Photo by Tim Street

Part of the fountain, "La fontaine des Mers," in Concorde Plaza, Paris. Many aristocrats were killed by the guillotine during the French Revolution in this central Parisian square, including Louis XVI and Robespierre.

The end of our trip looms near, but we’re still busy seeing everything we can before we have to come back to the U.S.! Today was our first full day in Paris and we had a great amount to do.

This morning, we had a very special opportunity to meet with John Morris, a 91-year-old veteran of the photojournalism industry. Morris, who has previously worked as a picture editor at Time, The New York Times and many other media outlets, lives here in Paris, near the Bastille memorial. In fact, he invited us – all 34 of us – over to his apartment to hear him talk.

Unfortunately, a blown projector bulb ruled out the slide show he had planned for us, but he talked to us about his experiences as a photo editor, including his time in World War II, where began working closely with famous war photographer Robert Cappa. He also spent some time with Ernie Pyle – and though he said he wasn’t "close" with Pyle, he did share a community tent with him in Normandy.

Photo by Tim Street

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Afterwards, we had some free time, and groups of students split up to get lunch and visit parts of Paris. Various groups went to Notre Dame, Versailles and the Louvre museum, and others went shopping or visited other sights.

In the late afternoon, we took a bus tour of the city, seeing the countless monuments and historic sites of Paris, including a trip to the second deck of the Eiffel Tower. The city really is quite amazing.

Tomorrow, it’s our last day abroad, and we plan to soak up as much of Paris as we can.
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