Sunday 3/16

lots of different things were happening during our fist full day with our hosts. (Students would do well to share!!) Our weather was fantastic with very warm temps and clear skies. Melanie took advantage of it by visiting the chateau of Chantilly; I was in Paris strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens and through the Place St-Michel around Notre Dame cathedral and past the Pompidou Centre. I'll add a few pics tonight, I hope. Ms. Pari was visiting the Marais neighborhood of Paris today. Tomorrow we'll be meeting up at our host school at 8:30 to board a coach bus for Paris: we'll visit Trocadero across from the Eiffel Tower (get the cameras ready!), we'll go across the city by way of Les Invalides to Notre Dame cathedral, and up to the Arc de Triomphe from which most will descend the Avenue des Champs Elysees, passing the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, the beautiful expanse of the Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Garden (trees are budding and plants are flowering) next to the Louvre. A fe students will likely do a modified tour by visiting the  garnier Opera house and meeting the rest at the Tuileries. We'll picnic in the Tuileries if the weather holds or grab a lunch at local shops if necessary. We're booked to visit the Orangerie museum in the afternoon, which is home to many 19th-century works in particular, so some beautiful impressionist pieces are there, including a circular room designed personally by Claude Monet as a place for peaceful reflection surrounded by views of his water gardens in Giverny.