Europeen Odyssey- Paris

Day One
We departed from Atlanta, Georgia at 6pm EST which meant this was going to be one of the roughest flights I’d ever gone on due to the fact that we would arrive in Paris, France at 6am (France time)- which was 12:00am EST;  in addition, the moment we landed we would be GO all day long, really starting our adventure off running.  Despite the fact that I had not gotten much sleep the night before (always the pre-trip jitters about not having everything packed that I needed or that I had lost on of the 10 student passports that I had to carry throughout our 20 days journey), it was impossible to get more than 45 minutes of sleep before we landed.  Luckily, our Delta flight had those nifty little screens in front of us and I was able to watch 4 movies and 3 TV shows before we landed.

After we landed, got all 40 kids through customs and baggage claim (no lost bags- victory!) We went out to find our Hungarian delegation manager named Karoly- he asked us to call him Charlie- and our bus driver.  I have traveled internationally on 6 different occasions with 38+ students and this was the first time EVER that the coach driver made us load our luggage on the coach completely on our own.  Can you imagine- 38 high school students groggy from lack of sleep, nervous about being in a new country, and completely new to touring (some of them having never left the country or their parents before) being left to struggle with how to get 40 plus suitcases into the storage compartment of a coach who is parked illegally in front of a foreign airport whilst French drivers speed angrily by?  Yes- let the adventure begin.

Since we landed in the AM it was officially rush hour in Paris.  Many of the students were not looking exactly thrilled to be stuck in gridlock on the coach and were daydreaming of their beds at home, that is until that magic moment so many people look forward to- the first time your eyes see the Eiffel Tower in person.  I am not exaggerating in the least when I say there were squeals of delight and even some tears, and I completely understood where they were coming from because even the year that I lived in Paris, I never quit delighting in the sights of that towering spire.

After about an hour and a half of stop and go traffic we finally reached the center of Paris and our first stop of the day, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées.  The Arc is situated in the middle of a huge roundabout known as Place de l’Etoile (its current name is actually Place Charles de Gaulle but go with me here), which means ‘Square of the Star’, thus named because of the 12 avenues that  meant and conjoin that this roundabout.  I have never driven in this circle myself because, as with most roundabouts in France, there are no lane markings!  To drive through here is at your own risk, and there seem to be no real rules about what goes in the circle, besides that cars to your right have priority, although you have to yield to cars entering from the left AND some roads have traffic lights to enter the circle…YEAH, like I said, at your own risk, but that’s part of the fun.  Even while our bus was circling the Arc de Triomphe we got hollered at by the police about where not to exit, not that the coach driver really listened, because when driving in France, anything goes (and that’s me speaking from experience).

So once we had parked and exited the coach, we had 3 hours of free-time to tour the Arc de Triomphe, from here on referred to as AdT, or stroll down the Champs-Elysées.  We had only conjoined as a group for a few hours in the airport, and of course on the plane and coach, and already we were telling the students to go out and experience Paris on their own, but hey, that’s part of the adventurer lifestyle. We did mention to the students to take an underground walkway that leads to the AdT and NOT try to cross the crazy Place de l’étoile so that was us being responsible leaders- right? Even I didn’t really know who to walk with, having only exchanged a few emails with the other leaders prior to our trip, so I set out on my own.

First thing I had to do was snap some pics and take in all the wonder that is the Arc de Triomphe.  So a group of us kinda followed each other through the tunnel to come out under the massive (I’m talking 164 feet tall and 148 feet wide) arch.

Fun fact: the Arc de Triomphe is part of what is called the Le Axe Historique, which is basically a long line of monuments which includes three arches in Paris that are pretty perfectly aligned; the modern Arche de la Defense just outside of the city and the smaller Arc de Triomphe de Carrousel located near the Louvre museum.  

La Grande Arche de la Défense seen from Place Charles de Gaulle

The AdT was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon after a major victory, he envisioned returning to Paris and having all of this men and armies marching underneath a triumphal arch (oh- so that’s where the name came from) but it wasn’t completed in time and he had to settle for doing so under a wooden mock-up that was constructed.  These days it is used as the site of celebrations, included Bastille Day every year.  On the AdT you can see sculptural reliefs on each leg of the arch, as well as the names of battles, victories and military leaders engraved on the inner walls.  Beneath the arc there is also the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which boasts an eternal flame, which was mimicked at the grave site of JFK at Arlington National Cemetery.

