*Note: it took me 3 days to write what you have below. Apologies in advance if some of it doesn't make much sense. I'm (just a tad) sleep deprived. Note the sarcasm.
4 June 2015
4 June 2015
Notes from 10,000 feet up
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| From 10,000 feet up on the flight to Detroit, Michigan from Nashville, Tennessee |
Seeing the world from this height never gets old. It’s amazing how SMALL everything
looks! That Nashville airport
isn’t small but from the air, totally looks dinky. Houses? Forget
about trying to find anything distinctive. People and cars?
Yeah, good luck. You need a pair of binoculars. Granted, I’ve flown quite a few
times. I always remember that
stomach sinking feeling you get when the plane goes from touching pavement to
being totally airborne. I
absolutely love that feeling! I
remember the ear popping and the attendant’s speech at the beginning of every
flight. But I always forget just
how BIG the earth is and how far away places are from each other. Looking out the window, it’s just you,
clouds, and wide open expanse.
That’s definitely something to be in awe of. The human race thinks it’s such a big deal but there are
bigger things out there than people.
We forget that a lot as a race.
Just looking out the window my mind also wanders to the
great beyond – like how far away other planets are from Earth. I can’t fathom taking 3 days to get
somewhere going 500 miles an hour – or taking 10 years to reach the closest
planet (or whatever those figures actually are). We are so LITTLE!
Creation is just so awesome.
On a slightly different note – I’m sitting on a plane right
now flying to Detroit. From there,
it will be off to Paris and a fast-paced city/country-hopping trip that I know
I won’t soon forget. Like I’ve
said before, I’ve been to many of the places we’re going to, but they’re all
worth a second (or third or fourth) visit. I absolutely can’t wait to see some of these things
again. It’s still not quite real
that I’m going back but it will be soon enough.
10,000 feet up and we’re so close to being there! Different culture, different people,
different food, different time zone, different everything!
I wish my own students would be able to experience the world
but the demographics of where they come from would impede many of their
efforts, especially the financial aspect.
Ha! If only I could afford
to send kids away for a while just to see the world and simply get out of our
small town. I’d give the world to
be able to do that. My kids are
lacking in culture and many of them have never been out of our town. They all think I’m crazy when I tell
them I’m getting on a plane and going to a different country. That’s such a foreign concept to
them. I actually had someone ask
me, “You can do that? Just go and
visit?” Yes, little one. You are free to explore the world at
your own leisure. I just wish they
all could get in touch with reality – a different reality than the one they are
used to.
That’s part of the reason this trip (and trips like this) is
so important to me; because if THEY cannot experience the world, I will, and
bring that world back to them. The
only goal I have when I travel is to learn and see as much as I can so I can
bring it back to them and to my family who also cannot travel as I do.
Goals for this trip:
Try a very French food
Drink German beer
Take a picture from the bridge at Neuschwanstein castle
NOT cry when visiting Dachau
Take a crap ton of pictures, with me in them this time!
Blog as least once every other day about my experiences
I was SUPER bad about the last two items on my previous
trip. I took about 10,000 pictures
my first go-round but was NOT in most of them. Gotta get better at that J Also, I was so busy
that I barely wrote about what I did.
As a result, I forgot a lot of stuff which doesn’t make me very happy
when I want to go back and read about my previous travels and then some stuff
is missing. At this point, though,
I wouldn’t be able to remember what I left out because it’s been so long. It’s enough for me to know that I
left a lot out, though, and can’t re-experience it.
Anyway, enough rambling about that…
The group I met up with in the Nashville airport is really
cool!
Here they are:
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| Aren't we cute?! Bon voyage! |
Haha, aren't selfies great?
Agghhh!! We’re
about to land in Detroit so I have to pause this. We’ll see each other again soon.
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Aaannnndddd, I’m back. And WOW did we have a packed day and
a half. It all started when we got
on the plane for Paris. I sat in
the middle row (and anyone who knows me knows that that just doesn’t fly very
well with me…) next to a young French man who was on his way home. He didn’t speak much English, nor I
much French, so we didn’t talk much.
I did notice how different airline entertainment was and how much of it
was available. Ok, so the seats in
front of you (at least on Delta) have these screens on the back of the headrest
that have a touch screen.
