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 Facts of France France! Where the Eiffel tower stretches and the pyramid sits. A magical place to find great notes such as, Napoleon's mother wasn't at his queen's coronation, or the last part of the new film of the Da Vinci Code was filmed at the Louvre. Day One in France (July 9, 2006) Today we arrived at a perfume factory called Fragonard. At the start of our tour we got to match smells with the pictures of the smells. Like a rose smell to a rose picture. Most of us were right. Down teh line we saw people make soap sculptures. Everything in the factory was basically hand made except for when they mixed the perfumes together in machines. Our sinuses didn't clear up for a few days. In the evening we went to a bowling center where we split into teams and bowled. I scored a 98, and I've never bowled before even though I sometimes play as pitcher for our kickball games at home. Tonight was the night Italia won the World cup too! Day Two in France (July 10, 2006) We arrived at the chocolate factory in Nice. It wasn't like Willy Wonka's factory but it was sweet! We got free samples of their greatest candies and went on a shopping spree in the store. Then we got a tour of Nice and got to go shopping in Monaco where there are no taxes and the area is smaller than New York's Central Park. Day Three in France (July 11, 2006) We had a long bus ride today to Lyon. Leo took us on a short tour before lunch and we were off again to Paris. Day Four in France (July 12, 2006) This morning we went to the castle of Versailles where we had a quick group picture (on Home Page) and were split up into groups and toured the castle by ourselves. The castle was built during the reign of Louis the fourteenth a.k.a, The Sun King in 1682 and during the French Revolution, monarchy ended. Day Five in France (July 13, 2006) Today we went on a guided tour of the many masterpieces in the Louvre Museum. We didn't get to see everything, just a few of Da Vinci's pieces,John the Baptist,Madonna of the Rocks and of coarse a close look at the Mona Lisa. Back then it was cut to be used as a table. That surely tells you no one respected art then. The Mona Lisa isn't that big, probably less than an 11X14 picture. We boarded a river boat, or a bateaux and cruised down the Seine River. Along the way we saw the Notre Dame better and went under many famous bridges. After the cruise we got to split up into groups and go up the Eiffel Tower. We got squished in the lifts but the bell boys were very nice and I think remembered our faces. We were up so high, everyone didn't even look like ants! They were microscopic! I thank Gustave Eiffel for building such a piece. For dinner we went to the Hard Rock Cafe which I personally think was a good idea to end our trip. Coming Home It was sad saying goodbye to everyone I had met the past few weeks but I had an ebbing feeling that I shouldn't worry. Days later I decided to go again with the same delegation leaders for a couple more years. I might even meet up with my old friends. (Je Me Souviens means I will remember in French.)
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