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Day 7: Last day in Paris!

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It seems VERY hard to believe that today is our last day in France.  We have had an amazing few days here and have managed to fit SO much into our time. We began the day driving from Vire, France (south of Normandie) to Paris.  On the way, we made a pit stop in Rouen which is significant both for its city and its connections to Joan of Arc.  She was burned at the stake in Rouen at only age 19.  We visited the massive cathédrale de Rouen which is rich in history and was the inspiration for a series of many of Monet's paintings.   Once we arrived in Paris, we dropped our things off at the hotel and got to visit the musée du Louvre, the biggest museum in the world!  While we only have a couple of hours to enjoy the massive collection, we were able to see so many significant works of art and appreciate them in person, for the first time for most of the group! After the Louvre we visited the Tour Eiffel up close!  We went under it and took some amazing p
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Day 6: Normandie!

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Bonjour!  The whole day today was all about Normandie and its beautiful beaches!  We started the day with a trip to the Omaha beaches on the Normandie coast.  This beach served as one of the most assaulted areas in the arrival of the Allies in the north of France.  It was sunny, but the wind was incredibly chilly this morning.  We braved the weather to enjoy the beach and put our feet in the water. We then traveled to the Normandy American Cemetery and Monument.  There we were reminded of the history of this area and astounded by the vast number of lives that were lost.  We walked through the information center and through the cemetery to pay homage to those who were buried there.  It was an incredible experience. We continued our drive to another part of Normandie, to a beach called Arromanches.  There, we visited the Débarquement museum to find out that this area was where the allied forces constructed a makeshift harbor with old ships they sunk, giant conc
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Day 5: Loire Valley to Normandie!

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Today was a long day of travel!  We began our day with very hot temperatures in Mont St. Michel.  This old monastery is set on sand in the middle of what feels like nowhere... when the tide comes in, it becomes an island.  We had the opportunity to climb up its winding streets and steps to experience its beauty from very high up. We then moved onto another beautiful location in Saint-Malo.  This is a seaside town nearly at the very top of the country of France.  We were amazed by the beauty of the shore and the sand.  What an amazing town.  We had crêpe salées et sucrées for dinner. Miam miam! Tomorrow we will explore more of Normandie, visiting the Omaha beaches, the American cemetery, and the Arromanches museum.  Bringing along our French and American flags!
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Day 4: La Vallée de la Loire

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Today we spent another day in the Loire Valley visiting some more castles.  We began the day at the chateau de Chenonceau, a smaller castle with a romantic past and a river underneath it. Amboise was our next stop for lunch which has a... you guessed it!  Castle!  Another Renaissance castle and a beautiful cathedral as well.  We walked through the winding streets and got a bite to eat! We continued our travels through castle country stopping at Azay-le-Rideau, which is probably the earliest of the examples of castle from the rennaissance in France.  And what do all of these castles have in common?  François Ier, who we credit with bringing the ideas of the Rennaissance over from Florence to France. To end our day we visited a troglodyte village to have dinner in... a cave!  At Le chateau de moines, they grow 9 tons of mushrooms per year.  At 13 degreees Celsius, they cultivate all types of mushrooms and breed their own snails... for eating!  Eek!  It was a fun
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Day 3: Paris to the Loire Valley

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Day 3 means a travel day from Paris to the Valée de la Loire, a beautiful valley that sits on the Loire Valley and has many castles! We began our day with a stop at the Cathédrale de Chartres.  This is a Roman-Catholic church that has one spire in a traditional Romanesque style (round arches) and another in the gothic style (broken arches).  It is also famous for its "Chartres bleu" or special blue color only found within its stained glass windows.   We enjoyed the travel day today, getting to take some bus naps and recover from our jet lag. 😴😊 It was helpful with the heat we are feeling this week...  France is undergoing a "canicule" or a heat wave... We are happy not to be in Paris the next two days as they have expected highs of 101 degrees! Our next stop was a photo stop outside of the Chateau de Chambord.  This is a gigantic castle constructed by François Ier, the French king responsible for bringing the Italian Renaissance over from Italy
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Paris: Day 2!

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Another day, another BEAUTIFUL day in Paris!  But first, French breakfast... my favorite! We started early this morning with a driving tour through Paris.  We got to see it ALL! Les Invalides (the place of Napoléon Ier's tomb) Au Jardin du Luxembourg Statue of Liberty in the park nearby We learned that this tree was planted in commemoration of the victims of the 9/11 attack.  It is placed intentionally right next to the Statue of Liberty replica. l'Arc de Triomphe et les Champs Élysées! la Tour Eiffel (au Trocadero) Next, we went to le château de Versailles, originally constructed by Louis XIV "le Roi Soleil".  With over 700 rooms at 721,206 square feet, no wonder our feet were sore by the end! Etttttt finalement...  After all of that fun, we went to Montmartre for dinner.  We then walked up almost 300 steps to get to the top to see the beautiful Basilique de Sacré Coeur.   (The v
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