End of the tour

Leaving to go to the airport in about half an hour. That means the tour is finished. Sad to leave but still can't wait to see parents and friends in NZ. See you guys after the 3 day plane ride!

Dennis.

arrival in auckland

hi all,

well, a very successful trip is almost over! only a looooooooooong flight back to go after today.

please remember to collect your son from the airport!

we arrive on EK 0412 from dubai at 1pm sunday afternoon.

see you there,
warren b

arrival in auckland

hi all,

a fantastic tour seems almost at an end; just one looooooooooong flight back to go.

a reminder to please remember to collect your sons from the airport! the schedule is:

13 MAY 11      London Heathrow, United Kingdom to Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Flight	Depart / Arrive	Time	Airport
EK0006	Fri 13 May 11	22:15	London Heathrow (LHR)
	Sat 14 May 11	08:05	Dubai (DXB)
13 MAY 11      Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Auckland, New Zealand
Flight	Depart / Arrive	Time	Airport
EK0412	Sat 14 May 11	10:15	Dubai (DXB)
	Sun 15 May 11	13:00	Auckland (AKL)

Salvete from Nick Orr

Hi travellers,

I have been meaning to post something on the blog for a while now - pretty much since you left actually but these four weeks have flown by, it's amazing you're almost home! Sounds like the whole trip has been just incredible (not that anyone didn't anticipate that) and I would love to be there with you (I suppose wouldn't we all)! Glad to hear you have all been excessively self-indulgent, that you are stimulating your brains like wise old men, and that Sam has seen the glorious light of Catholicism. I hope that Jack was a splendid guide for you around Paris (I taught him everything he knows) and that he showed off his merveilleux French. Did you manage to get to Louis le grand or see any of the students there?

News from Auckland... ahm we had a sunny day today?

Actually life back here is not so bad. The exchange vs New Plymouth Boys High on Tuesday was pretty successful- won the rugby, cross country and football, tied hockey and narrowly lost basketball. Had a great prefects leadership training day all day today down on the hockey turf and in the hockey pavilion; heading into ball season (better get back quick 7th formers, date numbers are dwindling); obviously winter sport is starting up and resits are high (or in a few, very rare and completely extreme cases, rather low) on the agenda for some people. So plenty to look forward to after London!

Anyway, I hope everyone hugely enjoys their last couple of days and I wish you all a delightful 30 hour flight home.

Nick Orr

The Eurostar from Paris to England was surprisingly fast, taking just three hours. We took the London Underground to our hostel quite close to Hyde Park and sorted out our rooms. I am in a room with eleven other boys, the bunks are three beds high and its pretty cramped in there. That afternoon we did a bit of a walk around the centre of London, we visited Big Ben, the Parliament House. We went to Westminster for an evensong. The choir was very good and peaceful and it was only boys singing. To get back to our hostel we strolled through Hyde Park along the Thames. The Sun was just setting . We saw heaps of squirrels and the statue of Peter Pan. As it was Eddie Scoular's Birthday the whole group went out to an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet.

Jack Anderson

blogtastic

Paris! I believe the groups upmost apologies are due to the readers at home after the shocking lack of communication. The truth is that we absolutely had no time at all. Personally i found Paris equal to, if not more intense, than Rome in terms of stuff to see and how tired we all were. Paris itself is a lovely city. Beautiful walk down the Champs Elise and the Arch De Triumph which gave a spectacular view over the entire city and amped the boys up for the next few days. Paris definately had the highlight for the tour for me and many others which is the Louvre. David and Da Vinci were the most popular names in this museum, blowing all of our minds. Personally David's "Sabine Women" painting and "the coronation of Napoleon" were the highlights of the museum - the realism pretty overwhelming. With everyone's moods sinking due to the lack of sleep, Bucko the "ledge" (legend) took a group outing to the buskers at the Notre Dame. Fire shows were the main attraction and the group was awed back into excitement. What we saw was a great display of flying fire balls and fire works darting around his body and between his legs - a very skilled task. You cant begin to imagine how impressive it was until you actually see it. Sadly the roller bladers weren't in full swing as a crucial member of their squad broke his ankle the night before after jumping a 3 meter bar along with the rest of the team, but nevertheless it was a great night. And the next day we were off to London! Here we are now sitting in a youth hostel with VERY limited space but hey, there's free internet and a tv with footy on so we are basically having a ball. The work load is down and the each day finishes with free time at around 5'oclock. Parents, for calls for more money as this free time gives plenty of opportunities for a bit of shopping - the clothes are pretty nice. I already know that a bit of dosh was spent at the Camden Markets today but no names will be released. But to sum it up, London is great. Big Ben, the London Eye, Markets etc etc are great and its nice to be able to say "cheers mate" instead of some broken line of French that results in a strange look.

