I used map my walk to see how far we walked on some of our longer walking days.
Day 1: Arch de Triumphe to the Opera house/Galleries Lafayette. 2.15 miles. Doesn't include all of the steps inside all of the stores we went into. The Pasteur metro stop to our hotel was .25 miles. My guess is that we walked 3-4 miles that first day off the plane.
Day 2: We walked about 3.66 miles AFTER we left the Louvre (I'd estimate at least a mile was walked IN the Louvre) around the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame. Then, we took the TGV up to Montmartre and walked another mile plus around there (not to mention all of the stairs!)
Day 3: We walked at least 1.5 miles around the flea market. That evening, we walked a mile from the Trocadero to the Eiffel Tower and back.
Day 4: Our walk around Nice was about 4 miles (including after the tour ended and walking back to our hotel).
Day 5: I didn't bother maping it as we walked in and out of stores and up and down the main street/old town/the beach. Probably at least 3 miles.
Day 6: I had a hard time mapping this. I'm making a guess that our walk around Eze was about a half mile and the walk around Monaco was 1+ miles.
All in all, we did a decent amount of walking around France! One of the best ways to see a new city.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Au revior France
Thursday was a sad day. None of us wanted to leave. The sun was shining in full force and we headed to the Nice airport. I've flown a lot, and this was the best flying experience I've ever had. From the helpful and happy people at the airport (including the people who gave me my 2nd pat-down on this trip) to the cheerful and incredibly French-looking flight attendants. The airport is on the Mediterranean, and it sort-of feels and looks like you're going to go straight into the sea until the plane becomes airborne. The flight was barely full, so the girls had 3 center sections to lay down and sleep. We slept, watched movies, played cards, and read. They even served us gelato! That flight was 9.5 hours to NYC and went by really quickly and painlessly.
Once in NYC, we went through customs and immigration. We found out our next flight was in terminal 26 and went there after a quick stop at the slowest Starbucks in the world. After waiting for a few minutes, I heard a call for a Seattle flight that wasn't where we were. I asked an agent and we were supposed to be at the "other 26" (Huh???). We had to take a shuttle bus filled with a bunch of disgruntled Seattle-bound people who were as confused as us. Turns out even the flight crew couldn't find their plane, so luckily WE weren't the reason the plane was delayed. Since we all boarded late, the flight lost it's spot to take-off. If you've ever been to JFK, you would probably know how busy it is and how long the back-up can be. We waited on the tarmac for a while, but eventually ended up in the sky. Sadly, this flight didn't have personal TV screens and we were mostly sitting in a straight line (in the center row, naturally).
This flight was 5.5 hours. I did the math, and we woke up at 7am on Thursday (France time...which is 10pm Wednesday night Seattle time). We arrived in Seattle at 7:15pm on Thursday (Seattle time...which is 4:15AM Friday morning, France time). We flew for a total of 15 hours and traveled home for about 20 hours (not including morning get-ready/breakfast time and arrival after we got to Sea-Tac time).
We're all a bit sad to be home. This trip was absolutely wonderful! We enjoyed the food, the speaking French, the culture, the shopping, the beaches, the jokes, and the adventures.
This was my 6th trip with students to France and by far the smallest group. It was truly a joy to travel with these girls. Thanks for coming along girls. This was one of the best Spring Break's I can remember.
Once in NYC, we went through customs and immigration. We found out our next flight was in terminal 26 and went there after a quick stop at the slowest Starbucks in the world. After waiting for a few minutes, I heard a call for a Seattle flight that wasn't where we were. I asked an agent and we were supposed to be at the "other 26" (Huh???). We had to take a shuttle bus filled with a bunch of disgruntled Seattle-bound people who were as confused as us. Turns out even the flight crew couldn't find their plane, so luckily WE weren't the reason the plane was delayed. Since we all boarded late, the flight lost it's spot to take-off. If you've ever been to JFK, you would probably know how busy it is and how long the back-up can be. We waited on the tarmac for a while, but eventually ended up in the sky. Sadly, this flight didn't have personal TV screens and we were mostly sitting in a straight line (in the center row, naturally).
This flight was 5.5 hours. I did the math, and we woke up at 7am on Thursday (France time...which is 10pm Wednesday night Seattle time). We arrived in Seattle at 7:15pm on Thursday (Seattle time...which is 4:15AM Friday morning, France time). We flew for a total of 15 hours and traveled home for about 20 hours (not including morning get-ready/breakfast time and arrival after we got to Sea-Tac time).
We're all a bit sad to be home. This trip was absolutely wonderful! We enjoyed the food, the speaking French, the culture, the shopping, the beaches, the jokes, and the adventures.
This was my 6th trip with students to France and by far the smallest group. It was truly a joy to travel with these girls. Thanks for coming along girls. This was one of the best Spring Break's I can remember.
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