Thursday - Paris Day 2

This morning we left our hotel after breakfast and went back to Trocadéro to get some pictures of the Eiffel Tower without the rain.  After that, we went to the Sainte Chappelle.  This chapel was built in the 13th century to house the "relics of the passion."  These items were said to belong to Jesus Christ: the crown of thorns, a nail from the cross, and a piece of wood from the cross.  The stained glass windows in the chapel are among the most beautiful in the world.  The relics are now housed within the Notre Dame Cathedral.

After la Sainte Chapelle, we stopped for some lunch in the nearby cafes.  After lunch we visited Notre Dame cathedral and climbed over 400 stairs to the top of one of the towers.  It was beautiful but a bit scary up there!  We also got to go into the belfry and imagine the Hunchback climbing the rafters and ringing the bell.  We went down from the tower and visited inside of the main part of the cathedral.

 

 








Next, we went to the Louvre museum.  Legs were sore and feet were hurting by this point, but our guide whisked us through the museum to see som of the most famous paintings and sculptures.  La Jaconde (Mona Lisa), Venus de Milo, the Last Supper, the Coronation of Napolean, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike), to name a few.

Following the museum, we took the Metro up to Montmartre and did some final souvenir shopping before going up the funicular to Sacré Cœur Basilica.  Walking around the back of the church, we admired the artwork being created in the Place du Tertre.  Our restaurant was just a short walk away and we enjoyed a dinner of quiche, salad, boeuf bourguignon, and île flottante (meringue with crème anglaise).  To finish the evening, we went back over to Sacré Coeur to watch the sun set over the city.

 

Wednesday in Paris

We are in Paris!!!  7:30 AM departure and a 2.5 hours trip to Paris (lot's of traffic getting into the city!).  We dropped our bags off at the hotel and met with Fabien, our guide, and Solen, Josie's exchange student from last semester.  Unfortunately, the weather was miserable today with a fair amount of rain, but we braved our way through it!

First, we went to the Champs-Elysées for some shopping and lunch.  Then we climbed the spiral stairs up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.  From the top, we could see all over Paris.

Next, we went to see the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro.  We walked down to the Seine and got on a bateau mouche (boat) and went down the river and back.  We passed the Eiffel Tower, many of the bridges including le Pont Alexandre III and le Pont des Arts.  We also passed the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and Notre Dame.

 





After the boat ride we went to the Marais district and spent some time in the cafes and shops.  We walked to the restaurant and had a dinner of salad and flammekeusche (similar to pizza, but cream-based and from the Alsace region), and dessert pizzas.  We celebrated Jasmine's 18th birthday with a special dessert and the whole restaurant sang happy birthday in English and then in French!

Tuesday - Versailles and goodbye party

Today we spent the day at the castle of Versailles.  We took the bus in the morning and began by visiting the gardens.  The French gardens at the time were cut into geometric shapes that showed that the king, Louis XIV, was able to dominate nature.  The fountains and statues in the garden represent Greek Gods and Louis himself is represented as Apollo.  We got a bit lost in the maze but were able to find the outdoor ballroom.  After a picnic lunch, we went into the castle and listened to our audio guides as we weaved through the rooms to see where the royals in the court lived 400 years ago.  At the time of Louis XIV, 3,000 royals lived in the castle and 40,000 people worked there.  We could imagine attending a ball in the Hall of Mirrors!

After the field trip to Versailles we returned to school and prepared for our goodbye party.  Families brought lots of food to our pot luck event at the high school and many parents shared how much they enjoyed the exchange experience.  Tomorrow we will say our goodbyes to our exchange families when the bus leaves at 7:30 AM and we will spend the day walking and visiting sites in Paris.  Our blog posts in Paris may depend on available wifi at the hotel and also how much time we have at the end of our very long days!

Labor Day

Here are more pictures from the holiday weekend:

Mont St. Michel (Jessie and Berenice, Matthieu and Garry)

 

Little France, a park with small-scale models of French monuments (Brianna and Eugénie)

Rouen: garden (Isaiah and Leo), in the evening (Taylor, Heidi, and Tilly)

 

Ice-skating and other shenanigans (Kaitlynn and Noémie)

 

Etretat (Michael and Andreas)

                  

 


Bowling (Harrison and Hugo, Abby and Agathe)

Some other visits that the students shared with us (some pictures are stuck on cameras until we return):
Parc Asterix (Michael and Andreas, Adama and Orlane, Toma and Zoe, and River and Louis)
The zoo (Katelynn and Mathilde)