Day 4 –
Tuesday 23rd June (will add more photos later! In a bit of a rush!!!)
Paris !
Always an
early start (and a late return!) on this trip, in order to make the most of our
time there...so up at 4.45 for breakfast, before a quick stumble from our hotel
to the station (literally across the street) for us teachers... Slight further
to come for some of the pupils, and their poor host parents!
After one
change in Angers, onto a TGV for the hour-and-a-half high speed journey to
Paris Montparnasse, at speeds of up to 180 mph. The countryside really does fly
by at that speed, and many managed to get a bit of kip, with the help of
iPods...
Once in
Paris, it was straight to the Eiffel Tower – yes, the most visited monument in
France! Having decided that queuing to take the lift (about 1 hour 45 minutes
or so!) was NOT the way forward, we took the quicker, fitter option and walked
it. This meant that, by the time we had been up, had a good look around and
taken zillions of photos, had a coffee and taken the lift back down again, we
would still have been in the queue!
Next was
lunch (a feast for most of the pupils, whose host families seemed to think we
were spending a week in Paris, not a day!), followed by the Seine river cruise.
Perfect weather, and a chance to relax and really enjoy the sights.
On our way
to Montmartre, we briefly stopped off at Etoile for a glimpse of the
Champs-Elysées – and even had a quick blast of the chorus from the song! Then
on to Anvers and up the Butte de Montmartre, where we had a look inside the
Basilique de Sacré-Coeur and then wandered into the mazy streets of the
artist’s quarter. The pupils managed to fend off the swarms of persistent
sketchers (it costs about €40 now!), and kept their money for such lovely items
as white trilbies, dubious sunglasses and I Heart Paris hoodies...
We were determined
to be in plenty of time for our train home, after the “challenging” return
journey of last year, so headed back via Notre-Dame de Paris in plenty of time.
Back to Cholet for 23.17 – and straight to bed
after a brilliant but very tiring day...
