Students as Walking Tour Guides

This week, students acted as walking tour guides in the Marais, one of the most interesting and popular neighborhoods in Paris.  Located in the third and fourth arrondissements, the Marais has narrow cobblestone streets and many hidden gardens; mansions, and museums.  Just a few of the museums here are the Centre Pompidou (a modern art museum), the Musée Carnavalet (a fascinating museum about the history of Paris), the Musée des Archives, Musée Picasso, Maison de Victor Hugo, and the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme.

Many Eastern European Jews came to the Marais at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.  The Marais still has a thriving Jewish community.

Included on the tour were the following:

1. Hôtel de Ville (city hall)
2. Tour Saint Jacques (the only remaining tower of a 16th century Gothic church)
3. Centre Pompidou
4. Anne Frank Garden
5. Museum of Art and History of Judaism
6. National Archives Museum
7. Square Georges Cain
8. Musée Carnavalet
9. Place des Vosges (Originally called Place Royale is the planned square in Paris; Victor Hugo resided here from 1832-1848)
10. Rue des Rosiers (center of the Jewish quarter)

This interactive activity proved to be a hit with the students as each student researched one of the locations on the tour and then presented the information (in French, of course!) to the other students in the group.  At the end of the tour, many students stayed to get a falafel at one of the many falafel restaurants in the neighborhood.