Back in Paris

After a long day of traveling, we are back in Paris.  All the students are now with their host families.  They were nervous but excited and are looking forward to living with a French family.  Since they are all in different locations, this will be the last posting of the blog.  Thanks for reading!  Looking forward to seeing you when we return to the US!

Sandrine

Last day in the South of France!

Today we went to the Chagall Museum, which is where Mark Chagall donated a lot of his paintings. This museum was interesting to see after visiting his grave the day before. All of his paintings are based on the Bible and contain his viewpoint. I really enjoyed seeing his glass windows. Outside of the museum, an artist was creating a new piece by putting paint on white walls and allowing it to drip down. I liked how all of the paint started as straight lines but ended up mixed at the bottom.

After the museum we went to Nice. We walked from old Nice up to the waterfall. After hiking for a while we were able to enjoy a beautiful view. After returning to the bottom we ate lunch and swam.

From Nice we went to Cannes and saw the Convention Center where the famous film festival of Cannes takes place. A lot of actors and actresses had handprints in the cement with their signatures. Also in this area were a lot of designer stores like Gucci. We had pizza and ice cream at the restaurant called L’Avion. Then we returned to our hotel.

Mary Ann Ginier

Sunday

Bonjour Parents! Hello I am Sara Anne and I will be telling you about our journey today in the south of France. First we started out by going to St. Paul de Vence, where we saw a lot of art shops, and the grave of the famous French artist Chagall. Tomorrow we are going to a museum to see all of his artwork.

            The next place we went to was Nice, and it was very nice! They had a great open market that reminded me of the ones in old Worthington, except this one was much larger! We ate lunch here on the beach, and also went swimming in the Med sea again. After Nice we traveled to Eze.

            In Eze we went to a perfume factory, and it was lovely. We got to see how they made the perfume, soap, shampoo and more. It was interesting to know how many flowers they need to make an ounce of a scent, and where they import all of their products to produce the smells! Our next destination was Monaco.

            The first thing we did in Monaco was a Casino.  Fortunately for me I am 18 and actually got to go see the inside. It was absolutely beautiful all of the walls were painted with murals, hand gold trim, and great sculptures. We got to view the room where they gamble, and it was completely silent, they all had their poker faces on! Then we went to a very famous Oceanographic Museum that was really cool because it had the most interesting sea animals. The last thing we did in Monaco was have dinner at St. Nicolas which was the best dinner on the whole trip!

            We have all returned back to the hotel to prepare for bed and the next day. I would like to say Happy Fathers day to all of the dads, (especially mine!)I hope everyone enjoys reading our blog! ( : 

Group photo in Avignon

Saturday

Bonjour Nos parents!

            Today was a fulfilling day.  Though mainly it was a traveling day, we enjoyed ourselves. We woke up early this morning, packing up our things for the next destination. We left at nine this morning from the hotel in Avignon.  We drove an hour and a half to Aix en Provence and visited Santons de Provence, which was a very famous clay shop with the artwork done by Paul Fouque.  Our tour guide, Christain, told us how each and every figure is hand made and about all the steps needed to be done to complete one clay figure.  It was pretty interesting and quite a few of us bought souvenirs there.  After that, we were taken into town in Aix for shopping and a lunch break.  It was a very cool and different experience of shopping there because there were so many streets of just shops strictly for people walking around, nothing like in America.  Also we were able to see the real fresh market to which they are accustomed that we learned about in our French textbooks.  We had about and hour and a half to shop around and many girls were pleased with their purchases because the clothing there was such a cute style.  Then, we got on the bus again for about a three-hour bus ride to Roquebrune, which is right by Monaco and also very close to Italy.  Most people slept on the bus for the three hours or just relaxed and talked with others.  As we were arriving in Roquebrune, we came down from the top of the mountain and it was the one of the most beautiful sites that we have seen so far with the Mediterranean sea all the way to the horizon and the whole city of Monaco.  Then arriving to the hotel we were all excited by how close we are to the beach.  We literally can walk right on the beach outside of the hotel.  It’s amazing.  When we were able to drag our suitcases to our new rooms and settle in, we immediately got our swim suits on and headed to the beach. 

            We all loved the beach even though it wasn’t exactly the beach we’re all used to because instead of sand it was filled with rocks.  It was funny how we all struggled walking through the rocks to get to the water.  The water was cold but almost every one got in, but slowly.  We were all surprised when Madame White was able to just hop right in and swim around.  Also, some of us were able to swim very far out, including me which was so much fun.  A cool thing about it was that we were able to see straight through the water to the bottom of the sea no matter where we were, and you can never get that in U.S.  For dinner we were able to walk there from our hotel.  It was delicious, as all our past meals have been.  In conclusion, the day was long with all the driving but we were rewarded with the fun times at the beach and shopping.

                                                                                                            -Annie McFarland

Friday

Bonjour Parents!

Today we had a lot of fun! First, we visited the city of Arles. The buildings were beautiful and they looked very ancient. One of the historical places that we visited was the Arena.. It was an Arena that was built by the ancient Romans for entertainment. They had gladiators fight each other, as well as beasts. The Arena had a beautiful structure and was still mostly there. It was very interesting to learn about. After learning about the Arena, we had some free time to eat lunch and do a little shopping. The stores in Arles were very small and cozy and not too expensive. The city was also not crowded so it was nice to have a little room to explore. After the free time, we went to Camargue, It was an astonishing little area right along the Mediterranean Sea. There, some of the group went horseback riding through the city and along the beach. The horses were wonderful and very nice to ride. After the riding, we had a lot of free time. We swam in the sea. It was cold, but very nice to be in after a long day in the sun. Our next stop was Les Beaux de Provence. It was where there were a lot of Roman ruins. The ruins were most likely a city at one point. A lot of the group climbed to the top of the long stairs to look at the wonderful view of the valley below. Decorated with green, the valley was a great accompaniment to the wonderful ruins. After exploring much of the ruins, we ate dinner a little ways down the ruins. The food was absolutely delicious and also was very filling. Today was the perfect mix of relaxation and exploration. We all hope to see more of France and its little nooks and crannies as we go along this trip! We love and miss our parents and we will enjoy seeing you after this amazing journey sadly comes to an end!

                                                            Meranda Wagner

In the South of France!

Bonjour Parents and Guardians!

We have just finished another long but exhilarating day in France.  After an early departure from Paris, we met up with two other small groups of teachers and students; one from Canton and one from Green Bay, Wisconsin.  We took the high-speed train all together down to Avignon, which is a walled, medieval city in the region Provence  It was once not considered to be part of France but rather a Papal city of its own jurisdiction.  Following our walking tour around the city center, replete with beautiful views of the Rhône River, we drove across to the neighboring province of Langdoc to Le Pont de Gard, which despite its name Pont (meaning bridge) is actually an ancient Roman aqueduct, built approximately 2000 years ago.

We checked into our hotel a few hours ago and had a lovely dinner on the restaurant terrace.  Some of us swam in the pool as well.

We are all winding down now before we spend another fun-filled day in the south of France.

A plus,

Robin