Saturday morning, I was up bright and early to leave at 5am for London. We left late (of course), because Claude was late and then we waited around for surveillent S. who never showed. I slept a bit of the way to Calais, had a nice English breakfast on the ferry, and then slept most of the way to London. It was a beautiful day! We started out at the Natural History Museum. We had lunch and then saw the dinosaurs and mammal exhibits. Next up, we went to Harrods. They didn't want to let us enter, because we were a group. It took a few tries, but we eventually got everyone in by splitting up and using different entrances. I snuck a few kids in myself. It was my first time in the store, so I just wandered around, enjoyed a Krispy Kreme doughnut, and looked at way overpriced purses and such before breaking the "no one is to leave the store" rule and heading out to find an ATM and get some Starbucks. After Harrods, we walked around Hyde Park where my students became obsessed with the squirrels and taking pictures of squirrels. Apparently, squirrels don't really exist in France. I amused myself by taking hilarious pictures of my students obsessing over the squirrels.
Sunday, we saw the Changing of the Queens Life Guards at the Horseguard before heading over to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. I found it strange that nothing was roped off, but still there were a ton of people and there was no sign saying there wasn't a Changing of the Guard. Finally, a police officer came around saying it was cancelled because of political events. I was the only one to hear him and it took some convincing on my part for the group to believe me. We headed back to the Horseguard where we took a group picture with one of the guards, and then we were off to the London Eye. I faced my Ferris wheel fears and went on (hey, it was free). It actually wasn't too bad. You're completely enclosed, and you can't tell that you're moving. Plus, we had the carriage completely to ourselves. The students had a good time. After an insane lunch at McDonald's, we went to The National Gallery. It really wasn't my scene (nor most of the students), but it was nice to go to. Next, we walked to Picadilly Circus and then went into some of the shops along Oxford and Carnaby.
Changing of the Queens Life Guards
View of Parliament from London Eye
Monday, we stopped at a supermarket (we all know how the French love English supermarkets), and I bought a ridiculous amount of Cadbury chocolate including a huge bar I bought and shared with the students. Yum! Arriving back in London, we finally watched the Changing of the Guard. Sort of. We were far too late to be able to get a place seeing the happenings behind the gates. My students quickly lost interest and started whining to me (why did they do all their whining to me?) about wanting to go. I finally talked the teachers into leaving, and we walked over to Covent Garden for lunch at Pizza Hut (so classy... I know) and to see the shops. Finally, our last stop was the British Museum where we saw the Egyptian displays. Always cool. Before getting back on the bus, Claude gave out samples of different sodas including Dr. Pepper which made me happy! The bus ride back was so long. The ferry wasn't too bad. We all just had dinner, did some shopping, and had a beer. The ride from Calais to Chauny felt even longer. I couldn't wait to collapse in my bed!
Part of Covent Garden
Things about the trip:
- I quickly became to main planner as my ideas were always the most sensible. While the teachers would tell me what they wanted to do for the day, I'm the one who put together the itineraries.
- In the same fashion, I became the leader of the entire group whenever we went anywhere. Apparently, I am the best one at reading maps (even the maps for inside the museums), so I was always in charge. The students who walked up front with me always received a little lesson from me on what they were seeing.
- It's totally okay for chaperones to drink when on a school trip. I'm not just talking about at dinner when we were done for the day but also at lunch.
- Claude's wife think her husband is crazy and made fun of the things he did. LOL. It kept cracking me up.
- Even though I was in England, I spoke far more French than English. I also kept getting confused on my languages. I'd start speaking French with British people and English with the teachers before realizing mistake and switching languages.
- Love my students! A lot of them came to me when they had a question (or also to complain about something...), and they were all just so sweet. Some of them also tried very hard to speak some English. One made an effort to talk to someone wherever we went.
- I don't have too many pictures to post online (so nothing on Facebook this time), because most of my photos include students.
Today, I slept most of the day away, because I was very sleep deprived. Once I got myself in gear, I had a lovely lunch at the cafe and enjoyed the nice weather. I saw S. who asked about the trip. He was sick all night Friday night, so he didn't hear his alarm and slept until 11am. Poor guy! It would have been a lot of fun to have him around! I had a good time with the students and teachers (including Claude's wife), but it would have been nice to have someone my age there. Oh well. I'd say "Next time" but there won't be a next time for me.
OMG I can't even tell you how many pictures Ben took of squirrels in the states, lol. Glad you had a good trip, what a nice way to finish things!
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