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FRANCE

The Allure of France: Paris and Normandy

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Road Scholar
Program #21095RJ

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9 Days | 8 Nights
ACTIVITY LEVEL: Moderately Challenging
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We’re always developing educational adventures that open windows to new places and probe fascinating topics. Check out our latest creations.
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Love to learn in a small-group setting? This collection of programs has at most 10-24 participants.
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EasyFor people looking to exercise their minds more than their bodies. There’s minimal walking and not too many stairs.
ModerateThese programs get you on your feet and include activities such as walking up to a mile in a day through a city and standing in a museum for a few hours.
ActiveFor people who enjoy walking as much as two miles a day, perhaps to explore historic neighborhoods or a nature trail.
Moderately ChallengingFor hardy explorers who enjoy a good physical challenge, spending most of their days on the go.
ChallengingGet ready to keep up with our highest-energy group. These demanding — and rewarding — programs are for seasoned outdoor enthusiasts.
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If you’re looking for a more flexible schedule with ample independent time and several meals on your own, then our FLEX learning adventures are made for you.

Program Details > Daily Schedule

Itinerary for Oct 24 — Nov 1, 2013

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Day One: Thursday, October 24 - Departures from the U.S. 
In Transit Overnight: Overnight flights to Paris.

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Type: Full Service Hotel

 Description: Located at the foot of Sacré Coeur, close to the Moulin Rouge and the Haussman-Opéra district's stores, the Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacré Coeur hotel offers spacious and modern rooms. The hotel is within easy reach of the Gare du Nord station, St Lazare train station, the metro and the main tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysées, and the Latin Quarter.

Contact info:
3 Rue Caulincourt
Paris, 75018 France
phone: +33 (0)8 25 80 79 79
web: http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-0373-mercure-paris-montmartre-sacre-coeur/room.shtml

Room amenities: Free wi-fi Internet access, flat screen satellite TV, mini fridge, tea and coffee making facilities, safe, bathroom with bathtub, hairdryer, phone, room service available.

Facility amenities: Wifi is available in the hotel, shoe shine station, dry cleaning/ironing, hair salon, gift shop, hotel bar, room service, travel information desk.

Smoking policy: No
Smoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Elevator: Yes

Additional nights before: TBD
Please contact Road Scholar Travel Services for rates and bookings.

Day Two: Friday, October 25 - Arrival in Paris, Orientation, and Evening Introductory City Tour 
Arrive To: Individual arrivals in Paris and check in to the hotel.

Afternoon: Program orientation led by your Group Leader. Please be in the lobby by 6 p.m.

Dinner: Welcome dinner near the hotel

Evening: Paris evening tour by bus: See the highlights of the city. Depending on the time of year, you may or may not see the lights of Paris.

Lodging: Hotel Mercure Montmartre Sacre Coeur

Meals Included: Dinner
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Type: Full Service Hotel

 Description: Located at the foot of Sacré Coeur, close to the Moulin Rouge and the Haussman-Opéra district's stores, the Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacré Coeur hotel offers spacious and modern rooms. The hotel is within easy reach of the Gare du Nord station, St Lazare train station, the metro and the main tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysées, and the Latin Quarter.

Contact info:
3 Rue Caulincourt
Paris, 75018 France
phone: +33 (0)8 25 80 79 79
web: http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-0373-mercure-paris-montmartre-sacre-coeur/room.shtml

Room amenities: Free wi-fi Internet access, flat screen satellite TV, mini fridge, tea and coffee making facilities, safe, bathroom with bathtub, hairdryer, phone, room service available.

Facility amenities: Wifi is available in the hotel, shoe shine station, dry cleaning/ironing, hair salon, gift shop, hotel bar, room service, travel information desk.

Smoking policy: No
Smoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Elevator: Yes

Additional nights before: TBD
Please contact Road Scholar Travel Services for rates and bookings.

Day Three: Saturday, October 26 - Ile de la Cite, Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame Cathedral and Gothic... 
Ile de la Cite, Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame Cathedral and Gothic Architecture

Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: Explore the heart of Paris; l'Ile de la Cite discover the flower markets and Sainte Chapelle - one of the most beautiful specimens of Gothic architecture - and end the morning at Notre Dame Cathedral. We cross the Seine River over to the Beaubourg neighborhood for lunch near this famed contemporary museum and its fountain.

