Thursday 30/9

It is after midnight again, proof of another very full day. Tomorrow Disneyland, so opportunities for the staff to update weblog with photos and students' quotes. For now a short summary of the day:
morning: rain, traffic jams in Paris, surreal experience in Paris' business centre La Defense, modernist architecture Arche, where we felt like Mr Bean, having taken the wrong taxi in Les vacances de Mr Bean
afternoon: sun, excellent lunch in Quartier Latin, metro to Louvre where overwhelmed by amount of art; saw Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo and head statue Easter Island
evening: picnic opposite to Moulin Rouge in Montmartre, lots of souvenirs shoppings and absolute highlight: great show by world famous theatre/percussion group Stomp in Casino de Paris; drink in Paris cafe to complete the day
Until tomorrow.

some photos

Before we upload some photos, I'd like to thank you for your encouraging comments: it is a joint experience like this and it feels good you are interested.

Wednesday 29/9

After midnight, but never mind. Just arrived close to Disneyland Paris, Hotel Kyriad. Day started with an example of the organizational skills of the group: all luggage in bus on time + students being helpful to load the coach, all keys delivered at reception, no prompting needed, everybody ready for breakfast on time: this group takes responsibility! There we went to a traditional French market in Matignon: excellent quality food like the best fruits and vegetables (e.g. heaps of fresh green artichokes) or seafood that is still alive, because the French take special pride in fresh. The students were impressed. After that a coastal walk at Port Cast: beautiful Atlantic coastline, fresh seabreeze and magnificent light. On our way to Le Mans we watched Les vacances de Mr Bean, mainly for laughs, but also as a preparation to our Paris visit. In Le Mans warm lunch and shoppings in a hypermarket = 20 times Shoprite + Game combined. And then we took the TGV to Paris, comfortably travelling at 250 kms an hour. In Paris grouping in order not to get lost in the metro, which of course did not happen, but in stead of that another cosmopolitan experience. Final station: Eiffel Tower. We had a picnic right next to the most visited touristic site in the world. Our students enjoyed themselves playing all sorts of games, of which rules were altered constantly. 7.30 p.m. we started ascending (by lift) and as we reached the top it was already getting dark: a fairytale like view of the city of light and fortunately no sudden attacks of vertigo amongst the students. Late arrival at the hotel. First surprise tomorrow: breakfast at 9! Tomorrow we'll post some students' quotes and photos again, sorry for the delay. Let me end with one, Megan's: "I don't want this trip to end, can this trip please go on and on?" Last news: we found ourselves in the newspaper Ouest France on page 5 + photo: BMIS world famous in the West of France!

Tuesday 28/9

Wow, what a fantastic day! Morning and sun shone gloriously. Up to Jugon des Lacs where group split up in 3: some sailors, some canoers and some archery lovers. The atmosphere at the lake was magical. Lunch and there we went to a "lycee" = more or less sixth form, where we were welcomed warmly, not only by staff and students, but also by journalists of 2 newspapers; it is not every day that this region is visited by a school from Africa. Our students had a questionnaire and asked a lot of questions in French to find out more about the French school system, similarities and differences with BMIS. I am so proud of our students who proved to be real inquirers. It was hard to seperate them from their French friends. MFL section will set up a correspondence project with this school. We spent much more time at the school than anticipated, so we had to squeeze in the St Malo aquarium tour: learning more about sharks and piranhas, and last but not least: a dive in a sort of submarine. Everybody was so excited. In beautiful St Malo we all had a delicious French pancake, a "crepe", I pronounced wrongly as crap. Students filled out a survey in French and ordered in French and asked to go to the bathroom in French. Dinner back in the hotel with another primeur: snails! We hadn't told the students, most of whom liked the delicacy. And now -almost midnight, so no photos and student quotes today, sorry for that, but we teachers need some sleep too- we just got back from the bowling centre in Dinan, having had a great time, also playing other games like pool billiard, guitar battle and miniature basketball. This fantastic group of young people is so well capable of having a good time!

Monday 27/9

Another very full and special day. Got up at 7 today, heavy rains. French = delicious breakfast at 8, some money issues sorted and there we went to Arromanches, D-Day museum: interesting to see historic traces from a heroic past. Then another D-Day: 1066, William defeats Harold and introduces "French" in England, in other words: we went to the Bayeux Tapestry, a beautiful medieval 'comic strip'. Picnic somewhere and then the very impressive American war cemetery under the guidance of a skilled story teller with truly interesting information about world war 2. On to Mont Saint Michel, an island off the Brittany coast, 3rd most popular tourist attraction in France. We will be visiting nummer 1 and 2, Eiffel Tower and Eurodisney. We are now in Plancoet where we had dinner + kids to bed. Kids who are behaving exemplarily, at the cemetery, in the hotel, in the bus. Some of their impressions:

"There are so many cows here!" Lois

"I can't believe how big the Eiffel Tower is!", "I tried camemebert for the first time and although I didn't like it, I'm glad I tried it." Amaar

"I'm not sure if I like the type of French weather we are experiencing!" Emmanuel

"Do we HAVE to leave France?" Karthick

"So far this trip is the best. I wish it would last forever!"
"The meaning of 'D-day' is an Allied code name for the day of the operation" Yonas

"My Grandad fought in World War 2. he was one of the men who anded on the beaches of Normandy." Courtney

"Flying 'Business Class' was very comfortable and the food was delicious!" Michael (btw he got BUMPED at LLW!)

"The beach [British D-day landing beach 'Gold'] was amazing despite the clouds and the wind. The smell was refreshing. I loved posing in front of something that survived D-day!" Ruva

"We visited some beautiful French vilages. French people are very friendly. They don't stare at you like they do in Africa!", "The food is delicious even though it's not as spicey as I'm used to!" Vishrut

"Mr Snieder has organised a fantastic trip. we are all having fun." "The studnts are perfectly behaved and we have already recieved comments from other tourists about how wonderful they are. Go BMIS!" Miss Bennett

"Yesterday on the Seine boat trip I made a wish under the "Lovers' Bridge." According to the audio guide we had, this wish should come tue within a year!" Hugo

"I'm having a wonderful time. I'm really enjoying being with my friends. The hotel was very comfortable and the food delicious!" Emma

"I'm enjoying everything about being in France. The atmosphere is great. Some of the places we have visited have been so inspirational!" Megan

Visit the blog again tomorrow for more news, pictures and quotes!

First days

It seems like only yesterday that we were by the bus at BMIS. Of course that's because it was ONLY YESTERDAY! All the more amazing then that we have already, so far, flown to France, driven into Paris Montmartre for 'le petit dejeuner', viewed the Eiffel Tower, taken a boat tour of famous sights from the Seine, driven to Normandy, visited the birth place of the famous camembert cheese (and tasted it by the way), driven to Bayeux through beautiful French countryside, checked in to our first hotel and eaten a delicious three course meal in a traditional French restaurant! Phew - and guess what; all is now very quiet at Hotel Le Bayeux!

We are very pleased to report a problem free trip (all bags arrived and all flights were on time!)

We'll try to upload a few more pictures from the 300+ we've taken so far (not including the children's own efforts!)

Arrived on time

Safe and sound in Paris. All passports through. Everybody happy! Weather cold.