Spring Break Trip Takes Students to France and the Home of St. Ignatius

Their trip began in Paris, where they visited the newly reopened Notre Dame Cathedral in all of its splendor and toured the "City of Lights" by bus, with stops at the Arc de Triomphe and les Invalides. After spending the afternoon at the Louvre Museum, the group ascended to the top of the world-famous Eiffel Tower. While some brave Ramblers climbed to the second level on foot, others took advantage of the elevator to get to the top.

The group then traveled to the southwestern coast of France to the resort town of Biarritz. The next day, they crossed the French-Spanish border and visited Loyola to see the home where Saint Ignatius lived and convalesced after his "cannonball moment." The students saw the family crest at Loyola that inspired Loyola Academy's logo, and the family colors of maroon and gold—our school colors.

En route to the medieval walled city of Carcassonne, the Loyola students stopped in Lourdes to visit the famous grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette in 1858. The students lit candles and filled bottles of holy water that they could bring home. The next day, the group traveled to the city of Nîmes for a tour of the ancient Roman arena and the Pont du Gard, an old Roman aqueduct and engineering marvel.

The final two days of the trip were spent in Nice, along the Mediterranean Sea. Students enjoyed a walking tour of the city before heading to Eze, where they learned to make perfume. The trip concluded with a final celebratory dinner on a pedestrian street in Nice.

Loyola Academy offers a Spring Break trip to France every other year.  More information about future trips is available from Monsieur Thomas Sapp, one of Loyola's French teachers, at tsapp@loy.org.  For more information about Loyola's international trips, visit our Global Studies web page.