Exchange in Normandy & Paris Tour
France | 12 days / 10 nights
DAY 1: USA | FRANCE
- Fly overnight to Paris.
DAY 2: PARIS | NORMANDY
- Bienvenue en France! A Forum representative will greet you at the airport and help you transfer to your partner school in Normandy.
- Upon arrival, meet your exchange partners and host families.
- While living with a host family, you will discover that French is more than just a textbook language as you fully immerse into the daily life of your family and school community. You will attend school with your exchange partner, apply your language skills in real-life situations, and experience life as a true local!
- Spend your first dinner and evening with your host family.
DAY 3: EXCHANGE PROGRAM
- After breakfast, attend school with your exchange partner.
- Dinner and night accommodation with your host family.
DAY 4 & 5: WEEKEND WITH HOST FAMILY
- Spend the weekend getting to know your exchange partner and their family.
DAY 6: EXCURSION TO MONT SAINT-MICHEL
- After breakfast with your host family, board your private bus and drive to the 1000-year-old Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel. Built atop a rock island where the powerful tides crash onto the sandbanks between Normandy and Brittany, this masterpiece of medieval architecture is one of the most mesmerizing sights and unforgettable experiences in Europe!
- Follow your local guide up to discover the Abbey and enjoy the spectacular views over the bay and surrounding countryside.
- Return to your host family for dinner and night accommodation.
DAY 7: EXCURSION TO THE D-DAY BEACHES
- After breakfast, board your private bus to Caen.
- Visit Le Mémorial de Caen, regarded as France´s best WWII museum.
- Then, see the Longues-sur-Mer artillery battery built by the Wehmacht during World War II.
- Pay tribute to the 9,386 fallen American soldiers at the World War II Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial and lay a wreath of flowers to honor their memory on behalf of your school.
- Make a stop at the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Memorial, commemorating the heroic raid of the American Second Ranger Battalion and the forces involved in the Normandy landings.
- Return to your host family for dinner and night accommodation.
DAY 8 & 9: EXCHANGE PROGRAM
- After breakfast, attend school with your exchange partner.
- Activities and workshops may be organized at the school during your visit (to be confirmed with the French school).
- Dinner and night accommodation with your host family.
DAY 10: NORMANDY | PARIS
- After breakfast, say “Au revoir” to your host families and exchange partners and board your private bus to Paris.
- Upon arrival, meet your Forum Tour Manager and drop your bags at your hotel.
- After some free time for lunch, take a stroll down the capital´s most famous avenue, the Champs-Elysées.
- Climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe to admire the view. See the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
- Walk through le Trocadéro and view “la Ville Lumière” from the third floor of the Tour Eiffel.
- Afterwards, board a glass-topped Bateau Mouche for a refreshing cruise on the Seine River.
- Have dinner in a typical Brasserie Parisienne.
- Enjoy a night stroll of the illuminated Paris.
DAY 11: PARIS
- This morning, after breakfast at your hotel, discover the Musée du Louvre, the world’s largest art museum. Its famous collection of art and antiquities includes the Mona Lisa and 35,000 other works on display in 300 rooms.
- After some free time for lunch, head to the Île de la Cité and see the Sainte-Chapelle, a masterpiece of Flamboyant Gothic architecture built by the pious Louis IX in the 13th century.
- Then, see the iconic Cathédrale Notre-Dame, where construction is currently underway to restore this supreme masterpiece of French art.
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- Later in the afternoon, head up to the highest point in Paris, Montmartre (known locally as La Butte). Climb the steps to reach the Sacré-Cœur, Montmartre’s hilltop church and most famous landmark.
- Enjoy a farewell musical dinner at La Bonne Franquette.
- Night accommodation in Paris.
DAY 12: RETURN
- After breakfast at your hotel, transfer to the airport and say good-bye to your Forum Tour Manager before boarding your return flight home.