Paris

On March 17, St. Patrick's Day, my school had an Inset Day (In-Service Day). I don't know how it came to be but the Inset consisted of a trip to Paris. The purpose was to examine some churches and the religious art in them. We(14 of us) met early at Waterloo Station in London to board our Eurostar train. We visited two churches- Norte Dame (before lunch) and Sacre Coeur Basilica(after lunch). Both churches were beautiful and I enjoyed them immensely. Lunch was a long affair with quite a few bottles of wine and wonderful food. Our day out was wonderful, and other than losing Allan before we even boarded the train in London, it was an great day for staff bonding. Our finale, was when several of us rode the carousel at the bottom of the hill from the Sacre Coeur Basilica. After a quick nip into the pub to try to find a Guiness for our Irish Caretaker in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I waved bye to everyone and they were off back to London. A few hours later I met Brian at the station, as he arrived in the early after working back in London. Our weekend getaway seemed to be in trouble from the start as our hotel was around the corner from the Sorbonne where the students had begun rioting the night before. We stressed about this a bit and decided to go go for it! Rioting is after all one of Paris' specialties, and why not experience it. It turned out to be fine. Saturday night as we returned home around midnight we had to walk through 100's of riot police and loads of vehicles clearly ready for trouble. They didn't bother with us; as in this case we were not protesting. Later that evening we watched the protest from our 4th floor balcony and had views of some of the trouble makers that seem to hand on the fringes of these things. We did so much in the two days we had in Paris: We did all the touristy bits-
We had crosssaints at a cafe overlooking the Eiffel Tower,
went to the top of the Eiffel Tower,
visited the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay,
did a river cruise on the Seine,
visited the Arc de Triomphe,
walked along the Champes Elysees,
shopped in a neighborhood outdoor market,
picnicked along the river by Norte Dame,
climbed the towers of Norte Dame,
and many other Parisian things-
it was just like I imagined it.
Brian, who usually learns a bit of all languages with ease discovered he is French-impaired.