Passengers can choose to watch, listen, play, follow flight, and many
more things. They even had
parental controls and a kids tab for the young ‘uns. I watched The Maze
Runner, which by comparison standards was a terrible movie. There wasn’t much character development
and it seemed like they sort of assumed you had already read the book. Plus, like always, they left a lot of
great parts out, added some others, and changed the ending. All very typical of Hollywood these
days. After that, I played
games and then tried to sleep. My
poor body – it was 9:30 my regular time and 6 am on European time. I just could not get to sleep. So I resorted to more games and to
watching the sun come up at 35,000 feet.
Still an awesome sight to behold.
The flight food was actually decent – which was good because
I filled up on it which made me not want to eat as much once we landed in
Paris.
So, once we landed it took us about an hour to find baggage
claim, get our checked bags, use the bathroom, and find our large group and tour
guide. That’s a long story that I
will have to finish for another time because I haven’t slept in two days at
this point and I’m so tired I could sleep for three! But I have to be up at 7:15 am so… signing off.
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And, I’m back!
But I have to be up in about 3 hours sooo, I’ll have to be short on this
one.
Ok, so we got off the plane and could not for the life of us
figure out where we were supposed to meet up with our bags. Oh, we followed the signs, but there
were different doors to go through which led to different parts of baggage
claim and we weren’t sure which doors to go through, so we just picked one. That was fine because we ended up at
customs, stood in line for about 15 minutes (HUGE line, btw, and it moved
fast), and a nice man in the custom’s office stamped my passport. We shared a few words in French and
were welcomed into the country.
Yay! After that, we found
the carousel where we could meet our bags, picked them up quickly, and then
headed for a bathroom. When we
found one, the dudes could go right in and be done in just a couple of
minutes. The ladies, however,
always had a line! Every single WC
we passed had a stinkin’ line that took the better part of 15 minutes to get
through. And that is no
exaggeration. The one we found had
3 stalls, but most of the women had been traveling all night long and needed to
freshen up or change clothes, which they did in the stalls. Don’t get me wrong: I would have done
the same thing, too, if I had wanted to do that. I did brush my teeth, though, which made me feel
better. Anyway, it took about 20
minutes to get through that line.
And there were only about 10 people in front of me. It’s been that way with all of the
restrooms we’ve seen. The
gentlemen is always quick and the women always have to wait. You’d think they would just put more
stalls in the women’s bathroom so it wouldn’t be congested, but they obviously
have not thought of that yet.
Maybe in 10 years it will be different, yeah? Or maybe not, I don’t know. After the bathroom break, we met our tour guide and our tour
group (3 other groups are traveling with us-picture to come) and made our way to the bus, where
our adventure begins in the next paragraph.
5 June 2015
Jet lag is the pits...
Right, so we found the tour guide and went straight to the
hotel in Parisian traffic. Which,
if you’ve never been to Paris, NO American in their right mind would even
attempt to drive in. I swear I
would crash into someone in less than 5 minutes. They only have 1 rule – give way to those coming in on your
right side. There are lanes on
some streets, but those lines get ignored. Other streets are large enough for 3 lanes but don’t have
the lines to designate because they don’t need them. By contrast, driving in the US is so orderly – here (in France) it’s
knock-your-socks-off lawless.
Arriving at the hotel, all we did was put our bags in a
locked room to hold them until we could check in later that day (3:00 pm). Then, we got right back out and the
students took the Metro for the first time! Super fabulous – except the kids don’t know how to ride on a
subway. They’re loud and don’t
make room for people very well.
They’re also not used to how close everyone gets over here so they leave
lots of space between them (thinking they’re close together), which makes us
take up more room. Ugh… But, you can’t blame them for not
knowing. So, where were we taking
the Metro to? Only the most famous
cathedral in all of Paris! It has
been the inspiration for stories and it’s shown in many movies that are filmed
in Paris. I’m sure you’re not lost
and have already guessed Notre Dame.
It’s worth seeing. The
first time I came to Paris, I literally walked across the Seine River, took a
picture, and left. This time, we
had lunch by the Cathedral and then went in and looked around. Beautiful – and my pictures definitely
don’t do it justice. I love the
Gothic architecture in Europe.
