On The Road Again: Paris

Still utterly exhausted from Meghan and Marc's wedding weekend, I boarded a plane bound for Paris 72 hours later.  Somehow I had finagled a spot on one of EF's training tours - basically a trial run of a tour for our first time group leaders, so they are prepared for what it's like to bring a bunch of teenagers on a massive trip to the other side of the world (to which you may say that there is no possible way to prep for that!).

According to every Parisian, it was HOT with daytime highs in the upper 80s and low 90s.  According to me, it was hot but not as hot as the 100 degrees that was hitting Boston the same week.  With sunset around 9:45pm it was easy to make it to midnight without even realizing it was late - seeing the Eiffel Tower light up on the first night of Paris' official six weeks of summer vacation was spectacular.

We also happened to be there for the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France which unfortunately I just missed seeing finish on Sunday night but there was no shortage of excitement at the finish line that day; thousands of people staked their claim on seats along the Champs-Élysées up to 12 hours before the scheduled finish.

It was an intense but rewarding few days and I'm so glad I finally got to see Paris!  Remebering how to read an actual map when my phone failed and relearning a metro system in another language was humbling.  The real honor though was meeting our group leaders; they are such a dedicated group of individuals and it's truly special to see them get excited about bringing their students back to have the same experiences next year.  My French may not be any better (Spanish kept spilling out of my mouth accidentally) but I can say for sure that I can't wait to go back!