Bonjour!

PARIS (Aug. 6)--Our group of 37 DePaul faculty and staff arrived at Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris this morning excited but exhausted. Some colleagues managed to sleep on the flight, while others (like me) didn't have much luck in that department. We were greeted at the airport by our driver and tour manager Joop Timmers who led us to our comfortable, air-conditioned motorcoach for our drive into Paris.

Our group leaders the Rev. John Rybolt, C.M., and the Rev. Edward Udovic, C.M., gave us an orientation tour of some famous Parisian landmarks. Thank goodness it consisted of us looking at things through our bus window for a while. We drove by the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triumphe and saw the spot where the Tour du France ends.

In case you didn't know, Paris is the international headquarters for the Vincent de Paul Society. Apartments here have no yards, so people really enjoy their public parks. Wine costs about the same as soda in restaurants, and french fries really do taste better in France.

When we did get off the bus it was for a visit to Notre-Dame Cathedral. Some members of the group got inside the cathedral despite the extremely long lines to get in (one was wrapped around the block).

A few of us were feeling tired and hungry, so we decided to have lunch at a cafe near the cathedral, hoping the lines would get shorter later. That didn't happen. It was pretty amazing that, on a Wednesday afternoon, so many people were in line for a visit to the cathedral.

After we checked in to our rooms at the Novotel Paris Gare de Lyon, we had a few hours to unpack, rest and freshen up.

We gathered at 7 p.m. for dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Dinner began with goose pate and salad and was followed by grilled duck and rice topped with savory sauce--and of course, red wine. The best part of the meal was the dessert, which a colleague described as "deliciousness in pie form." We were given chocolate and coffee with every meal. Heaven!

After dinner, a group of us decided to walk off dinner. We headed toward the Seine River, snapped some photos and capped off the evening with a glass of wine and conversation in a cafe near the hotel.

It was nice to get a taste of Paris on Day 1 of the trip. Now it's time to rest up for tomorrow. We have a busy day planned.