Simulated Trips To Paris, France

The Internet offers invaluable resources for discovery of the world through units relating to simulated travel and tourism.

Click here for Detailed Lesson plans: A Simulated Trip To Paris.

Click here for Teaching Activities for Simulated Trips.

Click here for Simulated Trips:General backround information

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Scroll down this page for specific sites for Trips to Paris, Through France, To Quebec and to other French-speaking countries.

Trips To Paris

Click here for Putnam's "Detailed Lesson plans: A Simulated Trip"

Where we might stay

Les Pages de Paris: click here for le calendrier, le climat et temps de Paris, and métro/RER/Bus information. For a simulated trip, select a number of quartiersand locate hotels for each selected neighborhood. Look for restaurants and monuments in each area to pre-plan a real or virtual trip. Experience an exposition virtuelle as you click on the extensive menu at this site.

Paris Promotion: Le Bottin Gourmand scroll to the extensive pull-up alphabetized menu to select a theme (hotels, appartments meubles, boulangeries, hebergement pour les jeunes for foyers and hostels and more) to plan an intriguing simulated trip. Preplanning is a snap for teachers and tourists, thanks to Le Bottin.

Traveloco World Hostels click on hostels then on country of choice for hostel information worldwide.

Paris Séjour Réservation: select a quartier, a budget and a type d'appartement and click on valider to pull up rental apartments. Let students in pairs research one neighborhood (distribute areas around room, before locating rentals from a printed map that teacher brings in). Lots of interesting information in French about items included in each rental. Combine this site with sites dealing with tourist sites.

Campeoles Camping for online information about campgrounds near Paris and throughout France. Click on séjours to access a map of France with location of each campground. Go to Campeoles then on the strip to pull up addresses and visual viws of each camp. other menu options specify costs and special promotions.


Where we might dine: restaurants with menus on-line

Entre Ciel et Terre; a vegetarian restaurant with menus du jour et du soir; boissons and more.  My students enjoy the line drawings of its location and interesting online menu offerings.  Moi, j’ai faim de loup!

Restaurant Chantairelle a Paris: click on the left side menu for cartes et menus with specialities.  The currently highlighted menu is for New year’s Eve 2001 in both euros and FF. Compare with Maxim’s below.

Maxim's de Paris International: click on francais, bateau, Reveillon  propositions  de menu  for a memorable New year’s Eve Dinner along the Seine.  Compare with Chantairelle.

Bateaux Parisiens: select a croisiere and a dining option By clicking on . 

 Le Petit Gaulois: plan an in-class take out party using this home delivery restaurant.  Each small group might select their own pizza, panini, boisson et dessert and figure up the tab, en FF et en Euros, bien sur!

Pizza Hut: compare this French site with le Petit gaulois offerings, locations and prices.

NOURA - Cuisine et saveurs libanaises: one more interesting take –out menu to compare with Pizza Hut and with le Petit Gaulois. 

Menus de Paris: a tourist site of note: click on plats then on left hand choices for a list of Parisian restaurants with online menus classified by theme, neighborhood and price.

ParisRestaurants: click on pull-down options (ie arrondissement/prix; quartier; ambiance) to access restaurants recommended in the Paris Gourmet.  Send students throughout Paris to select and share information about online menus.
RESTAURANTS PARIS: for a large number of online restaurants and bistrots, click on Gastronomie, then Restaurants. Next select the area of France of your choice.  Under the choice of restaurants/ Paris, choices include Bistros, Brasseries, Restaurants Haute Qualite, et Poissons. Many sites include music to enhance your online browsing.  Bon Appétit!
Brasserie Wepler site offers a carte organized by category as well as a history of the establishment.
Le Poul' Aillé click on flag for French or English then select a menu a 99FF ou a 130 FF; ou a la carte. An excellent site to print and use in class for oral presentations, even for beginners. Use all 3 options to vary the choices and to expand vocabulary. Compare the French and English translation of the menu.
Entre Ciel et Terre Vegetarien a sample menu at 87 FF friom this vegetarian restaurant is useful for understanding vegetarian options in Paris. Click on options for restaurant location (address/ metro/ arrondissement/ telephone number), details of times and location. Assign one restaurant from each list to pairs of students.


