jeudi 20 avril - Notre dernière journée à Paris

We spent our final full day in Paris strolling around, having a relaxing meal at a restaurant, shopping, and going to a wonderful farewell party at school.

Notre Dame

Looking out from Notre Dame.

View of Notre Dame at 9 a.m.

Inside Notre Dame!

Notre Dame

Then we visited Sainte-Chapelle. Beautiful stained glass windows!

Sainte-Chappelle

Group photo!

Our group strolling by the Seine

Shopping at les bouquinistes along the Seine

Time for lunch!

We ordered "le menu" where we each got to choose an appetizer, meal and dessert.

Crêpe jambon et fromage

Cuisses de grenouilles (frog legs!)

Les escargots!

Soupe à l'oignon gratinée

Steak-frites

Coq au vin

Mousse au chocolat

Crème brûlée

Bon appétit!

Centre Pompidou

A little free time for everyone in the Centre Pompidou area.

Happy chaperones taking a coffee break.

Rayan and Mohammad went on the exchange trip to Alcott in May 2015.

We were happy they were able to make it to the farewell party!

A wonderful farewell party prepared by our hosts

Un grand MERCI to Madame Bascou, our host families, our exchange partners

and the teachers at Collège George Sand!

À bientôt!

mercredi 19 avril - C'est délicieux!

Today started with a visit to La Tour Eiffel!

Où est la Tour Eiffel?

Voilà!

Riley's family friend from Germany came to visit for the day!

Close to the front of the line for the stairs to the second floor.  Here we go!

View from the 1st or 2nd floor.

Elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower!

Inside the top of the Eiffel Tower

Madame Watts loves a good coincidence... and this was like a double coincidence!

On Sunday, Mme Watts went to the Shakespeare & Company bookstore.  A woman walked by and said, "That's a good book." They talked for a little while, and it turned out the woman was a teacher from Park Ridge on spring break celebrating her birthday and her wedding anniversary in Paris.  Then on Wednesday, with the group on the top of the Eiffel Tower, Mme Watts thought maybe she saw the same woman, so she asked her to take a picture of the group (as seen above), and guess what... it was her!

Now for the double coincidence.  The woman's husband walked up, and asked where our school is.  Mme Watts said near Hoyne and Wellington.  Then he said he had gone to George Schneider Elementary.

GEORGE SCHNEIDER ELEMENTARY!  The exact same building as present day Alcott!

Quelle coïncidence!

Snapchatting and FaceTiming from the top of the Eiffel Tower!

("Girls, what time is it in Chicago??"  "4 a.m.")

A post-Eiffel Tower stairs-workout treat: crêpes!

Time for the cooking class!

Chopping les pommes de terre

Chef Brian adding the paprika

Our chef instructor

Cooking up a storm

Amber adding the perfect amount of salt

Learning how to plate the dish

Thank you to Sister Cities International for their donation for our cooking class.

Merci beaucoup!

The finished product: Porc Chimichurri

A delicious chocolate peanut butter tart for dessert

An afternoon puppet show in the park

It was a cute show, but the best part of the show was probably this little French boy sitting in the front row, giggling hysterically and interacting with the puppets.

Relaxing in the park

Brian's host brother showed up with two scooters!

Taking a spin 

Amber tried it out, too!