A Literary and Arts Tour of Gay Paris
June 21–29, 2025
Led by Juliet Patterson, Professor of English, and Rachel Moritz, Writer and Exhibit Developer
From the flourishing drag balls of the Belle Époque to the thriving literary scene of the 1950s, Paris has long been a center of LGBTQIA+ cultural life. We invite you to experience together the vibrant arts and history of Gay Paris!
This itinerary is custom-designed and unique to St. Olaf!
See the Overview to the right for more information on what we’ll see, do, and learn.
** Unfortunately, this tour was canceled due to low enrollment. **
We invite you to experience together the vibrant arts and history of Gay Paris!
From the flourishing drag balls of the Belle Époque to the thriving literary scene of the 1950s, Paris has long been a center of LGBTQIA+ cultural life. This study tour will immerse you in the vibrant arts and history of France’s capital city.
Dine at Les Deux Magots, frequented by literary luminaries such as Simone de Beauvoir and James Baldwin. Take a walking tour of Le Marais, Paris’ thriving gay-friendly neighborhood. Visit Le Père Lachaise, the largest cemetery in the city, to pay homage to the graves of Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and others. Take in dinner on a Seine river cruise, followed by an evening cabaret. Trace the path of LGBTQIA+ artists through time with a customized tour of the Louvre. Selected short readings from artists and writers who made Paris their home will enhance our experience of the city and offer points of discussion. And we will, on a daily basis, encounter modern Parisian society, with plenty of opportunities for sharing good food and excellent conversation.
This tour is based entirely in Paris, arriving June 22 and departing June 29, 2025. View and print the most up-to-date itinerary here.
Our intention with each tour is to provide an itinerary that introduces you to key elements related to your destination or the educational theme, while also providing some free time for you to pursue your own interests or have some down time. The balance can vary from day to day, and from tour to tour.
You’ll get the most out of study travel if you research what to do during your free time. This allows you to reap the benefits of group travel, while also customizing the tour to your interests and activity level. Read more about How to Be an Independent Group Traveler.
Juliet Patterson is the author of Sinkhole: A Legacy of Suicide (Milkweed Editions, September 2022) and two full-length poetry collections, Threnody, (Nightboat Books 2016), a finalist for the 2017 Audre Lorde Poetry Award, and The Truant Lover, (Nightboat Books, 2006), winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize and a finalist for the 2006 Lambda Literary Award. Juliet’s teaching and research interests center on LGBTQIA+ literature, environmental literature and human geography. She teaches creative writing, queer theory and literature at St. Olaf College and is also a faculty member of the college’s Environmental Conversations tour.
Rachel Moritz, MFA, is the author of two books of poetry and co-editor of a collection of personal essays. She lives in Minneapolis, where she teaches creative writing in the community and develops museum exhibits for family audiences. A lover of travel who spent her early years living overseas, Rachel brings an interest in LGBTQIA+ history, museums, and lifelong learning.
This program will require a lot of walking, stairs at Metro stops that may not have escalators, and standing. You should be capable of walking up to five miles per day over uneven terrain, of climbing stairs that may not have handrails, of keeping pace with an active group of travelers, of dealing with the emotional highs and lows that can occur when experiencing different cultures, and of traveling with a group for several hours each day.
The hotel will be tourist class (four-star or superior rating), located in the First District for easy access to sites, with private baths, air conditioning, and English-speaking staff.
St. Olaf recommends you be fully vaccinated, with relevant boosters, against COVID-19. You should plan on seeing your family physician or a travel doctor at least four to six weeks prior to departure, preferably earlier, to talk about routine vaccinations. For more information on travel health, see our General Health Information and visit cdc.gov or who.int.
Inclusions and exclusions vary by tour, so please read the following information carefully. We try to strike a balance between nickel-and-diming you once on the tour and allowing you some freedom in your price point (for meals, for example). A variety of modes of transportation tends to be pricier than a single bus throughout the tour. Highly rated guides are essential and should command higher wages.
The tour price is $4,600 per person, based on double occupancy. For single occupancy, add $744.
Inclusions: discussions led by Juliet and Rachel, a full-time guide, accommodations, breakfast daily and group meals as listed on the itinerary, admissions for group activities, ground transportation during the tour (excluding airport transfers), gratuities to group guides, drivers, and group meal servers, and limited medical coverage while overseas.
Exclusions: Airfare to and from Paris is not included. Participants are solely responsible for all expenses not specifically included in the tour price. Examples of excluded expenses are: international airfare, airport transfers if you are not on the recommended flights, any passport and visa fees, any recommended immunizations or vaccinations, baggage and trip cancellation insurance, alcoholic beverages, including at group meals, laundry, dry cleaning, phone charges, room service or other items of a personal nature, expenses incurred during free time or non-group activities, lunch and dinner, unless specifically included on tour itinerary.
This schedule is based on payments St. Olaf College must make to tour vendors to guarantee group rates. We highly recommend that you purchase additional trip cancellation insurance at the time of registration to recover your payments should you need to withdraw from the tour.
Deposit due: $500 upon registration
Refund if you cancel: Full refund ($500) until September 20, 2024. If the deposit is made after September 20, 2024 there is no refund.
Interim payment due: $2,000 on September 21, 2024
Refund if you cancel: $1,000 if you cancel before April 20, 2025
Balance due: April 21, 2025
Refund if you cancel: None, unless the tour is full and your place can be resold
Cancellations must be in writing.
Read these legal documents: Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Check your passport: no visa is required for stays under 90 days, but you should ensure that your passport has at least 3 months’ validity past the program return date and at least one blank visa page. You should also take a look at the International Travel section of the U.S. State Department’s website.
Take time to prepare for your adventure by checking out a variety of resources, including frequently asked questions, general health information, included travel insurance, safety overview, and more.
See our Booking Your Flights tips, but do not book non-refundable airfare until we can confirm this program is a GO.
Unfortunately, this tour was canceled due to low enrollment.
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