On Tuesday 30 June, seven senior French students accompanied by three teachers had the amazing opportunity to go on a study tour to France. Over fourteen days, we visited Paris, Tours, the Loire Valley, Lyon and Annecy. We immersed ourselves in French culture and language and enjoyed some incredible experiences.
We flew into Paris and began our trip with four busy days of sightseeing. We visited all the key Parisian monuments including Sacré Coeur (where we attended a lovely church service), Notre Dame, L’Arc de Triomphe where we climbed to the top and enjoyed breathtaking views, le Louvre where of course we saw la Joconde (Mona Lisa) and le Musée Picasso which holds over 5,000 of the artist’s works. We enjoyed a cruise along la Seine, taking in all the wonderful monuments and Parisian history from a different vantage point and we even went up to the top of la Tour Eiffel at sunset before enjoying the amazing light show as night fell.
We left Paris to visit the Château de Versailles, the immense palace and grounds which served as the residence of the French royal family in the 17th and 18th centuries. The palace interior and the extensive grounds with statues and ornate trees showed off the vast wealth of the French royals before the revolution.
Next, we were off to Lyon, with a petit stop in Tours with its beautiful old town and through the Loire Valley, where we visited some gorgeous châteaux including le Château de Chenonceau, also known as le Château des Dames for the remarkable women associated with its history. We then went on to le Château du Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci himself, lived and worked and where we saw an impressive collection of his inventions.
We then spent a week in Lyon and completed a five-day language immersion course at Lyon Bleu Language School where we expanded our vocabulary and improved our French speaking skills. In the afternoons we were lucky enough to participate in a range of activities further immersing ourselves in French life and culture, including a day trip to the beautiful medieval city of Pérouges, a guided tour of Lyon, a food tour of Lyon (the proclaimed gastronomic capital of the world), and a trip to le Musée de Confluences.
Before heading back to Melbourne, our final day was spent in the city of Annecy in the south-east of France, known for its beautiful views of the alps and its cobblestone streets which did not disappoint.
Overall, it was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience, with plenty of croissants, ice-cream, memories, and life-long friends. Merci beaucoup à Madame Lachal who organised the tour for us, Mr Adalin and Sr Emma who came on the tour, Mr. Stavretis for his help in the lead-up and Ms Vitadello for her support back home! We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the French language and culture and we can’t wait to bring all this learning to the classroom.
Veronica H (12 M6) and Evie C (10 L1)
James Stavretis
Languages Learning Leader
