Bonjour! Today was a beautiful day in the city of Paris. The TAIWSP group began our day with a hotel tour at the Fauchon L’Hotel. We were greeted by Laura Gonnella, manager of the rooms division. She showed us the hotel library where guests can sit in before they check in and have a complimentary drink while waiting for their room. There were also little macaroons for guests to enjoy. In the room, you can see the four main colors of the hotel which Laura explained was pink, gold, white and black. The style was delicate and sleek, overall a very inviting feel. Next, we were shown the hotel’s restaurant which was created by the founder of the company Auguste Fauchon. The restaurant kept the theme of the hotel with lots of pinks, golds, etc. On display where mouth-watering pastries and bread. Lastly, we were shown the spa which smelt of roses and florals notes, very calming and welcoming for guests.

After the tour was over we began walking to the walking tour site which was the Place Vendome. The tour was given by Matt, Shantel, and Christine who did an excellent job at explaining the history, culture, tourism and food aspects about the monument. We learned that the monument was taken down several times during different riots and revolutions. The area around the hotel is popular for tourist who wants to shop at a designer places like coco chanel.

Today a few of us decided to go to Catacombs. The line was long but it moved quickly. For our tour we used the audio guide, we learned the history of catacombs. In this open section there over 1,000,000 skeletons. There are still many undiscovered areas in Paris

Today, for the first time since I have been in this country, I venture out on my own to explore this beautiful place.  I decided to visit The Palais du Louvre to have a closer look at its artwork and the history of one of the places of interest in Paris.  Unfortunately, I could not enter the museum, however,  the architecture on this museum was truly amazing.  Before this grand place became the museum we know today it was once a palace where kings like King Phillipe Auguste, Francis I, Henry IV and Louis XIV once lived.

Although I was unable to visit the artwork on the inside I found that the outside sculptures, the many arches and the detail on this museum are very unique and done to perfection.  After 800 years you would think that they would be some form of aging but these monuments are here to last.

After visiting the museum I proceed to go into the  Tuileries Garden which is linked to the Louvre, this was ordered by Henry Iv.  This garden is also a work of art with eighteen sections, and in each section, there are sculptures. Each one has its own story to tell.  With the trees all cut in a uniform fashion, they are tranquility about this location that make you want to stay.  many chairs are placed around what they called a Basin with large fountains.  There are four restaurants in the garden in a certain area and found it interesting that the waiters although in a casual setting still was dress as if they were serving in a fine dining restaurant and with flair.  Benches placed under the trees so you can rest from the heat of the day.  Most individuals decided to rest near the ponds and just watch the ducks swam.

I enjoy this venture and  I continue to walk and found myself right in front of the Concorde Monument. I was fascinated with the sculpture and once again the detail on it.  After taking some pictures of this work of art, i made my way to Petite Palace where I view some of its artwork as well.  I think was impress me the most was the ceiling . for a building so tall how did the artist able to paint a work of beauty. so perfect. These artists did not have the technology that we have today yet there was able to create these items and paint that last more than a lifetime.

Paris is not only about its cuisine, for what I have seen so far it about history, art, and passion. Although it has some shortcoming it is very rich in its culture and beauty.

side view of the Pullman hotel

Cour St. Emillion Station

Today, the TAIWSP students went on a hotel tour with Professor Pericles. The students met in the hotel lobby at 1:15 as we all gathered to head to the train station. Traveling from the 13-line to Siant Lazare then transferred at the 14 train to Cour St. Emillion and met up with Professor Zinder.  Heading to the hotel was approximately 6 minutes of walking distance passing by a Bercy village that attracted many tourists. The streets were surrounded by colorful balloons and plenty of outdoor seating that attracted locals and tourists. There is various type of Cuisines such as Japanese, Italian, French and American.

Bercy Village

During our arrival, Sonia the event manager and Agnieszka the coordinator was representing the Accor hotel resorts. Sonia explained the recently renovated lobby. There was a private cinema, gym, open bar, and the convention area. Unfortunately, the pool was closed down due to a fire incident, it is still renovating. There are 131 hotels worldwide in 100 countries. The architectural designer Tom Dickson created a concept like a wine cellar. The curtains were green, the chairs were shaped like a barrel, the walls were the cork.

