We have arrived!

I can't upload any pictures right now, but I will soon. We arrived in Paris after an 8+ hour flight from Atlanta that went very smoothly. We all slept on the flight --- not too comfortably, except Jessie who was too cold and couldn't ever find a comfortable position, so she slept "fitfully". We arrived in Paris with all our luggage and made our way to the North train station (La Gare du Nord) where we left our bags in consignment. We negotiated our way through the Metro and we went to St. Michel. After viewing the fountain dedicated to the Parisians who rose up against the Nazis, we at lunch at la Creperie de Cluny. The Lynn girls had chocolate crepes, Stephanie had a ham & cheese crepe, Jessie had a ham, cheese & mushroom crepe, and Madame had her favorite "Flamande" crepe with ham, cheese, bechamel sauce, and endives. Miam!

From there we took a brief walking tour through the medieval section of the Latin Quarter and we visited the churches of St. Sulpice & St. Julien le Pauvre. We visited the famous English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Co. and several of us bought a book so we could have it stamped with the shop's logo. Of course, across from the bookstore is Notre Dame de Paris. We toured the inside of the church, but it was too late to go up the towers. Mass began shortly after we arrived, so we got to see the Archbishop of Paris and the children's choir in prosession and as we wandered through the church, we listened to the mass and the music. It made the experience quite uplifting. We couldn't assist at the mass do to time constraints.

From there we wandered to the Hotel de Ville and we also got to see the modernistic Centre Pompidou and the whimsical modern art fountain nearby. We wandered though some interesting shops. Madame bought post cards and Jeanne found the perfect music box for her friend. Cate tried out the funky electric street toilets (we have pictures! to be posted soon.) Then it was time to head back to the train station. [Sorry we can't upload the pictures right now, but if you want to see the places we visited, you can look them up on google.]

We gathered our luggage, grapped food to take on the train and made it to the train just in time. It was a lovely, relaxing 1+hour ride to Amiens where we were met my two teachers (Maud & Laure-Helene) and Jessie's host sister Cassandre and Cassandre's mom. After loading the ton of luggage into the tiny French cars, we divided up into two cars and headed to Montdidier (about a 40 minute ride). The road to Montdidier took us through small villages and through rolling green countryside. It was quite amazing to think about the battles that were fought in this area during each of the World Wars. The villages were quaint and the girls loved seeing the different architecture and landscapes. Finally, we arrived in Montdidier right around 10:30 pm as the sun was setting. We met up with the other families and exchanged phone numbers, and then we all went our separate ways. Madame was a bit nostalgic about letting her "kids" go, but they were all smiling from ear to ear, so perhaps the greatest part of our adventure has now begun!