Me, 36 students and the Eiffel Tower !

Paris was very cold last week. The daytime temperature was -8C and the windchill made it a bone chilling -15c and that was during the day!

I’ve just come back from a short break in Paris with 36 travel and tourism students from Leeds City College. It was my job along with 2 other college tutors to make sure that the students had a good time, saw as many tourist sites as possible and got there and back safetly!

It was a 5am start from Leeds by coach for our drive to Dover followed by a short hop to Calais and a chance to relax on the ferry before continuing the journey to Paris. We were staying at the Explorers Hotel near to Disneyland Paris, a good 3 star hotel about 10 minutes by shuttle bus to Disneyland Paris itself. The Explorers hotel is perfect for groups and for families as rooms are spacious and sleep at least 4 people.

Disneyland Paris was very cold the next day but I managed to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion and the terrifying Tower of Terror. After that my brain was numb with cold so we decided to have lunch at Planet Hollywood to thaw out. That night we headed back to the Disney Village for an evening meal at the Rainforest Cafe. Mojito cocktails were 9 Euros each and a burger and fries 18 Euros so its not a cheap option but the surroundings were good and we were out of the cold!

The next day all 39 of us set off for the centre of Paris. The journey should normally take about 45 minutes but we hit the notorious Paris traffic so it took a while longer. First stop was the Eiffel Tower. We couldn’t go to the top because it was closed due to the weather but we managed to get to the 2nd floor and the views were just as spectacular. Next up was the Louvre. This, of course, is where you can see the Mona Lisa. It’s a huge shopping mall underneath the glass pyramid.

After the Louvre we took the students to the Bateux-Mouches where we spent the next hour and a half looking at many tourist sites like Notre Dame. I can really recommend the boat trip if you are in Paris. Its a relaxing way of seeing quite a lot.

After the boat trip our coach driver took us on a tour of Paris. Driving on the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe was an experience as our coach driver just seemed to go for it!. Afterwards, he said there is a method to safely getting around this iconic Paris structure but it just looked like a complete shambles to me!

The students were fascinated to see the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed and the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the balcony as well as various other Paris landmarks before we headed back to the Explorers Hotel.


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