Weekend trip to Paris

Last Thursday was a busy day - one that was full of multitasking and organizing in preparation for a trip to Paris. I got up around 11 in the morning, put a load in the wash and went out to grab a sandwich from Sticklers - my favorite little lunch cafe right down the street. I came back, ate lunch, and threw my clothes in the dryer before I left to get a haircut. I also had time to stop in a couple of shops before coming back to the flat to pack. We had to be at St. Pancras Station by 5 pm to check in for the Eurostar high speed train to France.

Jessica and I made it in plenty of time, and got dinner at one of the sandwich bars at the international terminal. There were 30 students and three leaders. The trip was in association with the one of my classes: London - History through Architecture, and was led by our professor, Norman Reuter. Because of this, we were able to see many interesting sights that we never would have found on our own, and got to see a lot of great architectural features of Paris.

The train left at around 6pm London time. The high-speed train travels at speeds up to 186 mph and the trip from London to Paris via the Chunnel takes about 2 and half hours. Since Paris is one hour ahead of London, we arrived at Gare du Nord ("Paris North Station") a little after 9:30 local time. Norman led us down several streets for about 20 minutes until we arrived at our hotel a little after 10. It was called "Hotel Victoria" off of Rue Bergere near Grands Boulevards. The hotel looked okay at first, but we soon realized it was kind of a dump. There was mold in between the bathroom tiles, the hallways smelled like cigarette smoke, and some of the ladies on the trip complained that they couldn't leave at night! They tried to go out with some friends sometime after midnight, and the man at the front desk said they couldn't. For several hours overnight there is no one at the desk and the front doors are locked.

Each morning we had breakfast in the basement - plain yogurt, coffee, a croissant and baguette, and juice. We had to meet out front at 9 to either board a bus or start a walking tour. It was a busy weekend to be sure, with many stops and lots of walking! Norman had prepared a note packet highlighting each of our group stops and giving us all of the background information we needed to appreciate what we were looking at. A lot of the stuff we had also learned about in his lecture, but those who were not part of the class were filled in. See the posts above for details on the individual stops and sites we experienced.