SHSS Paris Trip 2022 - Day 1
We are EXHAUSTED!
The buses left Clonakilty at 11.20pm last night and arrived at Dublin airport at 3 am. There was already a long queue forming at the check in desks. it was freezing cold so we rushed inside. Within ten minutes, the terminal was packed with people and suitcases, the line of people going out through the doors into the bitter cold. All week we’d seen TikToks of the chaos at Dublin Airport. Everything is absolutely true.
We eventually got on the plane and headed off. Most of us dozed, others relaxed. We landed at Charles de Gaulle at 9.20am local time. Then came the passport border control. It took forever! We finally got through and it was too late to take the boat trip so we rescheduled it for tomorrow. Instead we had some free time around Musée D’Orsay. Most had lunch, some had ice cream. Then we went into the museum which is a former train station. it was absolutely amazing! Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Renoir, Monet, Degas…stunning!
We then crossed the Seine and walked though the Tuileries Gardens up to the Place de la Concorde. The Eiffel Tower was towering above us in the distance. The Arc de Triomphe stood majestically at the other end of the Champs Elysées. We saw it all!
Dinner was in a pizza place off the Champs Elysées. The pizzas were huge and we got free coke, but then we ran out of time and only a few got ice cream.
Back on the bus then and off to the hotel.
Highlights of the day:
La nuit étoilée by Van Gogh in all its glory.
Ms Holland seeing The Circus by Georges Seurat in the flesh.
Mr Browne’s chocolate covered crepe. Yum.
Ms Bell got her favourite: steak tartare.
The sun began to shine in the afternoon. Parisians sat out under its warm rays as a bateau mouche chugged by.
Seeing the Arc de Triomphe at twilight.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s activities…
#shssparis22
