Day 10 in Paris. We are getting ready to go home. It's been a wonderful trip! The bus will pick the group up to take them to the airport. From there they fly to London and then back to Newark. Martha Falk will return to Spain for some mission work and I will visit some missionaries and churches in Toulouse and Marseille. Be sure to ask someone on the trip why Babar has  the Rose. Au revoir la France and Hello USA.

Metro rides in Paris.  Here is a picture of our wonderful tour guide, Lisa. She led our group through the metro. As you can see, there are quite a few of us. Leanna is showing us with Babar that sometimes the metro is jerky.

Day 9 in Paris. This was our extra "free time" day, so we got up later and took our time eating breakfast and getting ready to visit some more places. We took the metro to Le Musée d'Orsay. This museum has the most impressionist paintings. Since the students had done reports on the Impressionists, they were eager to see Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Degas, etc.  The paintings are beautiful in real life.
      From there we took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe. Some of us went under the busy street and through the tunnel to come up on L 'Etoile. We walked around and saw the names of Napoleon's generals and the places he had conquered. We took a picture of the grave of the unknown soldier and then walked back through the tunnel and began shopping on the Champs- Elysées. ( I noticed that coral seems to be the new color here - especially for summer!)
      Next stop was Montmartre. We got off the metro and began to walk up the hill. There were plenty of souvenir shops plus a store called Sympa which is kind of like TJ Max. There were clothes piled up in bins and if you could find something you liked by digging through the piles - they were only a few euros. We continued walking uphill and then climbing the steps to Le Sacré Coeur. The crowd was huge and we had to beware of pickpockets. There were mimes, jugglers, singers and artists. The music and entertainment were lively. Then we went into the church and noticed how solemn and serious the worship was. This is a pilgrimage destination because the Host is on display 24/7 for the past hundreds of years.
       We had dinner on La Place du Tertre where there were dozens of artists and people who would sketch your portrait. I was very proud of my students that spent the meal speaking in French. After la soupe à l'oignon, le boeuf bourguignon and a raspberry dessert, we headed back.

         We held a debrief session and talked about what we had learned on this trip and what to expect going home. Then John Falk led us in prayer.  It was a bit ironic that all this happened in the bar - the only place they could fit our group for a meeting! But we know God has been with us on this trip and we thank Him for such a good learning experience.

       An added bonus to this trip was that the parents enjoyed getting to know each other. Mary & Greg Branche are seated above and Martha Stout is next to Tara Shepley for dinner.

Day 8- We were off to Versailles. This is a castle of the kings only 10 miles from Paris. But with the traffic , it took us an hour! We are thankful to have comfortable autocars that drive us to these excursions. Versailles has been redone since I was there last and the gold fences are all now shining brightly. Our group entered with special "whisperers" that we put in our ears. As we went from room to room, looking at the decor and furnishings, we listened to a story told by King Louis XIV. We learned a lot of information about the history of the royal family and the palace. Later we did a role play about the various people involved in the French Revolution and what brought it about. We spent 30 minutes in the gardens. Although the sky was overcast, it did not rain. It has been cool and that is perfect for walking around. The fountains were on and it was beautiful.
   We took the autocar back to Paris and had some free time around Notre Dame. Lunch was in the Latin Quarter and everyone had fun shopping and exploring. We joined the line for Notre Dame. It was long, but moved quickly into the cathedral and around it. Then we had more time to look around in the heart of the city. We met for dinner on the Boulevard Michel - the most popular place for students around the Sorbonne University. The restaurant was very elegant. Afterwards, everyone went on les Bateaux Mouches for a sightseeing trip up and down the river Seine.

    Here is a picture of Babar on one of the bridges of Notre Dame. The newest fashion is to buy a lock, inscribe the names of you & your love, lock it on the bridge and then throw the key into the Seine to symbolize your eternal love.  Babar is missing Céleste.....

Paris Day 7- The wake up call came early as we needed to board the bus to visit the Loire Valley. Our breakfast here in the hotel is very adequate: typical croissants, yogurt and juice. However, they have also provided protein for us Americans: scrambled eggs, sausages, cheese and ham.
      We drove 2 hours to Chartres to visit this fine example of a Gothic cathedral. Then we drove another hour to Amboise. We stopped for lunch in the little village before climbing the ramp through the walls to the castle. This one has a lot of history in connection with the protestant reformation here in France. We learned that a total of about 12,000 protestants were hung from the balcony as a warning to the village below. Various kings lived here , decorated and added architecture. Leonardo da Vinci helped with the designs and inventions. He is supposedly buried in the chapel.
       Another hour and we were off to Chenonceaux. This castle was decorated by 5 different women. It was our favorite with beautiful rooms, interesting beds and a huge kitchen in the basement. There are also 2 gardens to visit and from them, the present staff gathers huge bouquets of flowers to adorn each room. Here are Anna S, Brooke, David and Babar in front of it.

       We climbed steps up and down the castle. Allison is helping Babar.The students were divided into teams and had to "sell" their castle, citing the pros and cons. Anna V did a great job selling Amboise even though we all liked the other one better!

       Once back in Paris, we ate in a Marrocain restaurant:: coucous, vegetables and chicken. For dessert we had pastries. Annie is feeding Babar.
 

