Today was Thursday and we spent the first half of the day at school. After grabbing an early lunch in the cafeteria we went into Grenoble and had some free time to enjoy the winter sales! The entire group shopped for a while and decided to enjoy some "chocolat chaud" before going to Vizille.

After meeting up with Madame, we took the bus up to Vizille. It is a beautiful chateau that housed an important estates general meeting on their indoor tennis courts during the French Revolution.

The chateau was later used as a summer house for presidents of France and is now a museum with art from the time of the revolution. Not only are there beautiful paintings by famous artists such as Jacques-Louis David, but also there are sculptures and many types of art from the revolution. After finishing the tour we took some pictures next to the chateau and the beautiful grounds! It was a great day and the entire group enjoyed the museum!

Photos from student Coleman Ducharme:

• Val thorens, the highest ski station in Europe: 3,000 Meters.

• Astronomical clock that has been working for 700 years

• View of Vienne

Click image below to view the Jan 14th photo gallery.

On the next day of the trip, we woke up early to arrive at the train station to go to the beautiful town of Vienne. But to do this, we had to make a stop in Lyon.

In the first picture, you can see us enjoying our small layover in the train station. Then we went to a beautiful Gallo Roman Museum in Vienne where we took a group picture and enjoyed beautiful ceramic work and mosaics. Afterwards we took an audio-guided tour around Vienne and stopped at an ancient Roman theater. It was fun going to a to town that is filled with history!

After arriving in Grenoble and spending a wonderful weekend with our host families, it was nice to reunite with our fellow Americans. As a group, we ventured into Grenoble and learned about the rich history of the city.

First, we went to the palace of justice and then into a beautiful church opposite it! Then we walked around town and then we arrived at Les Crypts Saint Laurent, an interesting archeological museum. All and all, it was a great day!!

-- Sydnie

The Palace of Justice in Grenoble

St. Andre's Church

Sculpture depicting the two rivers of Grenoble, Le Drac et L’Isère

Celebrating a French birthday dinner with the host family.

January 5, 2012

We landed in Paris at 7:45 in the morning! After driving into Paris we had our first lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Paris. Right near the restaurant was the Musée de Cluny; it is a museum with statues and art from the middle ages. The building that the museum was in used to be a hotel in the middle ages and before that it was a Roman bath. Then we went to Notre Dame and had some hot chocolate. We ended our first day with a boat trip on the Seine where we saw the Eiffel tower glitter! The first day in Paris was such a blast!

- Coleman, Sydnie, Elizabeth, Alicia