Day 1 :
Departure
- Depart from home airport:
Relax and enjoy your scheduled flight from North America.
Day 2 :
Arrive in Paris
- Upon arrival:
Your 24-hour Tour Director will meet you at the airport in and remain with your group until your final airport departure. For the next seven evenings, you will enjoy the convenience of a centrally located Paris hotel, where daily breakfast will be included.
- Paris Metro:
In Paris, the cost of public transport is included for all group sightseeing. Escorted by your Tour Director, you’ll experience the city in the same manner as the locals. Your airport transfers and any day-trips will be by private coach.
- Paris:
Paris is one of the most iconic cities in the world, filled with culture, history, monuments, and museums. Known as the City of Light, Paris is many things to different people. No writer has ever been able to truly capture Paris in words and only the experience of being there can translate the grandness and magic of this incredible city.
- Musée Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris:
Experience the rise of Paris with a visit to the Musée Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris. Housed in a Renaissance palace, the Carnavalet Museum chronicles Paris’ dynamic history through thousands of paintings, drawings, letters, photographs, and sculptures.
- Seine River Cruise: :
Experience the beauty of Paris on a Seine River Cruise. Your group will pass under many graceful bridges and view important landmarks on both banks during the trip.
- Group dinner:
Enjoy a meal together in a local restaurant.
- Daily Reflection and Group Discussion:
"We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience." - John Dewey
Every evening of the program, we’ll set time aside to update your Reflection Journal and share thoughts and impressions that have come up during the day.
Day 3 :
Author’s in Paris
- Local expertise:
During your group’s tour, you’ll gain the knowledge and insights of three half-day local guides in France.
- Writers of Montparnasse:
Embark on a Writers of Montparnasse walking tour, on which you’ll visit the haunts of Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Jean Rhys while hearing stories of their lives in Paris.
- Le Marais:
Explore the Marais Quarter, which has a history dating to Paris’ beginning. The Marais features magnificent shops and cafes and is a perfect place to take in the Parisian lifestyle. While here, you’ll also see the La Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris.
- Maison Victor Hugo:
Visit Maison Victor Hugo, the mansion where the author and statesman lived for 16 years. The museum now houses Hugo’s furniture and mementos, including 450 drawings of scenes from his works.
- Notre-Dame:
View the Notre-Dame Cathedral, construction of which began in 1163 on a location labeled a holy shrine in Roman times. Over the centuries, the cathedral has housed some of France's most momentous occasions, including Napoleon’s coronation.
- Sacré-Coeur Basilica:
Visit Sacré-Coeur Basilica, a huge white church that dominates the Parisian skyline. Its construction began in 1875 and ended in 1914, just before WWI. Inside, your group can admire the stained glass and some of the world’s largest mosaics.
- Montmartre:
Tonight, you’ll travel to the Montmartre area of Paris for dinner. This area was made famous in the late 19th century as an artists’ haunt. You’ll also spend time in the Place du Tertre, a square known for its local artwork.
Day 4 :
The Rise and Fall of Napolean
- L’arc de Triomphe:
Ascend the Arc de Triomphe, a massive triumphal arch commissioned by Napoleon. Today, it is a symbol of Paris and home to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
- Jardin des Tuileries:
Walk through the Jardin des Tuileries, the Neo-Classical gardens outside the Louvre’s entrance and continue to La Place de la Concorde for a magnificent view of the Champs
Élysées. Time permitting, you’ll explore the Champs Élysées, which offers a beautiful look at Parisian life and architecture.
- The Louvre:
Tour the renowned Louvre Museum with a local specialist guide. You’ll see Leonardo da
Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the imposing Coronation of Napoleon, and many of western civilization’s finest paintings and sculptures.
- Hôtel des Invalides:
Visit the Hôtel des Invalides, an imposing building commissioned by Louis XIV in 1670 for wounded and homeless veterans. You’ll also visit the gilded Dome Church, one of the finest examples of 17th-century French architecture, highlighted by the massive Tomb of Napoleon.
- Latin Quarter:
Tonight, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant in the Latin Quarter, a section of the city that dates to the Roman times and is generally associated with artists, intellectuals, and political unrest.
- Evening walking tour:
Take a walking tour of the Île de la Cité and Île St-Louis, the oldest area of Paris, conquered by Julius Caesar in 53 B.C.
Day 5 :
Day Trip to Port-Marly
- Le Port-Marly:
Today, your group will have a private coach and driver for your half-day excursion outside the city
- Château de Monte Cristo:
Explore Alexandre Dumas’ Château de Monte Cristo in Le Port-Marly. The facade of Monte Cristo displays sculpted, framed portraits of Dumas’ favorite writers, which were created by Pradier and other famous sculptors, and his warm motto is still inscribed over the entrance, "I love those who love me."
