A FRENCH LANGUAGE & CULTURE TOUR JUNE 2012

 in the company of Brian McKay

9 days in & around PARIS, 9 days in & around AMBOISE and ANGERS

ARRIVE PARIS 13 JUNE & DEPART PARIS 1 JULY 2012

FULL PROGRAMME ATTACHED TO THIS PAGE

13 - 22 June in PARIS : the morning language classes including vocabulary and pronunciation exercises will prepare participants to play an active role during the afternoon walking tours and visits, as well as the full-day excursions, on various themes such as history and architecture from the medieval period to the present-day, French impressionist painting, Paris parks and gardens, as well as an in-depth exploration of one or two historic "quartiers" of Paris, together with an evening at  the theatre - for which you will be well prepared. Advantage will also be taken of any major exhibitions and other interesting events occuring in Paris at this time. Every care will be taken to ensure that participants who were with Brian McKay in Paris in 2008 will not be subjected to the same programme of activities!

Highlights during the stay in Paris will include : Welcome dinner in a beautiful art-nouveau restaurant, and another lunch in the setting of Renoir's favourite restaurant at Chatou, as well as a chamber music concert in the glorious setting of the Sainte Chapelle. Depending on time and weather you will visit one or two of the great Paris gardens - especially that of Bagatelle (which boasts one of Europe's greatest rose gardens).

There will be a presentation of Versailles to coincide with one of the summer fountain and music displays in the gardens, while another day will be given over to an exploration of the World Heritage Royal Château of Fontainebleau (which Napoleon called "la maison des siècles" because all the French kings from François 1er to the French Revolution made their contribution to the construction and decoration of the palace).

As usual in Cpederf Language & Culture programmes, you will have several walks in different parts of Paris designed to bring the history and social evolution of the city to life through the different aspects of its architecture. And of course you will have an indispensable visit to a major street market. For many of the walks, always accompanied by your tutors and/or specialist guides, you will be issued with questionnaires to make sure you do not remain passive!

A special day for the group : an all-day coach excursion on the theme of the First World War - a memorial tour for New Zealanders to the town of Le Quesnoy where the group will be given a welcome and lunch. Le Quesnoy is the town liberated by NZ troups in 1918 and has been ever since twinned with New Zealand. Le Quesnoy has important historical associations with Vauban which you will be able to appreciate.

After lunch you will go to Arras, with its glorious central place, to visit among other things the Maori drawings left on the walls of the underground tunnels during the war. Then back into Paris for the evening.

Your last night in Paris is the 21st June : LA FÊTE DE LA MUSIQUE. Created nearly 30 years ago, this event, where anybody and everybody anywhere can go down into the street to make music, has in recent years taken on the dimensions not only of a national festival - the whole of France is out in the streets making and/or listening to music - but of a truly European festival, and in more recent years the Fête de la musique is becoming increasingly a world-wide festival!

On the morning of 22 June, the group will leave for the World Heritage part of the Loire Valley : you spend 5 nights in Amboise, 4 nights in Angers.

22 June - 1 July in the Loire Valley. Group sessions will be fewer and of shorter duration, but the coach speaker-system will be used generously, and your tutors will sit next to each of you in turn during the drive to talk individually with each participant about the day's progamme.

During the Loire Valley part of the tour you will visit Chenonceau as well as see it from the river; appreciate one of the great collections of furniture in France housed in the château of Cheverny (this château was the source of inspiration for Moulinsart for those who know the Tintin books); see the château of Chaumont at the time of the annual International Garden Festival; visit the great château of Ussé, forever associated with the legend of Sleeping Beauty; your hotel in Amboise will be close to the great medieval and renaissance château dominating the Loire. During the visit of the city of Tours, you will be taken to the Saint Cosme Priory (home for the last 20 years of his life of France's greatest 16th century poet, Pierre de Ronsard) with its magnificent rose garden.

While staying in Amboise, not only will you visit the château itself, but also the Clos Lucé which the French king François 1er gave to Leonardo da Vinci to spend the last years of his life), but you will also be taken to the the small town of Montlouis (one of the World Heritage sites on the Loire), famous for its wines, where you will enjoy an excellent repas campagnard in one of the wine cellars.  And when you visit the most fairy-tale of all the châteaux, Azay-le-Rideau, you will also be taken to see a troglodite farm - just an hors d'oeuvre before the excursion to the the château of Brézé, where you can see the Renaissance château built on top of the troglodite château!

On the way to Angers you will spend most of the day in Saumur : a century ago 90% of the famous "champignons de Paris" were cultivated in the caves of Saumur : if things are different nowadays, at least there is the superb Mushroom Museum to visit as well as the most impressive French National Tank Musuem (with vehicles ranging from World War 1 through to the UN giants of today.

Another feature will be the visit to the former Royal Abbey church of Fontevraud, founded by Henry 11 Plantagenet, once the largest monastic site in the whole of Europe and necropolis of the Plantagenet sovereigns. Going to see the tombs of Richard the Lion Heart and Eleanor of Aquitaine will provide plenty of inspiration for discussions on the history of French-English relations! At Fontevraud too : the unique and incredible Romanesque kitchen!

Our base for the last few days of the tour is Angers, with its impressive medieval fortress dominating the Loire. The château's principal treasure is one of the world's greatest tapestries, the Apocalypse, housed in a hall of its own - you need at least an hour to see it all properly! In addition to visiting the recently magnificently restored château of the Ducs de Bretagne in Nantes, you will be taken to see the exquisitely lovely château of Serrant : coup de foudre guaranteed! The Farewell Dinner will be on the evening of 30 June in Angers.

1st July after breakfast : return to Paris by TGV. Cpederf involvement terminates with your arrival at the Gare Montparnasse in Paris, but obviously participants can ask us to reserve hotels in Paris if they so wish or make other appropriate arrangements for them.

We honestly believe that we can guarantee an enriching, rewarding (linguistically, culturally and gastronomically - a very important element with us!), and thoroughly enjoyable time.

PLEASE FIND ATTACHED DOCUMENTS : PROGRAMME, COSTS AND REGISTRATION

Please return the Registration Form as soon as possible (no deposit payment required at this stage) in order to register your interest in the tour.

DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES OR REQUESTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION  :

BRIAN McKAY : briandonmckay@gmail.com

ANNIE BANCROFT : cpederf@cpederf.com