Day Six: "The Beautiful City"

The first three pictures are from yesterday's Channel crossing: the White Cliffs of Dover and the beach at Calais.

The rest of the pictures are from our remarkably full day in Paris. We met our Paris guide at L'arc de Triomphe at 9:30 this morning and started our exploration of the city. The students saw all of the classic sights of Paris but also had the chance to see some areas associated with their study of the French Revolution and A Tale of Two Cities. The 10th and 11th pictures are respectively La Place de la Concorde and La Conciergerie. La Place de la Concorde is the spot of the most famous guillotine used for executions during "The Terror" (there were actually three/four other guillotines); this particular guillotine took the life of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. It also served as the scene for the final moments of A Tale of Two Cities; Sydney Carton thought his immortal words, "It is a far, far better thing I do..." from this spot before his execution. The plaza was originally named after Louis XIV, but after the Storming of the Bastille and the dissolution of the monarchy, anything even remotely connected to the aristocracy was relcaimed by the "Republic". In the 1800's the plaza received its present name which means "Plaza of Agreement (or Peace)". The next picture, La Conciergerie, shows one of the most notorious prisons during the time of "The Terror"; many aristocrats were brought here for a brief stay before their inevitable execution; some were even slaughtered right in the prison. From the novel, Charles Darnay spent some time imprisoned here after his capture in Paris.

After our bus tour, David took us on a walking tour of some of the older districts of Paris. Winding our way through narrow alleys and streets and crossing the Seine over numerous bridges with panoramic views of the city, we passed through the courtyard of the Louvre (we'll spend the morning there tomorrow) and the Tuileries (the palace gardens) before ending up at La Musee d'Orsay.

The museum is a coverted train station and is truly a wonder of architecture and design. It houses art primarly from 19th century France; although there are example from other European Masters (Klimt, Munch etc.), but the highlight of the exhibitions is the collection of Impressionism. As you can see, students had the opportunity to see some of the most famous pieces of Impressionist art from the Masters: Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Manet et al.

Today's walk showed students the best and worst of which a city is capable. We were inspired and refreshed by the magnificent art at La Musee d'Orsay and sobered while considering the horrible events that occurred at La Place de la Concorde and La Conciergerie. This was actually Dickens main theme in A Tale of Two Cities; that at any one time, humans are capable of both extreme good and extreme evil. One city can be, at the same time, inspiring and sobering. The students may have been a little tired at the end of the day to discuss this point, but we'll review it with fresh minds.

Talk to you later.

Paul