Last day in Paris

It's hard to believe but we are less than 24 hours from getting on a plane and heading home! I believe the girls have had a great time, however, I think they are READY to come home. This morning we departed for a guided tour of the Versailles - the home and gardens. Our tour guide, Etienne, gave us a brief history of Versailles on the bus ride. Once we arrived and started to tour the gardens - it rained! Even though it was not pouring down rain, and there were a few umbrellas to share, everyone seemed to get a bit wet! What a farewell to Paris. We then toured house and again our tour guide provided valuable information in all the rooms we visited. Of course, the girls hit the gift shop before we departed home. There seems to be a lot of talk about "suitcase issues" so when we got to FIAP, we encouraged the girls to start AND finish packing. Tomorrow morning we depart at 7:00 a.m. for the airport to catch our 10:00 a.m. flight. Au Revoir Paris . . . it's been WONDERFUL!

Transportation

As our trip winds down, I was just reviewing all the forms of transportation that we've used in London and Paris. Obviously, we started out on a plane to London. Once in London, we took a motorcoach, the underground and a double decker bus. We took the Chunnel to take us from England into France and once in France we took the Metro and used the public bus system. We also used our feet - alot to get around both countries. The girls have become "experts" with the Metro system in Paris. The picture is taken at the Glaciere station which is our main departing depot and the map is the Metro system map which we have navigated daily.

Bastille Day & Rebecca's Birthday

Finally - "we get to sleep in". That was the comment regarding yesterday. Since it was Bastille Day, there was no school and the girls took full advantage of it! We met for lunch at noon and had the cafeteria staff bring out a cake for Rebecca. We sang Happy Birthday in French, English and Spanish. At 2:45 we departed for a nearby cinema to see Harry Potter. All the previews and commercials were in French and I was getting concerned that the movie would be played in French. But much to my surprise, the film was in English with French subtitles. Bernice and I are not really a Harry Potter fan so the girls had to bring us up to date before the movie started. There was crying, cheering and applause. We stopped in for dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant that was quite lovely. Friday is the last day of school so the girls want to celebrate by...shopping! I know, that's quite a shock so Bernice and I will force ourselves and take them to a few areas for shopping. Saturday morning we depart for Versailles and Sunday it's home. See everyone very soon!

Orsay Musuem and The Chapel of the Miraculous Medal

Shortly after lunch we departed for the Orsay museum. Again, we reminded the girls that some of the most famous impressionist works are housed in this museum and they have the opportunity to enter and view the pieces for FREE! One of the things I love about Paris is that they encourage young adults to become culturally educated by giving them access to the museums for free. The Orsay is much smaller and easier to navigate than the Louvre and the girls enjoyed their visit. We then walked to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal and the home of St. Catherine Laboure - just beautiful. As we headed home, Rebecca, Caro Nunez, Caro Carasa and Katie Watson joined me at the Cafe Oz to watch the Amercian women defeat the French women soccer team - Go Team USA! Alex, Caryn and Olga ate at FIAP, while the other girls stopped at the Italian restaurant by FIAP for dinner.

Today, July 14th, in addition to Bastille Day, it's Rebecca Charur's birthday. We met for lunch and had the kitchen staff prepare a cake for her as we sang Happy Birthday. Later we're scheduled to go the movies to watch Harry Potter. The pictures posted are in front of the Orsay and at the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal.

As our trip winds down, I hope the girls have had an awesome time in London and Paris. While I'm glad to be headed home, I'll miss Paris - the City of Lights!

The Seine River

Unfortunately, our scheduled picnic was rained out. The girls seemed grateful for the opportunity to take a long afternoon nap on a rainy day. That evening we departed for a river boat cruise on the Seine River. The sights on the river are even more beautiful at night including Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Orsay museum. On Wednesday we are scheduled to visit the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. St. Catherine Laboure relayed a request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the Miraculous Medal that is worn today by many Catholics and even Non-Catholics. After visiting the chapel we head to the Orsay museum home of the some of the most famous painting by impressionist painters such as Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Degas. Tomorrow is Bastille Day and Rebecca Charur's birthday. Happy independence day France and very Happy Birthday Rebecca!

Free Day in Paris

After the "exhausting" weekend, we decided to give the girls a "free day in Paris" i.e. no planned outings. We went back to the area with L'Opera and Galleries Lafayette. Some girls toured the opera house, while some girls toured the shopping malls - you know who you are! In the evening, FIAP hosted a dinner for our group as well as groups from Canada, Brazil and Argentina. After a little coaxing, we seated the girls with the other groups so they can get to know some of their fellow students. The evening turned out quite well and we all realized that teenagers are teenagers no matter where they come from! Today we are scheduled to have a picnic at Jardin du Luxembourg and this evening we are scheduled for our boat tour along the Seine River. I will post picture when we return from our outing. The girls have been great and while I know they are enjoying Paris - some are just a tad homesick.

Normandy, St. Malo and Mont St. Michel

Saturday morning departed FIAP for the weekend. The first stop was Caen, where the Peace Memorial is located. This memorial is dedicated to the forces that stormed the beaches on Normanday. We viewed a film via a split screen that shows the Allied forces storming the beach while the German soldiers prepared for the invasion. The film was moving as well as the walk through the museum. We then departed to Omaha beach where we were able to walk along the same beach that our soldiers landed on. It was an extremely moving and emotional experience, especially after we visited the cemetery where 9000+ American soliders are buried. Our tour guide, Etienne, spent a great deal of time retelling the history of the war on our drive down to Caen. He also expressed his gratitute on behalf of the French people for the efforts during the two month of the Normany invasion.

After leaving the cemetery, we drove for about 2 hours to a quaint fishing town called St. Malo. The hotel provided dinner so we departed for the "city" around 9:00 p.m. Our tour guide walked us through the town filled with rich history. The girls shopped, ate crepes and ice cream. We made it home around midnight where everyone went to sleep right away. The next morning we left the hotel at 8:30 a.m. for Mont St. Michel. Etienne, took us on a walking tour of the abbey and explained it's dedicated to St. Michael, the Archangel. The girls had free time to eat lunch and shop. We departed for FIAP at 1:00 p.m. and made it home around 6:00 p.m.

It was a wonderful, event filled and emotional laden weekend. I hope the girls enjoyed themselves and so did I.