Introduction to Paris - 5/2/2016
We had all made our way to the Paris airport and were ready to begin exploring the sights and sounds of France. With the
hundreds of band members, staff, friends and family it took a total of six tour buses, four for the band and two filled with friends
and family, to get from place to place. Jenny and I rode together with the other parents, while Sarah was on a bus with her
bandmates.
For the first few hours we stayed on board the buses as we traveled across Paris. A tour guide told us the history of the
sites as we drove past. The vast majority of the city’s buildings were quintessential Parisian architecture.
The streets were often narrow and never arranged in a modern city grid pattern. Several times the tour bus had to made sharp
turns on the small congested streets with cars and motorbikes just inches away. One biker even smacked the side of the bus
with his hand to signal to our driver. We noticed that most, if not nearly all of the cars in the city had some kind of
scratches and dings on their bumpers.
Our first stop was near Trocadéro Gardens. The buses dropped us aff at a large traffic circle for about one hours for us to
get a bite to eat and stretch our legs. At one side of the traffic circle were several museums and beyond that was the
Trocadéro Gardens. The gardens overlooked the river Seine and the Eiffel Tower beyond that.
We worked our way back to the buses for the ride to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Mercure in La Défense on the edge of
Paris.
After we checked into the hotel and were able to refresh in our hotel rooms, we all gathered in the banquet halls for a lovely
dinner with all of the band, family and friends.
Click here to see other various pictures from around Paris.
It was a beautiful day for our introduction to Paris. Tomorrow we will be making our way to Normandy.
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