RSS

Tag Archives: Metro

Vimy 2017 Day 9

13 Apr

Day 9 Mes Amies. The engine turned over this morning but she’s running a little rough. I slept well, though I woke up at 0500 and couldn’t fall back asleep. I could certainly use more time in bed, but c’est la vie. Today is going to be a very busy day and I am going to need every ounce of energy I can scrape up. Hopefully breakfast is good; based on this hotel, I have my fingers crossed.

So today’s adventure is going to take us first to Versailles, which is southwest of Paris. A bus will take us into the city, and from there we will take the train, the RER, to Versailles. I’ve never been there before, so I am quite excited to see it. I have taught about it a lot both in Grade 10 history (Treaty or Versailles) and in Grade 12 history (Louis XIV). That visit should chew up most of our day.

We’re off on the first adventure of the day as we are on the RER train to Versailles. It was quite interesting purchasing the tickets and then trying to get on the train as it moved down the platform. I think it was very eye-opening for a lot of the kids who have never done it before. However I guess there’s a first time for everything and I’m sure it won’t be the last for a lot of them. It’s a nice little introduction to our later rides on the Metro.

Team Battistel, April 2017.

Now we’re in the queue to get into the Palace of Versailles. We’ve been waiting here for just over an hour and we’re almost at the gate. The lines here are enormous; fortunately the clouds have rolled in a bit and it’s not as hot and scorching as it was a little while ago. We should have approximately 2 1/2 hours to look through Versaillies and some of the grounds before we have to head back on the train to Les Invalides. It’s kind a neat the people that you meet while waiting in line. We had a lengthy conversation with a French couple who were curious to know why Canadians were here in France. Breaching the language barrier is always an interesting and fun part of the conversation.

Palace of Versailles, April 2017.

It’s 2130 and we’re on the bus heading back to our hotel outside of Paris. What a long but fruitful day. Myself and everyone else I’m sure is pretty tired. Versailles was amazing! I’ve seen many programs on Versailles and taught about it for many years but it’s something else to see it in person. The size of the structure and the grounds are simply amazing. The opulence of the inside is indescribable. One can understand why the masses revolted against excesses of the French royalty. The only negative from the visit was the number of people at the site. It took us more than an hour to get in and I felt like cattle being herded through the various buildings and attractions. I would definitely go back, but I’d try to go on a day with less people or maybe earlier in the morning.

Palace of Versailles, April 2017.

Royal Chapel, Versailles, April 2017.

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, April 2017.

Palace of Versailles, April 2017.

Palace of Versailles, April 2017.

Palace of Versailles, April 2017.

After we finished at Versailles, we had to jump back on the train and meet Jason at Les Invalides Station. From there we hopped on the Metro to our dinner location. This is something that many of the chaperones as well as the students were concerned about. It can be tricky to move such a large group of people on and off the subway cars. Dinner was at Le Beouf gros sel and consisted of penne with chicken, which I demolished since I didn’t have any lunch.

After eating, it was back on the Metro, with a transfer in between, to our next destination which was the Pont Neuf Bridge. There we would be taking a cruise along the Seine River at dusk to see the sites of Paris. It was 12€ well spent, as the kids really enjoyed this tour. Even though I had done it before, I found it interesting all over again. The only thing that didn’t go right was a few St. Ignatius girls getting drenched by a wave thrown up by a passing boat. They were able to laugh it off and so did we.

Eiffel Tower, April 2017.

Pont Neuf, April 2017.

Notre Dame Cathedral, April 2017.

Today was another day of firsts; first train ride for many, first Metro ride for many and first time the chaperones took the group out without the tour director. I’d say it was a pretty successful day. Jason even commended us on how, with a very large group, we were able to navigate the Metro with a fair amount of competence. Let’s hope it continues tomorrow.

