Our flight left Austin on Monday, at half past 4 o’clock
arriving in Atlanta a few minutes late.
My concern for the slight hour between our Paris flight quickly
diminishes as a mechanical concern delays the departure time. Torrential rain at Charles De Gualle
airport delaying all flights landing there, further assists our later departure
as we sit on the tarmac waiting for the word from Paris control tower that we
are clear for take off.
We touch down in Paris on Tuesday, two hours later than
scheduled and wait for our EF tour transfer. Since our group is small we manage to ride in what by
European standards, would be called a large van. Through crowded, rain soaked
streets to Magenta Hotel, our centrally located Paris hotel, we arrive just in
time for dinner and the rain to cease.
Perfect timing.
We are four groups of travelers from Oklahoma, Illinois,
Arizona and us, from Austin, Texas.
The other groups are made up of high school French classes and together
we are about 40 people on this tour.
After a typical French meal of salad, beef and potatoes and
a cream puff for desert, we head back to the hotel, exhausted, jet lagged and
ready for, hopefully, a good night’s rest.
Our first tour packed day begins with a bus tour, directed
by Veronica a local Parisian guide. Snaking down busy streets, she quickly
points out monuments, fountains and buildings as we breeze by in our air
conditioned bus, slowing, but never stopping as the lucky few snap photos from
the bus. Later, we might recognize
some of these locations either from one of our walking tour, viewing from the top of the Eifel Tower or our evening Seine River boat ride.
We pick up Magali, our official EFTour Director at Trocodero Square which serves as a viewing platform
and gateway to the Eifel Tower. From
this point we take the short drive to Versailles where we have a quick lunch
before our tour of the gardens and palace.
On the self-guided tour of the gardens, we learn the
difference of a proper French garden vs. an English garden.
The French garden consists of symmetry
and geometry where the English garden is left to its more nature state and
arrangement.
Versailles being most
definitely a proper French garden!
Inside the palace, history comes alive. We learn that it was Louis the XIV, the
Sun King, who built the castle
outside of Paris, leaving the Lourve vacant as an insult to the Parisians who
had so badly mistreated his mother. The sight in Versailles had originally
been a hunting lodge, built by his father, as it was a favorite leisure time of
the nobility to hunt out in the woods surrounding Paris.
The palace at Versailles would house only three kings and
their court for a little over a hundred years, ending with Louis the XVI and
Marie Antoinette. And we all know how that story ended.
Veronica continues guiding us through the palace adding bits
of information, describing the function of each room, while navigating us through
the crowds in a little over an hour.
Much of the original furniture did not withstand the element of time,
however, she points out an original chandelier and rug, among a few
others.
We learn that the hall of mirrors was originally used for
dancing, designed long and narrow as the style of dance at the time was in
linear form – men on one side and women on the other. The hall itself was so
impressive at the time since mirror (glass) had to be imported from Italy when
it was built.
Back on the bus and a short ride into Paris, we leave our
local guide and began a walking tour that leads us to Pont de Arts, the
infamous “Locks of Love” Bridge.
Magali informs us that two panels had fallen off the bridge two days
earlier from the weight of the thousands of locks on those two panels. Crossing
over to the R/L bank we take a
short tour of Notre Dame, the church where Napoleon and his wife, Josephine,
were crowned.
Today we all learn how to travel with a large group on the
Metro by fanning out along the track so that everyone can get on. Everyone is told the stop to get off at
which a quick head count determine if everyone has, in fact made it on the
train. If not, everyone wait for
the next train, until we are all present.
It works perfectly, even if not everyone makes the same train.
Dinner consists of a big salad, complete with, off course,
potatoes fried into chips, among other typical items of cheese, ham and
tomatoes, piled on top. After
dinner we walk through Montmartre eating crepes. A quick trip to the Sacre
Coure ends our walking tour, back on the metro to our hotel on Rue de Magenta.
On the descent
down the hill, from the Sacre Coure we pass by the flat that Jackson, Violet
and I rented three summers ago on our stay in Paris….sweet memory revisited.
