Un voyage culturel à Paris

With a very early morning start from Cambridge Station, on the first day of a cultural half-term trip to France, Year 12 and 13 students and teachers stepped off the Eurostar in Paris at lunchtime.

After navigating the extremely busy metro with all their luggage, they dropped bags at the hotel before heading out to visit the Jardin du Luxembourg, home to a unique series of statues of French queens and other distinguished women.

For the first evening, the skies were clear and, after walking to the Montparnasse Tower, the group watched an amazing sunset over the Paris skyline. 

Day two saw them visit the most famous bookshop in Paris, "Shakespeare and Company", once a hangout for the likes of Hemmingway and Eliot. A tour round the outside of the largely restored Notre Dame and a walk around the picturesque Marche aux Fleurs Reine Elizabeth II de Paris were rounded off by a very modern Flyview virtual reality tour, with a 36 view of the capital from above.

On the following day, the Eiffel Tower was admired from ground level as any potential view was hidden by the weather. A Seine River cruise gave all the best views of famous buildings from the water and a short walk down the Champs-Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe was squeezed in before taking the metro to an afternoon in the Louvre.

There was, of course, a mass rush to see the Mona Lisa  and then a more leisurely wander around different museum wings of choice, before heading on to a local restaurant for private dining, a rest and a chat over a part Italian, part French meal.

Ever resourceful, the girls were heard discussing the advantages of having done their DofE, as navigation skills were very useful in negotiating the vast spread of galleries in the Louvre. Once a St Mary's girl.....

The final day added visits to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur, where  everyone took the funicular up to see the panoramic views, before coming down the many steps and returning to the hotel to begin the journey home.

Rebecca Landshoff, Head of the Sixth Form, said: 

"Our students were amazingly resilient throughout the trip as they did a huge amount of walking and navigating round the city. They were wonderful; kind and courteous, good humoured - and with endless enthusiasm!"

And the dedication of Year 13 did not go unnoticed, as they even found the reserves to do some revision on the Eurostar home!

See a gallery of photographs here