PARIS AND CHAMPAGNE OVERVIEW
This brand-new tour will be a moving and unforgettable journey to an extraordinary moment in French history. Our tour centres on real-life figures and events depicted in Bryn Turnbull’s best-selling novel The Paris Deception. As Nazi forces stole art from Jewish families and others they deemed enemies, they funnelled these stolen works through Paris’s Jeu de Paume museum. From here, thousands of works were sent to Reich-controlled areas, exchanged, or destroyed. But others were saved, and we will explore the stories of the people who saved them.
We are thrilled to have two very special guides with us on the tour. Bryn will be travelling with our group, sharing her experiences of researching and writing her gripping novel. And our longtime partner in Paris, novelist and storyteller Lisa Pasold, will guide us through what it was like to be in Paris during WWII. On her custom walks, Lisa will share stories of the dangers people faced, the acts of courage — and of cruelty — they committed, and the hopes they held on to.
From Paris we will take a short train ride to Champagne, where we will spend a few days exploring the historic towns of Reims and Épernay. The region’s signature beverage needs no introduction, but what is perhaps less known is that Champagne was an especially active area of resistance. Through walking tours and visits to places like the Museum of the Surrender (Musée de la Reddition) in Reims, we’ll get a nuanced understanding of how so many men and women of Champagne fought for freedom. We’ll also take time to enjoy extraordinary medieval and renaissance architecture as well as taste various champagnes.
PARIS AND CHAMPAGNE ITINERARY AT A GLANCE
Day 1: Arrive to Paris
Day 2: Atelier du Temps Passé art presentation / Le Marais walk
Day 3: Left Bank (Rive Gauche) walk / Cooking class near the Panthéon
Day 4: Montparnasse walk / Musée de la Libération
Day 5: Place Vendôme, Concorde, & Jeu de Paume / Les Invalides
Day 6: Train to Reims / Free time
Day 7: Reims heritage tour / Pommery and Villa Demoiselle tour and Champagne tasting
Day 8: Reims heritage tour, cont’d / Épernay
Day 9: Drive through Champagne countryside / Pressoria museum & Hautvillers
Day 10: Departure
READINGS
- The Paris Deception by Bryn Turnbull
- Selections from Paris Was Yesterday by Janet Flanner and other selected readings
Bryn’s page-turning novel The Paris Deception evokes the atmosphere of WWII Paris through the stories of two women, an artist and an art conservator, determined not to be crushed by the Nazi occupation or the personal grief the war has inflicted on them.
Janet Flanner’s descriptions of life in the French capital in the years leading up to the war are unforgettable accounts of a time in French history that continues to fascinate readers today.
Look for full details soon on our tour, led by Classical Pursuits director Melanie Blake with two very special guides: Bryn Turnbull, bestselling author of The Paris Deception; and award-winning author and podcaster Lisa Pasold, creator of Improbable Walks.
