We travelled by coach, ably driven by our hero, Ian, who took us wherever we wanted to go in Paris with very little fuss and lots of good humour and we stayed in the really cool Generator hostel in the centre of Paris.

We arrived in Paris and marched across the city to dine at the iconic Hard Rock Café and strolled back admiring the sights and sounds of Paris with our wonderfully knowledgeable tour guide, Mr Chalmers.

The next day, we visited a real French school and met some real French students and some of us even spoke a bit of real, but maybe not altogether perfect, French! It was fascinating to see a French school in action and to take part in some of their lessons.

After saying “au revoir” to our French friends, we then visited the Palace of Versailles, which was beautiful and immense, and then travelled back into central Paris to go up the Tour Montparnasse, from where we had a 360-degree view of Paris and all its amazing monuments.

On Saturday, we visited the Louvre art museum and saw some incredible works of art, including the Mona Lisa. The art students spent some time sketching, which was fun.

In the afternoon, we went on a boat trip along the river Seine. It was great to be able to see all the sights whilst sitting down (it was a tiring trip!) and to find out even more about the history of Paris and its monuments.

After that we visited a modern art gallery at the Centre Pompidou, a crazy inside-out building with some crazy works of art. It was fantastic.

We woke up on Sunday, exhausted from the full-on itinerary, but sad that it was already our last day in Paris. We climbed up to the beautiful white church called the Sacré Coeur, which is in the artists’ quarter of Paris called Montmartre and spent the morning admiring the views and the art and buying a few souvenirs of Paris.

We then got back in Ian’s magical coach and drove back to the UK.  It was such a fun and memorable experience, and it was so great to share it with our friends. I don’t think any of us will ever forget this trip!

Alice Fu said: “What an amazing experience it was! I really enjoyed visiting all the sights, especially the Tour Montparnasse where I got to see a 360˚ view of the whole of Paris. I also really liked visiting the Louvre and Montmartre. The view from the top of Montmartre was really nice. I enjoyed going to the French School where I got to see how a French school operates on a day-to-day basis. This will be a trip I remember forever!”

 

 

 

Cooper Lang said: “The French and art trip was probably the best school trip I've ever been on. We got to see all the famous Paris monuments such as the Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, etc. and we visited a French school which was pretty fun. I'm a French student so I was put with some French English students and it was fun talking to them and looking around their school, although I wouldn't want to do their timetable as they’re in lessons till 5pm. It was really cool to do all of this with my friends and the hostel we stayed in was also very nice and last but not least our incredible coach driver Ian who drove us around Paris. Overall, I would say it was a great trip would recommend it to any French and Art student. I would certainly want to do it again with all my friends. 10/10”

Kayley White said: “I had so much fun - we did so many amazing activities and I definitely made some lifelong memories. All the teachers were amazing and always made sure we were safe and having a good time. It was so cool to get the opportunity to see so much of Paris and to have the best time with all my friends.”

Neel Karrupiah said: “I really enjoyed this trip and am very grateful to everyone who organised and helped to run it. I got to understand how the French school system worked and talked to some French students at Collège Alberto Giacometti and learnt about life in Paris. The architecture in Paris is really cool.”

Faye Hood said: “I absolutely loved going to Paris! One of my favourite parts of going was seeing the Louvre and able to see all the amazing artwork that was shown. Another incredible thing that I loved was seeing the Eiffel Tower from the Tour Montparnasse and the impeccable views of Paris. Apart from all the sightseeing, I really enjoyed spending time with my friends and seeing Paris with them. Thank you for an amazing trip, I will remember it forever.”