Finally I have found some time to write down my Paris adventures. Wednesday morning, 7 A.M., we all gathered in front of the Kinepolis complex in Ghent. Suprisingly, everone was on time! On our way too Paris, we watched “La doublure”, a french movie, to create a bit of a french athmosphere in the bus. Arond 12AM, we arrived at the hotel, dropped our luggage off, and started our ‘Jeu de Piste’.
The Metro dropped us of near Champs Elysées, so we could take a look at the Arc de Triomphe. People say that Champs Elysées is the most prestigeous avenue in Paris, but in my opinion, it has lost a lot of is status with the coming of stores like Mc Donalds and other chains. After Champs Elysées, we saw Palais des Enfants, where the president of France lives. We also saw the Louvre museum, Jardin des tuilleries, Place de la concorde with its Obelisk. in the meantime, it got really cold, so we decided to go for a hot chocolate in a tipical bistro. as most typical bistro’s, the hot chocolate was really expensive! Back at the hotel, we got to our rooms, freshened up and took the metro to monmartre. Our teachers told us that we would surely find some good little restaurants around Sacré-Coeur. I can’t remember the name of our restaurant, but I do remember it was a bit of a dull, messy restaurant, and it had a weird chef. Anyway, the food was good, and the price was very fair. We were the only customers, so we could make as much noise as we wanted.
On our way back, we visited the Sacré Coeur, enjoyed the romantic view over Paris (especially the Eiffeltower!). Around 22PM we returned to the hotel, to spend some time on our rooms. it was a pity that the hotel had a nightguard. If you dared to make a bit of noise, they knocked on your hotel room door to complain. After spending some time in the lounge of the hotel, we decided to go to bed, because the following day would be very tiring…
Thursday morning, we left our hotel early to go to Roland Garros, at the other side the center of Paris. We visited the courts, the press rooms, the dressing rooms and players’ lounge. I saw a lot of photographs and pictures of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, and was surprised of the size of Rolland Garros. It really is a must see! In the afternoon, we visited PSA Peugeot Citroën, a Car manufacturer at Poissy where we saw a steel plate change into a car. Impressing, but the visit was a bit too long. I saw enough Peugeots for the rest of my life!
When we returned to Paris, we had a drink and a pancake near the Eiffel-tower, and took a boat-trip on the Seine. We saw all the famous buildings that lay near the river, and the guide told us everything she new about every single bridge we passed. It was obvious she didn’t like her job, because she wasn’t very enthusiastic.. Back on mainland, we had diner in Quartier Latin, and went to a cocktail bar. The waiter made his pina colada with whisky, so some of us didn’t feel well on the way out. We took the last metro back to the hotel, and I met with some other classmates to go out near the Hotel. It was a pleasant night, but I think some of us had too many black holes to realise that they had fun. Friday we visited Musée d’Orsay, and did some shopping. At 15PM, we gathered back at the hotel to take the bus home. For the first time in Artevelde history, we arrived on time in Ghent!
All in all, it was better than expected. I had a lot of fun, got to know my classmates a little bit better,… I’m already looking forward to my next trip with them. Some of them want to go on a weekend to the Ardennes.. well, they can count me in!
If you want to see the pictures, you can find them here
