It was Valentine’s Day yesterday and China welcomed her Lunar New Year today. We’ve already spent six wonderful days in Marseilles. Today we headed for Paris.
We took the 9 A.M. G-series high-speed train from Marseilles to Paris which lasted three and a half hours. At 7.40 A.M. we all gathered together at Pierre High School and teacher Fu led us to the high-speed rail station. Some other students were sent directly to the station by their host families. Be it at Pierre High School or the rail station, students could not bear to part with their host families and friendly companions.
Teacher Fu, who accompanied us these days, brought each of us a little present, which moved us deeply. It turned out that teacher Fu was competent, enthusiastic, hardworking, patient and meticulous. At the age of 55 and a mother of 3 children, she taught in two French schools and was proficient in several languages, which impressed us all! During these days, she helped us a lot and still worried whether she was considerate enough, which touched us profoundly!
Arriving at the high-speed rail station, something beyond our expectation happened. Everyone was attracted in today’s newspapers. These days, we found out that people in Marseilles seemed to enjoy reading newspapers, which surprised us all. However, we felt at home when we looked through today’s papers, because the news about us appeared on the papers, especially the news that Marseilles City Hall held a welcome ceremony for us yesterday afternoon. Therefore, we took pictures and shared the news into WeChat Moments. More noticeably, some teachers and students bought papers to take home as souvenirs. One of the parents even offered me one which I put into my suitcase to take home.
After parting reluctantly from teacher Fu, we got on the high-speed train. At 12.23 Paris time, the train arrived at Lyons Station punctually where our guide had already waited for us. We felt relieved when we joined our tour guide smoothly!
We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant near the high-speed rail station. At that time our family members in China must have had the family reunion dinner already. Thus, we regarded this lunch as our reunion dinner. Each dish was photographed. We had rice, dumplings and hot sauce, which tasted quite yummy. Everyone was full!
After lunch, we toured the Pompidou Center first, the full name of which was Pompidou National Arts and Cultural Center. It was also the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
Leaving the Arts Center, we reached the Notre Dame de Paris after 15 minutes’ walk.
Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris was not only a church architecture located on Cite Island, Central Paris, but also a Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris.
Notre Dame de Paris, a Gothic architecture, was constructed from 1163 to 1250. She was a key cathedral among the Gothic churches in le-de-France. To be specific, she was founded in 1163, the idea of Paris Archbishop Maurice de Sully. Notre Dame de Paris was completed in 1345. The whole project lasted more than 180 years.
Notre Dame de Paris was a symbol of old Paris. She stood by Seine River, the Center of Paris. As one of the most magnificent buildings in history, her status and historical value were beyond comparison. She was famous for her Gothic architecture, altar, winding corridors, sculpture and painting around the doors and windows as well as plenty of art treasure from the 13th to 17th centuries. Though she was a religious building, Motre Dame de Paris reflected the wisdom of French people and their pursuit and yearning for an incredible life.
As for dinner, we chose an authentic French restaurant to enjoy the French meal instead of Chinese cuisine.
Firstly we were served the appetizing soup, which was the onion soup, very common in northern Paris.
Secondly we had duck leg and mashed potato for the main course.
Last but not the least, we had dessert and coffee.
At 8.15 P.M. we took the bus to our hotel after dinner. The tour guide emphasized to us the matters that needed attention in addition to relevant arrangements for tomorrow.
That did it for today’s itinerary. Tomorrow we would have more brilliant stuff to share with you.