French Trip

The 2018 French trip was genuinely the trip of a lifetime. Our Frankston High School students made us proud everywhere they went. Patient, caring, interested and attentive, they were an ideal combination of diverse personalities.

We rose early and walked somewhere between 15 and 20 kilometres nearly every day, without a single word of complaint.  In Paris, we took in the sights, the art and culture, the macaroons and the baguettes, and the peak hour metro.  Museums, galleries, street performers, fine fashion and good food!  An adventure round every corner.

After a long, mad day at Disneyland and a beautiful, sunny day covering the entire grounds of Versailles, we paid our respects to the fallen at the D-Day landing beaches and at the Australian war memorial in Villers- Bretonneux, before visiting the mysterious St Michel and the pirate town of St Malo. We ate oysters and lemon meringue ice-cream (not together!) in the quaint seaside village of Cancale and saw dolphins and old sailboats at the Pointe de Groigne.

We followed Francois I and his friend Leonardo da Vinci, the tale of Joan of Arc and the story of Catherine of Medici’s dark career, through their castles, palaces and cathedrals, the gardens and the artworks, and the curious medieval towns of Normandy, Brittany and the Loire Valley.  Topped off by homestays with our friends from Orléans and the Lycée Jean Zay, where the parents, the teachers and the exchange students had nothing but praise and friendship for our twenty-one travellers.

With Ms Lee Anne Smith running a tight ship and sharing her dry wit, and Ms Emma Manks in touch with students’ needs and interests, I was able to enjoy the good company and watch everybody having a great time and soaking it all in!

My thanks to all of you and to your supportive parents – it was an unforgettable experience.

 

Mr Chris Sutcliffe

French Teacher