Discover Paris: A Week of Art, History, and Adventure!

Get ready for an unforgettable journey to the City of Lights on this exciting weeklong adventure in Paris. During this Winterim, you will visit world-famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, cruise the Seine River, and dive into incredible museums. You will also experience the grandeur of the Palace of Versailles and explore vibrant neighborhoods like the Latin Quarter and Montparnasse. From historic cathedrals like Notre-Dame to the artistic charm of Montmartre, this trip will offer a wonderful mix of history, culture, and fun.

This trip will also provide a wonderful opportunity for French students to put into practice the language skills they have developed in class. As such, current and former French students will be given priority on this Winterim. This Winterim is more than just sightseeing. It is a chance for students to experience French culture and create memories that will last a lifetime in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Come discover why Paris has been such an inspiration for so many people over the ages.

Day 1

After a tiring full day of flying to Paris, we arrived at our hotel and after a quick break, we headed to Notre Dame for a tour. After a delicious lunch, we headed to the Eiffel Tower and took an elevator to the top of it to see a beautiful view of Paris and took many photos. We ended the night with dinner and got back to our hotel to get a good night’s rest.

The next day, we went to the Louvre in the morning and then Professor Rudosky took a group to a French school, where we sat in on a class and compared the American school system to the French school system. We ended the day by visiting the Sacre Coeur cathedral and got dinner at a fondue restaurant where someone confidently ordered a potato as a drink (we’re still learning!). Hoping tonight we will have a good night rest and be ready for tomorrow.

Day 2

Today we went to a special exhibition of Roger Caillois’ stone collection at the school of jewelry housed at the school of jewelry in Paris. Caillois was a 20th century philosopher, sociologist and poet who also belong to the surrealist group in the 1930s. He collected 181 precious stones and minerals in which he saw other worlds and wrote about them. We had a private tour of the collection from an expert in rare and precious jewels and minerals. We went to the galleries Lafayette and saw the art deco dome and eat lunch on the sixth floor. After that, we toured the opera house which inspired Phantom of the Opera, a novel and musical. Tonight we’re going to the theater!

Day 3

This morning we woke up to a cool and rainy day in Paris. That said, it was all good as we spent the morning at ChefSquare cooking school, where French chef Jean-Luc Charles taught the group how to make choux, a traditional French pastry. While it was not a competition, per se, one group (featured in the blog) clearly came out on top, with their choux being the prettiest and best tasting. After our lesson, we all left with multiple boxes of choux, grabbed lunch, and headed back to the hotel.

By the time we arrived at the hotel, the rain clouds had dispersed and the sun was shining. It made for perfect weather as smaller groups were allowed to explore our arrondisement and do a little shopping. Afterwards, the whole group got back together and headed off to the le Marais / the Parisian Jewish Quarter where in small groups we all explored the neighborhood and grabbed dinner, most choosing to eat at a delicious falafel place. After dinner we headed off to Le Bal Blomet, a small jazz club. We heard a wonderful performance that included music from Django Reinhardt, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, and Radiohead. The performance ended with a jazz rendition of Highway to Hell. Overall it was an amazing day in Paris, filled with great food and great music. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Day 4

We started today with a food tour of Paris! We spent two hours walking around the city and trying some of the best pastries and chocolates in all of France. Then, we took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe and, on the way, we ran into a group of break dancers who put on a show for us and even took two of our group members to be part of it! Once it was over, we climbed a lot of stairs to the very top, where we could see a beautiful view of just about everything in the city. After a little while of learning about the Arc and admiring the view, we split up and some people stayed for shopping in the Champs-Elysées while others went to see the inside of the Notre Dame cathedral since we didn’t get the chance to when we went up the towers. We reconvened at the hotel and went to an early dinner before a nighttime visit of the Musée d’Orsay, where we saw some impressionist and post-impressionist artwork from artists like Van Gogh and Degas. We got back to the hotel pretty early tonight (before 9:30!!) and are getting ready for a full day tomorrow at Versailles. Bonne soirée!

Day 5

We began our last day in Paris with the group splitting up and some taking a trip to a local cafe for breakfast while others stayed at the hotel to eat breakfast there. We then hopped on a train for a day trip to Versailles! When we got there, it was cold and rainy, but spirits were high. We spent about an hour at the market, looking around and grabbing lunch before meeting our tour guide for our bike tour of Marie Antoinette’s country residence. It was still raining when we were getting ready for the tour, so after getting suited up for the weather, we set off. We spent a few hours riding around and seeing Marie Antoinette’s house while learning about the history of Versailles and 18th century France and the French Revolution, complete with many King Louis’s! We stepped into a cafe for some French hot chocolate and to warm up for a bit before getting back on the bikes to head back to the bike shop. We were all very cold and wet when we finished our tour, but we pushed through to go see the inside of the Château de Versailles. After a long, cold day, we took the train back to Paris to have our last dinner in the city and split up to complete some last minute shopping before going back to our hotel to pack and get ready to leave at 5 am for a long day of travel tomorrow.

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