Taken 4: Spring Break Bus - Passport to Paris Day 1

Okay buckle up. Or as they say in London, "Martine the bus is moving."

Before we jump right into Vive la France, I want to implore you once again to officially follow this blog so I can better track metrics and do that stuff I learned in journalism school from the professor I was afraid of. To follow, just go to the blog homepage here, click the 3 lines to the left of REDWHITEANDRAE and then click the blue follow button. This works for mobile and desktop and you will be my 2nd best friend (after Nathan) if you follow my blog.

Now that that's settled, let's review day one in France. Early in the morning Easter Sunday, we met up with the rest of our group at a hotel and of course we anxiously judged everyone we saw coming into the lobby and prematurely decided if we hoped they were with our group or not. (Everyone there was with our group...it was 6AM on a Sunday morning. No one was just having a leisurely stroll about the hotel on the outskirts of London.)

Once everyone had arrived we boarded the coach and drove towards the Chunnel. Emily and I took the liberty of not speaking to anyone but our tour guide this first day because we were afraid of rejection.

There was a lot of talk about how old everything is in Europe and how as Americans we would be surprised by that. Older than my apartment building? I doubt it. I tried to explain that on the east coast we have plenty of old buildings (like my aforementioned apartment) but I was already weak from the lack of cold beverages and gave up quickly.

We had a little mix up at the border that was apparently due to Brexit and now I have opinions on Brexit. It's bad. Still a staunch supporter of Megxit. When we finally made it into France we were greeted by the canola fields that would plague the rest of the trip. I tell ya Europe is crazy 'bout some rapeseed. And good on them for the rebrand I guess?

One of my first observations (and I am NOT observant so this doesn't happen a lot) was the graffiti. There was so much graffiti in France but it was really good. As a high school teacher I am used to horrible graffiti and on more than one occasion a student's attempt to roast me has been thwarted by his or her own lack of talent and fine motor skills. This graffiti was both good AND encouraging. As if Bob Ross did it.

There was no political commentary...actually there might have been political graffiti I didn't recognize. Ever since the split of Mary-Kate Olsen and Olivier Sarkozy I don't really keep my finger on the pulse of French politics.

Our tour guide explained a lot about the Haussmann style of architecture in Paris which was really fascinating and I couldn't help but feel like I was in The Lizzie McGuire Movie even though we weren't in Italy and as far as I know we encountered no European pop stars. One kid in our group did have thousands of TikTok followers so that's pretty close. 

Our first official stop was the Eiffel Tower and our guide Marysol let us know that there would be people offering to take our picture who would try to sell us Eiffel Tower keychains that were actually a pretty good deal and you could negotiate. Music to my ears. I'm a big fan of both classic landmark pics AND souvenir shopping. I am NOT a big fan of haggling. I am bad at it and I feel bad about it, but that doesn't (usually) stop me from trying. I have been kicked out of tourist shops in both the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem and Denver, Colorado.

I enlisted Emily in Paris (pronounced Pair-ee) to help with that part. My French is much better than hers in that it exists, but I still could not contribute much to this transaction aside from nods. I ended up with a keychain for each of my 10 DECA kids plus some extras because I am bad at marketplace math. And French.

When we had finished the first of MANY Parisian photoshoots, we headed to dinner near the Pantheon. We were served a soup that was more like gravy so Emily LOVED it. She did not love her eclair, which I ate along with mine and I swear, despite the lack of chocolate frosting (there was a white chocolate situation, IDK) it was the BEST eclair I have ever had. 

After dinner we drove around the Arc de Triomphe and I thanked GOD that my father would likely never operate a motor vehicle in Paris because man. International relations would never be the same.

We finally started driving to our hotel which was in La Defense (Zone 3 on the Paris metro system, a lesson we would learn the hard way in less than 12 hours). On the way we got some great shots of the Arc at night and saw the Eiffel Tower twinkling. We drove along the Champs-Elysees and pretended to be real housewives of Beverly Hills. At least Emily and I did, I can't speak for the rest of the group.

We listened to La Vie en Rose by Edith Pilaf and a French version of My Way and I fought every urge to talk about the My Way murders in the Philippines even though I think we could have all benefited from a robust discussion on karaoke etiquette. 

It was an amazing introduction to Paris despite the lack of Pepe Le Pew merchandise. At the hotel I had my first encounter with a European bathtub and it was a VERY humbling experience. Next week we will pick back up with the best part of the hotel...breakfast. A breakfast so good it made me wonder how any of them fit into the tubs. 

#bodybyNutella