Tuesday 11 February 2014

Paris in a day with the entire Swing Patrol teaching team.


I have been living in London for five years now. I wanted to celebrate the SP London 5 year milestone in a big way. I think life is all about moments so the plan was to create a memory that we would talk about for a long time. We put on a free swing ball that sold out in a few hours, we had a T shirt designed to acknowledge all those who had taught for us at some stage over the last five years and we created an album of every Swing Patrol class and social that shows who we were at the age of five.

The more adventurous vision was to take the teaching team to Paris for a day. We had been saving for this for 12 months and booked these tickets months ago. It was hard to believe that the day had arrived. Everyone had to rise at 4am to ensure we were all at St. Pancras for customs. Eurostar is the only way to travel to Paris and we basically took over a carriage. We were on the first train out of London.
One teacher missed the train but Eurostar were good enough to place him on the next train and he met us at Notre dame. It was all part of the fun and he got a massive welcome when he arrived.

With the help of my intern we presented a letter of thanks to each of our teachers and each teaching team was given a blue padlock to put on the lovers lock bridge in Paris. This was to represent their students and all the support the students have given them as a teaching team. The train trip was fun with some sleeping and others being too excited. Many of the team are fluent in French so when we arrived we were grateful to David Warwick who lead the way to Notre Dame. Some went inside and others went for breakfast. I will never pass up the chance to walk through Notre Dame. It's one of the great cathedrals and quite breath taking. Next stop was the Love Padlocks bridge. We took lots of photos, enjoyed the back drop of Notre Dame and marvelled at the sites and sounds around us.

Next we took the team on a boat trip around Paris. It's a great way to see Paris and for those who had never been to Paris it is always a cool moment when the boat comes around the corner and there is the Eiffel Tower. We disembarked at the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. We walked the whole strip and enjoyed all the fancy shops and history of this avenue.

We arrived at The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile and set up two portable speakers (thanks to Ben & Robyn who carried them) and set up for an impromptu dance. The sun came out, the tourists flocked around and we had a great dance. One of my favourite photos of the day was taken by Chris Morris of the team doing the Trankey Doo. It really shows the joy of dance and the footage that Vicci took shows a very cool group of dancers in action.

Time for lunch and the team simply had to meet back at a designated rendezvous. With the City Mapper app it was easy to find the local bus that took us straight to the Eiffel Tower. It never ceases to amaze as you walk towards this iconic Parisian structure. About 30 of the team decided to head up the Eiffel Tower and while some of the team opted for an ale at a local bar. The queue was almost an hour but with all of us in the queue together we had a lot of laughs and enjoyed the whole experience. It was blowing a gale up high on the Tower but we had a great time and naturally the views were spectacular.

We arrived back to the ground just in time for a crazy storm to hit Paris. We took shelter and laughed at the strange predicament of being trapped under the Eiffel Tower. Moments later we had a double rainbow, Alex Dreyer arrived to welcome us and a lovely sunset was our back drop with the lights of the Eiffel Tower coming on. It was magical.

We gave Alex a birthday dance, we had a two year anniversary blues dance for Adamo & Vicci, danced the Big Apple under the Eiffel and finally it was time to leave. We all gave Alex a cheer for coming to see us and then headed back not the Metro and  back to Gare De Nord where the Eurostar heads back to London. The trip back was one of the highlights for me. It's a big team and London is massive. Many of the team operate, dance and live for example in south London so don't see other teachers every week. Watching the team laughing, chit chatting, teasing, drinking and basically being a team was super. I honestly thought everyone might sleep on the way home.. it was a noisy party and people seemed to be just waking up! I have no idea where the adrenalin was coming from but it kicked on back in London as we all went to the St. Pancras Champagne Bar and continued to enjoy this day. One teacher (very drunk by now admittedly) said " Scott.. this has been one of the greatest days of my life and I will never forget it!"

A big thanks to the team who also made a little presentation of thanks to me on the St. Pancras train platform. Was emotional but people know what a sook I am. :)

If my team remember this day for ever.. job done. They are a very special and dedicated group of people and absolutely deserved this crazy day out.


The summary:
Forty one teachers arrive at 5.15am at St. Pancras. Coffee, check in, boarding the Eurostar.
Presentation of the T shirts.
Letters of thanks from Scott and padlocks handed out to the team. Some slept.
First stop was Notre Dame where we had an hour for breakfast and sight seeing.
Next stop the love lock bridge.
Boat trip around Paris. Embarked near the Champs-Élysées.
Walked the length of the Champs-Élysées,
Arrived at The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile. Had a 30 minute dance with this great back drop.
Lunch and free time.
Bus to the Eiffel tower.
Went up the Tower.. some went for a drink
Witnessed a double rainbow and storm.
Alex Dreyfus arrived to greet the 41 Londoners.
Birthday dance for Alex
Dance under the Eifell Tower featuring the Big Apple, the Shim Sham and a two year anniversary blues dance for Vicci & Adamo.
Metro back to Gare du Nord, more coffee/booze
Back on the Eurostar.. party carriage.
Team give Scott a thank you book at St. Pancras station.
Final drink at the Champagne Bar at St. Pancras.

Three hundred plus great photos by Rupert on FB.
Photos below by a range of people but mainly Chris G and Chris M














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