Paris and Florence at the speed of light

We have been very busy the last few days since we left the slow and easy pace of La Giraudière. The girls and the teachers met up with John Lionnet, our fabulous guide, our last night at La Giraudière. Then we bussed it all the way to Paris where we hit the ground running and I do mean running. In our first few hours, we visited the Arc de Triomphe, strolled down the Champs Élysées, checked out the crazy Centre Pompidou, paid hommage to the grand Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral and had dinner on the Left Bank. This could only be topped by sprinting to the top of a large flight of very steep stairs to get to the prime picture-taking location before the lights on the Eiffel Tour stopped blinking. Those girls can run and pose for a picture. Of course, the evening would not be complete without a crepe or two. As one of the girls commented, "They just taste better when you are eating them while looking at the Eiffel Tower." Bien sûr! Here is one of those great group pictures with the sparkling Eiffel Tower in the background.

Day 2 in Paris, we flew through the Louvre before continuing on through the Tuilerie Gardens in search of the Musée d'Orsay where we saw our favorite Impressionist and Post-Impressionist oeuvres. After our morning of museum tours, we had some shopping time and a nice leisurely lunch. While lunching, we ran into a St. Mary's alum who was strolling down the street with her parents - Linley Prosterman! What are the odds? 

Believe it or not.... we swept through the 2 most famous Parisian art museums in one morning!
Since our exciting overnight train trip and our arrival in Florence, the pace has not let up a bit. We are on a mission to be culturally stimulated 24/7 and we have also been trying to walk off all of the gelato we have been tasting! While in Florence, we have seen many great master works by Michelangelo, Alberti, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Caravaggio, Masaccio, and the list goes on and on and on.... We even braved our fatigue and fear of heights to climb almost 400 steps to view the beautiful vista from the top of the dome of the church of the Santa Maria del Fiore - better known as Il Duomo! Here are some of our beautiful photos from this adventure.

Mme Bell and Lucy Wade posing for a victory picture after conquering the dome - just not too close to the railing!

The girls are all smiles coming down from the top of the dome - it is much easier descending ...unless of course, you are afraid of heights! Yikes, those are some steep steps.

After all of our busy touring, we stopped for a good-bye pose with our great local Florence guide - Jann - who was charmed by and impressed with the grace, knowledge, and curiosity of our students. Here is yet another stunning group picture.

Of course, the girls have not missed out on any of the fine culinary or shopping opportunities afforded by the abundant city of Florence. Here are some pictures to document the fun.

Here are the girls modeling some of their new outfits as we sit in the lobby of our hotel, aptly named the Hotel Leonardo da Vinci. (See the Vitruvian Man in the background? Don't know who or what that is? Ask your daughters!)

Pizza! Yummmmm....

Meg was the honored student guest at the teacher table last night. Such glorious food. Just look at how happy they are.

We have one more morning of shopping and strolling in Florence before we board the bus and make our way to Rome tomorrow. No telling what adventures await us there. I know we will be seeing so many beautiful master works and am sure we will stumble upon countless other treasures along the way. Stay tuned and the next time I can find an internet connection, I promise to send an update.
A bientôt (see you soon),
Mme Bell

PS. On behalf of myself, Dr. Ray, Dr. Millen, our tour guide John Lionnet, our local guides, and every person with whom we have come in contact, thank you for raising and sending such delightful, inquisitive, kind, and well-behaved young ladies to explore the world with us. It has been a pleasure so far and makes us so proud to be representing St. Mary's and Memphis.