Paris Trip 2014

Paris Trip 2014

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Day 1 – At 05:15 on Monday 23rd June, we met up at the Rainey to get on a coach which would take us to Dublin airport. We were all very tired but extremely excited about this trip that we had been waiting for all year.

On the journey to Dublin, the majority of us were talking but there was the odd people who were trying to get their beauty sleep. When we got there (which seemed like forever), we had to check-in our luggage and go through security. We then headed up to Duty Free were we got 10 minutes to go buy a snack and drink for the flight.

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and the excitement was only getting started. We loaded a second coach, outside the airport, with all our luggage and set off to Central Paris. There was so much to see: old – fashioned apartments, tall buildings, statues and fountains and even a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower which we would be seeing the next day.

The bus left us off at L’Arc de Triomphe. It was amazing and so detailed, with intricate sculptures all down each side, on the roof and even some on the floor. Unfortunately, it was closed as they were on strike so we decided to move on and go to the Notre Dame. It was unbelievable! On the outside it had gargoyles and carvings in the walls, telling all different stories and it was so tall you really had to crane your neck to see the top. We went back to Notre Dame on the Thursday and got to look inside.

We then left to go to the Panthéon. It was quite a distance from Notre Dame, topped with a lot of us wearing clothes suitable for Northern Irish weather; we were all sweltering in the heat.  The Panthéon was just as pretty with tall stone pillars and unusual carvings on the shelf at the top. But just like L’Arc de Triomphe, it too was closed as the staff were on strike.

As we waited for the bus to arrive, we were wondering what our hotel would be like and we were also looking forward to our beds. Résidence Internationale was a lovely hotel with cosy rooms and a restaurant. We were told our room numbers and given our keys and then we sped up the stairs to see what our rooms would be like. They had 4 or 6 beds, including pull outs, an en-suite, a TV and a wardrobe and desk. We picked our beds, unpacked our stuff, changed into something cooler and went downstairs for dinner. It was burger and chips with a yogurt for dessert. The food wasn’t too bad and we ate it fairly quickly because we were so hungry. After tea, we met in conference room where we were given out our underground tickets and our chosen amount of money for the next day. We then headed up to bed for a good night’s sleep. Although I don’t think all of us went to sleep immediately.

Day 2 – We went down for breakfast for 07:00. There were croissants, pain au chocolat, yogurts, fruit and cereal too. It was really tasty and better than the dinner food. We then gathered up our backpacks and set off to the nearest underground. It was the first time using the underground for a lot of us so it was an exciting experience in itself. We got off at a stop not all that far from the Eiffel Tower, which was the next thing on the list. It was extraordinary! It was so tall and could be seen from the underground stop, which was behind a building. We had to queue for a bit but it was all worth it when we got to the second floor. The view was spectacular and you could see for miles around. We were given the chance to go to the top floor and the majority of us took it. The view was even better and it gave some good opportunities for us (and the teachers) to take some selfies with the amazing view. Afterwards, we took the train to Les Invalides, after a quick McDonalds (the first of many). It contains many museums and monuments inside and even Napoleon’s coffin. The building, in which he was buried, was made of marble and had tall pillars holding up the large roof. His coffin was in the centre below ground with a big mural / statue / monument, in his honour, behind him. We then took a small break from all the history and sat by large pond which was home to many ducks. From where we sat we could see ‘Place de La Concorde,’ a giant needle like monument with a gold point. After about 15 minutes of resting, we headed down the little garden path, towards ‘Place de La Concorde’ where we got onto another train. We took a long journey to the Stade de France. It was enormous and is the biggest in France. We got a personal tour guide who showed us around, we went to the changing rooms, the VIP suites, the training centre and lots of other places. We all got excited when the guide told us that some of our favourite football players, bands and musicians had played in that very stadium. By the end of the tour we were all exhausted so we headed to the gift shop, then to Decathlon across the street to get some drinks as it was so hot. Our final stop before back to the hotel was Pizza Hut. We all tucked in to our selection of pizzas and salads whilst watching the football at the back. By the time we got back to the hotel it was nearly 10 so we distributed the money once more then went off to bed. As tired as we were, we couldn’t help but talk about our day.

Day 3 – Today was the day everyone had been waiting for…

‘DISNEYLAND!’

We took a long train journey to Disney where we were greeted by a green tent containing bag search. On the other side of the tent was the Disney Hotel. It was huge and amazing, with a gold clock at the top with Mickey Mouse in the centre. In front of the hotel was a large garden in the shape of Mickey’s head. We went underneath the hotel, through a small tunnel, where we got our tickets and queued to get in. After about 15 minutes, the staff of Disney finally let us through and we raced through to the other side. We went down Main Street USA where at the bottom stood the magnificent Disneyland castle in all its glory. We collected the group together and discussed times on where to meet up, and then we were set loose upon Disney!

A group of us headed straight for Thunder Mountain and we ended up right at the front of the queue. It was a really good ride. We then went to the Haunted Mansion which is one of my favourite rides in the park. We also went on Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and a few others until it was time for lunch. We went to a diner called Macy’s where we all got chips and sat in front of the Disney Castle. Afterwards, we did a bit of shopping for family and friends and then headed towards Space Mountain and Buzz Light-year. For the last ride, Emma, Karen, Grace and I decided to go to the Alice and Wonderland maze. Emma and Grace got out in time to meet the rest of the group but Karen and I sort of got lost in the maze and were the last ones to get back.