Agnieszka and Sonia

waiting area

bar and restaurant

It was a good exercise to walk the stairs to tour the classic, deluxe, and superior rooms. The family rooms were quite interesting since there are connecting doors to access two rooms. The design of each room had a similar style with an earthy vibe. The staffs had bright and positive energy given most Parisian don’t smile much. I would love to stay at the Pullman Hotel when I come back to visit Paris!

restaurant

Gym

Meeting Space

mini Shopping area

we went to visit a park Le Square Trousseau and som and outdoor markets. Leery-Rollin was the stop we got off and the street was filled with really nice and beautiful buildings. There was this huge store called Monoprix which they do sell everything and I was in love.

The market was in the 12th arr and I could not just believe my eyes. I was so excited to see a market in Paris and I could not believe it. Here, kilo is the unit price which was a little confusing at first but then I understood it. When we got the chance to walk around to see all different type of fruits, vegetables, meats and cheeses. Professo zinder gave us the opportunity to go to every different type of vendor and to see and compare the different prices which there was a lot with different prices. I also saw two chefs with the uniform walking around and with vegetables on the hands. The indoor markets is more upscale with meats and cheeses. When we went back to the market to buy more fruits and vegetables for our dorm and it was around 1pm something and it was already closing. Now they open again at 4pm-7pm for other people who works late and needs to get some shopping done.

After our park and market tour we had a picnic! Thank you professor zinder, we got the the It was so much fun to try different type of pattes, meats, cheeses, bread and wine especially here in Paris. We all got together and started to have a great time and enjoy this moment with everyone.

After our tour, we had the rest of the day to us and we all went our separate ways to do different things with everyone else. We came back to the hotel because my friends decided to do some more grocery shopping to cook dinner tonight and go to the pool. We ended up making salon, with a salad, mix vegetables with potatoes and a bottle of Chardonnay which it was a delicious meal. We melted some milk chocolate and we still had some strawberries from the market early and we had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

Bonjour!

Today we had our first walking tour assignment presentation by Corinna, Bannesa, and Janice. They presented the Palais Garner, Opéra House, located in the 9th arrondissement.

Right to left: Janice, Bannesa, Corinna

They spoke about the history of the Opéra house built from 1861-1875 and seated 1,979 people at that time. They told us that the 1979 Opéra house had the largest seating capacity in the world. We were told that this site was the inspiration for Phantom of the Opera. There are many restaurants in this area, as well as Jazz clubs. The restaurants in this area are known for the best seafood and meat.

Front of the Opéra house

After this tour presentation, we walked to the Hotel Ambassador, which is a Marriott owned hotel. This hotel opened in 1927 and at that time it had 1,000 rooms and took up a whole entire block. Today, the hotel now has 297 guest rooms, 34 executive rooms, and 8 suits. The hotel is 8 floors, as are most hotels that are located in Paris.

Outside of Hotel Ambassador

This being one of the oldest hotels in Paris, was taken over by Marriott about 5 years ago. The restaurant located near the lobby is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but not open to the public for breakfast. We were told by the staff that since they now have a larger Asian market, they have now added a Asian breakfast corner. This hotel also has 11 meeting rooms, the main and largest one being on the lobby level.

View from the 8th floor executive meeting room

After the hotel tour, a group of us walked around the area and found a cute souvenir shop and grabbed a bite to eat. Some of us also got fresh crepes, which was absolutely delicious. Today was a fun day and I look forward to the next days in beautiful Paris.

Crepe with peach jam

Salut!

Today our day started as normal as any day in Paris can be, which is not normal at all, it’s magical. We took our 2 hour bus headed to Reims where we had not only our first introduction to champagne, but also our introduction to rural France. It was interesting to see how quickly the landscape goes from concrete and trains to grass and cows in a matter of minutes.

Quick shot of the scenery on the bus

The first place we got off was the Taittinger cellar. Here Professor Zinder introduced us to the diverse wine regions of France and what they specialize in. She also placed an emphasis on the wine cultural differences between the old world and the new world. I found it fascinating that in the new world, they focus more on the variety of grape and in the old world, they focus more on where the grape came from.

This is the stairway to the Taittinger cellar. It was really dark and my camera wasn’t in night mode so it captured the picture with an eerie effect, doing the place some justice.

