Last FULL day in Paris

We had a little bit later of a start today - but ended up getting into Paris around 10am-ish.  We started at the Bastille.  Some of the students got some plastic forks from a vendor so they could mimic storming the bastille but he didn't know that really now it's at the center of a traffic circle so that was not a possibility.

We walked down the Marais - the oldest district in Paris - and cut through the Hotel Sully.  It used to be a family mansion but now is some sort of museum.  We took our group shot there and continued on our way to the Place des Vosges. A beautiful boxed in park with amazing apartments - one of which was inhabited by Victor Hugo.  I took some video footage from the Place des Vosges and some students said hello to their families.  Also Jared has a message for his Mom.

We continued walking through to the Jewish district of Paris - stopped in and got a pastry snack - you know because when in Paris and you walk by on - you do need to stop in and get an eclair or some French Challah bread, right?

We passed by the modern art museum - the Centre Pompidou and then continued on walking to Chatelet to go to the indoor shopping area called Les Halles.  Students got last minute gifts and were able to eat their lunches.

After lunch, we went over to the Musee D'Orsay for our guided tour.  Here and at the Louvre - they had a separate school entrance and a cubby area for our jackets which was nice.  Unfortunately they are renovating the upper floors of the museum - so a limited amount of the impressionist paintings are available to see.  Everything was on the main floor - which is too bad because it's one of my favorite museums. But the guide was great and the students were well behaved.  They are definitely tired though :)

After the museum we went over the the Place de la Concorde.   There is a funny "cactus" story to go along with the Concorde.  When we were at Sacre Coeur - you couldn't really see the Eiffel Tower bc it was foggy and bc it was blocked by a couple buildings..and Fabien said that when it's so cold out - they put the tower away.  Now most students knew he was joking but there was one who didn't get it.  So along those lines Jared decided to tell some of the girls that the green/copper lanterns (that looked like  cactus) was a recent gift from John McCain....to try and see who would fall for it.  He asked me to back him up on it - so I did ...and it went on for a while - but eventually the gig was up.  Ah, the last full day in Paris jokes......

That is why two of the girls are pictured next to the "cactus".

Then it was back to Lisses.  Mr Barnett and I went to a belgium mussels place for dinner with Fabien - and that is the end of our last full day here.

The forecast here says rain .... and perhaps some freezing rain - although it is not supposed to be cold enough to freeze.  But we should be ok given that our flight takes off at 4pm here.

We plan on trying to see Saint Chappelle - that was the place that we couldn't see two days ago bc of the weather - it turns out it's bc the space is not heated and it was -5 degrees in the room - it was also closed today.  We are going to try and see it tomorrow morning if it's warm enough.  If not - the students voted on going to a cafe in the Latin Quarter for our last activity all as one group.  And then we head to the airport at noon.

You can check air france's web page for delays of the flight if there are any.  I will call in the event of a LONG delay - let's say more than 2 hours.  Otherwise - students can call parents once we land at JFK.  

We should arrive around 7pm - getting us to Ardsley around 9pm or earlier.

This is the last blog from Paris - I will post one more once I am home with any last day pictures or thoughts.

There are two links:   one for our video and one for pictures

photos: Day 5 photos link

Video link: Day 5 video

See everyone in Ardsley soon :)