The Touring Test

If someone offered me the opportunity to give a personalised tour of Paris for a living, I’d take it in a heartbeat.

Last weekend was one of my favourite weekends of the semester (though, in retrospect, it’s quite difficult to rank them all, since they’ve been so amazingly different). Nevertheless, I will at least remember this one as one of my busiest and undoubtedly most touristy weekends.

FRIDAY
After planning for weeks through back and forth Facebook messages (and only recently via Skype), it seemed like a visit from Alex, one of my high school classmates (who happens to be studying in Florence this term), was just not in the cards. Following much confusion with the train schedule and a couple visits to his supposed train location, I was rather surprised with how easy it was to find him once the right platform was located (apparently, there was a mechanical problem on the initial train that caused the switchover and further delay). Fresh off the train, we figured out his Métro ticket situation and headed back to my room to drop off his stuff. I then finalised some tourist options for him, as I had to get back to work; while at work, he made it successfully to the Louvre and then afterwards to the Arc de Triomphe where I met him after work. Following the overview of Paris, we made our way to check out the exterior of the Moulin Rouge and then headed back home for dinner. After (I believe) not eating three consecutive meals, I could only assume that food was just what Alex needed.

The menu for the evening:

*Apératifs
*Plat: Pan-fried Chicken Cordon Bleu baked in Tagiatella, and a side of sweetened carrots
*Salade
*Bread round including cheese, cheesy sauce and Nutella
*Dessert: Chocolate chip chocolate bread with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate Nutella sauce

We then went back out to check out Paris at night, visiting the pyramids of the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and Trocadéro. Finally back at home for the night, we finished with pains aux chocolat and chocolat chaud.

SATURDAY
I prepared a fairly big breakfast (at least more than I usually do), knowing that we'd need as much food in us as possible before heading out to Versailles. Breakfast included: French toast, regular toast, ham, scrambled eggs, yoghurt, and tea and chocolate milk.

We arrived in Versailles on a light, drizzly afternoon, and after waiting for what seemed like forever, made it into the château and quickly checked out the exterior edges of the gardens. We then headed back home after the visit and after a bit of a snack, headed back out for Mass at Notre Dame, followed by dinner at Pomme Rouge (or is it Rouge Pomme... always get that name mixed up). After dinner, we went to the Latin Quarter before taking a walk down the Champs-Elysées and stopping by Glup's, one of the best candy stores in the area.

SUNDAY
Sunday was perhaps one of my biggest days in Paris, as I had volunteered to lead an orientation event for some Canadian students who would be leaving to go back to Toronto, after having spent the past two months here. It was amazing to meet all of them and find out that they had lived in different parts of France, though the group dynamic was rather close and productive. Alex and I had talked about multiple, specific plans to make sure that we could rendez-vous at the right time and so that he wouldn't get lost in Paris.

I met my group of kids (kids who spoke amazing French but were entirely Anglophone and wanting to speak in English; there were 9 in total) at the airport. We made our way to the orientation (which I had found out the day before would actually be a debriefing session) centre, where we had lunch and waited for the others to arrive; Stéphanie, the other orientation leader, the kids' two chaperones, and the kids who had been living in Paris met us by 2:30. We then headed over to Montmartre and the Sacré Coeur, the rendez-vous point where I would be meeting up with Alex. Thankfully we found each other (he had made it successfully to the Musée d'Orsay) and with everyone else, we all made our way into the Sacré Coeur, and I led a bit of an explanation tour. There was a Mass service going on, too (which may have been to celebrate Pope Benedict XVI's fourth year as Pope, or to celebrate the Easter octave, or maybe both). Afterwards, we made our way to the Artists' Square and then the touristy shopping street; it was then that Alex and I parted ways, as his train back to Florence was drawing near.

Following our Montmartre visit, all of us went back to the orientation centre where I led the debriefing session (including "[Brittney's?] Box" activity). The experiences and responses that the kids shared with us was quite mature for their age and reminded me so much of past debriefing sessions I've had. After the debriefing activities, we all had dinner and then headed back out to my neck of the woods, i.e. the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysées.

MONDAY
After getting back from the Champs-Elysées, we were all pretty tired and needed our sleep, as we woke up around 6am to get ready and bring the kids to the airport. If I recall correctly, by 10am, they made it through check-in and security (as well as the over 130 other Canadian students going back home). After a rather intensive weekend, I capped it off with a full day of work back at AFS.

Oh, life in Paris. Tough one, eh?