Week 6 - Paris, Day 2

Bonjour again! 

This post is going to be all about our Day II in Paris. 

Wednesday, July 17, we woke up early and met for breakfast at the hostel. We left the hostel around 8.15 am and our first stop was Musée d'Orsay or the Orsay Museum.  This old railway station was converted into an art museum in the early 1900s and looks absolutely incredible with large clocks on its façade. We entered the museum together and then gave the students 2 hours to explore the various artworks and sculptures. This museum is home to famous pieces likes the sculptures of Rodin, paintings of Van Gogh and many famous artists of the impressionism movement like Monet, Manet, Degas and Cézanne. 

After the visit, we stopped by the nearby supermarket and each of us picked up our picnic. We then walked across the Seine and got into the Tuileries gardens which is right by the Louvre palace and museum. We found cool shaded benches and had our picnic lunch enjoying the gardens. Post lunch we walked down the end of the gardens to Place de la Concorde and we admired the obelisk from Luxor, Egypt. We also pointed out that we were now at the other end of the famous road “Champs-Elysées” and on the other side stood the “Arc de triomphe”. Once everyone was done taking photographs, we headed to the nearby metro station and headed to the neighborhood called Châtelet. Here we needed to take a small detour where we picked up a wheelchair for Elizabeth M who had badly twisted her ankle in Saumur. What we loved the most was how everyone showed great team spirit and support for Elizabeth. Now we were ready to conquer the rest of our sightseeing in Paris together! Quelle aventure!!

Making our way down small winding streets of this neighborhood with cool street art, we headed to the shopping area in Châtelet and gave students some time to shop while Martin and I rested our legs a bit and had a quick ‘pick-me-up’ coffee. After this, we took the metro to Notre Dame cathedral. Since the fire in April, this magnificent gothic architectural monument has been closed off and one cannot get too close to it. However, we managed to get a lovely photo of the group with the iconic façade. From here, we walked down to the Fontain Saint-Michel and again, the students got some free time to shop and enjoy a part of the Latin Quarter of Paris. 

You might think that after this long day we headed back to our hostel, but no, not quite! We then walked to our dinner and Karaoke restaurant for a night of singing and fun! For dinner, the students got to choose between Chicken, Fish, Burger and a vegetarian salad. For dessert, we had sugar crêpes or as most of us chose, crêpe with Nutella! After dinner, the singing began! Since there were other people in the restaurant as well, we enjoyed and cheered for other people’s performances with as much enthusiasm as we did for ours! 

We finally headed back to the hostel and said bonne nuit to our long but lovely day II in Paris! 

Here are some pictures showing you a glimpse of the day we had. Stay tuned for the last post about our Day 3 and our final goodbye. 

Ciao!