I need to run. It’s almost midnight now and we have an even earlier day tomorrow. It’s sad that tomorrow is our last day here, but will make the most of it. I’ll be back tomorrow with all the details. Until then…

 
1 Comment

Posted by on April 13, 2017 in History, Travel

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Europe 2014 Day 9

15 Mar

If you read the Day 8 post, you know why this is delayed.

Day nine, our last day in Europe 😦 Man, the time has just flown by. I guess as they say that’s what happens when you’re having fun right? We’ll have to make the most of today and enjoy every moment.

So the internet (or as they say here the “wefe”) is still down, so I still cannot post yesterday’s blog. Hopefully it will be working by the time we return today so I can catch up and everyone knows we’re still alive. It’s amazing how we come to depend on it…first world problems right?

Anyway, we will be leaving the hotel at just after 8:00 so we can start a sightseeing tour of Paris. Should be interesting and give us a good sense of the city (well, maybe the kids since I’ve seen it before). Not quite clear on this afternoon’s agenda, but I know a lot of them wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower. Great, more stairs!

Well, I’m sitting here at the north gate of the Hotel des Invalides as the kids work through the museum with Mr. Cappello and Ms. Borgo. Normally I wouldn’t pass up a chance to visit a military museum, but I just wanted to sit for a bit and while I did that I could work on the blog. I figure it’s going to be another late night and I have two blogs to post.

I’m resting in the shade as it is probably well over 20C outside…it is absolutely gorgeous! I’m going to be sad to leave this behind for the snow and cold of Thunder Bay. I do miss the boys though and I guess it is time to head back to realty.

So the day has been great so far. A bus picked us up at the hotel and brought us into the centre of Paris where we met up with our guide for the morning. Corine would take us around the major sites in the city to give us a bit of sense of what Paris is like. We made a few stops along the way, the last of which was at the Place du Trocadero, which gives a good view of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately there is a lot of pollution in the air, which made the view less than ideal.

Place du Trocadero, March 2014.

Place du Trocadero, March 2014.

Afterwards the bus dropped us off near the Tower. The original plan was for most of the kids to go up the Tower, but the poor visibility and long lines made us change our minds. Instead we would head east toward the Hotel des Invalides, stopping for lunch along the way. Here we would split up, with St. Ignatius remaining at the museum and St. Pats heading toward the Champs des Élysées after a short visit. So here I sit…

Eiffel Tower, March 2014.

Eiffel Tower, March 2014.

Sigh. I’m sitting again, this time outside a perfume museum just north of the Paris Opera. I’m tired…exhausted would probably be a more apt term. It’s been a long day!

So after the Hotel des Invalides, we headed north across the Seine to the Champs des Élysées. The kids had a little time to look around before we were off again, this time to the Opera and a rendezvous with Felicity and the St. Ignatius crew. We walked the short distance to the perfume place and soon we’re off to dinner.

Alexandre III Bridge, March 2014.

Alexandre III Bridge, March 2014.

Paris Flowers, March 2014.

Paris Flowers, March 2014.

I’m beat! My feet are killing me! It has been a very long day. We are waiting for the bus to come and take us back to the hotel. I can’t wait to go there and put my feet up. I’m sad that we leave tomorrow (especially since we have to be on the bus at 7:30), but we’ve had a great trip.

Dinner tonight was at a place called “L’Arlequin Cafe,” which was quite a distance from the Opera. That made for an interesting ride on the Metro in which we were packed into the cars like sardines. Dinner was some sort of beef stew with carrots and potatoes, which was okay. Dessert was fruit salad.

Our night would conclude with a visit to the Louvre, which involved another packed ride on the Metro back in the direction of the Opera. A lot of the kids were excited to visit this fantastic museum. We didn’t have a lot of time, so our little band did the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo and Hammurabi’s Code.

The Louvre, March 2014.

The Louvre, March 2014.

Hammurabi's Code, March 2014.

Hammurabi’s Code, March 2014.

