So Much Sweat

Day 22, July 19th: Today we had to wake up bright and early in order to pack and meet up with our school group at Hotel 34B. We felt extremely touristy as we walked from our apartment to the taxi stand with our suitcases. Today got to be 97 degrees Fahrenheit, so our arrival to the extremely air-conditioned lobby of the hotel was amazing. We waited a good forty minutes for the school group to arrive, but it was okay because the hotel is so cute and comfy. Lots of seating and fun decorations. Our hunger got the best of us, so we ran to a nearby boulangerie to grab a snack and conveniently got back as the tour bus was arriving with all our schoolmates! Great timing. We greeted all the jet-lagged souls, which made us really appreciate our lack thereof. We hung around the hotel for a while as rooms were allocated, met our really cool Parisian tour guide for our trip, and then set out to explore the surrounding neighborhood. We took the metro--all 20 of us-- to St. Germain, a popular area with the locals that houses many attractions such as shopping, parks, museums and cafes. We decided to branch out a little and go all the way to Shakespeare and Company. We got to gaze at the multitudes of books, but not for too long since we had a set time to meet back up with the whole group. Thanks to our metro navigation skills, we were able to speedily make it back to our meeting spot with plenty of time to spare. We recovered from the intense heat while waiting for the rest of the group sitting in the grass of one of the parks in St. Germain. It was interesting to see how everyone was acclimating to Paris. From there, we went to dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. We had a fixed menu, a three course meal consisting of salad, pot roast and potatoes, and a chocolate drizzled ice cream éclair for dessert. Our tour guide claimed the restaurant was "next door" to our hotel, but in reality, it was like four blocks away. You can tell the French culture is much more accustomed to walking long distances. Once we got back to the hotel, everyone else darted to their rooms to shower and pass out, but the two of us decided to further enjoy the lobby with complimentary macarons and tea. We were joined by Logan, his sister Megan, and his former exchange student Delphine, who all at one point had Mademoiselle Downs for French class at Sprague. They happened to be in the neighborhood, so they stopped in to surprise Mlle Downs who was speechless and overjoyed at their arrival. Now we are enjoying our very cute hotel room with an amazingly spacious shower, ready to rest up for tomorrow's school trip adventures!

Our Adorable Apartment

Comfy Lobby

Our adorable apartment

Quote above bed "I do not sleep long but I sleep fast"-Einstein

Our adorable table with grass and a little biker guy

The crazy funky hallways