Day 3: June 23, 2025

First full day in France. Hearty breakfast at the hotel, with all the great French classics (croissant, pain au chocolat, salted butter) and much more, and we are ready to go! First things first, let's have a local to lure us into the intricate history, arts and culture of France. Thanks Jennifer, our nice local guide, and Moha, our skillful driver, for taking us around the main sights in Paris. Among the many amazing places we have passed by: Musée d'Orsay, Place de la Concorde, Petit Palais and Grand Palais, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées, Jardins de Luxembourg, and many, many more! After that, the group has had some free time to walk around, do some shopping, eat good food, all of that by the renown Galeries Lafayette. Then everybody felt like doing some Eiffel Tower climbing, and hey, I cannot blame them. No other place in Paris gives you the views and experience you get there. And some our students were even courageous enough to not take the elevator and walk the stairs to the 2nd deck of the Tower. Brave people! After that we went back to the Latin Quarter for another great meal there at La Cochonnaille restaurant. And how best to digest a good meal other than soaking in the dusk light and atmosphere in Paris in a cruise on the Seine River? If you don't fall in love with the city after such an experience, then it means you don't have a heart at all! After that we headed to the metro, and I was happy and proud to see that the group was already quite autonomous in navigating the complex Paris public transportation system, like real Parisians almost! Tomorrow is time to head down south. Bye bye Paris, je t'aime!