Lenape Students explore France and Spain

Stanhope-Twenty-three French and Spanish language students and six parents from Lenape Valley Regional recently returned from a trip to Europe. Spanish teachers, Sharon Mullen, Rina Maslow and Jill Van Duyne and French teacher Kathleen Hade led the European trip under the auspices of the National Educational Travel Council. The students' itinerary started with a visit to the capital city of Paris, France where they visited the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Montmartre and Sacre Coeur Cathedral. Outside the city, the teens toured the palace of Versailles and Chartres Cathedral. In the Loire Valley, the students visited the chateaux of Chambord and Chenoneau and the city of Tours. An overnight train brought our travelers to Madrid, Spain's capital, where they visited the renowned Prado and Reina Sofia Museums as well as the tours of Plaza Mayor, Gran Via, and the Cervantes and Columbus Monuments. Day trips to Toledo with tours of the famous gothic cathedral and El Greco's paintings and Segovia, home of the famous Alcazar de Segovia and roman acueduct, demonstrated the country's breath of historic significance while reinforcing the students'study of Spanish art and history. After traveling by bus across the famous Castilla-La Mancha, home of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza, and stopping at the famous windmills made famous in the novel, the group arrived in Sevilla in the south of Spain. The students enjoyed a boat cruise along the Guadalquivir River where Columbus embarked on his voyages. A highlight of the visit to Sevilla was Flamenco dance lessons and a Flamenco performance. The travel plan wound up on the sands of the Mediterranean Sea in the town of Torremolinos, with a final day of swimming. After 12 days of travel in France and Spain, the Lenape Valley group deserved a rest before returning home to New Jersey. Participants included: Carleen Allison, Stephanie Bachmann, Jenny Benack, Jenna Bergamo, Christina Bollinger, Heather Boralsky, JP Boralsky, Lisa Clark, AJ Dellaposta, Stacy Donahue, Natalia Dziopko, Kelly Fehn, Cari Jones, Loren Macchiaroli, Jamie Maciaszek, Lorena McCready, Robert Mintz, Megan Moen, Katie Mullen, Val Powers, Courtney Rose, Josh Tecchio,and Jackie Teneyck. Accompanying the teachers and students were Katherine Boralsky, Lynne Reid, Jo-Ann Staugard Jones, Dolores Bollinger, Jeff clark and Patricia Fehn.