Cruising News - Hotel, Resort & Spa as ia / Pacific

Feb 7, 2010. Paris Though Paris is rarely spotlighted during Black History Month, a tour with Black Paris ToursO founder Ricki Stevenson reveals that African Americans have influenced a significant part of the romantic and historic City of Light. On the full-day seven-hour walking/metro/bus tour (a two-thirds day option is also available), travelers begin their learning at the Arc de Triomphe where the 369th regiment OHarlem HellfightersO were due to receive a heroOs welcome following World War I. They next continue down the Champs-Elyses to the former U.S. Embassy where in 1787 Thomas Jefferson and the black and beautiful Sally Hemings began their 38-year relationship. Participants then visit the new monument honoring one of NapoleonOs greatest generals, Haitian-born Thomas Alexandre Dumas, and another memorializing his son Alexandre Dumas, one of the most proliferate writers in French history. The tour then visits the theater where Josephine Baker, Sidney Bechet and a cast of young African American performers exploded onto stage in 1925. Following lunch, the group heads north to Barbs-Rochechouart where they stroll through OLittle Africa,O an area that resembles Dakar or Abidjan. The day ends with mint tea and beignets in La Goutte d'Or and a climb to the highest point in Paris, Montmartre, known as the OHarlem of ParisO in the 1920s and 1930s given the expatriate African American community of jazz musicians that thrived in the district and helped turn the city into the major jazz capital it remains today. The full-day tour starts at USD95 euros per person, excluding lunch, and the two-thirds day tour starts at USD70 euros per person. Children under 13 are USD30 euros. Upon purchasing the OParis Black Tour,O travelers will receive their Air Tahiti Nui airfare promo code for the 10 percent discount. For more information on Air Tahiti Nui and to book the OParis Black TourO special, call 877-824-4846 or visit www.airtahitinui-usa.com/parisblacktour. Feb 4, 2010