Welcome to Paris! At Charles de Gaulle airport, board the TGV to Lyon for the homestay with your host families. 

The students will spend 10 days living with their Notre Dame de Bellegarde partner and their family. KHS students will participate fully in family life as well as attend school with their NDB partner.

Journey back to Paris by TGV. Transfer to the hotel to drop off your luggage. Discover Paris with your tour leader. After dinner, ascend to the second level of the iconic Eiffel Tower and take in panoramic views of the city.  D

Using public transportation (RER), travel to Palace of Versailles, home of Louis XIV, the Sun King. See the magnificent Hall of Mirrors with your guide and imagine it filled with silk gowns and powdered wigs, lit by thousands of candles. The mirrors, a luxurious rarity at the time, were a reflection of a time when aristocrats felt good about their looks and their fortunes. In another age altogether, this was the room in which the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I. Stroll through the fabulous formal gardens and marvel at the splendor in which royalty lived. Return to Paris. Transfer to the famous arts district of Montmartre. Walk through the cobblestone-filled streets and appreciate the bohemian atmosphere. See the lovely Basilica Sacré-Coeur before heading back into the main part of the city. Balance of the day at leisure to further explore Paris using your Metro pass. See Paris from a different point of view on a Bateaux Mouches Seine River cruise and sail past the illuminated monuments of Paris.  B, D

After breakfast, enjoy a visit with your tour leader at the Louvre, the largest museum on earth! The Louvre was originally constructed in 1200 as a fortress. In the 17th century, it served as Louis XIII’s palace. After the French revolution, the Louvre was opened as a museum and its fabulous collection was rightfully made accessible to the public. Among the priceless art treasures to see are the beautifully proportioned Venus de Milo, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.  B, D

Explore les Catacombes, which are the famous underground ossuaries that hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris’ ancient stone mines. They were created as part of the effort to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries not long after 1774. The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty location for concerts and other events in the early 1800s. Visit the Cathédrale Notre-Dame and the surrounding Saint Michel neighborhood. Perhaps, visit the cemetery of Le Père Lachaise, final resting place of many famous artists, such as Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. Visit the Musée du Parfum Fragonard, welcoming both amateur perfume lovers and connoisseurs to see the manufacturing secrets of perfume and its extraordinary history from antiquity to the present day.  B, D 

Transfer to the airport for your return flight home with many new memories of your adventures in France!  B