Paris - day 6.  After our night on the train, we boarded a bus that took us around the city of Paris to see some of the monuments. We had a great guide who told us stories and information. The bus stopped at Les Invalides for pictures and drove by the Eiffel Tower, the Conciergie, the Latin Quarter, the Arc de Triomphe, and up the Champs - Elysées. We had 30 minutes to drop our suitcases in our room and then we took the Metro to the Louvre. Here is Catherine and Babar figuring out the metro. The students soon became good at reading the map.
    After lunch at the Louvre, we explored the paintings and statues. Again , the students were able to find their way around, taking many pictures.From there we walked through Les Tuileries to la Place de la Concorde and then took a metro to dinner. We ate a salad and then duck & potatoes with a delicious raspberry dessert.
     After dinner we walked down le Champs de Mars to the Eiffel Tower. We had reservations and tickets to go up at 8 pm. There was only one lift working, but it took us to the second floor where we got off to walk around before taking the lift to the top. What a beautiful evening! The sun was setting and the sky was clear. It was a little windy and cooler, but perfect for the view. We came down and met around 10:30 pm.

     As we walked to our metro stop, we passed a huge screen with a televised soccer game. Portugal won and the fans started streaming out of the park.  We decided to walk to a different metro stop. All the stations were full of enthusiastic fans . At 11 pm the Eiffel Tower turned on all her lights and sparkled like a diamond. It was beautiful. We arrived back to our hotel and tumbled into bed.
  

The night train - we took it from Madrid to Paris. We ate dinner in the train station and boarded around 6:30 pm. The compartments were small - 4 people to sleep together. At first the seats were there, so we sat and read or listened to music. The students all piled into each others' rooms to play games and talk. Here we have Corey, Annie, Allison, Piper with Babar, Madison, Leanna and Catherine.  The porter turned the beds down around 10 pm and we climbed into our bunks. We turned off the lights and thought about sleeping. The motion of the train helped, but we stopped at several cities and that broke up our sleep. Morning came very soon and we washed up, got dressed, put up the bunks and packed up our suitcases. We got off in Paris very tired, but pleased with the adventure.

Madrid - day 5

Bonjour! I know it's been several days since I wrote. We have been very busy, up at 7 and going until 10 pm at least. Also, the internet has been sketchy. So, day 4 we journeyed  outside of Madrid to El Escorial. There we saw a huge building that housed a monastery, chapel, and the quarters of the royal family. Then we descended into el Panteón to see where the royal family ( kings and their mothers) are buried in ornate coffins. We had an excellent guide to explain the history and relationships of the  families. We visited other marble coffins in this mausoleum and then emerged into the sunshine. Although it was hot, there was a cool breeze from the nearby mountains. After a delicious lunch, we took our bus to visit the Valley of the Fallen. Lisa, our tour guide, explained the history of Franco and his dictatorship. We saw his grave and the huge stone cross on the top of the mountain.

     Then Lisa took us into a garden to play a game. The students were divided into teams and given pictures by some of the Spanish artists we have studied. Each team had to explain why their picture should be chosen to represent the "Spirit of Spain". All the TPS students did great, but the team here won - each person gave a good explanation. Sarah, Holly, Nicole and Brooke each got a 100 euros - in paper candy as their prize.

Day 4 - Today we got on a bus and drove an hour to Toledo. Our first stop was a metal factory where they temper steel and make swords. The artisans also decorate beautiful jewelry with gold thread.  Several of our group bought some swords and had them shipped to the USA!!  (Notice in the picture how Gabby is wielding that sword! )Then we visited the cathedral. Our guide, Ines, explained the features of the beautiful monstrance and frescoes. We walked through the winding streets to what was once a Jewish synagogue and then to a monastery. Across the street was a marzipan shop where we tasted this treat. Then at around 2 pm in the heat of the day, we enjoyed a large meal in a cool restaurant. Toledo with all its history and old buildings is considered the heart of Spain.

Churros & chocolate-   This is a favorite thing to do in Madrid! We went to an old shop and ordered 6 churros ( a long fried piece of dough) with a cup of thick chocolate sauce. Then we dipped our churros in the sauce and ate it carefully because it was hot. Here Margot & Anna enjoy the snack.

Madrid- day 3! We have doing well here in Madrid. Everyone is more rested. We toured the center of Madrid by bus and the walked to the Palais real. After that we visited El Prado and had a guide to explain the meanings of some of the paintings. Ruthann and Margot really seemed to know their art history! We split up for lunch and then met back to go to the modern art museum - Reina Sophia. We looked at works by Picasso, Miro and Dali. The famous painting "Guernica" is here. Very sobering . Very confusing. It was fun to try to interpret the meanings....but Dali was beyond most of us!!!

   After some free time, we took the metro to the Cocina - a cooking school. The students were divided into teams and cooked the meal: appetizers, egg & potatoe pancake, paella and chocolat dessert! They also make lemonade from scratch. It was delicious!  Here are Madison & David at work. Brooke is also preparing something yummy.

We arrived in London, then flew on to Madrid. Once we landed, our tour director, Lisa, met us and took us by bus to the hotel. We didn't want to go to sleep because we want to be on the schedule here. So Lisa took us down to the Puerta del Sol to look around and shop. We had several hours to find lunch, speak Spanish, shop and explore. By dinner time, here we are by the center fountain: Ruthann, Leanna, Nicole and Anna V.

Our group says Adios and Au revoir at Newark airport

Last American meal for Nicole Stout, Anna Van Deventer & Babar

Senora Falk and Madame Starosciak are leaving NJ with Babar!!

We are ready to go!   Au revoir ! Adios!