Thursday. Our last day in Paris. Today we went to Euro Disneyland as a treat for the students. About an hour’s travel to get there. Theme parks are mostly about queuing, although it wasn’t too bad, being a weekday, and our longest queue was for about 45 minutes. I went on the following rides: Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours and The Haunted Mansion. Not a bad day overall, and the boys were well behaved. Some went a bit crazy in the very many souvenir shops. Overall, our time in France was very good. We had an extremely busy itinerary, and had to drop some things from it. We had late nights and early mornings. The weather was fantastic, beyond expectations. This morning (Friday), as we ... read more

Sunday. Today we had a return to warm, sunny weather, and we set off for a day touring the Loire Valley. First of all we visited the Château Chenonçeau, which bridges the Cher River, and is set in magnificent grounds which include formal and informal gardens, and forest. This château has an interesting history, and the grounds are very peaceful if one walks into the forest a bit. We then proceeded to Amboise for lunch, followed by a tour of the very impressive château/castle which overlooks and dominates the town. What remains is only a fraction of the original great fortress, but includes some amazing features, such as the chapel overhanging the walls, the broad spiral ramps inside the towers, built so that the king/nobles could ride their horses and bring carriages up from the entrances ... read more

Friday. Today we set off again in the morning to visit le Louvre, and upon arrival we were delighted to discover that with our Paris Museum Passes we had priority entry. What can one say about le Louvre? It is a small local museum with a few famous and/or important paintings, sculptures, etc.... Ha, ha. On this visit, I myself focused on Greek and Roman sculptures, and also viewed the galleries with furnishings of Louis XIV. I particularly liked dramatic sculptures, and those featuring mythical creatures such as centaurs, dryads, etc. Also saw some early pre-bronze age and bronze age artifacts. After lunch in the Tuileries Gardens, we walked the length of les Champs Élysées to l’Arc de Triomphe. It is quite a climb to the top of this great monument, but worth it as it ... read more

Tuesday started with an ascent of La Tour Eiffel. We arrived early enough to only wait in the queue for about an hour. It is truly an extraordinary structure, so massive yet so graceful. Needless to say, the view was stunning. Most of us walked down from the second level. We had a contest for the most creative photo - one of my best efforts is shown at right. We then walked to Les Invalides, saw Napoleon's tomb, and visited the museum. Margaret & Phillip, you will be pleased to know that I visited the Museum of Plan-Reliefs. After lunch we travelled to the garden of the Palais Royal for a sketching workshop with a local artist. Many of us (including myself) were surprised by latent skill. It is something one might never normally take the ... read more

Hi Folks One week to go before departing on Easter Sunday. This post is mainly to check out how to use the travel blog.... read more