France Summer Seminar 2023

  Today we went to a chocolate shop. Afterwards we walked back to school and stopped at a cool looking staircase. When we got back to school most kids were done with classes for the day since it was a half day so we went home and got lunch.

  Today, we went to a small market and we got to try some food samples. First was cheese, and alone it was alright but it went very well with bread. Second was more bread with meat inside of it, which was incredible! Afterwards, we went to a mall that was above one of the train stations, having some time to shop. It was massive and had stores for everything.

After an exciting, yet dizzying visit to La Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière and all of its incredible views, we descended down a steep staircase into the Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) district. Built during the 11th century, this area is home to some of the city’s most charming past. Apart from the colorful buildings, cobblestone streets, and restaurants filling them, the traboules are what really make this place so special. Traboules are the small and quaint courtyards behind all of these buildings, hidden to the public eye. We were lucky enough to get to walk through a few of them, but were sure to stay quiet as these are still the homes of people today. 

After spending the morning in classes and in Chapelle St. Marc, we visited « la Basilique de Fourvière, » a basilica in Vieux Lyon. We were given a detailed tour of the 19th century chapel and we were able to explore every public room of the architectural wonder. Our tour even brought us to the top of the basilica which gave us a full view of Lyon. After the tour, we walked around Vieux Lyon, the oldest district in Lyon and returned to school.

  Accrobranches: Today after visiting the museum and location of ancient Roman artifacts and ruins, we made our way to an accrobranches site, where there are numerous ziplines and obstacles courses high in the trees. This location on a hill overlooking much of Lyon with some amazing views. We ate lunch in the forest together then geared up with our harnesses and gloves to get ready. Everyone kept clipping their harnesses to each other which was hilarious. After passing through the practice area of the course, we were allowed to explore the various courses. They were divided up by difficulty according to color, with some easier ones, and some much more difficult ones (gray was the hardest). Most of the courses had areas of obstacles you had to get across while other sections had zip lines from tree to tree. The best zip line was definitely the one at the end of the gray and black courses, as it gave an amazing view of Lyon as you flew between the trees. Seeing people struggle and deal w

 We had a small break on Friday as we visited a zoo inside the great Parc de la Tete d'Or in Lyon.  It was fun to see all the students take a break with games and a picnic.