Every building is unique and every square inch of these pieces of
history is different and all have a different meaning. Like, you can have 50 gargoyles on the
top of your cathedral to scare away the bad spirits, but each of those
gargoyles will look different or have a bit of a different pose or whatever the
artist imagined. I can’t fathom
how long it must have taken to carve those things. BTW, it took nearly 800 years for Notre Dame to be
completed. 800 years. Like, 4 times the age of America. One building!! It’s just so carefully laid out and planned – even the
stained glass windows have a specific purpose (to let in light and tell a
story). You know, because
electricity wasn’t invented until just a few years ago (relatively speaking).
I should say this before I forget. I always forget how much I hate the summer. Not the break from school, because what
teacher doesn’t enjoy some time away from their students. But the heat. Paris being a more northern city, we all anticipated to be
cooler than where we came from. Silly
Americans…
NEVER ASSUME!
It was hotter in Paris than in any of the cities we came
from. Something like 90°. That was with very low humidity, too,
and it was killer. You stepped
outside for 2 minutes and you were sweating within 30 seconds. Also, we spent the ENTIRE day
outside. We fit right in with the
rest of Europe by the end of the day.
We smelled just rosy!
I’m pretty sure I have never wanted a shower more than the one I had
that night. I think I spent 30
minutes cleaning Paris and two flight off of me, which doesn’t sound like much
time but when it’s midnight and you haven’t slept since 5:30 the previous
morning, that’s a lot of sleep time to lose.
Moving on. We
saw Notre Dame cathedral, had a baguette, drank Parisian tap water (which they
say tastes good but is probably one of the worst tasting waters I’ve drunk –
spoiled American), and walked a lot.
Around the cathedral, around the rue and the avenue near there, and
people watched, one of my favorite pastimes. After lunch, we (and we shouldn’t have) walked to the
Louvre, which only took 15 minutes in hell burning heat. No big deal. I don’t know how dudes can stand for their shirt to stick to
them. That there is NASTY. Once we got to the Louvre, we kept
walking around outside before we go to the correct entrance. Now, I will say, that on the way there
we passed flower shoppes (where a bee almost flew up my nose – I disturbed his
flower. It was too pretty not to
smell!), pet stores (with hundreds of adorable puppies and kittens), cafés, and
countless souvenir shops. Oh, and
get this: it smelled pretty good!
On our way to the appropriate entrance to the Louvre, we passed what we
think was a backed up sewer because the rank and vomit-inducing smell followed
us for a few blocks, during which time we learned that there is a sewer tour
that you can take in Paris that is supposed to be extremely fascinating if the
smell doesn’t turn you away. We
didn’t take part. Our noses
couldn’t handle it.
Once inside the Louvre, we actually sat down and drank water
for about 15 minutes and rested since we had been on-the-go for over 24 hours. Then we got shooed away
by a cranky lady and decided to take in the Louvre, specifically the Mona Lisa. I was pleasantly surprised at how much
she had grown in 7 years! And by
that I mean, she seemed much smaller the first time – probably because I was so
far away – than she did this time.
She’s not big by any stretch of the imagination but compared to 99% of
the paintings in the Louvre (i.e. thousands of them), she’s a dwarf planet that
doesn’t deserve her own room. I
mean really, what IS the big deal about the Mona Lisa? She’s just a woman whom we know nothing
about that stood for an artist’s picture and now she’s famous? Who comes up with this stuff? I mean, really. I was able to get closer to the paining
this time because there weren’t as many people in the room this second round. But that was the only thing we got to
enjoy because one of our group had to pee and so we spent the better part of 45
minutes hunting down a water closet for him to use, which is very difficult
when your map is difficult to read and the signs are not clearly labeled. We literally got lost trying to a) find
the Mona Lisa and, b) find a stinkin’ bathroom! Not in that order, mind you. But there’s so much to see that it would be impossible to
see it all in the 30ish minutes we were in there to look around. We learned that if you walked into
every room in the Louvre palace you would walk 5 miles. That’s a TON of art! Paintings and sculptures mostly, and
thousands of them at that. 450,
000 (give or take). Yeah, we had
no time. IF I ever come back to
Paris, I’m bringing my hubby and we’re going to put a love lock on the bridge
(yes, there are some still there!
