Day 10 - 05.21.11: Travel to Paris
Good bye Switzerland, hello France! Today was a long day of travel. We took a few short trains, and then two four-hour train rides to get to Paris. I sat with Megan A., Meghan H. and Katie. I ate my lunch on the first train so I wouldn’t have to carry it around with me. I mostly slept on the first train, listening to my iPod. The second train was a TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse), which are France's high-speed trains. This train ride, I sat with the same people, and we played Phase 10 with the group sitting across the aisle. We’ve ridden on a lot of trains during our trip in Europe. I’m surprised at how convenient they are. Europeans definitely use public transportation much more than we do in America. People also use more bicycles and scooters to get around. Americans rely on their cars almost exclusively to travel, unless they are going very long distances and then they usually fly.
When we finally reached Paris, we took the metro to the Hotel Minerve, and quickly got dressed to meet with Alexandre Troppi, our representative from Dassault. He took us to dinner at a nice French restaurant. It was a cellar room that was carved out of stone, almost like a cave. It was really neat! After dinner, we went for a walk around Paris, where we saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Panthéon. Paris is beautiful at night! But it had been a long day and I was ready for bed!
Notre Dame at night
Panthéon at night
Dinner in a cellar!
