Day 6

samedi, le 13 juin

The kids all started the day happy as we were able to sleep in until 7:45! Woopie! We headed to St. Chapelle built by Louis the IX on the island of Cité. The kids explored the private chapel of the king and took in the beautiful stained glass windows that were shimmering like jewels from the morning sun. Our lovely guide, Marie-Hélène, took a moment to explain how the chapel was built using the students to recreate the construction of a "chapel". One of the photos below shows the students learning this. The Prefecture de la Ville, the headquarters of the police, was located right next door...I jokingly threatened to send them there if anyone misbehaved!

At St. Chapelle

Then we took an inner urban train from Cité to the grand chateau de Versailles. Some kids took a moment to snooze on the RER as true Parisians. The formidable chateau was bigger than they imagined! They walked through the famous Hall of Mirrors and had a glimpse of what life was like for the King of France. Louis XIV really did have exquisite taste! We then strolled through his gardens that Marie-Antoinette once meandered, settling on a perfect location to eat lunch amongst the trees in an outdoor café.

Le Chateau de Versailles

  Lunching in the Garden of Versailles

We then headed back to Paris to do a little more souvenir shopping at St. Michel and ice cream while walking in the Luxembourg Gardens, admiring the Palace of Luxembourg built in Italian renaissance style. The chateau was a gift for Marie de Medici because she was missing her motherland of Italy.

Luxembourg Gardens

We then took a brief moment to rest our feet and get ready for dinner with some friends at a North African restaurant, The King of Couscous. We met up with Peggy (my French friend), her husband and daughter, and two other students that graduated from LCHS that happened to be in Paris for the weekend. ACIS was great and provided us with meal vouchers that allowed us to pick our own restaurants. What a treat!

Couscous Dinner at Le Roi du Couscous

Tomorrow the students will take in the art at the Louvre and see the famous works such as the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory. Afterwards they will have free time. I will take the students to walk a bit of the iconic Champs-Elysées and have lunch at the famous Marais district. Later that night we will have our last dinner in Paris at the famous Le Procope where Benjamin Franklin crafted part of the U.S. Constitution and was once his favorite restaurant in Paris.