says, in a very french accent " Bonjour, let me show you the magic." He grabs the umbrella that I have in my hand and elaborately pushes the button that makes it expand and twirls it around and just keeps saying "See the magic?" We loved the production and told him we would take it.
Immediately after our purchase, we opened our magical umbrellas and all the sudden the rain completely stopped. I'm not saying it let up a bit...I'm saying the pouring down rain went bone dry. We laughed a little bit but didn't care all that much because we thought the chances of it starting to rain again were strong........nope! It never rained again for the rest of the day. O well, at least they were cute and we decided that they were good weapons just in case someone tried to pickpocket.
After we purchased our very expensive umbrellas, we found Angelina's tea room. It was a little pricey so we only had tea and a scone, but it was delicious. We had a full day ahead of us and our first stop was the famous roundabout by the city center. From there we went and had a glass of champagne in the Tuileries Gardens. After that we walked by the Louvre but decided not to go in. It cost money and we had heard from everyone that it could take days to get through it and to save it for another trip when we had more time. By the end of the day we were happy we made that decision.
We were strolling along the river when all of the sudden Katie saw someone selling locks. I instantly got excited because I was wanting to make it to the Locks of Love Bridge but we had no idea where it was. When she saw the locks we looked up and there it was! A bridge completely consumed by padlocks. It was a beautiful site. It was a fairly busy bridge and there was so much going on. There was a man playing accordion and some vendors selling paintings and locks. Katie and I were completely consumed by the environment around us so when a random man came up to Katie and asked her to hold some string while he makes a bracelet for her, of course she said yes. It took him maybe a minute to finish the bracelet. It was the fastest bracelet making I have ever seen. While he was making it, he told Katie to make a wish. When he was done he looked and me and handed me string. Of course I took it and he made me a bracelet in the blink of an eye. When he was done he told me to make a wish also. Then he grabbed Katie's wrist and my wrist and touched them together and said that our wishes will come true! Then he said "20 Euro please". Ha! You're kidding. No way am I going to pay this guy 20 euros, that's basically $40 for a bracelet made out of 3 pieces of string. I totally caught on to the fact that he was CRAZY and there was no way I was going to give him 20 euros. I said "nope I only have 4 euros," and pulled some coins out of my purse. He said "No, 20 euros because you made a wish!" I'm still thinking he is crazy and told him that the coins was all I had....Katie on the other hand completely fell for it! She pulls out 10 euros and is willing to give it to him. Well now he knows that we at least have 14 euros and we have no way of getting out of it! He said "okay, okay 15 euros." I'm thinking...man, you better take this money and run or I'm just going to walk off and you'll get nothing. So of course he realizes that he just made the scam of the day, took our money and told us we were beautiful. We walked away with matching blue and red, $25 string bracelets and one very upset Katie. Ha! I WILL wear it the rest of the trip. I have to get my money's worth.
The rest of the day we walked and ate and walked and ate. We saw Notre Dame and Sainte Chappel. We came across a carousel on the river and rode in that while eating a penini. We also happened to stumble across the coolest art museum. It was 6 stories high and there was art all over the walls, floors, and ceilings. It was awesome. After a day of walking we decided it was time to go back and rest for awhile but first we were going to stop and pick up a few souvenirs. It was then that we realized our bracelets weren't the only thing we got scammed on this trip. Ha! We were at the souvenir shop and realized that the umbrellas we purchased for 16.50 euros for the rain that never fell again were only 7 euros at a different stand! AND we bought two t-shirts for 20 euros and at a different stand they were 2 for 12! Usually I am good at finding the best deal but I've realized when I'm tired, I'm not at the top of my game. We decided that we paid for the experience this trip. It was actually really funny and we got a laugh out of it so we were okay with it.
After a nice rest at the hotel, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. It was AMAZING! So surreal. We decided to make our way to the top. It was about 10:30 pm when we arrived and we made it to the top level (as far as they will let you climb) around 11:00 pm. It was beautiful. The view was so pretty and the tower twinkles at the top of every hour for 5 minutes. While we were on the tower, we could actually hear it twinkling. I was in heaven.
We made it back down by 11:30 and decided we wanted to get a hot dog and wait to watch it twinkle again at midnight. We had such a wonderful day and watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle at midnight in Paris was just icing on the cake. It was a perfect day. Typing all of this again makes me realize how much I loved it there. Such a romantic city.
Sunday--
By Sunday we had mastered the Metro. We saw the Arc de Triophe and had lunch at the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful day and we were enjoying each others company in such a beautiful city. We made our way back to out hotel that afternoon to pick up our luggage. We then took the Metro to the train station and got on the Eurostar and headed home. I was in such a good mood. The train was the coolest thing. The seats were nice and wide and they have the perfect headrest. Also what was cool about going back on the train during the day, was that we were able to view the beautiful landscape. I couldn't stop thinking that I was on a train traveling from France to England. I had dreamed of doing this as a little girl and it was actually happening. There isn't anything glamorous about the train but just an experience was amazing. You can get up and walk from car to car and it makes you feel like you are in a Harry Potter movie. Traveling every weekend can wear you down but this Paris trip rejuvenated me. It was such a good trip.
We arrived in London and had about a 30 minute wait until we caught our train back to Newmarket. We knew that if the train was on time we would have 10 minutes to catch the next train into Brandon. Well...we didn't make it. The next train wasn't for another 2 hours and we just needed to travel 30 more minutes north. It was okay though because we had hot chocolate and free wifi for an hour, so we were content. We arrived back at our dorm around 8 and still got to bed at a decent hour.
Paris was all I thought it would be. The only thing that would make it better is to go there with my future husband :)