We then walked over to DisneyStudios where we got Fast Pass tickets for The Rockin’ Roller Coaster and then we queued up for The Hollywood Tower of Terror. It was the best ride ever, even though the queue was so long. After the ride, we went over to a Monsters Inc. scene where took some pictures with Mike Wazowski and Boo’s door. It then was time for our Fast Pass tickets to be used so we went over to The Rockin’ Roller Coaster. It was the most adrenaline filled ever was probably the best one to end the park with.

We then went to the Disney Village for tea. We ate in Planet Hollywood and the food there was delicious. After we filled our stomachs with burgers, chips and ice-cream, we headed back to the main Disney Park to see the parade. It was a lovely show with many famous Disney princesses and other characters on top of decorative floats. At the end of the display we returned home, totally buzzing about our favourite day so far.

 

Day 4 –

We got up in the morning like usual and went down the stairs to get our breakfast for 7:00. After we had eaten our breakfast and had made our way back up the stairs to our rooms to pack our bags with lots of water, rain coats (just in case), sunglasses and other things that would be needed to survive the sweltering heat of Paris for a day. After we had finished packing up our bags it was time to leave so we could catch the Metro and the RER to make our way to Versailles.

When we arrived at Versailles, around 9am, we got our picture taken outside of it and did the register in our different groups. When we had finished the register we all stood in front of Versailles and just admired the building with its golden designs around it. It was extremely amazing and gorgeous.

After admiring it we got into the queue, which was super long but they let lots of people in at the one time so it only took about 5-10 minutes to get in through the door to the bag check. When we got through the bag check without any worries we were walking into the actual palace of Versailles which used to house the Kings and Queens of France.

The rooms throughout the palace were gigantic, very expensive looking and beautiful. There was a Queen’s bedroom which was without a doubt fit for a queen because it had a massive bed, very big and well-made curtains, very beautiful walls and a delicate chandelier dangling from the roof. There was a Kings bedroom which was around about the same size as the queen’s room with a gigantic bed, long draping curtains and a chandelier right in front of the bed.

When we got through all the bedrooms and other rooms we were getting to the Hall of Mirrors which was the part of the palace I was looking forward to the most because I have heard a lot about it and about how beautiful it was so I had extremely high expectations. Wow did it live up to my expectations! It was so pretty with its mirrors on every wall you look at, lovely, white chandeliers on the large painted roofs the whole way down the hall.

When we had finished looking around inside the Versailles Palace it was time to go out to the gardens. The gardens had a spectacular view of the. Everyone was allowed to walk around the gardens for an hour or so and enjoy the views and the sun. We then went for some lunch.

When we had finished our along waited food we made our way to Notre Dame

When we got to Notre Dame it was around 2 pm and we were about to walk up to it when the lot of people to our side were queuing to get in so we had to queue as well.

After Notre Dame we headed straight to La Défense which is the business district of Paris and it was AMAZING. It was very modern compared to other parts of Paris but great to see and had some good shops.

We then headed to the Trocadero which had great views of the Eiffel Tower so we got plenty of photos taken there before heading to our boat cruise on the river.

The boat cruise was lovely, it was nice to get a seat and enjoy the views of Paris from the river. After an hour of cruising, we all got off the boat and headed for dinner in Flunch.

Flunch was a nice place to eat at but I was very confused on how to buy what I want to get but apart from that it was really nice.

After Flunch we got a very long train ride the whole way back to Résidence Internationale.

When we got back we all went straight to our rooms, got showers if we needed them and got ready for bed so we could get up early in the morning.

 

Day 5- On Friday we all woke up at around 6:30am like usual and got ready to be down for breakfast at 7am. After we had breakfast we had to get all of our stuff packed up completely because we were checking out of Résidence Internationale.

When we got checked out we went to the bus that was waiting on us and we put all of our suitcases and bags into the bottom of it.

When we all managed to get all our stuff on and all of us onto the bus, our bus driver drove us to Montparnasse Tower which is the largest building in Paris.

When we got to the tower, we got our tickets and gave them to the man who was checking them.

We all got onto different lifts but all tried to stay in our groups. The lifts in the Montparnasse go up to the 56th floor at an altitude of 643 feet in 38 seconds!

The viewing area at the top of the tower was awesome because you could see the breath-taking view of all of Paris.

After we had finished at Montparnasse we made our way on the bus to the Louvre.

When we got to the Louvre we didn’t go in yet because we were very hungry so we went to the Louvre food court to get food and the majority of people, most likely everyone went to McDonalds.

When we got to the actual Louvre museum we looked around at all the fantastic artwork and sculptures. Then when we turned the corner to go into the other little part of the museum and there was a huge semicircle of a crowd and we had no idea why they were all just crowding until a few people left so we all snuck into the little space and got some good photos.

After the Louvre we went to the Sacre-Coeur cathedral which was gorgeous.

We spent some time in Montmartre and then left to get dinner at a shopping centre before going to the airport.

At around 8:30pm we arrived at Paris Beauvais Airport. We all got all of our stuff out of the bus got checked in to the airport then went to the terminal where we waited for our plane. At around 10:30pm the plane was meant to depart but it was delayed by an hour because of lightning so we left at around 11:30pm and flew back to Dublin Airport, got our luggage and got on the bus.

We still had a long journey back home; we had from around 12pm until about 2-3am.

When we all arrived home we were so tired but happy to see our families.

The 2014 Paris Trip was amazing and I don’t think anyone will ever forget it. We all enjoyed it so much but it couldn’t have been done without all the teachers involved so thank you for taking your time to look after us and make sure we had a safe but great time! J

By Jessica Toner and Grace Owens 9C