Paris in June: Germanna trip open to all

Chambord Kalesi

 

Germanna Community College is offering a comprehensive June trip to Paris and the Loire Valley . The trip is open to alumni and other members of the community as well as students.

“It is a historical and cultural trip with days in Paris and then castles, and then a WWII focus, “ said Maury Brown, an English instructor at the college and one of trip’s organizers. “We will be there for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. We will be on the beaches at Normandy on June 10.

“Part of Germanna’s mission is to offer opportunities for personal enrichment, and those making the trip may discover a new love for history, art, literature, or philosophy along the way.”

There will be an informational meeting about the trip to France at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept.  17 in room 318 of the Dickinson Building at Germanna’s Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania. Attendees will learn more about the trip, and where the group will go, why these sites are important, what the cost of the trip covers, and how to sign up. The meeting will last about an hour, Brown said.

She said the tour group will include people of all ages.

“We have many people in their 50s signed up already,” Brown said. “The trip is comprehensive. All transportation costs (flight, bus, metro, etc.) are included as is a full breakfast every day and authentic French dinners. All hotel accommodations are also included, as are all entrance fees to the sites.

Those on the trip will have priority access into the sites, have the planning done for them and have the full time services of a multilingual guide, and two Germanna professors, one English and one history. “The only other money you'll need is spending money; everything else is covered with prices locked in,” Brown said. Those who register by Sept. 30 receive a $100 discount on the cost of the trip.

  Included in the package:

 -A Seine River cruise 

 -Viewing Paris from the Eiffel Tower

 -Shopping in the Latin Quarter Stops at the famous Opera House, Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe, and the Notre Dame and Chartres cathedrals, the Louvre, Versailles, the Chateau de Chenonceau and Chateau de Chambord castles, the Mont St. Michel monastery, the medieval Troglodyte villages and the walled seaport of St. Malo.

-For World War II history buffs, there will be a visit the Arromanches museum, cemetery and beaches.

"You'll get the chance to relive The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Three Musketeers, Les Miserables, and WWII liberation,” Brown said.

For those under age 23 who sign up by Sept. 30, the trip is $3,199 (including all transportation--air, ground, water--, lodging, breakfasts and dinners, entrance fees, guides and educational materials. For those over age 23 who sign up by Sept. 30, the trip is $3,574. After Oct. 1,  the cost goes up $100 for either group.

Registration requires a $99 deposit, then  monthly payments may be made by  check or credit card.

"It boils down to about $300 per day for students and $350 per day for adults," Brown said. "That includes all expenses except spending money, and prices won't fluctuate. Not bad when you look at all we are doing, the cost of round-trip airfare to Europe, etc." Those under age 23 may be in triple or quad lodging  on some nights. Those over 23 will be in single- or double-occupancy lodging for the entire trip.