Day 1: We have arrived!

It was a long haul, but Spiritus Chamber Choir has landed in France. We have settled in Paris for the next few days.

Some of the choir at a popular picture point of the
Eiffel Tower at Trocadéro Square.

We arrived to a rather warm and humid Paris. Upon arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport, we met our courier Marianne, and slowly made our way into downtown Paris, where we explored a bit of the area around Opèra Garnier and the Trocadéro, which is home to one of the greatest views of the Eiffel Tower. We then completed our whirlwind bus tour of some of the more popular spots in Paris that we will be sure to revisit in the coming days, including the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysées and L'Arc de Triomphe. There will also be a lot of museum visits, with the famed Musée d'Orsay high on many people's lists, because of its famed collection of impressionist works.

We've now checked into our hotel and had a wonderful group dinner. A few of us even lingered afterward and did some more sidewalk cafe-watching before finally calling it a day. It's definitely been a long day for all of us and we are looking forward to finally getting some much-needed rest. Tomorrow will include a visit to the Louvre but is relatively open for many people, so there will definitely be lots of stories to share.

A la prochaine, tout le monde!

On the bus heading into Paris

Boyd Hansen, Paul Newman and
Oliver Munar doing as Parisians do:
people-watching at a café

On the way to the L'Arc de Triomphe,
via the much-celebrated Champs-Elysées.