Anyway, I better go. I need some sleep and morning will come way too soon. The bus leaves at 7:30 for the airport. Until then…

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 15, 2014 in History, Travel, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Europe 2014 Day 8

15 Mar

My apologies in the delay posting this. The wifi at the hotel was terrible, so I was unable to post this two days ago.

Day eight kids. Sadly we are down to our last few days of the trip. I can’t believe how quickly things have flown by! We’ll have to make the best of our remaining time and savour every memory.

So we’re on our way to Crepon for some Norman culture with a tasting of local juice and sweet breads. I never done something like this so it should be interesting. We will be greeted by the mayor of the village, so it’s almost like we’re VIP’s.

Back on the bus now heading toward Paris, which is about 4 or so hours away. We had a great morning of exploring French culture. In Crepon, we were met by the local mayor who took us on a tour of the village. We saw a monument to the Green Howards, a British regiment that liberated the town on June 6, 1944. From there we visited the local church, done in Romanesque style and dates from the 1200’s.

Saint-Médard-et-Saint-Gildard, Crepon, March 2014.

Saint-Médard-et-Saint-Gildard, Crepon, March 2014.

The last part of our visit to Crepon took place in the town hall, where we sampled the locally produced apple juice, brioche and biscuits. I think the kids enjoyed this part, and they certainly had their fill of food. I must have ate 10 biscuits…they were fantastic! I even spent the 4 euros to buy a package to take home to Canada.

From Crepon we hopped back on the bus for the short drive to Creully for mass. Too bad we didn’t have time to look around as it looked like a very beautiful little town. The church was called St. Martin, which dates from I believe the 1300’s. Again the church very was nice and it was neat to experience mass in another language. Fr. Martin is originally from the Congo and was very grateful for our visit.

St. Martin, Creully, March 2014.

St. Martin, Creully, March 2014.

Wow, what a long day! So I’m standing here on the street in Paris at 11:00, still dressed in my long sleeve shirt. If you remember we’ve been going since 8:00, so the bed is going to feel great, that is when I get this blog done!

I left my iPad back at the hotel, so I’m trying to do this last part on my iPhone, which is rather interesting. I’ll try to describe the very busy but very exciting last part of our day.

After checking in to the hotel, we trudged the relatively short distance to the RER (light rail) station to head into centre of the city. For the teachers (and Felicity) this was going to be an interesting (and at times stressful) experience. We rehearsed staying in our small groups and how to enter/exit the cars and where we were going.

Our journey would take us from the RER to the Metro, which was even more interesting to enter and exit. We made it in one piece and then proceeded to Notre Dame Basilica for a quick visit. The Basilica is such a beautiful church; I wish we had time to go in.

Notre Dame, March 2014.

Notre Dame, March 2014.

Dinner tonight was at a place called “Flammekeuche,” which serves all you can eat pizzas in the Alsacian style. As on our last visit, we were seated in the basement, which resembles at Medieval dungeon. We gorged ourselves on the awesome food, and then ate more when they brought out the dessert pizzas. The meal was highlighted by a man who arrived and sold roses to anyone who wanted one for 2 euros. I bought one for my wife…I hope she liked it.

Alsacian Pizza, March 2014.

Alsacian Pizza, March 2014.

Flammekeuche, March 2014.

Flammekeuche, March 2014.

We had one more stop before we boarded the bus for hotel. Montmartre is the highest point in Paris and has a beautiful church at the top. It was back on the Metro for the ride, which included a transfer between lines. A bit stressful again, but we got to our destination fairly quickly.

You can take the Funicular up the hill, but most of us decided to take the stairs and work off dinner. It is a heart-pounding, leg-destroying 140+ stairs of agony to the top. I was lathered and winded when I got up there, but that was probably because I tried to race with the kids. The view was spectacular, but we didn’t have much time to look around very much.

Sacre-Coeur Basilica, March 2014.

Sacre-Coeur Basilica, March 2014.