- The Pantheon:
Return to Paris and discover the Pantheon, a Neoclassical building in the Latin Quarter. With its facade based on Rome’s Pantheon and a dome reminiscent of St. Peter’s, this beautiful work is a fitting resting place for some of France’s greatest minds, including Voltaire, Victor Hugo, and Louis Pasteur.
Day 6 :
Artists Past and Present in Paris
- Pere Lachaise:
Explore Cimitiere Pere Lachaise, where many of France’s and the world’s greatest artists, musicians, and authors are buried—including Delacroix, Ingres, Ernst, Modigliani, Pissarro,
Seurat, Moliere, Wilde, Proust, Balzac, Rossini, Bizet, Chopin, Bernhardt, Richard Wright, Gertrude Stein, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and Isadora Duncan.
- Shakespeare & Co.:
We will walk to Shakespeare & Co., the famous English-language bookstore founded by Walt Whitman’s grandson.
- Maison de Balzac:
Explore the Maison de Balzac, which displays artifacts from the life of the prolific French writer Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), who lived here between 1840 and 1847. In this particular house, which he rented in the name of his housekeeper to avoid creditors, he wrote some of his last works, including La Rabouilleuse, Une Ténébreuse Affaire, as well as La Cousine Bette.
- Group dinner:
Enjoy a meal together in a local restaurant.
Day 7 :
Day Trip to Illiers-Combray and Versailles
- Transportation:
A private coach and driver will accompany your group outside the city today.
- House of Tante Léonie:
Visit the House of Tante Léonie in Illiers-Combray, one of the last vestiges of the environment Proust described in his novel, Remembrance of Things Past. This excellent museum is a moving opportunity for those who have read his works to compare their imagination with reality. Thanks to many donations and bequests from his family, there is a rich collection of the author’s items, letters, and documents.
- Versailles:
Experience Versailles, a palace commissioned by Louis XIV around Louis XIII’s hunting lodge.
In addition to the spectacular Gardens, your visit will include the ornate State Apartments and the magnificent Hall of Mirrors. Versailles set the 17th-century standard for royal opulence, and such over-indulgence set the stage for the ensuing French Revolution 100 years later.
- LEAP! Activity:
Seize the Chateau: Experience the French Revolution via roleplay
You’ll be divided into groups along the lines of French society (think Parisian peasants or Marie Antoinette) around the time of the French Revolution and play out the various arguments and events that led to this key moment in history. You’ll be given audio guides and information cards upon arrival at Versailles that detail what life was like leading up to the revolution from your character's perspective. Once you’ve completed the tour, everyone will share their character’s point of view and experience during a dynamic discussion led by your Tour Director.
- Group dinner:
This evening, dinner will be provided in a local restaurant.
Add on LEAP Activity | Seize the Château!
A lively role-play puts you in the shoes of the monarchy, clergy, nobility, bourgeoisie, or peasantry to explore the issues underlying the French Revolution.
Day 8 :
Paris of the Impressionists
- Opera National de Paris:
Take a guided tour of the Opera National de Paris, founded by Louis XIV in 1669. The current home of the Paris Opera, Palais Garnier was inaugurated on January 15, 1875 and is the 13th theater to house it. Highlights of your tour will include the Grand Staircase, built from marble of various colors; the Library-Museum, which houses a permanent gallery containing paintings, drawings, photographs, and scale models of sets; the richly decorated Grand Foyer; the Salon du Glacier; and the Auditorium, dominated by the immense crystal chandelier hanging below Marc Chagall’s brightly colored ceiling.
- Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette:
aris is one of the world’s most important fashion centers. You’ll visit the elegant stores of Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette for a firsthand look at the latest trends.
- Group dinner:
This evening, dinner will be provided in a local restaurant.
Day 9 :
The Eiffel Tower
- The Eiffel Tower:
Ascend to the top of Paris’ most recognizable landmark, the Eiffel Tower, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. The wrought-iron tower was not meant to be permanent, and the first permit was only for 20 years—by that time, it had proved to be a valuable communication device for radio. It is now France’s global icon and has hosted over 200 million visitors.
- Final Reflection and Discussion Session:
This evening, you’ll make the final entries in your Reflection
Journal and share some of the most significant observations and perspectives that have taken shape throughout your French literary tour. We’ll also discuss how these experiences may be most relevant for us all as we return home.
Day 10 :
Departure from Paris
- Au Revoir! :
Your rewarding and enjoyable The French Novelists literary tour around Paris comes to an end as your Tour Director accompanies your group to the airport on your final day.
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