HC – Hood College – France 2024

DAY 1 – DEPARTURE Friday, March 8 

Depart Home for Paris, France

DAY 2 – PARIS Saturday, March 9 

Arrive in Paris, France

Airport Transfer – Private Bus
Orientation Walking Tour – The group will become oriented with their neighborhood, the public transportation systems, nearby pharmacies, markets, ATMs, etc. Additionally, an in-depth safety briefing will be provided for what to do incase of an emergency.

Welcome Dinner – The group will be taken for an authentic French dinner with a wide variety of menu options to cater all diets. 

Eiffel Tower & Champ de Mars – An object of discord, desire and fascination, the Eiffel Tower never fails to impress. Enriched by a history full of new developments, the iconic Parisian landmark has loomed over the city since 1889. 

Evening Seine Boat Cruise – This one-hour boat cruise along the River Seine allows to discover from a new perspective the main monuments of Paris and its wonderful bridges. 

DAY 3 – PARIS Sunday, March 10

Breakfast & Day Briefing 

Versailles Excursion – The Palace of Versailles is a magnificent example of French Baroque architecture, is the most famous royal chateau in France.

Return to Paris

DAY 4 – PARIS Monday, March 11

Breakfast & Day Briefing

Musée du Louvre – Once the Palace of the Kings of France, it is now the world’s largest art museum, with works from the Middle Ages to 1848. 

Lunch Break

Cinema Museum – The Cinémathèque Française Film Center in Paris is dedicated to the collection, conservation, restoration and the exhibition of worldwide film documents.

DAY 5 – PARIS Tuesday, March 12

Breakfast & Day Briefing

Visit Pompidou – The Centre Pompidou, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, is a 20th-century architectural marvel, immediately recognizable by its exterior escalators and enormous coloured tubing. It is home to the National Museum of Modern Art and is internationally renowned for its 20th and 21st century art collections.

Optional  Graphic design guided tour:

Explore the expressive, graphic, sound and semantic potential of the letter and word, new materials that modern artists are starting to use in poetic and activist approaches at the crossroads between artistic disciplines. 

Rex Studio Tour – Through an interactive tour with an audio guide, go behind the scenes, and discover the legend and the stars of the largest cinema in Europe. Your tour will commence inside a transparent and panoramic elevator that will take you behind the gigantic screen of the Grand Rex. Discover a recreated old projection room, see archive images, enter into the Director’s office, do a voiceover for a film clip and learn about the many special effects and tricks used in a film.

DAY 6 – PARIS Wednesday, March 13

Breakfast & Day Briefing
Catacombs of Paris – The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris’ ancient stone quarries.
Lunch Break

West Bank Literary tour – There is a famous saying : “Everyone has 2 countries, their own & France”.  This was especially true for numerous artists between the two WW, many of whom flocked to Paris not only for artistic inspiration but also to find themselves. Known as the Lost Generation, these were men and women who questioned the old regime as morally bankrupt – seeking to build a new system.  Eager to share ideas, they gathered in the cafés of the Left Bank, living in cold-water flats and the area’s cheap hotels. 

DAY 7 – PARIS Thursday, March 14

Breakfast & Day Briefing

Visit La Maison Des Journalistes – TBC – “Maison des journalistes” is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting journalists who have been forced to flee their countries because of persecution relating to their line of work. A physical refuge located in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, the Maison des journalists offers these courageous journalists a temporary home and the help they need to rebuild their lives.

Montmartre Walking Tour – Known for the picturesque alleys and the stunning view over the city, Montmartre hosted the houses and studios of many artists such as Monet, Renoir, Degas, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Mondrian, Modigliani, Picasso and Tzara, the founder of the Dada movement.

Optional – Evening show at Le Moulin Rouge – to be booked and paid separately

DAY 8 – PARIS Friday, March 15

Breakfast & Day Briefing

Père-Lachaise Cemetery –Walk through the most prestigious and most visited necropolis in Paris. Situated in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, it extends 44 hectares and contains 70,000 burial plots. On the green paths, visitors cross the burial places of famous men and women; Honoré de Balzac, Guillaume Apollinaire, Frédéric Chopin, Colette, Jean-François Champollion, Jean de La Fontaine, Molière, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Jim Morrison, Alfred de Musset, Edith Piaf, Camille Pissarro and Oscar Wilde are just a few.

Free afternoon in Paris 

Suggestions:

Victor Hugo Maison- Situated in the prestigious Place de Vosges in the heart of the Marais district, the Maison de Victor Hugo invites visitors into the private home of the famous French writer, who lived and wrote there some of his major works, including a large part of ‘Les Misérables’. 

Dreyfus museum – The Maison Zola and the Musée Dreyfus are waiting to welcome you in Médan, west of Paris. The intimate home of one of France’s greatest novelists is also an exceptional place in which to rediscover  the scandal that divided public opinion at the dawn of the twentieth century in Paris.

Farewell Dinner & Program Closing

DAY 9 – RETURN Saturday, March 16

Breakfast & Day Briefing
Airport Transfer

Depart Paris, France for Home