Springtime Travel

Envisioning a chic escape to France should always include a stop in Paris. As the country’s capital city, it has become a cultural hub for cuisine, fashion, and art. The one-of-a-kind destination provides guests with a travelling experience filled with elegance and class.
However, planning a trip to the world-famous city is no easy feat. With a variety of different landmarks and sightseeing to visit in and around the city, it can be difficult to create an organized and balanced schedule.

To help plan a springtime tour of the city, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) has created the ultimate escape to France’s finest. In a tour of the city this spring, the SAAG is presenting “Imagine Paris in the Springtime,” a 10-day getaway where visitors can expect to see and experience many of the pleasures — aside from the Eiffel Tower — that Paris has to offer.

“What we’ve tried to do in planning our tours is making them really accessible to a wide group of people,” says Danielle Tait, manager of fund development for the SAAG. “We will get those people who are really interested in the museums and the art, and who want to spend all day in the institutions... But, it’s also very accessible to those people who are new to art, or have maybe wanted to go to Paris but were maybe intimidated about going to a new country, going to a place where they don’t speak the language.”

The SAAG planned the trip to the French landmark city after touring New York last May. The feedback they received from the last trip had given them the idea to start an annual tradition.

"It was such a success that we thought we would venture overseas,” says Tait. “What we’ve tried to do in choosing our destinations is choosing cities that have a lot to offer culturally, in the art scene, but also have a lot of other things to do.”

Exploring the cultural attractions in Paris can unlock some of the city’s historical landmarks. Joining the SAAG on the tour is art historian David Coman. As a professor of fine arts at the University of Lethbridge in Calgary, he has led university tours in Paris since 1999. With the professor’s thorough knowledge of the city, combined with his art background, Coman provides visitors with rare insights into Paris’ architecture, history and art.

With a variety of attractions available on the SAAG’s tour, from historical sites such as the Louvre and Versailles to contemporary sites such as Palais de Tokyo, Coman’s role with the tour is to fill in any gaps.

To accommodate new visitors and returning guests, the SAAG and Coman hope to provide a balanced travel experience with the best of both tourist attractions and recreational sites — all wrapped up in the European travel experience.

For people hoping to experience Paris in a less conventional way, Coman says it can be a good idea to create a tour within the tour.

“For example, you can do a chocolate itinerary… You can, in the span of half of a day, visit the six best chocolate shops in Paris, have samples at each one and learn all about how chocolate is made, if that happens to interest you,” he says. “There is so much you can do ahead of time, using the guidebooks as a base and thinking outside of the box.” Some other themes include wine tasting, food, music and shopping, to name a few.

From their past tour of New York to this year’s tour of Paris and their future excursions all over the world, Tait says the excursions can be an educational experience. “I think people can expect to learn a lot, make new friends and get a little more familiar with a new city.”

The SAAG’s “Imagine Paris in the Springtime” tour runs from May 27 to June 5. For more information on SAAG and their travel tours, please visit saag.ca.
 

The Art of Travel | The must-see art and cultural attractions in Paris

Follow the SAAG’s travel itinerary to experience all of the hot spots on this journey through Paris.

Days 1 and 2 | Depart from airport and fly to Paris.

Guests arrive in Paris and stay at a hotel in the core of the Latin Quarter in the 5th arrondissement.

Visit some historical sites, such as Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

Finish off the evening with dinner at a local restaurant. Bon appétit!

Day 3 | Visitors take a private, half-day tour at the Louvre. See the exquisite Mona Lisa up close and personal and take in true Parisian art and culture.

Day 4 | Guests can take advantage of their SAAG Paris Pass, which provides access to more than 60 museums, monuments, and various attractions and travel throughout Paris.

Day 5 | Visit the Musée d’Orsay, a former railway station that houses one of the world’s largest impressionist and post-impressionist artwork collections.

The remainder of the day is free for visitors to experience the city as a citizen and walk along the longest street in Paris, Rue de Vaugirard.

Day 6 | Take a train ride to visit the Château de Versailles, exploring Le Chateau, Les Jardins, Le Grand Trianon and Le Domaine de Marie-Antoinette. In this palace, formerly home to Louis XIV, some of the attractions include the Hall of Mirrors and the Queen’s Hamlet.

Day 7 | Visit the Centre Pompidou. Created by President Georges Pompidou, the centre features an extensive collection of modern and contemporary art.

The remainder of the day is free for visitors to enjoy some surrounding attractions, including the Beaubourg neighbourhood or the Paris Opera and Le Moulin Rouge, both found in the 9th arrondissement.

Days 8 and 9 | For the last two days of the tour, guests begin with a private tour at Palais de Tokyo, a contemporary art museum. Following the tour, guests take a walk to the nearby Bois de Boulogne, one of the largest parks in the world.

The next day features a tour of the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain. Created by French luxury jeweller Cartier, the centre houses contemporary art.

The remainder of the day is free for visitors to visit any attractions or to do some last-minute shopping.

There is an optional group dinner in the evening for guests to celebrate their last night in “La Ville-Lumière.”

Day 10 | Guests fly home and regroup at the SAAG. • 

Photos courtesy Southern Alberta Art Gallery