Spring Break Adventure in France

Over spring break nine French 4/AP students traveled to France where they spent 10 fabulous days exploring the cities of Nice and Paris, taking in the sights, making friends and, of course, practicing French! Our journey started in Nice, one of the crown jewels of the Côte d’Azur. The highlights of our stay in Nice included: practicing sporting French vocabulary with local experts, learning how to play the traditional French game pétanque, and a drive to Monaco, the glamorous playground of the rich and famous and home of the Grimaldi royal family. We also toured the Fragonard Perfume Factory, where we learned about the centuries-old French art of making parfum.
 
We put our French skills to use during a home dinner in Nice. This was an immersive experience at the home of local Nice residents, with a family-style dinner and cultural exchange opportunity. Then we continued to Paris to see the city’s most impressive monuments, from the magnificent Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs-Élysées, to Napoleon’s final resting place at Les Invalides, to the Gothic façade of Notre Dame (we were there hours before it went up in flames!). 
 
We enjoyed an evening boat ride down the Seine and marveled at Louis XIV's jaw-dropping palace at Versailles, where we hopped onto a vélo to explore beyond the gardens by bike tour. We visited eclectic Montmartre, known for its artists of all types and saw the Sacre Coeur Basilica. We discovered the similarities and differences between our school and a French school when we visited with local students at a Paris school. We enjoyed a tour of the school, visited a class and had a typical French school lunch in the canteen. We even gave our French skills a thorough workout with a night at the French theater!
 
No visit to Paris is complete without a stop at the world-famous Louvre, home of masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo, believed to depict the Greek goddess Aphrodite. From its origins as a royal fortress, to its status as the world’s most visited art museum, the Louvre has long been at the center of Parisian culture. It houses a collection of 35,000 works of art from around the world. We enjoyed a sensational view of this splendid city from the top of the iconic Eiffel Tower.
 
Last but not least, we took an excursion to Giverny, the inspiration for Claude Monet's water lily paintings, where we saw Monet's house with its famous pink walls, green shutters, sunflower-yellow furniture and Japanese prints. Upon return to Paris, we saw the paintings inspired by the gardens during a visit to the Orangerie museum. We returned home exhausted but happy, definitely bitten by the travel bug. It was amazing to see the things that students learn in the classroom come to life through their eyes! 
 
 - Elena Southard, Baker High School French Teacher