England and France

I spent another April vacation in Europe with students. This year's stops were England and France. We had a great group of kids. For the first time, one of these trips went off without a single issue or incident related to behavior or inappropriate conduct. I should add "that we know of" because I guess you never know. But we had a great time.

We started last Friday morning in London. We checked into the Kensington Close hotel before a tour of the downtown part of the city. Our first night was a relatively quiet night in the Kensington neighborhood before an early bedtime. Saturday began with a bus tour of the city, including stops at St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, in time for the 11:30 changing of the guard. We saw Blood Brothers on Saturday night. Sunday we were off to Windsor for a half-day. In the afternoon we split up. Kensington Palace and afternoon tea for one group, the Imperial War Museum for the other. Monday we split up again, one group going on the London Eye and doing some shopping, the other group going to the Tower of London. In the afternoon, we sent the kids on a trivia hunt through central London, collecting bits of information in teams. We saw Wicked Monday night.

Tuesday we were up bright and early to Stonehenge and then the town of Salisbury for lunch. Then it was on to Portsmouth for the Channel crossing to Caen, France. We spent the night in Caen and were up Wednesday for the Normandy tour to Gold and Omaha beaches, D-Day museums in Caen and Arromanches, and the American Cemetry near Omaha beach. Then on to Paris.

We visited Montmarte on Wednesday night for dinner on the hill. Thursday morning was the city bus tour, a stop at the Louvre, and then Napoleon's tomb. We ascended the Eiffel Tower that night for some great views of the city, followed by a cruise down the Seine. Friday we visited Notre Dame. A couple of us, the Phantom fans, made the visit to the Opera House before lunch. Then on to Versailles. We spent our last night shopping on the Champs E'lysees and catching great views from atop the Arc di Triomphe.

I didn't really use my camera in London. Mostly retreads of familiar territory for me. I snapped some shots in Normandy and my best captures from Omaha beach are below. We were at (and on) the Eiffel at sunset, and I got some good shots that night, including one of about the half the kids. Ted went to the Opera House with me, so I took some pictures for him, including the one below of him on the grand staircase. That group shot is while we were waiting for our bus, near Notre Dame.

The kids

Left to right: Anna, Ted, Dennis, Chelsea, Emily, John, Brian, Molly, Simone, Tommy, Catherine, Jill, Sarah, Erin, Anne Marie

Ted, Masquerade-style on the grand staircase of the Paris Opera House

Top row left to right: John, Brian, Catherine, Erin, Jill

Bottom row left to right: Simone, Molly, Sarah

Paris

Omaha beach