WFU IN DIJON
Group Excursions
As an integral part of the
course FRH 3152: Studies in French Language and Culture
in late August and through September, the Wake Forest Dijon group makes a
number of fully paid excursions to sites
of cultural and historical interest. These generally include a tour of Beaune and Burgundy, and
visits to Provence, Normandy,
the châteaux of the Loire Valley and a weeklong stay in Paris.
Students particularly enjoy these visits to museums and monuments of
historical, artistic and architectural interest because events they have been
reading about in books suddenly seem to come alive before their eyes.
Provence
Heading south from Dijon
and passing through the Rhône Valley, the
group will experience the sights and flavors of Provence. In addition to its reputation as a
favorite vacation spot, the area is renowned for the many monuments that recall
the Roman conquest and occupation of Gaul. The
cities of Arles
and Nîmes are especially rich in the architecture of
the period, and a visit to the famous Roman aqueduct – the Pont du Gard – is always a highlight of the trip. Other cities of
interest include Orange,
with its theatre and triumphal arch. And there might even be time to take a
refreshing dip in the Mediterranean!
Burgundy
Our week-end tour through Burgundy will focus on religious life and
architecture during the low Middle Ages. Visits to
such sites as the Cistercian abbey of Fontenay, the
Basilica of the Madeleine at Vézelay where Saint
Bernard preached the Second Crusade in 1146, and the cathedral of Saint Lazare in Autun will offer
examples of the evolution of religious architecture during the period and
provide insights into the centralizing role played by the Church in a time of
political and social division.
Normandy & Chartres
William the Conqueror, the Hundred Years
War, the trial and execution of Joan of Arc, Flaubert, Monet, the D-Day invasion – our trip to Normandy will evoke these and much more. We
will see the famous tapisserie de Bayeux
that visually recounts the Norman conquest of England, tour the Benedictine
abbey of the unparalleled Mont-Saint-Michel, learn about the final days of the
patron saint of France, travel through the countryside so vividly described by
Flaubert in his novel Madame Bovary, visit the cathedral of Rouen that
was the subject of one of Monet’s most famous series of paintings, and spend an
afternoon at the American cemetery at Omaha Beach. The traditional cuisine is
also not to be missed – cider, crêpes, camembert, and seafood. On the return
trip to Dijon, we will stop in Chartres to visit its cathedral, which boasts
the most celebrated stained glass windows in the world.
Val de Loire
The Loire has the distinction of being both
the longest river in France and the home of royal and private châteaux whose
proximity to one another gives us an understanding of the changes that occurred
in civic architecture between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries – from
the fortified castles of the late Middle Ages to the palatial residences of the
Renaissance whose military features became purely decorative, to the elegant
homes of the nobility in pre-revolutionary France. We will stay in Tours, a large university
city with a busy nightlife, taking day trips from
there. And as we head to Paris, we will make a stop
at the château of Fontainebleau,
where Kings François Ier and Henri II
created the greatest setting for French Renaissance art.
Paris
Paris – the City of Light
– is a visual and sensual delight at every turn of the corner. From the Quartier Latin with its teeming student
population, small restaurants, and narrow streets laid out in the Middle Ages
to the grands boulevards designed by
the Baron Haussmann during the reign of Napoleon III, from the Tuileries Gardens created by the same architect responsible
for the gardens of Versailles to the more intimate Parc
Monceau that was inspired by the English, from the
gothic architecture of Notre Dame de Paris to the postmodern buildings of La Défense, Paris is a city that never ceases to amaze and
invite its visitors to enjoy all that it has to offer. During our time
here, we will see how the city evolved from its pre-Roman origins to the major
metropolis that it is today.
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