France
July 16-29, 2001
At the end of July 2001, I took my first trip to France with students. On July 16th, 22 students, a French teacher and her husband, a German teacher, and I embarked on a marvelous 14 day adventure by air, bus, boat, train and car. Our trip is outlined below:
The trip began with a direct flight from Philadelphia to Paris. It was an overnight flight and few people slept, including myself. We landed in Paris at 6:00 am and our tour guide Yaelle was ready to greet us. We were all exhausted as we boarded the tour bus and set out for our hotel. Once at our hotel we had no time to do anything but put down our bags. We were in Paris and we had to explore!
The weather was not very cooperative for our 3 days in Paris, but despite the rain and the cold weather we managed to see the Centre Pompidou,
les Halles, the Louvre, l'Arc de Triomphe, la Tour Eiffel, les Invalides, les Galleries Lafayette, les Champs-Elysees, le Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre, Versailles,
and Notre Dame de Paris. We also took a guided bus tour and a Bateau-Mouche ride on the Seine river.
See Pictures from Paris
On our last day in Paris, we all congregated in the Gare de Lyon to board the TGV, the fastest train in the world. After passing beautiful scenery and a few hours on the TGV, we arrived in Avignon, home to the Palace of the Popes and the famous Pont d'Avignon. We happened to be there during the annual Festival of Avignon, a festival celebrating visual and perfoming arts. Street performers were everywhere and there was a lot to see and do! After a full day in Avignon we set off to our hotel for the next few nights in Tarascon.
The next few days were spent touring the south of France. We visited the ancient roman ruins in Nimes and Arles and the Pont du Gard, an old aquaduct. We learned how to do Calligraphy and we took Fencing lessons. We also spent a day in
Aix-en-Provence, a charming university town. Lunches were eaten at sidewalk cafes and many of us loved to walk through the open-air markets to see the sights and sounds
of real Provence. One evening we even participated in a street parade and faire in Beaucaire, just across the Gard river from Tarascon.
See Pictures from Provence
The sea, the sun and the rocky beaches of Nice were next on our trip. We stayed in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, but we spent time walking along
the beach and Promenade des Anglais in Nice. We also were given a class on aromatherapy and a tour of the perfume-producing factory of Fragonard. While
staying in Beaulieu sur Mer we took a day trip to Monaco where we saw the Palace of Prince Rainier and the beautiful gardens and apartments of the rich and famous.
See Pictures from Nice & Monoco
After our tour was over, we said goodbye to our guide and took the TGV from Nice to Nimes, where we met our home-stay group. We all matched up with
our respective penpals and families and said goodbye to each other. The next 5 days were the biggest part of the adventure! I stayed with the teacher of the students and her husband
in their beautiful home in Ales, in the south of France. This is where we saw how the people in the south REALLY live. While in our homestays we ate traditional food, saw local sites, visited the shopping centers,
grocery stores, corner markets and many other places.
See Pictures from the homestay in Ales
Our trip ended with another night journey- this time starting at 12 midnight at the Ales train station. The bus picked us up and off we went to the Marseille airport where we took our first flight to Paris. Once in Paris, our connecting flight was delayed due to a food service strike. So, we sat for 6 hours in the Charles de Gaulle airport waiting for our flight! But we all made it home safely and we will never forget our trip to France in 2001.
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