The Trip: 4: Paris Day Two

Officially, this post marks the fifth day of our trip, the second day in Paris. Today, we went on the city tour, drove to Versailles, Notre-Dame, and finally the Eiffel Tower.

This morning the students got to sleep in. Breakfast was at 8:00 am and they were on the bus at 9:00 am. The city tour began after a photo-op at the Eiffel Tower. Our walk-on guide told us about the major sites in Paris with a bit of history mixed in. Eventually we dropped off the group we are traveling with and drove to Versailles.

At Versailles we had time for lunch and a quick visit to the village market before our appointment for a guided tour of Versailles. The palace was crowded, but less so than it usually is. There was also a little free time to explore the gardens and the gift shops before we had to leave. We got back on the bus to make our way back to Notre-Dame.

Still considered the center of Paris, students crossed the Seine avoiding the gypsies who were asking for signatures for a petition. We were told about this scam by our guide before getting to Paris and the students didn't get stopped by them. We got to see the cathedral and look around the area, but we didn't want to wait in line to see the inside. We then went to the area near Centre Georges Pompidou where students had some free time. A couple of students even had their hair cut by a street artist.

For dinner we walked back past Notre-Dame to our restaurant. In addition to chicken, some students tried escargot and some of our 18 year-olds had a red wine with their meal. The next stop was the Eiffel Tower on our way back to the hotel. This is what everyone was most excited about so far. The group went all the way to the top where they saw many of the buildings we saw on our tour earlier in the day as well as a proposal! When we finally made it back it was already 11:00 pm.