Learning Paris, Part three

The first time I went to Paris, I was an ignorant tourist. The second time, I lived like a local. The third time, I became an educated tourist and a certified Francophile. This is part three of a series, Learning Paris. You can access my retelling of my first terrifying experience here. Then, access part two of the series here.

It would be three more years before I would have a chance to return to Paris. I had only taken one semester of French before I decided to go back to school for my Masters degree in Education. This time, I was a teacher, and Dylan and I were taking 17 kids to London and Paris on our first EF Tour.

            This time, I was a tourist again. I had a full-time tour director who showed us everything we had seen before, but with explanations. Now I knew that the bridge with the gold was called the Pont Alexandre, I knew that Napoleon was buried in the monument with the golden dome. I learned that what I thought was a castle was the Louvre, and the Consiergerie that had haunted me so much was a former prison. 

         As we toured the city by bus on our second day I was amazed at how far Dylan and I had walked on that first trip. We had been past the Louvre, the Ecole Militaire, the Musee de Orsay, Notre Dame, and everywhere else a tourist is supposed to go- we just didn’t go inside of any of it or know it by name.
     Our hotel on this trip was a quaint French fleabag hotel in the middle of the Opera district. 

We took the kids out at night in our neighborhood and drank coffees in the sidewalk cafés. We bought fruit in the morning from a local vendor. My girls were classy and fashionable, and I taught them how to walk like a French girl. I told them how to avoid the North Africans at the Sacre cour who tie bracelets to your arm with smiles and gestures of friendship, only to demand money when they are done. I became an expert in the Metro (a skill that has served me well in New York and Chicago). I practiced my French with our tour guide, Bruno- and he taught me how to not sound like a book when I spoke. 

There is also a new sense of place that develops when you travel with teenagers. Most have never left the country before. Our group was fantastic, enthusiastic, and ready to adventure.

We walked the river with the kids and had a picnic

We took a cruise at dusk on the Seine

We toured the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay

We went to Versailles, which was magical for me. I had become a bit of a French history enthusiast since my first trip, and my favorite subject was the French Revolution

I realized that I finally was beginning to understand Paris. I had seen it as a bewildered tourist, a local, and now I was an informed tourist. I also realized how much I had grown since that first trip. When we had gone before, I was a young mother that worked part time as a waitress. Now, I was a Sociology teacher who had learned to appreciate, respect, and understand other cultures. It wasn't Paris that had changed, it was me. When I returned after that third trip, I decided that I would always take students to Paris.

To be continued....
To view more photos from this trip, click here