The tour guide telling us how the cellar got started

Sign within the cellar

Going deeper into the cellar

Diverse bottle sizes

In the tour of the first cellar, Taittinger, the guide focused a lot on the history and architecture of the cellar. He spoke about how this was first started by monks in the cellar and how there was a church on top of the cellar that was destroyed by bombs during the World War. He also mentioned that during the war, a lot of people went underground to live in order to survive, which included the cellar. He showed us different carvings made by those residents. The guide also mentioned how because of the shape the cellar has, it is very hard to destroy in case of bombs or earthquakes. Something interesting we learned was how huge their wine reserves are. He mentioned that there were over 2 million bottles in this location and that they have another cellar with even more millions of bottles. We also learned that it is common for bottles to explode in the middle of the second fermentation. We ended the tour by going upstairs to have a champagne tasting. Most of the students seemed to like it and a lot of them even bought bottles of champagne. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the champagne, I felt it was bland and wildly acidic, like there wasn’t a hint of anything.

Champagne tasting

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After finishing our tour, we walked to the center of the town. We got to see the town’s cathedral which made some of us wonder why it wasn’t completely destroyed during the war like the church above the cellar. When we reached the center, the group divided into different sections and I ended up in the group that went to eat French regional food. The food was delicious and we even got a juggling performer in front of the restaurant. It was interesting to see what their version of showtime is.

Our lunchtime

Juggler in front the restaurant

After we had lunch, we took the bus to our last tour, Champagne Geoffroy. The guide was a friend of the owner and he took us to the main groundlevel cellar where he introduced the Austrian barrels that had to be custom-made to fit through the door. This cellar was completely different from the first one because it was a local producer rather than a big brand. Everything in this cellar was done to a smaller scale and and the cellar itself was much smaller, the guide only took us down one floor. He mentioned the two kinds of fermentation required to create champagne. He talked about how after the first fermentation the bottles have be twisted over and over in order to get the sediment off the bottle. He even showed us the differences and turning the bottles by hand and how it is done by machine now since it’s much more efficient. Lastly he ended the tour by taking us upstairs and giving us a tasting of four different champagnes. He spoke about the differences based on the variety of grapes used to make the wine. He also placed a lot of emphasis on having your own opinion on how the wine tastes, rather than following what everybody else thinks. He even taught us how to open a bottle. After tasting the four wines, we headed back to the bus in order to beat Paris traffic and went back to the city.

Austrian barrels

Wine turning machine

The wines we tasted

The view from the bus

Bonjour à tous!

Today officially began our exploration of Paris and all that comes with it. Everyone woke up bright and early to begin our day with a 2-3 hour walking tour led by Professor Zinder.

Taking the 13 line to Champs Elysee, we met with Professor Zinder to begin our tour towards the Eiffel Tower. Professor Zinder gave us her background to explain how she ultimately became to live in the Paris, with details of her culinary career in pastry along the way. Living in Paris, she is able to beautifully speak the language and understand their culture, exhibited in the way she warns us what to expect and in the telling of the history behind many monuments.

Station by our hotel on the 13 line

Petit Palais, built for the 1900 World Fair

Group photo (minus the author)

Professor Zinder and her insanely large map

On the tour, we stopped in front of the Grand Palais to go over some brief details of the city. The Grand Palais is directly across the Petit Palais, both immaculate and beautiful. On the way to the Eiffel Tower, we crossed the Seine River on Pont Alexandre III, one of the most beautiful bridges in Paris due to the details glass lamp posts and gold statues.

View of the Eiffel Tower from Pont Alexandre III

Ultimately, we reached one of the most famous towers in the world. We took in the beauty along with the history of the monument, learning how it was also built for another World’s Fair, and how she is in dire need of a new paint job (which happens every 7 years).

A more upscale neighborhood in Paris

Fontaine de Mars, a restaurant for locals and tourists named after the god of war

Tower of Eiffel, named after the business man who bought the plan from the original architects (and Professor Zinder’s crazy map)

After the tour of the Eiffel Tower, everyone split into their own groups for the walking tour project. Banessa, Corrina, and I were assigned of Palais Garnier opera house, so we took the 9 to the opera house to do some recon for the upcoming days. After a long morning of walking, we grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant with some traditional French crepes, coffee, pasta, and pizza. We returned to the hotel ultimately, mainly to wind down a bit, and prepare for the adventures to come later on tonight (maybe). All in all, today’s tour was a great way to start our “first” day in Paris, and what a better way than to visit what it is most associated with.

Palais Garnier Opera House

Pasta Carbonara, Crepe Fromage, Pizza Margherita

Something about clean Parisian train stations makes us silly

Welcome to Paris!! Today we walked around the neighborhood. We got to see the markets, post office, and the metro station. It was great seeing Professor Zinder again. She shared some information on how the metro system works and as well as the navigo. Tomorrow is the start of this journey with a tour of Paris. See you all tomorrow.