France - Day 3

On the third day we went off to central Paris. We were dropped off over the road from the Eiffel Tower and it was very busy. A couple of youngsters backed out of climbing to the second floor due to being scared of heights. However two brave students , who were shaking like leaves, did go up to the second floor and back down and they were given a little prize for meeting a personal fear head-on. I also have a problem with heights which is why I forced myself to go up to the top of St Paul's Cathedral when I was about 9 years old.

I took this picture as soon as we got off the bus. Lovely blue skies.

The last time I visited here it had been a glorious day!

A view from the second floor.

A river boat on the river Seine which is to be our next stop.

I did try and take a picture of a view looking towards the Sac re cour but it was a little too far away! Once we had walked back down the tower we all made our way over to the river to enjoy a river boat ride up and down the river Seine.

The weather had just clouded over a little which I was happy with because last time I did the river ride it was far too hot, almost unbearable.

Just got part of Notre Dame, which is actually quite high up and the boat went very close to the river edge. A very impressive building!!

This is where Maria Antoinette stayed before she was executed. After the hour long boat ride we had a guided tour round some of Paris on the coach. There is far too much to put here, i hope no one has fallen asleep yet, so I shall just put up some pics.

The building above is said to be the the one that the Phantom of the Opera is based around. Very grand! I think it is the Museum of Music.

We also saw the outside of Johnny Depp's apartment but the angle was too sharp to get a picture, sorry, looked nice thought right in the heart of Paris.

We then headed off to the Sacre Ceour and Monmartre where there were lots of artists painting and selling their work. I bought some this year and I will post about them when I have had them framed.

It was very busy here and hot. Not long after this picture was taken it started to spit with rain and then the rain vanished as quick as it had arrived. Very odd.

The following day we had the long journey home and I arrived back through my front door at 12.45am Saturday morning1 I am still recovering a bit as we then hit the ground running at work and have been running ever since. I have reports to do this week, update marking and a review next week. Not much sleep for the next few days then. Not sure if the spell check and me have got it all correct.

xx

France - Day 2

Another early start with breakfast and then a sandwich production line to make over 90 lunches!! Then it was onto the coach again and off to Disneyland. Now, regular followers will know that hubby and I took Sophie to Disneyland in February and it was all booked before I knew that I was coming with the school. Due to a season change since then it all looked a bit different and it was still fun. I asked Sophie if she would like me to bring anything back and she gave me a small list, so that was one job that I needed to do.
All of the youngsters went off in small groups and met up every so often to make sure everyone was ok and the day seemed to shoot by very quickly. We saw a really big parade but I decided to take my smaller advantix camera rather than my big digital SLR which is quite heavy to carry after a while. Hence no pics. I will scan them in and add them once they have been developed.

During my last visit I spent a lot of time trying to catch up with Minnie Mouse, this time I saw her four times in different outfits, no Sophie to see this either, typical!

It was red hot so by 5pm I was more than ready to go back to the coach. On the way back we found a little french girl about 5 years old sitting on the floor crying her eyes out. Our kids were concerned but being so many of them actually frightened her more, so I stayed near waiting for one of our french speakers to catch up. By the time they did the girl clearly saw her Mum and ran to her. It astonished us that still in some cases a close eye is not being kept on little ones. It must have been some time that she was lost because the little girl was nearly hysterical by the time Mum appeared. Guess what, Mum did not seem over concerned either. Made me a bit cross that!
Anyway, off back to the chateau for dinner.
The evenings were lovely and warm right up to 10pm and it was nice to be able to sit outside the accommodation block, we took it in group turns to patrol the corridors each night.

I have just finished writing a scheme of work for typing up tomorrow so I feel quite pleased with myself! Sophie and hubby are playing with lego and they have found a website that has making instructions on it that may be of interest HERE.
More tomorrow as I have some more work to look at for tomorrow.
Take care xx

I'm Back.....from France!!!! 1

We left last Monday morning at 12.30am and arrived at our destination about 20 miles outside of Paris at approx 5pm Monday afternoon! Numb bum, tired eyes and worn, out but the weather was lovely.

I will confess that I did not take loads and loads of photos, I have been before but last time I did not have a blog so I may cheat and use some pics from last time.

After a much needed shower and something to eat the students were taken off by PGL and activities were organised until 9.30pm where we took over and tried to get them to go to sleep!! No easy task at all and I think we got success by about midnight, excitement being the main problem

Day 1

On Tuesday we went to a local french market at Brie-Comte-Robert which is a historic town which gives a real insight into the Middle Age period...

It was a very hot day and sun screen had to be worn. I bought some lovely patterned bias binding, I know it did not take me long to make it a bus man's holiday but they are really nice and will become the edging to some new bags, book covers,fabric storage etc that I have planned. I did not take a picture so I shall to that tomorrow.

The fruit that was for sale was gorgeous and tasted as good as it looked. I bought a couple of peaches to go with my lunch later in the day. It was good quality too.

The cherries were wonderful and cost about 4 euros a punnet which is much better compared to £12.99 that I saw priced in a certain high street supermarket recently!!!

Sat down for a little breather in this cafe by the market. I bought Sophie a cute little dress and leggings from here which I will post when she is wearing it.

There were lots of buildings to look at. This is the main church. We then all piled back onto the coach and moved on to the Chateau le Vaux le Vicomte, which is breathtaking. We had a packed lunch in a nearby forest where there are covered over picnic areas, ideal for 85 students.

It was built in the 17th century and inspired Louis XIV to build Versailles using the same workmen and architect.

Complete with moat.

The Oval salon in the main entrance area.
We had a quick tour inside the chateau which was awkward to take pictures until I fathomed out how to stop the flash going off!

Window shutter detail.

There were various displays of costume which was not there the last tme I visited.

A bit blurred this one, sorry. I missed taking pictures of all the huge tapestries due to technical difficulties but they were very grand and must have taken months of work. The gardens are jaw dropping, just take a look at these pictures....

Lovely shiny jelly moulds in the kitchen, which reminded me of Lanhydrock just up0 the road from me in Bodmin.

Looking down the gardens from the main house.

Looking back towards the Chateau .

This pruning is soooo neat!

This chateau was the inspiration for Versailles which was built between 1661 to 1670. It really is worth a visit if you ever visit this part of France. By the time we finished walking round the garden it was time to start heading back to our own Chateau for dinner. it had been a lovely day and we could not have asked for better weather!

I do have other pictures that I have taken on my last visit, but I will have to check my memory sticks as they do not appear to be in my Picassa account! The lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me so I will be back with day 2 tomorrow.

Take care

xx