This February our Second Years visited the beautiful city of Paris, taking in all the sights….. the Basicila of Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and the Palace of Versaille. They went to the top of Paris’ tallest building, Montparnasse Tower to take in the views.
The annual Second Years trip to Paris by Adam Russell
We woke up quite early and after a speedy check in, we flew to Aéroport de Charles de Gaulle and drove into the city. The first stop was Montmartre, the village atop a hill! We had crepes and waffles!! We could also have our portrait drawn by one of the many artists in the square. It was a great place to learn about the history of Paris. We also went inside Sacré Coeur Basilica. It has a magnificent organ and great architecture, like all the other monuments we visited.
After Sacré Coeur, we went to the city centre and to the famous Opera House. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go inside, so we went to explore Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, a huge department store nearby.
We had a 2 hour bus tour of Paris. A very educational experience where I myself learned about the Sun God Apollo and the meaning of the architectural faces on the buildings around Place Vendôme. At the end we went to the top of La Tour Montparnasse, where we had an amazing view of the city and the Eiffel Tower.
On the second day, we visited the Château de Versailles, the famous palace of the Kings of France. We went around the beautiful gardens with the clear part on the west side where you can see the sunshine into the palace. Then we went inside through the spectacular hallways, the Kings Bedroom, the Great Hall of Mirrors. I learnt a lot about the history of the palace and its rulers, including the French Revolution, and many wars those rulers waged with other countries.
When we came out we had the chance to buy souvenirs, with one seller even selling a questionable Rolex watch!
Next we travelled to l’Arc de Triomphe where we saw fire lit for an Unknown Soldier. We climbed up to the top where you could see all 12 roads radiating off including the Champs Elysees. We learnt about how the arc was made as a memory of the victories of the French.
After that we wandered down the Champs Elysées with its many shops and expensive goods such as Louis Vuitton belts and a Nike shop.
We went to the famous island of Île de la Cité and the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We learnt about the meaning of the statues in front of the rose window and went to Hotel de Ville.
On the third and last day of the trip, we went to Trocadero where there were lots of black market salesmen selling souvenirs. We had an amazing view of the Tour d’Eiffel. We went to Musée d’Orsay, the great train station art museum. There were amazing pieces of art and statues, and you could still see how it was once a train station, such as how the great clock of the station remained.
There was a boat tour on the River Seine which was quite fun…we could see all the buildings and monuments from the river. Then we took a bus to Basilique de Saint Denis. We had lunch and went inside the great basilica. We learnt about the story of how St Denis walked 6km through Montmartre after being decapitated. We saw all the tombs of the dead rulers and went into the crypt, definitely one of my favourite parts of the Paris trip.
Finally we had a tour of Stad de France where we found out about how the stadium was used and the changing and warming up rooms of the players. We also saw the President’s seat and lounge room.
The Paris trip is definitely one of the best school trips at Glenstal. It is a great opportunity to learn about the history of France and Paris, along with being a good opportunity to practise using our French.
