Isabella and her friends, Natalie and Sophia were going to France in the summer holiday. Isabella decided to write a diary about visiting France.

2nd February, 11

My friends and I are going to my favourite place, France. I have been to many places before but I haven’t gone to France! It was my first time.

9:00am - Natalie called me on phone. We went to the Hong Kong International Airport. We caught the 10am plane to France.

11:00am - While I was eating my lunch, I found a magazine about Paris, the capital of France. Paris was such a marvelous city and I thought they would agree to go there after landing.

6:00pm - We landed on Charles De Gaulle Airport of Paris. We put all our luggage in the house of my friend, Jane, and she promised us that she should be our tour guide.

7:30pm - After having a delicious dinner, Jane took us to a train to Paris. On the train, Jane told us that the most well known point was the Eiffel Tower. “There is hardly a person in the world, who has never heard of the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.” Jane said. “Can we go and visit it today?” Sophia asked. “Sorry! It is too late today. There is a hotel in Paris. We can take a rest in it.

8:30pm - Before going to the hotel, we had a shopping crazily. The clothes here were satisfactory and not so expensive.

10:00pm - On the bed, we were planning the trip tomorrow.

3rd February, 11

8:30am - Jane took us to theLouvre Tower this morning. Its shape was a triangle. Natalie was excited because she loved art! When we were buying tickets, Jane introduced its history to us. “The Louvre Museum is one of the most famous museums in the world. It began its functioning as a royal fortress, which was built at the west of Paris, on the banks of the Seine, in the late 12th century. Then it was transformed into the palace of Louis XIV – the Sun King. The Musée du Louvre accepted the first visitors in 1793 and nowadays it is considered a popular public institution with more than 35 thousands works of art, organized in the permanent collections.” She said.

9:00am - There were so many drawings and paintings inside the Louvre Tower. I saw a painting of a dog and a girl. The girl had golden hair and she sat on the sofa. The dog was near her barking. I liked this drawing so much that I decided to take a photo.

When I walked near a painting, there were a group of people watching near it. It was the famous “Mona Lisa”. Just then, Jane walked near me, she said, “Mona Lisa was an excellent painting. It was painted by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.” “Are there any other interesting drawings?” I was interested. “Yes, come here with me. I will take you to see a funny picture.”

3:00pm - We had a long time in Louvre Tower. We were all hungry and tired so we went to a restaurant that served some traditional food of France. Jane told us that she could not eat with us because she had something to do. So, we started watching the menu. “I don’t understand French. If Jane is here, she can read it to us.” Nathalie said. “What’s that mean? châtaigne? It’s that cheese? I like it.” We all chose our own food. When the waiter came back, we were amazed. “I am not ordering this food. What’s wrong?” We yelled. All of the people laughed at us. That was embarrassing.

4:30pm - Jane had finished her work and she came to bring us to the Eiffel Tower. “Jane, can you tell us the information about the Eiffel Tower?” “Okay. Eiffel Tower took the builders 2 years 2 months and 5 days to complete this amazing tower. The base is composed of a platform with the four legs, located 80 meters apart from each other and 50 meters above the ground. The second main part is the slender tower, rising above another platform. By the way, for construction of the monstrous tower Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was awarded with the “Legion of Honneur.” We took photos of this amazing tower excitedly. It was high and huge. When I went back to Hong Kong, I would tell my classmates surely!

7:00pm - After the trip in the Eiffel Tower, we went back to the hotel. We enjoyed the swimming pool and the sports centre for the following hours.

4th February,11

10:00am - The next site was Disneyland Paris. Jane said it was opened in 1992, by the late 1990s Disneyland Paris became one of the top attractions in France.

11:00am - It was an astonishing place. It was so big that Hong Kong Disneyland was just only it’s half big. When I came into the land, Mickey Mouse came over me. I said Hello but he replied me Bonjour. It was entertaining. I took photos with him.

3:00pm - It was my worst time here. I wanted to buy ice cream so I said to the man, “How much is ice cream in chocolate flavor?” “Désolé, je ne comprends pas.” “What’s wrong with you?” “Allez-vous acheter de la crème glacée?” “May I have chocolate ice cream?” “Quel parfum aimez-vous?” Luckily, Jane saw me and asked me what happened. Finally, she bought the chocolate ice cream successfully.

4:00pm - We gathered in the Disneyland castle and enjoyed our lunch. It was lunch which included a hotdog. Sophia shared her interesting things to us. She had problems in France too. It was a puzzling problem.

6:00pm - It was the firework show. We took photos for a whole hour. It was more colorful than Hong Kong. We saw the fireworks in eleven colors!

8:00pm - We went back to the hotel and decided to go back home tomorrow. Jane used two hours to teach us French. I could say Bonjour, Au revoir and Je suis heureux now. Jane was a good teacher.

5th February,11

7:00am - It was the last day for our trip. Jane decided to take us to the Arc de Triomphe and Fontainebleau.

8:00am - After having a good-tasting breakfast, we went to Arc de Triomphe. Along the way, Jane said, “Arc de Triomphe, considered the largest triumphal arch in the world. The idea to create such kind of arc belongs to Napoleon I, who wanted to erect the monument, resembling the arcs of ancient Rome. Its design was worked out by Jean François Thérèse Chalgrin, who decided to represent it as the best example of late 18th-century romantic neoclassicism.” I knew the Arc de Triomphe was as famous as the Eiffel Tower. There were sculptures of different mythology characters. After taking a few photos, we went to next part.

10:00am - “Fontainebleau, usually seen as a side trip from Paris, either in half a day by itself or on a full-day trip that also may include the Versailles, one of the top attractions in the region of Paris. The palace of Fontainebleau has witnessed many events in the history of France. Fontainebleau has been home to Catherine de Medici, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon.” Jane said. However, no one listened to her. We only watched the limpid lake and houses liked fairy tales. We sat down on a chair and ate little cakes. Maybe Natalie liked them so much because she had taken sixteen photos. “Elle est balle!” Sophia learned some of the French. “You’re wrong. It’s Elle est belle.” Jane smiled. We enjoyed a great afternoon, eating dessert and drinking tea.

5:00pm - I thought we were going to leave France after three hours. Jane taught us a lot of French at that time. She also took the train back to her house. On the way, she asked us, “Quel est votre nom?” I answered,” Je suis Isabelle.” My French was now okay and I thought I would continue to learn when I came back to Hong Kong.

7:30pm - We took the last photo with Jane in her house. We all smiled happily. In the airport, Jane reminded me to write to her in French. She also gave me a book about learning French.

8:00pm - We were now on the plane. I thought we would be in Hong Kong after a few hours. I would use French to say at the end of this dairy. “J’espere que tu peut visiter la France a nouveau.”