The last full day of the Paris trip was a free day for the students and most decided to go to Euro Disney for the day, but James had other plans. James left for London England!

James had to get up early to make the train, in fact so early that the subway was not even open and he had to walk to the train station. Once there he enjoyed a trip along the French landscape till the “Chunnel”. The Channel Tunnel, also referred to as the ‘Chunnel’, is the longest underwater rail tunnel in the world and connects southern England (Folkestone Terminal) to northern France (Calais Terminal) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. From there he went through customs and to the British Museum where he had bought tickets weeks before.

It did rain while he was in London and James had to buy a new souvenir bag.

After seeing the museum, Big Ben, and Parliament – James returned back to France (going through French Customs again) and made it back to the hotel mere minutes before the hotel curfew.
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Another wow day as James got to visit the most famous art museum in the world! The Louvre is home to some of the most canonical works of Western art, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II. Remnants of the Medieval Louvre fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to urban expansion, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function, and in 1546 Francis I converted it into the primary residence of the French Kings.

The Louvre, as so many of the other places James visited, is the setting for another famous movie, “The Davinci Code”.

Continue reading “2024 Day Seven of Paris Trip” →

Wow, what a day! Today included a visit to the Orsay Museum in the morning and the Paris Opera in the afternoon. Now opera may sound a little boring, but not this opera due to its one “notorious” occupant – The Phantom of the Opera.

The Musée d’Orsay (English: Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum’s opening in 1986. It is one of the largest art museums in Europe.

The Opéra de Paris (Paris Opera) is the primary opera and ballet company of France and was the setting for the book and musical “The Phantom of the Opera”. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d’Opéra, and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the Académie Royale de Musique, but continued to be known more simply as the Opéra. Classical ballet as it is known today arose within the Paris Opera as the Paris Opera Ballet and has remained an integral and important part of the company. Currently called the Opéra national de Paris, it mainly produces operas at its modern 2,723-seat theatre Opéra Bastille which opened in 1989.

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Todays schedule included a trip to the Palace of Versailles on this overcast morning in France. Louis XIII built a simple hunting lodge on the site of the Palace of Versailles in 1623. With his death came Louis XIV who expanded the château into the beginnings of a palace that went through several changes and phases from 1661 to 1715. It was a favorite residence for both kings, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace the de facto capital of France. This state of affairs was continued by Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, who primarily made interior alterations to the palace, but in 1789 the royal family and capital of France returned to Paris. For the rest of the French Revolution, the Palace of Versailles was largely abandoned and emptied of its contents, and the population of the surrounding city plummeted.

Napoleon, following his coronation as Emperor, used Versailles as a summer residence from 1810 to 1814, but did not restore it. Following the Bourbon Restoration, when the king was returned to the throne, he resided in Paris and it was not until the 1830s that meaningful repairs were made to the palace. A museum of French history was installed within it, replacing the apartments of the southern wing.

After returning from Versailles, James’ class visited the Eifel tower at night and got some great pictures

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With rain in the afternoon on Saturday we spent the time exploring a couple of the Smithsonian museums. The Natural History Museum was very crowded and we had to wait in a 20 minute line to get in (they do security scans in all the museums). Dad visited the Smithsonian decades ago and wanted to see the dinosaurs, but that part of the museum was being renovated and he never got to see it, so this visit we made it up to Dad. The museum also hosted the Hope Diamond which was stored in the gem area of the museum. Awesome displays of animals and man were on display over several floors and they even had a butterfly exhibit with live butterflies, but we did not visit it since we see this on our Macinac visits and it had a long line. The ocean exhibit was fantastic with everything from whales to skeletons of whales which were hanging down from the ceiling. The mammal exhibit was like going to a zoo and we were thinking that probably is where many of the animals came from after they passed on. The dinosaur exhibit had a T Rex and Triceratop skeletons on display along with many smaller dinosaurs. You could also peer into the lab and watch the people work on fossils which was reminded us of a scene in Jurassic park. All in all it was very much worth the wait.

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The forecast called for rain Saturday afternoon so we planned on visiting the Smithsonian during this time frame. The first museum was the American History Museum which had a variety of artifacts including the First Lady exhibit, Julia Childs exhibit, and even Archie Bunkers chair. Without a doubt the highlight was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to compose the National Anthem. It was in a special area and photography was not allowed to help preserve it so the only pictures we got are from the outside of the exhibit. So much to see and so little time while visiting the Smithsonian.

Check out the slide show below

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Despite the high temperature being only in the mid 40’s and an overcast sky, we braved the elements and visited Greenfield Village on the last day of their halloween spectacular. Pumpkins lined the streets and fields and all were carved (I wonder where they get all the carved pumpkins?). We made sure to ride the train, ride the model T, and ride the carousel since it will be probably a year before we get to ride them again. We enjoyed the tribute to the Birds as they had a bunch of crows outside of the school yard as one of their exhibits. Its very clever how they weave Halloween into all the American history there.

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James and his classmates visited the Henry Ford Museum today and he said he had an absolutely wonderful time. Originally it was planned to be a visit to the Village but wet weather in the morning forced the class into the museum. After the visit James did get to visit the Village and rode the train with his family since Mom & Dad went there to pick him up and save James the two bus rides he would have to take to get home (one back to the school and another to his home). Greenfield Village is still decorated for Halloween and had a thousand pumpkins decorating the village, which is adds to the Fall atmosphere.

Continue reading “Henry Ford Halloween Field Trip with LPMS 2016” →

Vehicles of the US Army were on display at Greenfield Village and James had a chance to see an incredible variety of vehicles that were used in World War 2 and the Korean War. Dad was kind of shocked how little the jeep changed from the 1940’s till the early 1980’s when he used to drive around in them. There was every type of GI issue including cigarettes that the Army used to provide to soldiers, imagine that. James enjoyed the specialty vehicles such as the military ambulances and personnel transports. He also saw a vast array of machine guns and other weapons from various era’s of our history. A very interesting exhibit that brought back fond memories for Dad.

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Recently on a visit to Henry Ford Museum James saw a shovel in cement with Thomas Edison written in the cement celebrating a ground breaking ceremony that happened nearly a century ago. Right after that we saw the entrance to the new Beatle exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum and asked James if he knew who the Beatles were. James replied “yes, they are the ones who wrote their name in cement”. With that answer we knew the Beatle exhibit was not for James but on a recent field trip to Henry Ford for James’ 7th grade class we took the Beatles tour while he was with his classmates and took the following pics.

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