They didn’t take them all down), see the Louvre, and the Opera House,
which I’ll get to later.
But once our meeting time came around (and we were finished bathing our feet in the cool fountain water), we met to walk back
to the metro and take it to dinner at Jordins Cotini, an Italian restaurant
somewhere in Paris. Since we were
underground a great portion of that metro trip, I couldn’t point anyone in the
right direction. The food was
fabulous but we were all too tired to really enjoy it. I had a wonderful salad, beef and potatoes,
and cream pastry for dessert. It
even had a chocolate swirl on the top that melted when you held it in your
hands. It was absolutely
delicious! By this point it was
about 6:30 or 7:00 pm and many of the students had fallen asleep on the tables. Silly students – many of them didn’t
sleep on their flights and they were paying for it ALL day. Secretly, we all hoped we were finished
because we all needed a shower and a pillow. Alas, that was not going to be a reality until a few hours
later. Our tour guide, Michela
(who is German but is also fluent in French and English), told us to get up
because we still had at least one more event to do. Groaning (in our heads, mostly), we dragged our feeble bodies
out of the restaurant where we made our way to the Montparnasse building – the
tallest building in Paris (but not as tall as the Eiffel tower, but there is
still a great view). Before we
went up, since our group is mostly girls, we went to a strip mall (Galleries
Lafayette) to go shopping, but we were all so tired, we found a bathroom and
sat down until our meeting time.
And a couple of us fell asleep.
Present company excluded.
I’d rather not a) get in trouble and b) get arrested because someone
thinks I’m a homeless person because I definitely looked and smelled like one.
Once our meeting time came around, the group went up
together to the top of the Montparnasse building. It really was a very nice view. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy. And by cloudy, I mean there was a TON of pollution in the
air that it was difficult to see very far. I tried to find landmarks I knew but I don’t think I found a
single one L Well, except for the Eiffel Tower, but
that’s hard to miss. I also went
on the roof which I really liked, except that it started raining so I didn’t
stay very long. After 30 minutes
of skyline, we went back to the metro and took it to the hotel where we
eventually went to sleep.
It was hard to adjust to the time difference. I’m not talking about jet lag. I’m talking about the sun still being
up until 10:30 or 11:00 at night and coming up again by 5:30 in the
morning. It’s disorienting to be
out at 9:00 pm and the sun is just starting to go down. It reminded me of Scotland and how I
could never get over the sun not setting until 12:30 am and rising by 5:30 that
morning. It’s like my body doesn’t
want to feel tired until it’s dark, but by then it won’t get much sleep. Poor time clock – it’s so confused! We’ll all get used to it by the time we
leave, though, where we will have to readjust to our own time zones and
movements of the sun.
Overall, I think everyone is having a pretty good time. The
kids are in good spirits even though they’re tired, but they’re all willing to
take on even more activities. They
want to see as much as they can before they leave and I don’t blame them. The hard part for me is to not run off
and find my own activities to do.
Traveling in a group is SLOW, which frustrates me because I’ve only ever
traveled on my own and all the things they are telling the kids to do or not do
is already something I’m familiar with.
Honestly we spend a LOT of our time standing around and waiting. If I were alone, I could have done twice
the activities the group did and have done it just as well. But, I’m trying to be a team player and
be patient, which is SUPER hard for me to do when I’m tired. It’ll just take some more adjusting on
my part because they really don’t know what to do so they follow blindly and do
what they’re told. At least that’s
good – we haven’t had any issues out of any of the students as far as
misbehavior was concerned. We do
have a really great group of kids.
Yay!
So, as soon as we arrived at our hotel room, I took a COLD
shower because my clothes were sticking to me and I smelled like I hadn’t showered
in a week even though I exercised every day. Rank. Then I
fell asleep and got up the next morning,
fresh and ready for our last day in Paris, which I’ll write about in the next
post as this one is already quite lengthy.
See you next time!
P.S. I'm not sure when I'll get to post pictures. We're pretty strapped for time here and don't get much time to sit and relax. They have us going all the time. I will try and get some posted in the blogs but can't promise when.