Pip pip, Cherio

Ben Gregson

London

Only two days in London so far and it is GREAT. Yesterday was the first tour of big sites such as Big Ben and Buckingham palace. Today was the British Museum and Camden markets. The British Museum is amazing, huge, and, very importantly, free. It contains many excellent items from around the world and really gives a great impression of the development of civilization. Camden Markets are interesting, although mostly overpriced. Then the expected trip to a show failed to occur due to the lack of seats, so a small(ish) group proceeded to a pub to have a nice dinner. The only downside so far is the accommodation, which has an average temperature of about 50 Degrees, and is small, cluttered, the breakfast has the same texture as a car tire, and I have to sleep with my head wedged in one corner of the bed and my feet hanging of the opposite. However, as we spend little time in the Hostel and we are in London, it is of little importance.

Nick Kay

New Zealand Calling

Thanks to all the boys & Mr Buckingham for the Paris update.

 

Sounded amazing...

 

Have fun in your last week in London and enjoy your shows.

 

Special thanks to Mr Buckingham, Mr Boyce & Mr Leeuw

 

Regards Jeffares

 

oh, the anticipation...

hi all,

sorry for the delay in the blog; we had no easy wifi in paris, and everything got fairly full-on, and it was actually nice to have a break from it for a while!!

but, i know you've all been waiting patiently...

we got to london fine, and the weather has been perfect since beaucaire — it had to be 24-27 degres in paris, and here in london it feels almost as warm. paris was lovely, and the boys had a great time, especially in the louvre museum where they really impressed me with their interest and perseverance. the visit to versailles went well, and the modern painting in the musée d'orsay was better received than i had anticipated.

everyone is getting a bit tired, but we are on the home-straight now, and london has started well; we all went out for dinner at a pretty cheap all-you-can-eat pizza place for eddie scoular's birthday, and sang 'happy b'day' to him, much to the amusement of the other diners.

the boys' behaviour has been superb, and we're constantly getting surprised comments from hotels and the general public as to their remarkable behaviour. i, of course, attribute this entirely to the hard work of the masters!

i heard a conversation today on the train to london turn to a discussion of art, different styles, and why certain boys preferred one genre to another. this for me is the real thrill of the tour — that moment when teenage grammar boys can intelligently discuss art and architecture, and their historical and cultural placing, based on their experiences.

i can't wait to go to the british museum and then les misérables tomorrow!

hope you are all well; the boys talk about you all the time...

— mr buckingham

Paris

It's a shame to be leaving Paris so soon, I feel like we still just arrived in France yet somehow ten days have flown by. Nonetheless, I'm very excited to be on an underground train to London as I'm writing this: after hearing so much about a place which is one of the greatest cities in the world, it's hard to not feel such a sense of anticipation.

That being said, it'll be near impossible for London to surpass Paris in my mind. By far my favourite place we've been to so far, the 'city of love' has such an incredible atmosphere about it. I can't help thinking of Paris as a better version of Rome: the streets feel uncrowded and spacious, the Moroccans, as amusing as they were, are far less common, and the architecture is an improvement of Roman ideas. The greatest highlights of Paris for me were the Louvre, Notre-Dame, the Arch-de-Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees. Most impressive was the artwork inside the Louvre, of which we apparently only managed to see around a fifth of, but all of which was mind-blowing, to say the least. How sculptors managed to make marble look like flesh is a mystery to me, and I can't count the number of times I was made speechless by the sight of a painting that looked like a photograph. Alongside this, in the square outside Notre-Dame, I was blown away on three nights by the same incredible buskers, who did such tricks with fire that I cannot expect to describe and do justice to.

Although it's a shame to be leaving all this behind, we've just come up on the other side of the tunnel and I'm now looking out over the English countryside, ready to make the most of the last week of the tour.

— Joel Bateman

Paris

It fills me with a sense of excitement and satisfaction to be on my way to London. We are returning to familiar surroundings at last (I've seen London, and it feels pretty much exactly like Auckland), after spending so long in foreign lands. No longer will we have to worry about communicating with the locals, or ask Mr Buckingham what that sign means; no more struggling to remember vocab or pondering pronunciation – the default expectation can be reset to comprehension and convenience, where it belongs.