Lunch: Lunch at a creperie near Les Halles.

Afternoon: Free time: Enjoy Saturday afternoon free to explore Paris, do some shopping in Les Halles or see one of the many museums that are easy connections. Optionally, join your Study Leader who will head into the Marais for a walk in this historic and dynamic part of Paris. Visit the City of Paris history museum (Musee Carnavalet) and end the afternoon at the Place des Vosges.

Dinner: Dinner on your own in Paris

Lodging: Hotel Mercure Montmartre Sacre Coeur

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
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Type: Full Service Hotel

 Description: Located at the foot of Sacré Coeur, close to the Moulin Rouge and the Haussman-Opéra district's stores, the Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacré Coeur hotel offers spacious and modern rooms. The hotel is within easy reach of the Gare du Nord station, St Lazare train station, the metro and the main tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysées, and the Latin Quarter.

Contact info:
3 Rue Caulincourt
Paris, 75018 France
phone: +33 (0)8 25 80 79 79
web: http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-0373-mercure-paris-montmartre-sacre-coeur/room.shtml

Room amenities: Free wi-fi Internet access, flat screen satellite TV, mini fridge, tea and coffee making facilities, safe, bathroom with bathtub, hairdryer, phone, room service available.

Facility amenities: Wifi is available in the hotel, shoe shine station, dry cleaning/ironing, hair salon, gift shop, hotel bar, room service, travel information desk.

Smoking policy: No
Smoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Elevator: Yes

Additional nights before: TBD
Please contact Road Scholar Travel Services for rates and bookings.

Day Four: Sunday, October 27 - Parisian Market, Orsay Museum, and the Artists of Montmartre 
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: Field Trip: Explore the life of a typical Parisian. Visit the Sunday market at Richard Lenoir. Enjoy the smells and flavors of Paris as you explore this popular little outdoor Sunday market. Continue the morning at the Orsay museum for a self guided visit using the museums audio guide system. Orsay has the largest collection of Impressionist paintings in the world.

Lunch: Enjoy lunch at the Orsay museum.

Afternoon: Field Trip: This afternoon we end the day at Montmartre to explore the neighborhood that was made famous by artists and continues to this day to be popular with the Parisian artists and writers. See Sacre Coeur and Place du Tertre, but also explore the back and side streets of the well-known neighborhood.

Dinner: Enjoy dinner on your own in Paris.

Lodging: Hotel Mercure Montmartre Sacre Coeur

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
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Type: Full Service Hotel

 Description: Located in a pedestrian street in the heart of old Bayeux, a medieval town near the D-Day landing beaches, the Churchill Hotel is just a few steps away from the famous tapestry and the cathedral. This charming hotel is in a quaint, rambling old building and is ranked one of the top hotels in Normandy.

Contact info:
14-16 rue Saint Jean
Bayeux, 14400 France
phone: +33 2 31 21 31 80
web: www.hotel-churchill.fr/pageUK/hotel.html

Room amenities: Direct telephone • Cable TV • Hair dryers

Facility amenities: Internet access. Please note that hotel rooms in France are smaller than hotel rooms in the US and often do not have dressers. This hotel does not have an elevator; participants will be staying in rooms on the first or second floor.

Smoking policy: No
Smoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Day Five: Monday, October 28 - Transfer to Bayeux, Giverny and Monet's Gardens, Rouen, and the... 
Transfer to Bayeux, Giverny and Monet's Gardens, Rouen, and the Cathedral of Rouen.

Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel in Paris before departing.

Morning: Depart from Paris for Normandy. En route, enjoy a field trip to explore the beautiful gardens of Claude Monet at Giverny. Learn about the history of Giverny in the Impressionist movement.

Lunch: Enjoy lunch on your own in the historic city of Rouen.

Afternoon: Field Trip: Explore Historic Rouen. Start at the Cathedral of Rouen, painted multiple times by Monet as he studied the impact of light. Rouen is also a city that offers outstanding examples of half timbered houses. After the visit, continue on to the hotel in Bayeux.

Dinner: Dinner near the hotel in Bayeux.