 After snapping my pics and visiting the Arc de Triomphe I still had over 2 hours until we were supposed to meet back up at the coach, so there was plenty of time to take a stroll down the Champs Elysée. Gosh, I can’t even say the name without thinking of the song, so I’ll include it here, I’m sure all my readers would like to sing along (just like I tell myself about my students most days in my classroom).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7-UcdcK4AA

If you don’t know much about it, the Champs Elysées is a super famous avenue, a little over 1 mile long, with lots of shops, movie theatres, night clubs, restaurants, cafés…you name it, it probably exists here.  Now, the year I lived in Paris, I wouldn’t be caught dead here unless I was showing around some tourist because it truly is a tourist trap, but you can see the AdT of course, and the road leads down to Place de la Concorde, so that’s the direction I headed, taking in all the sights and the shop windows as I strolled along.

 

Half way down the avenue I ran into some of the other leaders, so we continued to walk together.  And that’s when we saw it, one of my favorite things about Paris….a sidewalk crêperie! Sure, it was only 10am and I’d only been in Paris about 3 hours, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have this delicious French treat!

After our crepe treat the other leaders headed back towards the bus, fearing they wouldn’t make it back in time, but I’m a fast walker so I kept heading to the Place de la Concorde.  Place de la Concorde is the largest square in Paris, and perfectly located, with the Champs Elysées on one side, and the Tuileries Gardens (which lead to the Louvre) on the other side. Around the Place you can also see the Madeleine church, and there’s a far off glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from the square as well (the American embassy is also located just off the square).  

Place de la Concorde has a long history.  It was first called ‘Place Louis XV’, but was later changed to be called ‘Place de la Révolution’. Yes, this is the square where the guillotine was once located and where tens of thousands of people were beheaded during the bloody French Revolution. The guillotine has since been replaced by the oldest monument in Paris, the Obelisk, which was a gift from Egypt to France in 1829. 

 

The square also boasts fountains, statues and beautiful light poles such as these:

 

I didn’t have lots of time for exploring Place de la Concorde because it was nearing our meeting time, and I had to walk the 1.2 miles back to the coach.  I did take a couple more pictures of some sights along the Champs Elysées on my way however:

 Back on the bus, we headed towards our second stop of the day, the palace of Versailles.  Versailles, the town and castle, are located just outside of Paris.  When Versailles was first constructed in 1624 by the King Louis XIII it was just meant to be a hunting lodge.  Some hunting ground- it is considered the world’s largest royal domain because with the gardens, grounds and actual palace cover over 87,000,000 square feet! The King Louis XIV is largely responsible for making the château all of the splendor that exists today, though he could also be thanked for bankrupting the French people, leading to the French Revolution during the time of King Louis XVI (and we all know how that ended for him

Back to Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, throughout the palace and grounds you see symbols, statues, paintings…all referencing this notion.  Starting with the large statue that greeted us in the parking lot, and the gate that you enter through to get onto the castle grounds.

We didn’t have a guided tour throughout the castle, but we did have the students break into color groups and we had a type of scavenger hunt that we went on, answering questions about the history of the castle as we toured it on our own in groups.  

 

  

 As we walked through the castle we were all in awe about how beautiful the rooms were.  We didn’t have a lot of time to explore, so we walked quickly through many of the rooms that didn’t hold answers to our scavenger hunt, but there we so many beautiful paintings, painted ceilings, statues, it really is a breathe taking palace.  Probably the most impressive room is the ‘Galerie des Glaces’ or ‘Hall of Mirrors’, which was used for important ceremonies.

We also explored the king and queens bedchambers. 

 

Once we were done with our tour inside (and all the questions answered correctly- thank you very much) we had leftover time to explore the grounds of the castle- which are massive.  There are dozens of fountains, but unfortunately they weren’t running while we were there.  There are also private gardens, walking/running paths, and boats for rent on the grounds; visitors can also explore the ‘Petit Trianon’- Marie Antoinette’s little get-away when she wanted a little privacy from all the pomp and circumstance that came along with court life. 

A few students and I did decide to go out and explore some of the little hidden gardens while we had the time. 

And that was day one of our European Odyssey tour.  It was a great day- and a wonderful way to start our 20 day trip!