The Boat Back Home

Finally, we boarded the Batobus again for the trip down the Seine on our last evening in Paris.

Shakespeare & Co.

After visiting Notre Dame, we went to Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore, an English language bookstore famous for its connection to American writers and City Lights bookstore in San Francisco.

Notre Dame Cathedral

After lunch, we took a Batobus (river bus) up the Seine to Notre Dame Cathedral, constructed by the people of Paris in the 13th century.

The Thinker

On Tuesday, our last full day in Paris, we began by splitting up. Some went on a walking and shopping tour, some went to the Rodin museum, and some visited the splendid Treasures of Mount Athos and William Blake exhibitions at the Petit Palace. Everyone met for lunch at the Rodin museum gardens and stopped to ponder existence at Rodin's original The Thinker.

Mt. Athos Exhibition

Birthday Cake in Fontainebleau

On Monday afternoon, we took the Metro, train, and bus to Fontainebleau Chateau, a spectacular Renaissance chateau that was the home of several French kings as well as Napoleon. Afterwards, we had dinner in Fontainebleau town center and celebrated Anastassia's and Daria's birthday with a scrumptious French chocolate cake.

Fontainebleau

Inside Fontainebleau

Paris from the Eiffel Tower

On Monday morning, Anastassia and Daria's birthday, we went to the Eiffel Tower. Fortunately the sun was out today because it was very windy at the top.

Wheels within Wheels

Happy Birthday, Anastassia & Daria

Alexander III Bridge

After visiting Musee d'Orsay on Sunday afternoon to study the Impressionist paintings by artists like Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Cezanne, the group walked back along the Seine River. Pictured here in the background is the Alexander III Bridge, built to honor the Russian Emperor in the mid-19th century. On Sunday evening, we had delicious crepes for dinner in a local restaurant.

Monet at Musee d'Orsay

Outside Musee d'Orsay

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

On Sunday morning, we attended Divine Liturgy at St. Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Church. Surprisingly, there was not a word of French spoken in the service -- it was all in Slavonic.

At the Sorbonne

In the late afternoon, we made our way to the Latin Quarter on the left bank of the Seine and saw the medieval and Roman part of the city. The University of Paris, one of Europe's oldest universities, still flourishes in this part of the city. We found an Italian restaurant nearby for dinner, and then went back to our hotel for the night.

Sacre Coeur

After lunch, we took the Metro to the vicinity of Montemarte and climbed the hill to the Roman Catholic church of Sacre Cour. During the walk we went past Van Gogh's house and stopped in various shops along the way.

On Montemarte

At the Louvre

The first stop on Saturday was The Louvre museum. We saw the Winged Victory of Samothrace (pictured), the Venus de Milo, da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and some sculptures by Michelangelo among many other works.

The Louvre

The Eiffel Tower at night

On Friday, April 24, we departed from London by Eurostar train at 10:25 a.m., and arrived in Paris's Gard du Nord two hours and 45 minutes later. We went to our hotel via the Metro and a short walk across the Seine River, and after checking in, we took a stroll down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed to the top and saw a panorama of the city along with the roads radiating from the Arc in 12 different directions. Then we had dinner at a French cafe, and walked back to the Eiffel Tower to see its amazing light display before heading for our hotel and retiring for our first night in Paris.

By the Arc de Triomphe

UP

Hotel Eiffel Tower

On the Seine

Paris Gare du Nord

St. Paul's Cathedral

This photo shows St. Paul’s on the other side of the Thames River from Shakespeare’s Globe theater, where we had just seen the Globe’s 2009 opening production of Romeo and Juliet (along with our friends from St. John’s, Alix and Nicky Kotar). The play featured several young actors, and the inexperience showed in some ways. But some of them, especially the young woman playing Juliet, gave strong performances and fresh interpretations of their characters. The music, dancing, and humor were especially enjoyable, in particular because of the way the Elizabethan stage allows the actors to engage directly with the audience. Also notable to our group was the sound of the British accents by the British actors. Attending this play in this remarkable theater was a great way to celebrate Shakespeare’s 445th birthday.

House of Parliament

On the Double-decker Bus

We walked from Westminster Abbey past Trafalgar Square and St. Martins-in-the-Fields, and then down the Strand until we reached Chancery Lane (instantly recognizable to Anastasia and Julia from their reading of Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, which is centered on the law offices located there). At that point we boarded one of London’s trademark red double-decker buses for the rest of the way down Fleet Street to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The cathedral was closed for admission, but we consoled ourselves with pizzas at the Pizza Express across the street.

Westminster Abbey

By the time we reached Westminster Abbey, admission had closed for the day, so we were not able to visit Poet’s Corner or the other monuments and tombs inside. However, having been able to walk through St. George’s Chapel and see its splendid English Gothic architecture on Wednesday, we were content to look at Westminster Abbey from the outside.

Mummies

We also saw the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, and other ancient
works of art at the British Museum.

At the British Museum

After the Castle

After the two hour tour of Windsor Castle, we went to a local pub for lunch, where we sampled such delicacies as Steak and Pepper pie, Fish & Chips, and Dandelion & Burdock soft drinks. The bus took us back to TASIS, not without incident, however: as we were about to leave, one of our group noticed he had left his camera back in the pub, so Mr. Casey raced through the Windsor streets to fetch the lost camera. This successfully done, we got back to TASIS in time to meet the host families who were taking the students for the night. Five TASIS families with Middle and High school-aged children were taking 10 of our students to their homes for the night. The rest of our group (the four adults and Antosh) met the TASIS teachers who were accommodating them, went out to a local pub for dinner, and retired for the night, some 30 hours or so after we got up on Tuesday morning in San Francisco to begin our trip.

Windsor Castle

The first day in England went very well. The weather was sunny and relatively warm. We were met at Heathrow by someone from the TASIS school and were taken by bus to Windsor (about 20 minutes away), with some students commenting on how strange it seemed to be driving on the left side of the road and on the sight of sheep grazing next to the road. Arriving in Windsor at about noon, we went through Windsor Castle, seeing Queen Mary's Doll House, the State Apartments, and St. George's Chapel. The students are pictured above in front of St. George's Chapel, along with a couple of soldiers who happened to be coming by at the time.

Aboard Air Canada

The photo shows some of our group aboard the plane on the first leg of the journey. Both flights (SF-Toronto, Toronto-London) went very smoothly. The only hitch involved carry-on baggage. There had been some discussion before we left about whether it was a good idea to check baggage or just to carry it on board. As it happened, there was no problem with any baggage checked, but just as we were boarding the plane in SF, the carry-on bags of Mrs. Maximov and Natasha were deemed too large and were taken away to be checked in. But these were not checked through to London, as the others had been, but only to Toronto. So after we got through Canadian customs and found our departure gate in Toronto, Mrs. Maximov and Natasha had to go back and retrieve their bags and check them through to London -- which required their going to another terminal, going through security yet again, and just general hassle for an hour or so. Fortunately, we had plenty of time between flights, and when we got to London 15 hours after leaving SF, everyone had their proper bags.

At the San Francisco Airport

The group assembles at the Air Canada desk before departure on April 21.

European Trip

Eleven students and four adults (two teachers and two parents) will be departing from the San Francisco airport on April 21, 2009 for London. The group will leave London by Eurostar for Paris on April 24th, and will return to San Francisco on April 29th. We will describe our experiences daily, or as often as we can, in this blog.