Thinking back, however, I don't recall any particular hardship with language in Athens. Or Rome. Or Florence. Or Venice. Just a lot in France…

Whatever the cause, my anticipation of England feels like an early homecoming. But at the same time, our experiences in Greece and Italy already seem so distant and removed. Where has the time gone?

— Howell Fu

Paris

Yesterday we had a relaxed start and headed off to the Pantheon, a short walk from our hotel. The Pantheon is where the most famous French citizens are buried, including Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Marie Curie. Modelled on the Roman equivalent, it was originally built by Louis XV and dedicated to St Genevieve after he recovered from illness.

From there we went on the ironically named Place de la Concorde, the site of a guillotine during the French Revolution. Guillotines were very efficient killing machines, capable of one death every 30 seconds.

Directly in line with the Place de la Concorde is La Madeleine. This church was fairly underwhelming, but on the way there we saw a large political demonstration which seemed on the verge of starting a riot.

Paris closes up on Sundays for the most part, and had a relaxed air about it. We walked through some very expensive streets, lined with shops such as Gucci, Patek Philippe, Chanel etc., and passed the Place Vendome, home of the Ritz.

In the afternoon we caught a train out to Chartres to see its Gothic cathedral. Once we had returned to Paris, we were given free time until 9 o'clock. Some of us went shopping on the Champs Elysees.

At 9 o'clock we assembled at the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral and watched an impressive display of fire-breathing and extreme roller-blading from street performers.

Finally we returned to the hotel via metro at 11 o'clock to catch some sleep before heading to London in the morning.

— Conall Brennan-McMahon

Paris

Paris has to be my favourite city. It is amazing to simply walk around, with wide roads which you can look down and see a famous monument in the distance. A welcome difference from Rome is that it has a lot of trees and grass, things that cannot be found in Rome wherever you look. My favourite area is the Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triumph. This road is a direct line through the middle of the Louvre, through an arch outside it, an obelisk in the Concorde square, through the Arc de Triumph, and finally through the staggering monument La Defense, which is a colossal modern arch doubling as an office building. The shops along the Champs-Elysees are only the most elite, with the rent reaching 1,100,000 per annum for some shops. I was fortunate enough not to be bounced as I queued to get into Louis-Vuitton, where the cheapest item was a key ring for 200 euros.

Highlights were the Louvre, Notre Dame and Chartres Cathedrals, the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triumph, Versailles and the Musee d'Orsay which housed most of the impressionist paintings which marked the beginning of modern art. Versailles was incredible; the opulence of the small part of the palace that we saw was mind blowing, as was the extent of the palace gardens with over 1000 fountains. Sam, Bernie, Dennis and I hired bikes which were a great way to get around the grounds and explore, while others took dinghies out on the grand canal, stretching from the steps in front of the palace into the distance. A nice touch was the classical music emanating from speakers hidden among the shrubbery.

It is hard to write about the Louvre, which houses most of my favourite artworks I saw on the tour. Even though we spent almost 6 hours in the museum, we kept up a very fast pace and had to skip over works that would have been the centrepiece of other collections. Mona Lisa was all it was reputed to be, but more amazing to me were the giant, incredibly realistic epic paintings by the likes of David, depicting scenes from myths or other events.

The Musee d'Orsay is less famous, but still definitely worth a visit. Although the more extreme impressionist paintings did not appeal to me, they were certainly striking and I saw some amazing pieces in there as well.

In Paris we saw a different variant of the highly decorated, opulent and almost garish churches of Rome. The Gothic style, exemplified most prominently in Notre Dame and Chartres Cathedral, is far barer, with little decoration inside, but makes up for it in incredible architecture. Inside, the walls extend up and up, far higher than those in Rome, with amazing stained glass between the thin pillars. The secret that allows such high walls to remain thin and to have space for the windows is the flying buttress: an arch that transfers the weight of the roof out away from the main wall to huge, heavy towers which in turn transfer it to the ground. These allow the architect to make the walls very thin without the whole structure collapsing outwards. Other elements of gothic style are gargoyles, high bell towers flanking each side of the main entrance, and crockets which give the building an almost spiky look.

