Get ready for fun and learning in Paris!
Sunday – March 13, 2016
Morning: Group arrives in Paris around 8:30am, meet Eli outside of customs/baggage claim – look for the CISabroad SUNY Plattsburg sign, and a big smile!
Hotel Campanile Paris 11 – Bastille – Le Marais
9 Rue Du Chemin Vert, Paris, 75011
+33143385808
TripAdvisor link
Accessible by Métro Lines 5, 7 and 1 (at Bastille)
The closest métro stop is Bréguet Sabin
Afternoon: Orientation and literary walking tour around Paris
Upon arrival or soon after check-in Eli will host an onsite health and safety orientation to Paris, and take you on a quick neighborhood (walking) tour to acquaint you to your new surroundings! Find the nearest ATM, métro stop, grocery store, pharmacy, etc.
At 4PM: “Hemingway and lost generation” walking tour – Your guide is Edith, from Paris.
You will need to meet Edith at Métro Cardinal Lemoine at Exit number 1, right at 4PM, so plan to leave early (check with your professors and Eli for a specific time).
Evening: Enjoy a welcome dinner at one of the many Parisian restaurants with literary history: Brasserie La Coupole. Dinner is at 7PM sharp!
Address: 102, Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75014 Paris
+33 1 43 20 14 20
Métro : Vavin (Ligne 4)
Meals included: Dinner
Transportation: Airport to accommodations (one group transfer via private shuttle); accommodations to visits (public transportation and walking)
Monday – March 14, 2016
Morning: Breakfast will be served at the hotel today!
Meet for breakfast at 8am – be sure to eat up, you have a big morning ahead of you as you explore Notre Dame Cathedral and Treasury!
Afternoon: Spend time in the hundreds of open-air bookseller’s stalls along the Seine; visit Shakespeare and Company
Evening: Optional visit to Au Chat Noir’s spoken words presentations
Every Monday spoken words presents at Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
Métro: Parmentier/Couronnes
Meals included: Breakfast
Transportation: Accommodations to visits (public transportation and walking)
Tuesday – March 15, 2016
Morning: Meet in the lobby at 8am to head out for a croissant/baguette breakfast at a nearby café, then continue to Père Lachaise cemetery (aiming for a 9:30 arrival)
The world’s most visited cemetery, Père Lachaise, opened in 1804. Its 70,000 ornate, even ostentatious, tombs of the rich and/or famous form a verdant, 44-hectare sculpture garden. The most visited are those of 1960s rock star Jim Morrison (division 6) and Oscar Wilde (division 89). Eli will hand out maps to help guide you! (Read more from Lonely Planet)
Metro: Philippe Auguste, ligne 2
16, rue du Repos 75020 Paris
11AM: Regroup to leave cemetery and head towards the Catacombs (métro: Denfert Rochereau) to have lunch in the area. There are many restaurants to choose from!
Afternoon: You have a 2PM appointment at the Catacombs, but there is usually a very long line. Even though you have tickets, you should plan to be onsite with your group by 1:45PM so you don’t miss your entry!
Paris’ most macabre sight is its underground tunnels lined with skulls and bones. In 1785 it was decided to rectify the hygiene problems of Paris’ overflowing cemeteries by exhuming the bones and storing them in disused quarry tunnels and the Catacombes were created in 1810. After descending 20m (via 130 narrow, dizzying spiral steps) below street level, you follow the dark, subterranean passages to reach the ossuary itself (2km in all). (Read more from Lonely Planet)
Evening: Explore Rue Mouffetard (a great street for dinner), the Latin Quarter and work your way up to the Panthéon.
Meals included: Breakfast
Transportation: Accommodations to visits (public transportation and walking)
Wednesday – March 16, 2016
Day: Visit and explore The Louvre
Few art galleries are as prized or daunting as the Musée du Louvre, Paris’ pièce de résistance no first-time visitor to the city can resist. This is, after all, one of the world’s largest and most diverse museums. Showcase to 35,000 works of art – from Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Greek antiquities to masterpieces by artists such as da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt – it would take nine months to glance at every piece, rendering advance planning essential. (Read more from Lonely Planet)
Louvre tickets are good for the entire day, and it’s open until 9:45PM today!
