Nearly every year our school ventures abroad. On April 5th, 1960, we went to Paris. Mr. Hustwait and Mr. Busby arranged the booking with B.U.S. (Bureau Universitaire Scholaire).

The route we took was as follows: we departed from the "Wheatsheaf", Rushden, at 5a.m. in the morning, in a York Bros coach, and went along the M1 to London Victoria Station. Then a train took us to Newhaven, a small port on the south coast. After passing through the customs, we boarded a cross channel steamer. The sea was calm, but the wind was blustery. After three hours of sailing, we steamed into Dieppe.

An express train took us across the French farm land and on to Paris.

The Institute Vaysse was the school at which we were to stay. The staff had to sleep in prefabricated bedrooms. Mr. Hustwait thought it was like a rabbit hutch. The wash-stand was nicknamed the "monument". The beds were only planks on four legs.

There was a good side to this. The food was queer, but tasty and plentiful. Breakfast consisted of small pieces of bread, butter and marmalade, followed by a bowl of coffee. Lunch was at 1p.m. The food here was varied, including sliced potatoes, sausage-shaped fish, boiled eggs floating in tomato soup. Dinner at 7p.m. was similar.

The Metro is the French underground. We used this every day except the first one. Michael Rich was in a spot once. He sat in a carriage dreaming while we alighted. Mr. Hustwait was confident that he would return on the next train back, and so he did.

We visited many landmarks, including the Palace of Versailles, Notre-Dame, the Church of the Sacred Heart, Napoleon's tomb, the Eiffel Tower, modern Paris, Palace of Discovery, boat trip up the Seine, and the Zoo.
B. Peters