—Ben McArthur

Paris

The first night in Paris was so amazing. We started with a train ride to the hypermarket, where I almost got lost on the second floor of it. After dinner we went for a nice evening stroll which turned out to be at the perfect time, because as we headed through the Louvre to the pyramid, we were struck with the most intense sunset I have seen in my life. Not only were we right there by such a famous icon, but it was made so much better by the orange glow of the sun. We continued our walk all the way along the Champs Elysees up to the Arc de Triomphe. We had the most spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower from the top of it. The next few days are a blur, we saw so much. The Louvre was definitely a highlight, although I must say the Mona Lisa isn't all that it's said to be. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower was also so amazing, as was the race down the stairs afterwards.

The buskers we saw last night were the perfect way to end our Paris adventure, my mind is still blown by the way one of them manipulated a crystal ball (photos and videos of this will help you understand), I also loved everything they did with fire, so cool. So now we are on your way to London for the final leg of this amazing trip.

— Bernie Koome

Happy Birthday Edward

Poor Ed having breakfast in Paris and dinner in London on his 16th birthday.

Happy birthday from everyone at home. Have a great day.

Looking forward to the round II “dance off” blog (Moulin Rouge edition) any takers ? Ryan ? Harry ??

Beaucaire

So now we say goodbye to Beaucaire. It will be missed hugely, with the relaxed (almost sleep in) wake ups and amazing breakfast buffets before departing to our sights for the day. The early returns to the hotel for a "refreshing" swim in the hot sun and, for anybody willing, an afternoon run were probably my favourite things to do while here (not the running part so much, but the feeling of satisfaction after the run). The four course dinners were unbeatable too and I thoroughly enjoyed trying the snail, and thoroughly didn't enjoy trying the various cheeses they offered us. All in all, Beaucaire has been a perfect, relaxing place, and i now look forward to Paris.

— Kenrick Rosser

Beaucaire

We're leaving Beaucaire today and I'm actually quite sad to leave. It's been so nice here. The hotel's really nice, only two to a room (compared to seven in Florence), the buffet breakfast and the nice dinners. Oh and of course a pool in which I could finally have a nice swim.

Again it feels like it's been ages since we've been here but it's only really been five days. Highlights of Beaucaire were the Pont Du Gard and the Tarascon Castle which we visited yesterday. Overall Beaucaire has been kind of a relaxed stop compared to the previous cities.

The best thing about being here is the food which they serve. My stomach has been filled with foods which I have never even seen before over the last few days. Everything from pasta and chicken to escargot to ICE CREAM cake has been served. Definitely a shock to my taste buds compared to what we usually eat. Since I'm already talking about it and I just can't get enough of it, I would just like to say that the ice cream cake thing was soooo delicious. It's probably the yummy-est thing I've ever tasted. It was so good and I want more.

Anyway we're off the Paris in a few minutes and I don't really know what more to say since I'm kind of unprepared and have been forced by Bucko to blog and I've forgotten all the (wonderful) things which we have done in Beaucaire.  I'm really looking forward to Paris and hope you guys in New Zealand who are reading this are having fun and hope the weather improve.

— Dennis Zhang.

FW: .......up to Beaucaire

Hi All

Lucy and I found the itinerary for the WH T most impressive when initially received and it it sparked personal memories of some of the destinations – however the manner in which you have been maintaining the blog has for us lifted the Tour to another dimension allowing us to enjoy and to experience (albeit by proxy) your daily thrills and to also benefit by this excellent education experience. The first descriptions of your experience of the wonderful French cuisine sent us to our “local” for coffee, baguette and roquefort - diet preventing a lunge for the pastries (notwithstanding Lucy’s love of desserts and Josh’s description of the apple and rhubarb slice

Keep it coming. We are enjoying every moment with you.........AND thanks again to the Teachers who are the “real deal”.

Regards

Clive and Lucy Neifeld

Beaucaire

Since we have arrived in Beaucaire the weather has been fantastic. We went to hotel and sorted out who we would be sharing rooms with. The accommodation is great, there are baths and some of us even have double beds. On the first night we got there we visited the very nice town of Beaucaire. The next day we went to the Pont du Gard, the second most visited monument in France and I can see why. It was an amazing structure set in the most beautiful valley. After that we took the vans to Nimes where we saw the very well preserved temple there, the Maison Carree, and the amphitheatre. During our third day in Provence we went to Avignon. It was a cool place, we saw the Palais des Papes with its adjacent chapel and then we had to see the famous Pont d'Avignon of course. Later that day we went to Arles where we saw another pretty good amphitheatre and theatre. At Orange we saw probably the best preserved Roman theatre in the world, it was really great because it gave you a pretty good idea of what going to the theatre for an ancient Roman was actually like. Today we saw another ancient Roman town called Glanum after that we went to a medieval city, Chateau des Baux-de-Provence. Then we drove back to Beaucaire to visit the awesome Tarascon Castle that used to be a prison and we saw some really old graffiti. Our last thing we did in Provence was experiencing Roman wine, it wasn't too bad. The food in France is delicious as well as a bit strange. We have eaten very well, ranging from dishes like snails, caviar and rabbit. Our time in the south of France has been really enjoyable and relaxing. 

