MRMS Europe Trip 2025

  Day 6 We got a little earlier start today and ate breakfast at the hotel again. As I said before, the hotel in Avignon was a really neat ancient building. So the rooms were all separated down random hallways, and each one was unique. However, two fallbacks to this luxurious palace…one, no screens on the windows, and limited A/C led to a few mosquito bites from leaving our windows open. A few of us must have some sweet blood because they got us good. Another challenge was that the hot water was very limited, so we had to “polar plunge” our way to cleanliness, but I guess that just makes things feel more authentic and medieval.  Today was a big travel day for us, so that meant 7 hours on the bus ride to Barcelona. But don’t worry, we had plenty of entertainment and learning along the way. One of the LEAP activities that comes with the Worldstrides program is a French Revolution reenactment. So before shuffling onto the bus, the kids were divided up into small groups and each g...

Day 5 Hello, day number five.  We were able to wake up a little later today than yesterday, and we had a late breakfast. Our French breakfasts have consisted mostly of baguettes, croissants, fruits, eggs and cold meats, and cheeses. Sometimes you have to be a little creative, but it's not bad.  We loaded the bus and headed for Arles, which is on the way to Nimes. Today’s focus was all about understanding and seeing the role the Roman Empire played in the area of southern France. Daniele ensured we would be educated on the bus ride. We are thankful for that because there is so much the kids can learn. The towns we were headed to were once established under the Roman Empire, so we started the day discussing Roman mythology on the bus. And thankfully, we had an expert…. Bailey. She spent about 15 minutes giving us all a crash course in the gods and goddesses. It was actually quite engaging and informative. Appreciate her expertise.  After arriving in Arles, we walked to a lo...