Day 9: Paris

We got to sleep in a little. We left the hotel at 9:00 a.m. to go to L’Opera to use it as a base for shopping and exploring Paris. We shopped for a couple of hours. I helped kids buy perfume and other gifts. It was nice to walk around Paris at our leisure.

Ted wanted to have a croque monsieur, and so we ate one at a restaurant. John had escargot.

We managed to get back to L’Opera in time to go to Versailles. I went with six other people. The others had a good time shopping in Paris. In Versailles, we took the grand tour. I was amazed at how much engineering went into the building to make it so centered around the sun. We met our group back again at L’Opera and divided up again.

John, Valerie, Jon, Jennifer, Tyler, and Ted in downtown Paris

Kristen took three people and went to find Jim Morrison’s grave. Tamara and I took kids and did some more shopping. We met at 6:00 and managed to walk to the restaurant for supper, the Restaurant de Lourdes. We had roast beef and potatoes.

I took seven students back to the hotel and then took the metro back to meet the others at the Bateaux Mouches. These boats took us on a tour of the Seine. It was a bit of a wait. Luckily, we were by the Eiffel Tower and we got to see it sparkle like it did for the New Year.

Unfortunately, I found out that Frank had his wallet lifted by pickpockets. He lost 20 dollars American and 120 francs. Luckily, he had had no credit cards.

I left four people with Kristen who wanted to see the Eiffel tower. I went home with the group and we managed to get home before the subway system closed.

I helped Jamie and Heidi with phones and checked on the students I left at the hotel. They were socializing with the other people who were at the hotel. It was another battle to get them settle down for the night. One of the girls told me that her average bedtime was 3 a.m. My bedtime was 1:27 a.m.