Jack Anderson.

Beaucaire

Our first taste of French culture has come as a complete change from what we were used to in Italy and Greece. A change from the mad scramble around cities trying to cram in the plethora of sites and buildings there were to see was greatly appreciated. Another bonus is that we do not have to supply our own dinner, meaning that instead of meagre portions of pizza or kebabs we have full four-course meals allowing us to sample the wonders of French cuisine.

An unique aspect of our time in Beaucaire is the vans. Because the places we visit here are not as concentrated as they are in Athens, Florence or Italy, we have hired vans to get around. Naturally, each van has developed its reputation, with Mr Boyce's "Party Van" being the prime spot. Also critical to the enjoyment of these sometimes hour long trips are the DJ's, who sit in the middle seat in the front and have full control over the radio. They have to switch between the different channels, finding songs that fit the van's mood as well as stations with good reception. Various DJ's rose to the fore, such as DJ Kayos (Nick Kay), DJ Macca (Me), and DJ Chronic (Conall).

Each evening there has been a group of boys going out for runs before dinner, taking advantage of the spare time to burn off some of the previous night's four-course dinner. They have been very interesting in terms of route, as Mr Buckingham makes it up as he goes. The first one was a great run up a series of hills to a vantage point where we could see the countryside all around and a huge distance up and down the Rhone, which was an abandoned monastery. Other trips have followed non-existent paths from which we soon turned back when we painfully learned that France hosts a great variety of stinging nettles and spiky plants, and the final one went all the way to Tarascon Castle and back, at the end of which Josh Neifeld collapsed onto a couch after getting a bit more than he bargained for.

— Ben McArthur

Beaucaire

Unfortunately our time in Beaucaire is coming to an end and today was our last full day. On the bright side however it was another relatively late start this morning as it always is here but then it was off to Glanum. I managed to nab a seat in the party van with Mr Boyce and having josh as well made the quick trip priceless. Our tour around the ruined Roman town started at a well preserved arch and cenotaph and progressed to a crystal clear well and the remains of a temple. We were then driven to a medieval town where we looked around the shops and stopped for lunch, however it was only a quick stop and we were soon arriving at Tarascon castle, only preserved because it was used as prison. The highlight of the day came when we went to our next destination , a vineyard, where we not only learned how wine was made back in the day but also got to try a Roman wine. To my taste buds it was not particularly appealing, but I am no wine expert. Luckily the alcohol didn't make the trip back to the hotel too rowdy and we made it in one piece and quickly proceeded to jump in the pool before the sun disappeared behind some clouds. Leaving for Paris tomorrow where we are once again pushed to see everything in the limited time we have, gutted to see Beaucaire go but also excited for Paris and London.

T.Adams 7A

The trials of travel...

It's unfortunate to have to inform those back in New Zealand that quite a few of the boys on the trip have become sick recently. Not that there's a bug going round or anything.  Just the chronic overeating that's taking place here in Beaucaire is very unhealthy.  I myself am guilty of harbouring this gluttonous illness I will admit, after destroying numerous pastries this morning and having more than my fair share of jus d'orange. It's lucky that I have time to recover from my sickess lounging poolside in the Provence sun.  Don't worry I'm sure Auckland is nice in its own way. So I'm really sorry I had to be the bearer of bad news to those of you back home, but someone had to do it.

— S. White

Orange

Well, today we visited the Roman theatre at Orange (which is pronounced in French as if you’re speaking through your nose). The theatre itself is the best example of an ancient Roman theatre in all of Europe, and was the site of the compelling duo of Kenrick Rosser and Josh Neifield performing a moving rendition of the School song. Later we moved on to the Arch of Augustus, built to commemorate Julius Caesar’s Gallic veterans, who formed the population of the Roman colony at Orange.

The afternoon turned interesting when a group of the most fitness-conscious (and most mentally-unstable) of us, including myself, chose to go on a run through the French countryside. The run consisted of crossing over the Rhone river, carrying on to Tarascon castle and then realising that there was not another bridge and that we would have to turn back via the ‘scenic’ route. Then, this ‘fun’-filled day was finished off by a brilliant dinner, which included a course of snails, (or escargots in French) which, to my surprise did not taste bad at all!

