I love Paris in the springtime!

I can't believe it is 1:26 a.m. on Sunday and I'm finally doing my first post! It has been a whirlwind so far!

As Jacqueline already said, we made it here safely. The only real incident on the way over was at the airport in Amsterdam. I was quite stressed because of the lack of time (and sleep) and the SLOW security check where they were confiscating things from us even though we had JUST deplaned was increasing the stress level. I was instructing the kids to get to Gate C5 as fast as they could so that we could start boarding and the plane wouldn't leave without us. We had NO idea how far C5 was so I told them to go straight there. As I'm rushing

towards C5 myself, who do I see but Eric STOPPING.....to SHOP!!!! at 5 A.M.!!!! As I'm pick up my pace to give him the what for, I see him lean towards a display to get a closer look at the bags on display, I see his messenger bag swing forward and knock an ENTIRE display of Amsterdam mugs to the floor. I definitely lost my cool as I hear crashing and see shards of ceramics everywhere and Eric frozen with panic! My first thought was, "He's going to have all his Euros spent before we ever get to Paris just to pay for all these broken mugs!" My second thought was, "I'm going to kill this kid!" As I let him have it, I think the shopkeeper actually felt sorry for him because as he was helping clean up and apologizing profusely and reaching for his wallet to pay for damages, she told him not to worry about it and to get to his plane. She probably saw the look of fury in my eyes. Of course, people were laughing so hard and even clapping for Eric's show. Luckily for him we made the plane on time! He hasn't shopped since unless there is time to actually shop. But...he did break a glass at dinner tonight. His roommates are keeping a tally!

Yesterday was a daze due to lack of sleep. We were all très fatigué! We hada bit of a kerfuffle last night at room checks because 3 rooms of boys were not answering their door or the phone. We had no idea where they were. Fearing they had snuck out to enjoy some Paris nightlife, I got the manager to use th

e master key to let us into the rooms to see if they were there. Two rooms were sound asleep - no problem. But the third room had luggage but no students. I was immediately worried/angry but quickly realized that there was very little luggage and dress shoes in the corner. There was NO way this was a student room! The manager was furious with me for making him go into the wrong room and gave me a dressing down. He didn't get a chance to apologize when I showed him the sheet that the hotel had provided with the WRONG room number on it because at that moment Matt set off the alarm by going out the emergency exit from the stairs to the street. The manager wouldn't listen to his explanation that he took the stairs but all the doors were locked so that was his only way out. Turns out that third room of boys was in their room waiting for us to come and check them in!

This morning I slept in because sometime during the night there must have been a power surge because my BlackBerry is now toast and didn't sound the alarm to wake me up! Although I'm not impressed, I'm not going to worry about this until I can get home and see how bad it really is. However, my M

acBook battery is now at 56% and I'm deathly afraid to plug it in for fear that it too will get zapped! Incidentally, the only other person who has had a problem with electronics is Eric - his iPod dock got zapped and he's in a different room with a different converter!!!! (I guess we're the lucky ones!)

We spent this morning on Rue Mouffetard

which is one of the oldest markets in Paris. I LOVED the fromagerie, chocolaterie, boulangerie....everything! We had lunch in Place des Innocents beside the hotel with all the goo

dies we got at the marché

and a bottle of wine from Matt & Jac.

In the afternoon, we headed to the catacombs for a look at all the bones. Interesting to see student reactions.

We gambled on SIX hours of free time for the students tonight. For the most part they were fine but they hardly left the hotel! Six hours to explore Paris and they hung out in the room!?!?!?! Some of them made dinner of things they had bought at the marché but when we started room checks, they were all wanting to go out!

During our six hours of free time, Leanne, Tony, Jordan and I headed over to Île de la cité to Notre Dame, croque-monsieur at a café, Vivaldi's Four Seasons at St-Chapelle and crêpes and shopping in the Latin Quarter. We enjoyed a walk back past the Seine and the Louvre all lit up. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday night in Paris! Eric was very excited about joining us until he realized that it was not a rock concert by Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons. He opted out of the classical music in order to hang out with his friends.

Tomorrow we're off to Versailles so I better get to bed because it will be a loooong day otherwise.