Ladee's Travels

I met with Coco again for our 4 th tutoring session. She had euro money (the real thing) so that I could see and feel the currency and practice giving money and receiving change. In a previous lesson with Numbers, I became slow when the numbers were over one hundred. But we both agreed that it will be unlikely that I pay cash for something that cost that much, and VISA will take care of the math for me. We practiced making change. She would say a price in French and I had to give her the bills and coins. At first I gave exact change, and then we practiced giving larger bills and checking that the change back was correct. I would stare at the amounts, try to remember the "price" that she originally gave me, work the math, and then tell her if it was correct or not. As I stared at the money trying to gather my thoughts, I could hear my mom and aunt saying "What's wrong, can't you make change?" My end response is normally "Merci" (thank you) with a s...

I ordered our "Paris Pass" today. The good news is that it is a really great price and includes the majority of the sights that we will see. I especially like the "queue-jumping" part (see the list below). The bad news is that I ordered them too late to have them mailed to the house. BUT the "more good news" is that we need to pick them up at Hard Rock Cafe Paris, which is a must see for Kalen. I bought the four day pass so we will most likely use them Tuesday - Friday. FREE entry to over 60 of the best tourist attractions in Paris FREE Metro travel and public transport within Paris Queue-Jumping rights at the busiest Paris tourist attractions And a range of exclusive discounts, deals and freebies

The EuroStar tickets arrived today. I purchased them from Rick Steves' website and there are a few extras included such as maps and a CD of travel tips. I have one place for all of the info and tickets, etc that are starting to come in, so hopefully I won't be in a panic at departure time. The tickets came via UPS, so they were here a few days after ordering them. I checked the tickets to make sure that everything was perfect. London to Paris: We are on Coach 4, seats 75 and 76. This is a window and an aisle. The Paris to London seats are 51 and 52 on Coach 3 and the seats are on window and aisle also. Cool.

Figuring out how to book the EuroStar was quite interesting. I finally went through Rick Steves website to order the tickets. I wanted to make sure to get them early because the Tour de France is moving from England to Belgium on Monday also. Interesting that the under 26 crowd receives a youth discount, so I was able to save some money on the ticket. Round trip for two of us was $600. The train takes us from London directly to Paris. Both stations have easy access from our hotels. EuroStar From London to Paris Economy, 2 nd class; 1 adult, 1 youth [09:09 AM-12:56 PM] 7/9/07, train 9012 London Waterloo to Paris Nord , Seat EuroStar Paris Nord to London Waterloo Economy, 2 nd class; 1 adult, 1 youth [12:58 PM-02:57 PM] 7/15/07, train 9079 Paris Nord to London Waterloo, Seat

I've wanted to go to Paris since my 9th grade French class. It has always been a magical city in my mind. I understand more than I can speak but there has been an improvement during my French lessons with Coco. I met Coco (Colette) at Scottsdale Community College where she taught two levels of French. She is very approachable and provides an atmosphere where you can work on your speaking with encouraging corrections. I took two semesters of her Level 1 class, and then moved to the Level 2 class for a few more semesters. On Saturdays in June she tutors me at her house so I can focus on vocabulary that I may need for travel and conversation. I listen to podcasts and CDs during the week to help with the process. French lessons continue throughout June for five sessions. Hopefully the effort will result in a few real French conversations.

The hotels have been selected. I couldn't get a spot at the hotel where Ginan , Kalen and I stayed in London in 2006 (Lime Tree) but they suggested the Windermere . I saved the link on the blog, so you can get an idea of what it is like. I'll have more info once I arrive. The hotel in Paris was a little more difficult to find, because I didn't know the city. I've been studying maps, and of course there is my favorite resource, Rick Steves. The Internet and email made this a lot easier than it might have been. We are going to be in Paris for Bastille Day weekend, and as soon as I saw one photo of fire works behind the Eiffel Tower I knew that I wanted to be in that area. I found "Hotel de Londres Eiffel" and it looks like a great place. (The photo is from their website. I'll add my own when I can.) Some of the hotels don't have air conditioning, so I needed to be careful about that. I think that we will be happy with both choices. So, I arrive i...