Lodging: Churchill Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Close [ x ]
Type: Full Service Hotel

 Description: Located in a pedestrian street in the heart of old Bayeux, a medieval town near the D-Day landing beaches, the Churchill Hotel is just a few steps away from the famous tapestry and the cathedral. This charming hotel is in a quaint, rambling old building and is ranked one of the top hotels in Normandy.

Contact info:
14-16 rue Saint Jean
Bayeux, 14400 France
phone: +33 2 31 21 31 80
web: www.hotel-churchill.fr/pageUK/hotel.html

Room amenities: Direct telephone • Cable TV • Hair dryers

Facility amenities: Internet access. Please note that hotel rooms in France are smaller than hotel rooms in the US and often do not have dressers. This hotel does not have an elevator; participants will be staying in rooms on the first or second floor.

Smoking policy: No
Smoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Day Six: Tuesday, October 29 - WWII in Normandy, the Landing Beaches and the US WWII Cemetery 
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: This morning we explore the landing sites of WWII in a unique way using period vehicles. Start the morning at Point du Hoc to learn about the preparation to D-day and the bombing leading up to the troop arrivals. We continue the morning on the landing beach of Omaha and learn about how the beach head was taken with great sacrafice of US troops. We see and discuss many of the remaining gun positions that survive still today. Afterward we then pay our respect to the fallen soldiers at the US WWII war cemetery. Here we have a brief ceremony. The morning ends in Arromanches to see the remants of the articial harbor built by the troops to unload the equipment that won the war for the allies.

Lunch: Lunch in Arromanches.

Afternoon: Free time in Bayeux to explore the city on your own. Marvel at the beauty of the Bayeux Cathedral or discover the Bayeux Tapestry which is a famous embroidered cloth depicting the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning and culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Afternoon: Excursion: Calvados and Cheese: Normandy's Pride. Sample the region's renowned apple brandy at the Chateau d'Englesqueville, where the first US monument to WWII soldiers was built.

Dinner: Enjoy dinner on your own at one of the many restaurants in Bayeux.

Lodging: Churchill Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Close [ x ]
Type: Full Service Hotel

 Description: Located in a pedestrian street in the heart of old Bayeux, a medieval town near the D-Day landing beaches, the Churchill Hotel is just a few steps away from the famous tapestry and the cathedral. This charming hotel is in a quaint, rambling old building and is ranked one of the top hotels in Normandy.

Contact info:
14-16 rue Saint Jean
Bayeux, 14400 France
phone: +33 2 31 21 31 80
web: www.hotel-churchill.fr/pageUK/hotel.html

Room amenities: Direct telephone • Cable TV • Hair dryers

Facility amenities: Internet access. Please note that hotel rooms in France are smaller than hotel rooms in the US and often do not have dressers. This hotel does not have an elevator; participants will be staying in rooms on the first or second floor.

Smoking policy: No
Smoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Day Seven: Wednesday, October 30 - Mont St. Michel and A Farmhouse Lunch 
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: Explore the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mont St. Michel.

Lunch: Lunch at a local farmhouse inn featuring typical local Normandy specialties.

Afternoon: Free time in Bayeux to explore the city a bit more on your own.

Dinner: Dinner on your own in Bayeux.

Lodging: Churchill Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Close [ x ]
Type: Full Service Hotel

 Description: The Mercure Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle Hotel is conveniently located near the airport and offers a free shuttle bus service between the hotel, terminals and RER/TGV train stations from 05:30 AM-midnight. The hotel offers a comfortable, stylish setting and cozy atmosphere. Rooms are air-conditioned with Wi-Fi Internet access, individual safe and satellite TV. Meeting rooms also available. Enjoy high-quality, traditional cuisine in our restaurant or relax in @éro Café, our bar. Snacks served until midnight.

Contact info:
1 Allee du Verger
Roissy en France, 95700 France
phone: +33 (0)8 25 80 49 49
web: http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-1245-mercure-paris-roissy-charles-de-gaulle/index.shtml

Room amenities: Equipped with duvet, air conditioning, mini fridge, free WIFI Internet, safe, large desk, flat-screen TV and video on demand. Bathroom with bathtub, hair dryer and complimentary items.