Afternoon: Visit and climb the Eiffel Tower
Check with your professors and Eli for a specific meeting point and time to head over to the Eiffel Tower. On your way there, Eli will guide you into a grocery store to pickup a few items for a picnic on the lawn facing the tower!
Evening: Option excursion to Shakespeare & Co. – stay tuned for more details from your professors!
Meals included: Breakfast
Transportation: Accommodations to visits (public transportation and walking)
Thursday – March 17, 2016
Morning: This morning you’ll have a few options to choose from, look to your professors and Eli for more details!
Afternoon: Right at noon, you have an appointment to visit Victor Hugo’s apartment and the museum.
Between 1832 and 1848 writer Victor Hugo lived in an apartment on the 3rd floor of Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée, overlooking one of Paris’ most elegant squares. He moved here a year after the publication of Notre Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), completing Ruy Blas while living here. His house is now a small museum devoted to the life and times of the celebrated novelist and poet, with an impressive collection of his personal drawings and portraits. (Read more from Lonely Planet)
Maison de Victor Hugo
6, place des Vosges, 75004 Paris
Métro: Bastille, Saint-Paul ou Chemin-Vert
Bus: 20, 29, 69, 76, 96
4:30 PM – After a quick late lunch, you’ll head to the Romantic Life Museum.
This small museum is dedicated to two artists active during the Romantic era: the writer George Sand and the painter Ary Scheffer. Located at the end of a film-worthy cobbled lane, the villa housing the museum originally belonged to Scheffer and was the setting for popular salons of the day, attended by such notable figures as Delacroix, Liszt and Chopin (Sand’s lover). (Read more from Lonely Planet)
Musée de la vie Romantique
16, rue Chaptal, 75009 Paris
Métro: Saint-Georges (line 12), Pigalle (line 2 ou 12), Blanche (line 2), Liège (line 13)
Evening: Spend this evening exploring Montmartre!
One of the best views of Paris can been seen from the steps of the Basilique du Cœur. Although some may poke fun at Sacré-Cœur’s unsubtle design, the view from its parvis is one of those perfect Paris postcards. More than just a basilica, Sacré-Cœur is a veritable experience, from the musicians performing on the steps to the groups of friends picnicking on the hillside park. Touristy, yes. But beneath it all, Sacré-Cœur’s heart still shines gold. (Read more from Lonely Planet)
Actually, there is so much to see and do in Montmartre – we’ll let Lonely Planet tell you even more about it!
Meals included: Breakfast
Transportation: Accommodations to visits (public transportation and walking)
Friday – March 18, 2016
Day: This is it! This is your day to explore, and cross off those bucket-list items you’ve always dreamt of in Paris. Plan your day with a buddy (you don’t want an album of selfies only, do you?) and enjoy!
Evening: You have dinner reservations at 7PM! Talk with Eli about meeting at the hotel and heading over together, or plan to meet the group there! By now you’ll know how to navigate the métro like a pro!
Farewell Dinner: Brasserie Lipp
151, boulevard Saint-Germain
Métro: Saint Germain des Près
After dinner: Visit the Arc de Triomphe
Okay, okay, while the view from Sacré Cœur is pretty phenomenal of Paris, at night, you can’t get much better than from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. If anything rivals the Eiffel Tower as the symbol of Paris, it’s this magnificent 1836 monument to Napoléon’s 1805 victory at Austerlitz, which he commissioned the following year. The intricately sculpted triumphal arch stands sentinel in the centre of the Étoile (‘star’) roundabout. From the viewing platform on top of the arch (50m up via 284 steps and well worth the climb) you can see the dozen avenues. (Read more from Lonely Planet).
Key safety tip: Don’t cross the traffic-choked roundabout above ground if you value your life! Stairs lead from the northern side of the Champs-Élysées beneath the Étoile to pedestrian tunnels (not linked to metro tunnels) that bring you out safely beneath the arch.
Meals included: Breakfast, dinner
Transportation: Accommodations to visits (public transportation and walking)
Saturday – March 19, 2016
Morning: 6:45AM – Depart hotel for Charles de Gaulle
That means be downstairs at 6:30 for passport checks, folks! It’s recommended you pack your bags during the day Friday (before dinner) so that you’re all set to get some sleep before this early wake-up call! Eli will travel with you to the airport where you’ll check-in and head home!
Meals included: Breakfast
Transportation: Accommodations to airport (private shuttle)