Home

Itinerary

Paris

Brittany

Loire Valley

France

Photos

Trip Planning

Day Two - June 19th, 2006
Arriving in Paris & Train to Rennes

After we arrived in Paris, we gathered our luggage and were met by our bus driver. For the next several hours, he gave us a tour of Paris. We saw many of the places we would visit later in our trip and it was wonderful to get our first sights of the city. Paris is a beautiful old city. The history and architecture are amazing. Every building had beautiful doors, windows, stone carvings, or wrought ironwork.

We saw the Seine River, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Arc d'Triomphe, the Champs de l'Elysées, the Paris Opera House, and of course the Eiffel Tower, in addition to many more sights. Our driver let us get out and stretch our legs at a pavilion, the Trocadéro, near the Eiffel Tower. It was one of the first of many group photo ops.

The day was overcast, but warm. After seeing the sights of Paris and driving by Hotel Innova, where we would stay when we return to Paris, our driver dropped us at Gare Montparsnesse to catch the TGV train to Rennes. We had a bit to eat and made our way to the train platform. After a bit of confusion as to which car we were in, we found the right one and managed to get everyone and all of our luggage on board. The trip to Rennes was about two hours in length and the steady rhythym of the train's motion had many of us dozing after our long journey.

We arrived in Rennes about 7 PM and made our way out of the station. This involved lugging our suitcases down the stairs and then back up the stairs....no elevators or escalators in sight. At this point, several of us were ready to abandon our luggage. :-) We went out to the square in front of the train station and were quickly met by our host families. Each of the students left with their host families, Madame Oakley went with Cecille, one of our French host teachers, and the three remaining adults made our way across the square to our hotel, Hotel Kyriad.
The River Seine
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame
Notre Dame
Hotel Invalides - Napoleon's Tomb
Joan of Arc
L'Opera Garnier
L'Arc de Triomphe
The Eiffel Tower
Group Photo at the Eiffel Tower
Sally and Nick at the Eiffel Tower
Nick
The group
All the kids
Going from the Trocadéro to the Eiffel Tower
Hotel Innova
Our Bus Driver
Gare Montparnasse
TGV high speed train
Waiting to board the train
On the train
On the train
Nick on the train
French countryside
Small town
Gare de Rennes - Hauling luggage
Rennes train station - Gare de Rennes
Place de la Gare, Hotel Kyriad across the way
We have arrived!
Meeting our host families