Smoking policy: Yes
Smoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Elevator: Yes

Check out time: 11:30 AM

Day Eight: Thursday, October 31 - The Charming Coastal Village of Honfleur, Palace of Versailles and... 
The Charming Coastal Village of Honfleur, Palace of Versailles and the Royal Gardens

Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: Field Trip: Enjoy unique architecture during a tour of Historic Honfleur. Learn why this city has one of the few remaining all wooden churches and the important role of this city in the settlement of New France. Optional Field Trip/ Free Time: "Discover the Musee Eugene Boudin". Located in a 19th century chapel and two modern extensions with views over Honfleur and the Seine, the Eugène Boudin Museum is named after Honfleur's most famous painter, and houses some 1200 square metres of permanent exhibitions in 9 rooms. On display are works by Eugène Boudin and other great impressionists such as Dubourg, Monet, and Jongkind - many of whom stayed and worked at the Saint-Simeon farmouse on the outskirts of Honfleur.

Lunch: Enjoy lunch on your own in Honfleur.

Afternoon: Field Trip: Discover Versailles Palace. Enjoy visiting the inside of the castle and the Hall of Mirrors and later take some time to explore the gardens on your own.

Dinner: Farewell dinner at the CDG airport hotel.

Lodging: Mercure Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Day Nine: Friday, November 01 - Return to the US or Onward to your Combination Program 
Breakfast: Breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: Individual shuttle transfers to the airport, shuttle operates from 5:30 AM to Midnight. PLEASE NOTE: This program can be easily combined with program 21096 Provence and for those choosing to combine this program with program 21096 to Provence, you will take the TGV (High Speed Train) from the CDG Airport Train station (ticket and travel information will be sent with your final mailing for the second program).

Meals Included: Breakfast


Free Time Opportunities


Paris
Musee Jacquemart-AndreThe Jacquemart-André Museum, founded by collector Édouard André and his portraitist wife Nélie Jacquemart, is in an opulent mid-19th-century residence on one of Paris’ posher avenues. It has furniture, tapestries and enamels, but is most noted for its paintings by Rembrandt and Van Dyck and Italian Renaissance works by Bernini, Botticelli, Carpaccio, Donatello, Mantegna, Tintoretto, Titian and Uccello. Don’t miss the Jardin d’Hiver (Winter Garden), with its marble statuary, tropical plants and double-helix marble staircase. Just off it is the delightful fumoir (the erstwhile smoking room) filled with exotic objects collected by Jacquemart during her travels. The salon de thé is one of the most beautiful in the city.
For additional information, visit: www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Musee National du Moyen AgeThe National Museum of the Middle Ages is housed in two structures: the frigidarium (cooling room) and other remains of Gallo-Roman baths dating from around AD 200, and the late-15th-century Hôtel de Cluny, considered the finest example of medieval civil architecture in Paris. The spectacular displays at the museum include statuary, illuminated manuscripts, weapons, furnishings, and objets d’art made of gold, ivory and enamel. But nothing compares with La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady with the Unicorn), a sublime series of late-15th-century tapestries from the southern Netherlands now hung in circular room 13 on the 1st floor. Five of them are devoted to the senses, while the sixth is the enigmatic À Mon Seul Désir (To My Sole Desire), a reflection on vanity.
For additional information, visit: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/
Musee de L’OrangerieLocated in the southwestern corner of the Jardin des Tuileries, this museum, with the Jeu de Paume, is all that remains of the once palatial Palais des Tuileries, which was razed during the Paris Commune in 1871. It exhibits important Impressionist works, including a series of Monet's Decorations des Nymphéas (Water Lilies) in two huge oval rooms purpose-built in 1927 on the artist's instructions, as well as works by Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Sisley, Soutine and Utrillo.
For additional information, visit: www.musee-orangerie.fr/
Rue du Faubourg Saint-HonoréThe rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré is a street in the 8th arrondissement. Although relatively narrow and nondescript (especially in comparison to the avenue des Champs-Élysées), it is cited as being one of the most fashionable streets in the world, thanks to the presence of virtually every major global fashion house.
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Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information featured on this website. Itineraries are based on our best information at this time. Circumstances beyond our control may require us to adjust itineraries or other details. We regret any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding. Information will be sent to you from your Program Provider approximately three weeks prior to the program start date.
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•14 meals: 7 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 3 dinners
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•12 Field trips
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Brittany and NormandyDate: Oct 7, 2013
Independent Paris: People, Places, CultureDate: Nov 2, 2013
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