Le Gourmet Parisien use this site listing multiple restaurants by quartiers de Paris to have students list hours, location and price range of different restaurants.
Restaurants Paris a multi-restaurant site with restaurants by 20 neighborhoods of Paris. Click on moveable books to pull up on-line offerings such as sample menus, prices, location and hours. Assign each class pair or individual an area in which to find restaurant details.
Visit Paris Restaurants restaurants arranged by arrondissements each with detailed information about hours, location and range of prices. Sample menus are given in French.
Hippopotame restaurants a Paris students enjoy locating and choosing from the menu at the tres francais Hippopotame chain. Assign each location to groups of 3 aftering teacher makes a copy of the menu (click on carte choice. Distribute to each group for a class oral presentation "Dejeuner a Hippopotame".
les Fast Foods A Paris two short fun class assignments: click on les fast foods, print out and hang up visibly in class one copy of fast foods from selected arrondissements. Print out maps of paris form map section above. Students in pairs will count the type and number of choices in each area; they will locate their area on map of Paris. Now do the same with restauration a domicile /take out foods on the same Web page, having students note and compare the number and type of take-outs in each arrondissement.

What we might see and do

Pariscope: on-line version in French, English and Spanish of weekly Pariscope. Click on category of choice for what's going on right now in Paris. For a trip, assign groups of students to one topic, including sports, expos, night time events, restaurants and shopping. Start each group at a different site for best results.

Paris Network: click on Paris-city; Paris-shopping; Paris-business; Paris-News; and Paris-Forum for vobulary lists (food et al,) monuments, events and tours of Paris in French or English. Each small group of students might plan one aspect of your trip: events this month; tours by specific quarters; monuments not to miss; how to get around; where we might stay; restaurants and menus; other activities; movies, spectacles and expos.
Giverny and Vernon: for an unforgettable day trip out of Paris, starting with a visit to the Gardens and House of the French painter Claude Monet, this is the place to begin. Choose either the French or English version and scroll down for information on gardensof the areaincluding Monet's famous ones. Let students plan a day trip or an extended stay to Vernon and to Giverny. One group might click on Means of transport for fares and timetables Paris/Vernon, then on options, from Vernon to Giverny. A second group will choose other sites to visit at each of the following: Museums, Castles, Mills and Archeological sites. Another group plans lunch at restaurants before giving an overview of the flowers and services at Monet's House and gardens (click on gardens then scroll down to menu relating to list of flowers, maps and plants.) The premier site for all contemplating a trip to Giverny and area!

France: 98 Coupe du Monde de Football click on the extensive menu for French-language information on the 1998 World Cup in Football. Plan a simulated trip with your students, using the English and French sites for backround information and warm-up activities. Investigate the history, locations and phases of the 98 Cup events. Have students in small groups plan each a phase of the World Cup, beginning in Marseille. Use geography sites to locate events and prepare a class party with regional foods from each World Cup location in France.
World Cup In Football Information visit this English-language site as well as the french site for stadium locations, calendar of events, qualifications of teams and many useful details on the 1998 Football World Cup.

Interactive map of Paris Monuments and Museums: click on 21 museums and 23 monuments for a tour of Paris in French or English. An interesting project is "A Stroll Through Paris (Historic/tourist/: students in pairs select the name of a famous site; after researching on Net,each pair writes up a short description of the site and makes a colorful 8x11 collage of the site, to be laminated once complete. Divide your classroom floor area, with students help, into arrondissements of Paris, then let student set out out the sights of Paris. Set a date for your scroll, with each pair the guide for their site. Film it, after a few rehearsals!
Pariscope: scroll down to Archives for more than thirty short backround articles on memorable places in Paris. A neat project building on the one above is "A stroll through Paris (by theme)": student in pairs pick one article, read it, locate the site on a big map of Paris. Next day, they draw or create an 8"x11" collage that captures the site. Each pair then places this collage on floor around room, laid out for a class stroll with monuments and collages from before in place (great review!) and acts as guide!
Memories of Paris: click on monuments (different groupings than Paris above), museums (by category), walking tours for children and adults at balades; find restaurants and marchés under gastronomie and much more during this multi-menu tour of Paris in French or English.
Un tour de Paris: scroll down to click on small tour of Paris; then click on the historical tour with guide.
Paris Serve click on the quartiers of Paris to discover the charms of each.
The Eiffel Tower site click on this new site for quizzes, information, simulated visits and activities in French and English related to the Eiffel Tower. For information on events for the year 2000, check out the Eiffel Tower site below.

The Eiffel Tower Year 2000 Theme: this Eiffel tower site in French or English offers a choice of themes for the Millenium. For instance, vote and read about choices for the most remarkable person in 200 years by clicking on sondage en ligne. Find out how different areas in the world are preparing for the year 2000 at évenements.