Anyway, we’re still waiting for the bus, but I should go. We have an early morning tomorrow for our last day in Europe. Until then…

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 15, 2014 in History, Travel, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Vimy Day Three

05 Apr
Ok, it’s 7:15 and I’m here in the lobby waiting for breakfast. It’s amazing how good a decent night’s sleep feels; hopefully by tomorrow I’ll be caught up. The bed felt great, and the hotel is pretty nice. We’ll see how breakie measures up! Today we’re going to be on a tour of the city, and whatever else comes up.

Well, I’m sitting on the bus back to the hotel trying to type with frozen fingers; I’ll explain later. Today was another busy but exciting day. I have a lot to tell about so hopefully I warm up in the process.

After we left the hotel and drove downtown again. We picked up a local guide and did a driving tour of Paris. We saw somethings we didn’t see on our walking tour. After that ended, the bus left us near the Eiffel Tower.

We spent some time taking photos at the Trocadero Esplanade before heading down to near the tower itself. We stopped for a bite to eat and this time I actually had something resembling French cuisine, though I’m not sure a panini “Italien” qualifies-it was good, but only wops know how to slice prosciutto! After we ate it was time to visit the tower.

The line to take the lift up was about two hours long, so we decided to walk up to the first level. 5€00 to walk up a few hundred feet…my fear of heights loved that. It was quite the view, but unfortunately the sun disappeared and it got very hazy. It also became very cold; I dressed for 14C it was supposed to be. Therefore the short-sleeved shirt I was wearing and just my Vimy jacket left me rather chilly! Actually I was more like frozen.

I even ventured to the second level, which did almost make me nauseous. Some of the kids took the elevator to the third level and said it was great experience…I’ll take their word for it! When the clock ended our visit, we still had free time left, so we had to figure out what to do next. Hugo had given us Metro passes, so the plan was to try and get to the catacombs before dinner.

This wasn’t my first time on a Subway, but Toronto is a bit different from Paris. Trying to navigate around with 7 kids in tow is a bit of a challenge as well (St. Ignatius has 18 kids, so we were one big caravan). We took the number 6 subway to the catacombs, but got there at 4:00, just as it was closing! So we had go back on to the subway and take the B line to our next destination.

After being frustrated in our initial quest, we thought we would head to Notre Dame again, which was near our meeting place. Some of us (me included) were too tired yesterday to stand in line to get in, so we thought this time would be better. Well, our luck held, so the line was ten times longer than the last time! Some of the kids did a bit of shopping while a few of waited near the cathedral. At 5:30 our trudge to dinner began.

Today we ate at a place called “Flam’s.” I was a bit worried when the hostess led us past the tables and into the basement. Down a few windey staircases led us into a series of very Gothic looking rooms, which was a rather interesting dining experience. They served us Flammekueche style pizza, which is made with a very thin, stone baked crust, something like alredo sauce, cheese and either bacon/onion or bacon/mushroom topping. Along with some plain salad, it was a very good meal. Desert was the same crust with either apples or chocolate on it. Yum!

Eiffel Tower at night, April 5, 2012.

We decided in the morning that since dinner was early, we would take a boat ride on the Seine at night. We had to go back on the subway, taking the number 1, then the number 6 again to Bir-Hakim station. It was a bit crazy since it was rush hour, but we made it okay. From there we walked to close to the Eiffel Tower again, and boarded the boat. It was busy, so we didn’t get good seats and the boat had glass sides and roof, but it was interesting nonetheless. I think I got some good video. The best part was when we got back and the tower was all lit up-wow! I got some great shots…you’ll have to make due with one from the Playbook!


It was freezing cold again, and my finger were borderline numb, so I guess now things make sense. Anyway, I need to get to bed since we’re up at 6:00 to head off to Dieppe, Rouen and a new hotel.

Until then…
 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 5, 2012 in Miscellaneous, Travel, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,