Omega Travel Agency, The Woodlands TX

Price: $2889 per person

May 26 - Depart Houston Intercontinental Airport on your afternoon flight to Paris

May 27 - Upon your arrival at Charles DeGaulle Airport, our representative will meet you. Your luggage will be transferred to your bus and soon you will be on your way for an orientation tour of Paris, the "City of Lights". We will see the beautiful Opera, the Church of La Madeleine, Place Vendome, Place de la Concorde, Les Champs Elysees, Arch of Triumph, Palais de Chaillot, and the major landmark of Paris, the Eiffel Tower. We will then proceed to the hotel for check-in. You will have the balance of the day at leisure. Dinner and overnight will be at your hotel in Paris.

May 28 - After breakfast we will leave Paris for an excursion to Versailles. Drive along the Seine through Boulogne, Sevres, and on to Versailles to the magnificent palace of the kings of France which remained the seat of the French monarchy until the fall of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. You will have a guided tour through the beautiful apartments, the Hall of Mirrors, the Gallery of Battles, the Royal Chapel, and the famous gardens with hundreds of statues, fountains and flowers. After lunch we will drive through the countrysideto Chartres where you will stop to visit one of France's most famous cathedrals. The cathedral spires can be seen from miles away, seeming to rise out of the wheat fields of the Beauce Plains. All of the descriptive prose and poetry that have been lavished on this cathedral can only begin to suggest the glory of its sculpture and stained glass windows. Recently some of the famous glass windows have been restored, and although at first the experts claimed that the glowing " Chartres blue" had been destroyed during cleaning, it is now generally agreed that the windows are as fine as when they were first made. You will have an evening formal concert at the Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres. Dinner will be at a restaurant in Chartres and overnight in Paris.

May 29 - After breakfast at your hotel, you will be transferred to the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral on the Ile de la Cite, the cradle of the city. You will have a tour of the cathedral, followed by a performance by your choir. After the performance, we will continue the tour with a visit to the world famous museum, the Louvre, where you will see Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and many other well known paintings and sculptures. Your next stop is a visit to Mont Martre to visit the fascinating Artist Square and SacreCoeurBasilica, with its huge bell tower and onion-shaped domes - one of the city's most familiar sights. This gleaming white church rises atop Mont Martre, Paris' highest hill, at 423 feet. You will have this afternoon free for browsing in this fascinating and fun area of Paris or exploring wherever you like. You will have dinner on your own and overnight at the hotel in Paris.

May 30 - You will have breakfast at your hotel and some free time this morning. This afternoon you will be transferred to the Church of the Madeleine for warm-up and a formal concert for the City of Paris as performed by your choir. We will enjoy a special evening dining as we cruise on the Seine. You will witness history spanning 1000 years as we pass 25 bridges and all of the major monuments of Paris illuminated brightly in the night. After the cruise you will return to the hotel in Paris for overnight.

May 31 - After breakfast at your hotel you will go to Paris' Gare de Lyon train station to board the 9:30 am TGV Express Train (the world’s fastest train) to Avignon. We will check in at the hotel and then enjoy the balance of the day at leisure.

Dinner will be on your own and overnight will be at the hotel in Avignon.

June 1 - After breakfast you will begin your tour of Avignon. This charming city has built its reputation on the palace of a succession of seven medieval popes. The battlements of Avignon and the huger Palace of the Popes dominate the town with massive splendor. The stone of Avignon is picturesquely golden in the setting sun. After a stop for lunch on you own in Avignon, you will go to the Cathedral of Notre Dame des Doms, a Romanesque style cathedral dating to the twelfth century. You will see the archbishop’s throne in dramatic white marble and the tombs of a pair of Popes: John XXII, the second of the Avignon pontiffs, and his builder successor, Benedict XII. After touring this great Cathedral, you will sing for the Vigil Mass and then present a concert after the mass. Overnight will be at the hotel in Avignon.

June 2 - After breakfast you will leave on your excursion to visit Pont du Gard. This amazing site represents both the engineering and architectural skills of the ancient Romans – at their most brilliant. They erected it in the nineteenth year of the first century AD to supply Nimes with water from the Eure River, which it spans to this day. This gracefully arched structure is 900 feet long and 160 feet high. After lunch on your own, you will continue with a visit to Nimes with a stop at the great theater, Les Arenes, built by the Romans at the end of the 1 st century AD with a seating capacity of up to 25,000. It is still in use today for concerts, sporting events and bullfights. We will visit Vieux Nimes, dominated by the Cathedral. After a visit at the Cathedral, you will be transferred to the Chateau de Bousargues, a 12th century restored castle and active winery, for an outdoor formal concert sung by your choir. A buffet dinner in the garden of the castle will follow the performance.

June 3 - After breakfast we will drive to Aix-en-Provence, nestled in the richest fruit-growing area of France. We will tour this historic city, visiting the Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur with its 4th century Baptistery, the Pavilion Vendome, and the famous Cour Mirabeau, a magnificent avenue lined with shady plane trees, the Champs Elysees of Aix, and other significant sites in this beautiful city. After our visit here, we will continue our drive along the French Riviera, entering the regions of Nice, Cannes, and Monte Carlo. We will check into our hotel in Nice and then take a walk along the Promenade des Anglais, one of the most famous boulevards in the world. You will then have the rest of the evening to explore and have dinner on your own. Optional Concert at Cathedral of St. Paul de Vence.

June 4 - After breakfast, you will depart on your excursion to visit the Gorges du Verdon. This is a unique site in all of Europe and is one of the greatest tourist attractions in Provence. The gigantic cliffs of calcareous rock are the result of the erosion of the Verdon River. In the midst of a nature reserve, rich in flora and fauna, the scenery here is astonishing. This imposing site was only discovered at the beginning of the last century. From here you will drive to Nice where you will have some free time this afternoon. Dinner will be on your own. Optional excursion to the principality of Monaco famed for the Casino of Monte Carlo and Prince Rainier's Pink Palace.

June 5 - After breakfast at the hotel we will begin our day will begin with a short drive to Cannes, the elegant playground of the rich and famous. We will stroll with royalty and aristocracy along the cafe-lined Boulevard de la Croisette. We'll continue to the nearby ancient town fortified against the Saracens, St. Paul de Vence, which offers magnificent views of the French Riviera. You will have some leisure time to stroll through this charming town and enjoy some time for shopping or just relaxing at a local cafe.

Your Farewell Dinner and overnight will be at the hotel in Nice.

June 6 - After breakfast you will be transferred to the Nice Airport for your return flight to Houston.

The price for this tour as outlined will be $2889 with a minimum of 40 passengers.

This includes 2 free trips with 40 paying passengers, breakfast daily and 5 dinners as outlined, ten nights' accommodation, all sightseeing as outlined above, air-conditioned luxury motor-coach, government-licensed English-speaking guide, all entrance fees, coordination of all concerts and donations to churches used, special promotion of all concerts.
Not included are health and trip cancellation insurance, passport and visa costs, items of a personal nature, and gratuities.
We will ask each participant to bring $125 in cash that they will put in an envelope with their name on it and give to the Omega Travel escort for distribution throughout the tour.