Last day in Paris!

 Monday, July 9th, 12:30am

Bonjour,

Today was the last day of visits in Paris and, once again, we had a busy program! We gave students a fairly late departure time for today, in order to let them sleep in, considering how intense the past few days had been. They seemed very happy about it and were ready for the schedule we had planned.

First, we headed to the Opera and the Galleries Lafayettes. We showed them around, and gave them a little description of the various monuments and places of interest we saw. Then, they had about 2 hours, in groups of 3 or more, to shop and visit the Galleries as they liked. Most of them got up to the rooftop where they were able to enjoy a nice view of Paris. The area and the Galleries have a lot of restaurant options, and students were also instructed to have lunch before meeting back with us.











After lunch, we took the bus to go to L'Orangerie museum. Much smaller than the Louvre, it can be visited in about an hour, and it is a nice option if you don't have the time (or energy) to go to bigger attractions. It is famous for hosting Monet's Water Lilies, and has a number of other interesting pieces. Students were given 45 minutes to visit it. I crossed paths with some of them as I was walking around myself.













After L'Orangerie, we walked and took the metro to l'Arc de Triomphe. En route we stopped to take a picture in front of the General de Gaulle statue, near the Grand Palais. Once we got to the arch, we told students about its history, as well as about tthe tomb of the unknown soldier. We also mentioned how from the Arc de Triomphe, we can see the Louvre (and many other things) on one side and the Défense business district on the other. Finally, we took a group picture with the Saumur students!











The last sight of the day was Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. We took the metro to get there, and then students had about an hour and a half to visit as they pleased, in groups of 3. Some decided to go inside the Sacré-Cœur, some admired the view of Paris, while others went shopping in the streets of Montmartre. Then, we met back to go to the restaurant we had booked for tonight, and finally we walked back to our accommodation for our last night in France! Before going to bed, students packed and weighted their suitcases, and tomorrow we leave early in the morning to go to the airport! Our flight departs at 11:25am local time (5:25am Bloomington time), and we are scheduled to get to Dallas-Fort Worth at 2:55 local time (3:55 Bloomington time). We'll then have a connection there and get to Indianapolis at 9:47pm. We'll update you if there are any changes to the schedule!

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