4th and 5th Year students trip to Paris!
Ms Kirwan and Ms Dignam were delighted to take a well deserving group of 23 students on a much anticipated trip to Paris this springtime, and how the City of Light shone!
We enjoyed 4 fun filled and packed days of culture, sight-seeing, history, guided tours, river cruise, metro journeys, culinary appreciation, architecture and general Parisian 'je ne sais quoi'!
Our Day 1 was a long one! We arrived early to Charles de Gaulle airport and after hitting our hostel we took in a fact filled walking tour with Joe Walsh Tours, then on to walk through the Champs Elysées and climb up to Arc de Triomphe. Then on to admire the Centre Pompidou and enjoy dinner and a little time shopping at Chatelet Les Halles. We were quite 'fatigué' before returning to our hostel at Belleville by the metro.
On to a more leisurely Day 2 which saw us meet Joe Walsh again for a tour of the beautiful village of Montmartre and hear of the lives of the Impressionist painters. Many souvenirs were bought and artwork admired. We ended at the basilica of Sacré Coeur. And after lunch arrived to climb the iconic Tour Eiffel! We then took a lovely boat ride on the 'Bateau Mouche' along the Seine and heard more about the city and its origins along its river banks.
We enjoyed relaxing around our base at Belleville that evening and got to see the Eiffel Tower shimmering and lit from the rooftop! What a treat.
Day 3 was inevitable....Disneyland Paris! Before taking our metro we got to explore a local French market set up right outside our door, buy some produce and haggle! We then took a RER train and reached the amusement park for a day of fun in the sun (with very long queues)! Many memories were made on the heartstopping rides and childhoods revisited. We regrouped and returned to the city to amble around l'Ile de la Cité and see Notre Dame. We enjoyed dinner around 'Rive Gauche', the left bank, before going home once more.
Our last day saw us take in the beautiful building and exhibitions of the famous Impressionist painters at the Musé d'Orsay, which everyone really enjoyed. Some even did some sketching of one another! We decided to have our last meal in Paris back at the now familiar Belleville, where students knew there was a wide array of welcoming local restaurants on offer.
The whole experience will stay with us for a long time.
As well as Paris looking its most beautiful in springtime sun and cherry blossoms, our students behaved equally beautiful and ensured they got the most from this eye opening trip to a really worthwhile destination.
Merci à tous et bravo!
Some students favourite memories!!
1.Kenzie
2.My favourite part of the Paris trip was definitely the Eiffel Tower. Going up the top and seeing the view was amazing, I also enjoyed seeing the historical buildings as they were designed well. Another thing I liked was the views from the walking tours. I'd recommend it to anyone that's doing TY, or in general offered the trip. It was worth it.
1.chey
- My favourite part about the paris trip was when we were all on the rooftop
Talking to each other. And i also liked when we went up the Eiffel Tower and I also liked all the views we got from our walking tours. I also like the
Arc de triomphe because it had great views from up top and could see everything
1.Olga :)
- My favourite part was the museum we went to on the last day, I thought the museum had a really good mix of art styles. I got to see my favourite artists [like Monet] and discover new styles, like art nouveau. I also liked the view from the Arc De Triomphe. I also enjoyed hanging out with my friends.
- Max
- My favourite part of the Paris trip was going up the Arc De Triomphe and going to DisneyLand. They were both very fun and I had a great time walking around looking at the architecture and famous landmarks in Paris. I would definitely recommend going on the trip.
1.Jose Olivares
2.For me. My favourite part of the trip was the Musee D’Orsay. I love Van Gogh’s art pieces. The hostal was amazing too. It was in a good location and the breakfast was actually very good. I didn’t enjoy things like Disneyland because the park was packed. Despite this inconvenience, the trip was amazing.
- Illia Chiruk
- My favorite part of that trip was Disneyland. It was very interesting and cool. I was so excited by the tower of terror. Also the eiffel tower was so good it have very good views from the top of it.
- I loved the Paris trip. My favourite parts were definitely going to Arc de Triomphe, the sight of all of Paris and the Eiffel Tower was incredible from there. I also liked going to Disneyland, the queue for the rides were really long tho. But ending the day by chillin on the rooftop was nice. It was a good bang for my buck.
Marco
- Paris is a beautiful city and thanks to this trip I saw it in person for the first time. Every moment of the trip was enjoyable, however I do believe that the best moments in Paris were in the small details. For example, I especially loved places such as Montmartre, where professional painters were drawing self portraits of people who paid to be drawn.
Johnel Deyne Teneza
- Our Paris trip was very fun although there was a lot of walking, seeing all the famous buildings and taking pictures was really fun. My favourite part of the trip was probably going DisneyLand and going on the rides but I feel like going to another park would have been better because the lines were very long in Disneyland.
1.Reif Casserly
2.My favourite thing about the Paris trip was the bonding experience that we all had. We all had bonded so strongly together and got so close in a short period of time.My favourite part of the trip was when we were all on the rooftop just chatting and listening to music. Me and H dawg were bonding tg pretty well over Radiohead (best bit of the trip). I loved ALL THE FOOD, the food was so nice and cheap and it was so good.
1.Magda Held
- My favourite part of the trip was Disneyland. All the rides were really fun and so was seeing all the characters but the queues were really long, next time going during a different day might make it less busy. I also really love how much we all bonded and how close I got with some people that I didn't really talk to before. The night on the rooftop was also one of my favourites because everyone was getting along really well, listening to music, eating and the vibes were really good.