Kaiseki site: Restaurants Japonais a Paris as part of the Kaiseki site from France (Japanese recipes in French: see Putnam''s project page for additional activities and Food projects, click here to find informative list of Japanese restaurants in Paris. Have students pinpoint restaurants for key quartiers in Paris.
visit La Mosquée de Paris tell its 3 functions then explain its hamman, restaurant and café. Click on the menu to visit other quartiers and to take other itineraires.
Le Cimetière Virtuel: it needn't be La Toussaint to visit the supremely cool Virtual Cemetery. Click on le plan du Cimetière for a list of tombs of famous people including Baudelaire, Signoret et Montand, Rossini, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Colette, Sartre et de Beauvoir, and even Jim Morrison at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Click on a name and voilà, a photo of the gravesite, with dates of birth and death, appears. Scroll down to leave a message and to add a virtual flower to the site with your email. Have students recreate this site, writing thumb-nail sketches en français, of each celebrity. Beginning students can categorize by profession; match creators with works; order by nationality and era and write up a simple description of each. Have all students select or create poems/ verses/ prose commentaries in French as fitting offerings to include in their message. Recreate your class version of a virtual cemetery. Who would you include? What information would you put forth for each? ATTENTION: NOT WORKING FOR NOW. I'm checking out just why. February 18,98.
Paris:InterSocial: click on topics to learn about the Intersocial organization in Paris dedicated to helping the sick, unemployed and homeless. Click on se soigner to learn about clinics and health centers throughout Paris; click on se loger to learn of the capital's emergency housing and shelters; and on virus for services related to AIDS and HIV prevention and treatment.
Le Marathon de Paris, April 21, 1996: click on parcours and check on a plan de Paris to follow the Marathon route; click histoire to answer 5 questions on marathon history; classement will let you decide which class of finishers to investigate.
Tour Virtuelle des Champs-Elysées: click on places along the famous avenue in Paris.
FNAC La Défense: click on departments and services of this famous French electronics/records/CDs/book store.


Planning to Visit other Places in France

Internet Tour de France Game 1996: read the description of this zany informative competition on Internet where participants try to predict results of stages of the famous French bike race held end of June each year. Plan a recreation of one year's Tour. Click on archives of the 1994 and 1995 competitions to generate discussion then plan to retrace one Tour as well as to be a part of the upcoming online game.

Giverny and Vernon: for an unforgettable day trip out of Paris, starting with a visit to the Gardens and House of the French painter Claude Monet, this is the place to begin. Choose either the French or English version and scroll down for information on gardensof the areaincluding Monet's famous ones. Let students plan a day trip or an extended stay to Vernon and to Giverny. One group might click on Means of transport for fares and timetables Paris/Vernon, then on options, from Vernon to Giverny. A second group will choose other sites to visit at each of the following: Museums, Castles, Mills and Archeological sites. Another group plans lunch at restaurants before giving an overview of the flowers and services at Monet's House and gardens (click on gardens then scroll down to menu relating to list of flowers, maps and plants.) The premier site for all contemplating a trip to Giverny and area!

Gares de Paris: click on 6 train stations to learn their history and destination points.
Paris and Trains: click on Paris for information then select prenez le train for train options and costs to specific destinations.
Serveur RATP: check Actualités to see if there are any strikes announced then proceed to lots of information about RATP, the Paris subway and bus system. Special excursions are explained, as are youth passes and the RATP museum. In addition, there are articles about transportation and a delightful one on bus Line 29 which winds its way through historic Paris.

Prenez le Train: look up timetables for trains from many cities in France, consult lists of stations and more, all in French.
TGV Timetables: click on TGV for useful backround information and timetables for TGV trains.
Eurostar Internet: consult the central site for information in English about the Chunnel train between London and Paris. Click on tarifs and timetables and have students estimate the length and cost of a day trip or a longer crossing for different groups of travelers as part of a simulated trip.
Trains-Tarifs et Distances and More: determine the cost of a train trip in France; read articles in French about trains.
Guide to the Train in Paris: read in English about train travel in and out of Paris.
SNCF Timetables: Timetables and information in French about SNCF trains.
Les transports: click on les trains for information and a long list of links to info in French and English about trains around the world. For information on Airlines arranged by regions of the world, click on Compagnies Aériennes; select Location/Autos for options on leasing or renting vehicles in Europe.

Shortest distance between 2 French towns: find out the distances between 2 cities in France.