— Ryan Jeffares

Escargots: you saw it coming...

Yes, today we tried snail, and it was not too bad at all, although the texture was a bit interesting. If you go to France, you must try snail. If  you fear this, just imagine they're mushrooms and you should be fine. Apart from that, today we also went out to Orange. The theatre there has survived remarkably well, and is an impressive sight. We also saw the arch, which, much to my relief, was indeed the same one I had researched for my speech about it. Tomorrow is the last full day of relaxing in the south of France, then its ten days of non-stop chaos in Paris and London. Time is certainly flying...

Nick Kay

Beaucaire

The time in Beaucaire has been bliss. Seeing Avignon, Nimes, Pont du Gard and Orange over the space of 4 days instead of 4 hours has been spectacular. The sites have been great and the hotel even better. Never in my life have I been fed a 4 course dinner consisting of exquisite cheeses, deserts and meats cooked to perfection. Tonight the highlight on the menu had to be escargo - or snails for the Kiwi's back home. Consistency much to that of a scallop, with garlic butter eliminating any repulsive tastes they went down an absolute treat!! We can't really get enough of this place. "Mangere" (bomb) and diving competitions start poolside at 3:30 and finish at around 5:30 with star appearances from Mr Boyce, Bucko who's dives are olympic quality, and Mr Leuw who keeps the commentating eye poolside. Orange was the destination for today and after a long drive we ended up at the base of a remarkable Roman theater, blowing all others out of the water in terms of size and grandeur. Sadly, we will leave this summer paradise in a day - but not before one last quick swim.

Ben Gregson

Pure Joy!

Bonjour guys...just wanted to say it is 'pure joy' reading about all your
adventures and seeing the pics....most of it sounds utterly divine.

Thanks a mill-

Love from us 'Plebs'
(Aka The Batemans-beavering away in drizzly rain at home:)

Yes! your weather looks perfect!

Thanks once again for the photos.

 

Enjoy the sun and work on those tans boys!

Regards Linda J

 

 

You Poor Things

You are clearly having a dreadful time in the South of France, we are terribly sorry for all of you! Much better to be in Auckland where it’s rainy windy and cold.

Enjoy!

Heather W

Pont du Gard Photos

Photos of Provence

1. St Mark's Basilica in Venice
2. The Amphitheatre at Arles
3. The Maison Carrée at Nimes
4. The Pont d'Avignon (or what's left of it...)
5. In front of the Avignon Bridge (l'on y danse...)

Beaucaire

We arrived in Beaucaire after a malicious train journey. A couple of people in the group were sick, our tiny 6 person compartment stank and we got next to no sleep. Not to mention that we were delayed by almost two hours, meaning we were on the train for a full 12 hours. When we got off in Dijon, we had obviously missed our connection, and thus we had to travel 1st class to Avignon. Most of us spent the time catching up on diaries or on lost sleep. We rented vans in Avignon, which was a little disconcerting as the masters told stories of themselves habitually drifting to the left side of the road. Finally, we arrived at the hotel in the south if France. After sorting out rooms we were told to meet at the pool in 30 minutes. Luxury. With breakfast at 8.30, an amazing 4 course dinner everyday, a pool and so far perfect weather, Beaucaire is turning out to a great holiday from the hectic days in Italy.

-Alex Mercer

Another beautiful day in the South of France. We went to Avignon today
which I personally really enjoyed. It was an fantastic place. There
were so many amazing buildings and the perfectly calm river winding
it's way through, topped it all off nicely. Another major highlight
for team alpha was the discovery of the radio. The van rocked with the
group's futile attempts to dance while restrained by our seatbelts .
Unfortunately for our driver the seatbelts didn't stop us from
singing, which we did enthusiastically whenever we knew the
words. Josh Lloyd

Beaucaire

Today was another great day in the south of France. After a late breakfast at 8.30, we headed off to Avignon to see the papal palace and church, where we were fortunate enough to hear a full ten minutes of bell-ringing. The famed bridge of Avignon was another highlight. Afterwards we took a circuitous route to Arles, which has a roman theatre and amphitheatre, as well as some impressive medieval fortifications. Because these tasks were so taxing, it was necessary to retire to the hotel for a swim and downtime, followed by another gourmet dinner.

Conall