Allez-Allez

How difficult can it be to book one night in London and three nights in Paris for late March!?

Perhaps complicated by there being another 27 in the group it would have been easier to have beaten the Curiosity space ship to Mars (first French link as March in French is mars)!

But after several different itineraries which included returning to the Timhotel in Montmartre a previous group had stayed at, after wanting to look at four nights in Paris, having been offered and rejected a hotel on the Boulevard de Sébastopol and then another on Boulevard de Grenelle it was obvious FD wasn't going to get the trip it wanted.

Only option left open - change the date. Big shout here for Dot in Travel and the boys and girls of Adaptable travel for sorting the visit.

So, on Monday 20 February the group will leave Wigan and head south. Fingers crossed there will be an opportunity to visit one of the 'Worlds' preeminent design consultancy, one night in our usual hotel in London before setting off the following day from St. Pancras on Eurostar.

Gard du Nord by 2pm, hotel Excelsior in the Quartier Latin, on the BatoBus down the Seine alighting at the Place de Concorde, up the Avenue des Champs Elysées, dinner there and then over to the Eiffel Tower where the group intends to go right to the top!!!

Earlier in the week the editor sent télécopieurs to the Louvre and Pompidou to book the group in and already the Louvre have said oui!!

The plan is Wednesday in the Louvre - a must is to see the Mona Lisa - although it's not quite as exciting to feast an art lovers eyes upon - the afternoon will provide the opportunity for the group to sample the French capital - perhaps that evening the group will head up to Place du Tertre (the artist square) and Sacré-Coeur, some smashing places to eat and the Au Petit Comptoir do great crepes. Thursday via Notre Dame it'll be a day in the amazing Pompidou Centre. Celebratory final evening meal somewhere in the Quartier Latin, before packing the bags and heading home Friday - Twenty six students, the editor and deputy editor can't wait . . . . à bientôt.