Rendez-vous à Cedar Rapids

We will leave at 7 AM for Charles de Gaulle airport tomorrow. By the time you see us in Cedar Rapids, we will have been traveling for 21 hours or so......
Here's the itinerary:
Delta Flight 8504 leaving Paris at 11 AM and arriving in Atlanta at 3:35 PM Eastern.
Delta Flight 5225 leaving Atlanta at 7:18 PM Eastern and arriving in Cedar Rapids at 8:34 PM. See you then and there. We will be fresh as spring flowers!

P.S. It was Josh who told me he'd like to live here someday! (answer to poll question to the right)

Au revoir, Paris!

We just returned from our last day in Paris. We visited the Louvre this morning, had lunch as a group in a café near the Louvre, took the métro to the Champs-Elysées, and climbed up the stairs to the top of the Arc de Triomphe! We had good weather and a fabulous last day! See pics below. Au revoir, Paris!

Versailles Palace

We spent our day at Versailles Palace today, which is a bit southwest of Paris. What an over-the-top, extravagant living space the kings of France had! The weather was wonderful, and the students were really interested in the visit. How lucky we are to have such good students! Check out our photos below of Versailles gate and gardens.

This weekend the students will do activities with their host families. Most will be going to Paris to visit things that aren't on our group itinerary.

School and Hippodrome

Today we spent the morning at school. Megan and I taught an English class, and Monsieur Trout and Nettie also did a class. The French students asked lots of questions about cultural differences, the elections, the regions of the United States, and our food.

The group ate at the cafeteria - couscous was on the menu.

In the afternoon, we had a tour of the Hippodrome. It is a large horseracing arena, which is a longstanding tradition here in Enghien-les-Bains. See pics below.

Tomorrow we head to a little house in the outskirts of Paris called Versailles. ;)

Big Day in the Loire Valley!

Today we had a 16-hour excursion by car to the Loire River Valley, which is a region where the French royalty built beautiful castles during the Renaissance. We visited Le Clos-Lucé, which is a home where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. Then we headed to Chenonceau, a castle inhabited by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médécis, which is built over the Cher River. It is the most visited tourist historical site after Versailles. We had lunch and spent the afternoon in the city of Tours, and then made our way home to Paris via Amboise, which boasts a beautiful castle perched on a hillside. We all had a great time, and I am very impressed by how interested the students were in the visits. =) Check photos below.

First Group Trip to Paris

Today we went to Paris to take a boat tour along the Seine, have lunch and shop in the Latin Quarter, and visit the Notre Dame Cathedral. The students loved the Latin Quarter and said they wished they had had more time - so much to do and so little time! =) See photos below.

Who tried the lamb?

To answer your poll question, it was Megan!