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Destination > Europe > France

French Escapade

Day 1: Home - Paris

Depart on your transatlantic flight to France. Meals will be served at appropriate times and headsets will be supplied so you may enjoy the full-length movie and the many available audio channels.

Day 2: Paris (D)

Arrive Paris, the city of perfume and charm, everlastingly beautiful and unchanged. No other city has lavished such energy and attention upon its music halls and cabarets: such names as "Opéra Comique", "Folies Bergère" and "Casino de Paris" are famous around the world. Indeed it may only be a slight exaggeration to state that no one has fully lived until they have sampled the phantasmagoria of attractions and spectacles available in the capital of France. After clearing immigration and customs, board your coach en route to your centrally located accommodation. En route, you will be taken on an orientation tour of this unique city including Les Grands Boulevards, l'Opéra, Place de la Concorde, Les Champs Elysées, l'Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and more. Later, after you have settled into your room, you may like to survey your surroundings or walk to the Latin Quarter. Dinner. Overnight in Paris.

Day 3: Paris - Versailles (B, D)

This morning after breakfast you will board your coach for your excursion to Versailles, the creation of the French monarchy at the time of its greatest splendor. Consisting of the great palace, the gardens and the Trianons, it is a wonderful harmonious composition of building and landscape, a unique expression of the vitality of French art during the 17th-18th century. Between 1682 and 1789, Versailles was the seat of government and France’s political capital. Today the chateau of Versailles seems outrageously large, but in 1682 when Louis XIV took up residence it housed about 15,000 noblemen, servants and hangers-on who moved in with Louis. Built between 1662 and 1690 it took 26,000 labourers and soldiers to construct. This afternoon visit the Louvre Museum. This former Royal Palace, transformed by the Revolution into a museum, lays claim to the title of "most beautiful museum in the world." Containing over 200,000 works of art in 225 galleries, it is impossible for you to view them all so you must be very selective. Some of the most famous exhibits are: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the soaring 3rd century BC statue Victory of Samothrace, the celebrated Vénus de Milo and the realistic Egyptian Seated Scribe. Dinner. Overnight in Paris.

Day 4: Paris (B, D)

Today is left unstructured for you to do your shopping or to explore on your own with your teachers/chaperones. Dinner. Overnight in Paris.

Day 5: Paris - Avignon (B, D)

After breakfast at hotel you will transfer to the railway station and board the train bound for Avignon. Upon arrival you will be met and taken on a guided tour through this medieval town. Avignon is a maze of ramparts, towers, belfries and palaces and is the sort of place seen in medieval woodcuts. The formidable palace-fortress was built for Popes who were in residence here between 1309 and 1377 and gave the town its monumental appearance. Dinner. Overnight in Avignon.

Day 6: Avignon (B, D)

Breakfast at hotel prior to your full day coach tour to Pont Du Gard and Nimes. Pont du Gard, is a huge three-tiered aqueduct erected 2,000 years ago as part of a 30-mile canal supplying water to Roman Nîmes. Spanning a gorge 150 feet above the River Gardon it is extremely well preserved. Then on to Nîmes which, between 27 BC and 14 AD, grew in prominence. Few towns have preserved such visible links with their Roman past as Nîmes with its Roman amphitheatre, considered the worlds best preserved temple and watchtower. Dinner. Overnight in Avignon.

Day 7: Avignon - Nice (B, D)

Breakfast at hotel before you transfer to rail station for your train to Nice. Upon arrival, check in to your hotel. Regarded as the Queen of the Riviera, Nice is a big sprawling city, situated on the Mediterranean. The Old Town is one of the delights of the Riviera. Cars are forbidden on streets so narrow that their buildings crowd out the sky. You can wander down cobbled streets or sit in an outdoor café on a Venetian-like square, basking in the purest, most transparent light. Remainder of the time free to explore on your own. Dinner. Overnight in Nice.

Day 8: Nice - Grasse - Monte Carlo (B, D)

Breakfast at hotel prior to your excursion by the mountain road to view the spectacular Gorges du Loup and then visit the old city of Grasse. Four centuries ago, the town specialized in leather gloves. In the 16th century, when scented gloves became fashionable, the town began cultivating flowers and distilling essences and today three quarters of the world’s essences are made here. It takes 10,000 flowers to produce 2.2 pounds of jasmine petals and nearly 7 million flowers to distil 1½ quarts of essence. Most famous perfumeries mix Grasse essences into their own secret formulas (a factory will be visited). Then continue on to the Principality of Monaco. Covering just 473 acres, it is so tiny that residents have to go to another country to play golf. See the Old Town, the cathedral, Prince Rainier's Palace and gardens in fabulous Monte Carlo, playground of the rich and famous. Return to Nice by the coast road. Dinner. Overnight in Nice.

Day 9: Nice (B, D)

Breakfast at hotel. Entire day is free for own activities. Dinner. Overnight in Nice.

Day 10: Nice - Home (B)

Breakfast at hotel. Au revior France! Transfer today to Nice airport for your flight home.

Tour includes:

Air: Home - Paris / Nice - Home
8 nights hotel accommodation
Breakfast & dinner daily
Arrival transfer from airport to hotel plus orientation sightseeing tour of Paris
Half day guided tour of Versailles
Transfer to Paris rail station
Train ticket from Paris - Avignon
Arrival transfer from rail station to hotel in Avignon
Orientation tour upon arrival in Avignon
Full day coach to Nimes & Pont du Gard
Transfer to Avignon rail station
Train ticket from Avignon – Nice
Excursion to Grasse & Monte Carlo
Departure transfer to Nice airport for flight home
Visit to Perfumerie in Grasse

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