Caen and Bayeux - April 2006.

On Friday the 7th, the 4D went on a trip again. Indeed, the project we had undergone in November has finally came to an end with the visit of l' abbaye aux hommes and of the tapestry of Bayeux.

"We left at 7 a.m to go to Caen. We took a coach and we arrived at 11.a.m. We went to th « Abbaye aux hommes ». Today the abbey is the town hall, but it also used to be a school. The abbey is built in the form of an « H ». The « H » is significant because it stands for Hosanna.
Unfortunately we couldn’t see William the Conqueror's tomb because there was a strike and so the guide couldn’t let us in. After the Abbey, we took the coach again to go to Bayeux and we ate a picnic lunch. After lunch, we saw an exhibition and a film about the tapestry. And after the film, we saw the tapestry. We listened to the audioguides during our visit to learn the story of the battle. This tapestry is interesting because it tells the story of William the Conqueror. He was first known as William the Bastard and then William Duke of Normandy. The tapestry measures 70 metres long and depicts the battle of Hastings between Harold , another family member over the family land. William’s stepbrother, the Archbishop might have ordered monks in an abbey to create this tapestry.
It reminds us of a comic strip...from the Middle Ages. If you ever visit Normandy, we recommend spending a day in Caen and in Bayeux. It was a long tiring day but an interesting day."

A trip to south England : In William The Conqueror’s steps – November 2005.

This year, both euroclasses from year 9 went to England in the steps of William the Conqueror. We tried to understand William’s travels. The 4C has added this trip to their “itinéraire de découverte,” Several subjects will be tackled such as the influence of the French language into the English one, the tapestry of Bayeux, William the Conqueror’s coronation day, food and clothes in the 11th century, the battle of Hastings.....

Here are the places the students visited :

Day 1
Visit of Rye
Story of Rye in the Rye Heritage centre.
Meeting with the families in Eastbourne.

Day 2
Visit of the ruins of Battle Abbey.
Visit of Buckley’s Yesterday World.
Visit of the Hastings Castle.

Day 3
Visit of Westminster Abbey
Visit of the Tower of London

Day 4
Visit of Dover Castle.

Their impressions about the trip:

“I enjoyed this trip because the history of England is very interesting and I wanted to learn more words in English. I don’t like the English food because it’s too different and I think the architecture is boring because the houses look all the same! But London is a beautiful city though. The castles are huge and the Jewels in the Tower of London are amazing. The trip on the coach was also great!”

“The trip to England was great because there was a good atmosphere. We saw beautiful monuments. There were a lot of television sets in my host family : it was bizarre! ...”

“ I think that this trip was interesting and fun – especially on the coach ! The family who welcomed us was very nice. One day we had a very pig pizza, yummy! The first time we had a shower the water was either too hot or too cold, OUCH! I was upset on the last day because the weather was very cold and windy and it rained all the time! On top of that, we had to have our lunch outside!”

A trip to a European capital city : London - June 2005.

Our visit to London took place at the end of the academic year in June 2005 with the former 4c now 3c.
The programme was quite busy but the students were fast walkers and did not complain about our long strolls.

Here is the schedule :

Day 1
We left school at 7.30
Boarding at Calais at 12.30 – departure at 13.30
Arrival at Dover at 14.00.
Visit of Canterbury.
Meeting with the families at 19.00.

Day 2
Discovery of the main monuments of London on the coach with a guide.
Picnic at St James’s Park.
Walk towards the National Gallery through The Mall, The Admiralty Arch and Trafalgar Square.
Visit of the National Gallery to see a few paintings chosen by the students.
Walk down to Whitehall passing 10 Downing Street,going to The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

Day 3
Visit of Mme Tussaud’s.
Picnic at Regent Park.
Walk down to Baker Street visiting Marble Arch, Oxford Street, Picadilly Circus et Regent Street : Shopping on Regent Street.

Day 4.
Visit of Windsor castle.
Picnic outside the castle.
Visit of Eton

Day 5
Walk From the Parliament Bridge along the River Thames
Visit of the New Tate Gallery.
Visit of Shakespeare’s theater: the Globe.
Crossing of the London Bridge to reach the London Tower.
Visit of the White Tower and the jewels of the Crown.
Mini Cruise on the River Thames from Tower Pier to Greenwich Pier.
A few photographs in front of the Cutty Sark
Dinner in a restaurant at Greenwich
Back to the coach to return to Paris.

Arrival in Paris at 5 am.

A few points of view:

"I really looked forward to going to London and really liked this trip. It was terrific and was a real change compared to Paris. I would go back with a great pleasure if I could and I think lots of students in this form share my opinion"

"Our trip to London was great, we discovered glimpses of another culture, as we were in British families. We saw almost all the most important monuments"

"This trip was interesting. Our host family was nice and living with British people was a good experience. We will never forget London although It stole us the Olympic games!!!"

A trip to a European capital city : Brussels- October 2004.

In October 2004, we went to Brussels with the euroclass (former 4c now 3c) in order to visit the Parliament.
Such a visit had already been organized in our school by one of our English teachers, Mrs Deniau, in 2001.
So, we got in touch with several Parisian MEPs and one of them offered us this visit which was very interesting.
We were welcomed by the MEP who answered our questions and then we had lunch before visiting the Parliament itself. Finally, we had a lovely walk down to La Grand Place, looked for the Manneken Pis, bought some chocolate, of course, and off we went ! Back to Paris.

A few opinions:

"The visit of Brussels was very interesting. The French MEP met us and helped us understand the way the Parliament works. The city is beautiful and Belgian chocolates are delicious!"

"We visited different places in Brussels which were interesting. I enjoyed myself on that day!"

"This visit of the European capital city was interesting. As for me, It was the first time I went to Brussels.I enjoyed the day but I think it would have been better if we could have stayed more time there to visit the town."