Monday, July 14

After a rather cramped but uneventful flight, we arrived in Paris on Bastille Day.  We were shuttled from the airport to our hotel, The Adagio City Aparthotel, in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris.  After checking into our rooms, we had a quick meal of pizza on the street before walking to Parc Belleville to try to get a view of the massive fireworks display at the Eiffel Tower.  While we did get a great view of the Tower, we only managed a peek-a-boo view of the actual display.  The park was quite crowded and small children as young as seven or eight were lighting off firecrackers and fireworks with little thought of safety and no adult supervision to be seen.  This was to be a common event during our time in Paris: seeing children at unsupervised slightly dangerous play at all hours of the day and night.  Children and teenagers playing rambunctiously in the street in front of our hotel well past midnight every night we were there.

Tuesday, July 15

Creative expressionists were up early on Tuesday.  After a breakfast of croissants, jam, and coffee, we took the metro to The Catacombs.  Here, deep beneath Paris, millions of human bones are stacked in piles.  The students took time to reflect on the catacombs through visual and written responses.  After a long walk through the winding Catacombs, we emerged and ate our lunch.  Creative expressionists chose their own spots to eat and ordered the food to various levels of success.  After our meal we took the metro to the Rodin Garden.  Here in the shade on giant chestnut trees, the young artists sketched Rodin's masterpieces and reflected on their experience in the Catacombs.  From Rodin's garden we walked past Les Invalides and across the Seine in search of dinner.  We ran into a bit of a problem when the street with the restaurants we wanted to eat at was shut down by police watching Nepalese protestors.  The students scrambled a bit but all returned with Pannini's at the appointed time.  From here we took the metro to the Trocadero.  We emerged on to the street from the metro to a great view of the Eiffel Tower.  Unfortunately, the Trocadero's fountains were closed (having been the site of the fireworks from the previous night, they were being cleaned).  We walked from the Trocadero to the Eiffel Tower and before long we were taking the elevator to the summit of what was once the tallest building in the world.  The views were amazing and we lingered for a while  before returning to earth and our metro trip home.  Paris was surprisingly uncongested--far fewer tourists which has meant an easier job on the metro and walking the streets.

Wednesday, July 16

Our first museum visit: we are seeing the Orsay.  Students are up early for breakfast and we metro to Tuileries and then walk across the park to the Orsay.  On our guided tour, we take notes and admire the works of the great Impressionists.  Students are given time to sketch and work on their journals in the museum.  We take the metro to the Museum of Natural History and examine the eerie display of bones from dinosaurs to babies.  Students spend some time in the museum sketching and working in their journals.  We go back to our hotel for a rest before taking the metro to Montmartre.  At Montmartre, hawkers converge on our group but nothing is bought as the students demonstrate excellent refusal skills.  We pause to enjoy some crepes sucre and with Nutella before climbing the hill and entering Sacre Coeur.  Some students light candles in memory of loved ones.  Another long day as we take the metro back to our apartment home.  Our feet ache and many students are wearing bandaids to cover their blisters!  No complaints however, as these travelers seem to be made of hardier stuff than the usual tourists.

Thursday, July 17

We were able to sleep in somewhat today: breakfast was at 8:00 and we left for our walking tour through Parc Buttes Chaumont at the Pere Lechaise cemetary at 8:30.  The cemetary is massive, a true "city of the dead" and we did not have enough time to do all we had planned.  On our next weekend in Paris, we may visit again to give the students more time to draw and write in such a peaceful setting.  Unfortunately I was having battery problems and do not have many photos from the cemetary or from the Louvre, which was were we visited after a lunch in the streets near Pere Lechaise.  Here the girls had an interesting time with the free Parisian street toilets; some of them were too light to trigger the door closing mechanism and they had to use the small automatic stalls in pairs.  The Louvre, of course, was incredible.  During our guided tour we were told about the great masters from the Renaissance to the Romantics, as well as some sculptures from classical times.  We returned to the hotel for some journal work and a rest before heading out for our late cruise on the Seine.  The meal on the two and a half hour cruise was delicious, a sampler of five appetizers, a main course, and small portions of three desserts.  The students spent most of their time catching up with each other, but they did spend some time on the top deck of the boat as we passed by The Eiffel Tower and other landmarks of the City of Lights.

Friday, July 18

On Friday, our last full day in Paris, we relaxed a bit and did not have breakfast until 8:30.  We took the metro to the Centre Pompidou.  We were the first ones in the museum and during the first half of out guided tour we had the building to ourselves.  Our tour guide, Michel, talked about art from the end of Impressionism to the modern era.  Students learned that artists have been persecuted throughout history because they deal with ideas that can challenge those in power.  Students had the opportunity to write and sketch in the Pompidou before taking two hours to eat and stroll through the bustling shopping area called Les Halles.  In the evening, after returning to the hotel to work on our journals, we traveled to the Latin Quarter, where we will be staying next weekend, so the students could get acclimatized to the area.  The highlight for the majority of creative expressionists had to be watching street performers break dance and roller blade in front on Notre Dame after visiting the cathedral.  After a great week in Paris, we are set for the countryside, but looking forward to returning to the city that we have come to know inside and outside through walking, writing, and drawing.