Join me on a captivating journey through black history and culture in France. Are you intrigued by the tapestry of black history and culture in the City of Love, Paris? Join us on an enlightening journey as we deep-dive into some less-known stories that have shaped the multicultural facet of France. **Be sure to register.
Hello everyone this is Priscilla with Sila travel helping you live the dream through travel ah so sorry for my tardiness I was having technical issues and of course when you’re going live those things happen they tend to happen so how is everyone tonight um what are you drinking I see Hello
Carolyn hey uh Kristen from um Kristen from oh I don’t see where Kristen’s from but Carolyn says she’s from Maryland uh hello Sandra from Atlanta nice to see you sioban how are you Taran let’s see not happy to see you Taran okay so I just want to apologize again because I
Had technical issues and I just could not share I had to restart several times hello Geraldine um from Texas how are you Taran you’re also from Texas okay and Joyce from Detroit nice to see you let’s see who else is here we’ve got um Willa
She’s also from Texas so we got a lot of Texas people here oh glad to see you Texas folks here so what are y’all drinking what are y’all drinking I am drinking cranberry juice it’s cran man cran mango in this cup here so what are y’all drinking let me know in the comments
How’s everybody doing all right so all right so we’re here to talk about discovering Black Culture in Paris so if you have any questions at all feel free to put them in the chat and I’ll get to them um let’s see uh oh Joyce hello Joyce Joyce said she’s having water yeah
I should have had water but I I I gave in and got the cranberry juice is one of my favorite things so one of my Favorite Beverages so um uh let’s see we’re here to talk about discovering Black Culture in Paris so if you have any questions
Feel free to put them in the chat and I’ll get to them um what’s going to happen next is going to go over um we’re going to talk about um Paris and black culture and history because it’s a journey through history and Heritage and uh these these days and these times you
Know I think it’s um it’s important that we um sort of get familiar or bone up uh on our history um especially as Americans and black Americans or African-Americans whatever you want to um refer to yourself from as hello um from Philadelphia how you doing Linda Mitchell nice to see
You okay so um I’m going to talk about we’re going to go through um just some things you know it’s really interesting especially the time that we’re living in and um at the end I’m going to talk about a trip so um Paris because everybody wants
To go to Paris everyone wants to go to Paris okay so um that’s just something that all Americans seem to want to go to a place that all Americans seem to want to go to and I’m just going to go uh through and I’m going to talk about why
People want to go um to Paris and why you should go to Paris so I’m Priscilla with stilla travel helping you live the dream through travel and what I do is I provide premium travel planning services and advisory services for empty nesters in the second act of their lives so it’s
Time to up level your vacation and um that’s just something that the pandemic has made me realize you know stop waiting stop waiting on everyone else and just do it because you just don’t know how much time you actually have and then um you want to do it be while
You’re still able to get around so um many of you um are already I have a couple of you who are my clients already who are already um in my list or on my list or follow me already so I am retiring from federal service this year
2024 this summer after 28 years so I am looking forward to it and looking forward to traveling while I still have knes and I still have the energy to go so why why why Paris well Paris is home to you know a really significant black community and um it spans
Centuries it’s it’s not recent you know it’s centuries we tend to think of things in terms of recent history but in reality um because maybe our education system here in the US is a little lacking a little bit so it’s up to us to educate ourselves and educate our our
Kids so um that they want to travel more and know more you know what I mean so um it spans centuries so the African presence um Africans were brought to Paris the city as early as the 17 century and we know that’s because of the slave trade right
So um France was the second largest colonizing Nation or European nation behind um it um Britain Britain was the largest so they were all competing with each other so uh during the slave trade we had that’s when Africans first were brought to Paris earliest 17th century the 1600s right
Um now slavery in the French kingdom was abolished two times now that’s weird isn’t it uh you can’t someone Geraldine are you saying you can’t see the screen let me know is anybody not seeing my slides let me know in the chat can you see my slides let me know it could
Be um the Internet it’s pretty slow can anyone can you let me know Geraldine saying she can’t see the slides so I’m going to check on my second device here to see if I can see them um anybody else not seeing the screen okay okay Kristen’s saying she’s seeing it so
Maybe there’s like a delay Gerald Dean because um the interet has been pretty iffy um for the past several I don’t know couple of weeks or so okay all right so Siobhan saying she can see it on YouTube because I am um on YouTube so you may want to go over there
Um if you can’t see them in in here okay so back to what I was talking about so the African presidents um like I was saying in France the kingdom of France that’s when they had the kings and queens they abolished slavery twice um once in 1794
And the second time in 1848 now I’m talking about the kingdom that’s when they had the Kings and the queens and so they did that the first time because there were some slave uprisings in the colonies in um the cariban so they abolished it and then another king came
And reinstated it and I believe Napoleon bonapart um reestablished it as well so um I’d have to go look that up I don’t remember all the dates but when um in 1794 when the French Republic was established um and that’s when Napoleon was sent to this island and exiled right
Because he made himself an emperor that’s when they AB slavery in the colony so they abolished slavery in 1848 in France itself France proper but it still went on in the colonies so we know that was all about economics so many of the European countries um B the
Slavery in Europe but they didn’t do so in the colonies now remember the United States was a colony the United States was a before it was the United States it was a collection of colonies remember the 13 original colonies from from school and some of our states uh
Louisiana was French we bought that from the FR from the fren excuse me from the French I believe that was during Napoleon’s time yep the Louisiana Purchase Florida was a originally a Spanish colony uh the 13 original colonies on the East Coast were um somewhere Dutch and then the English
Took over uh the British were had colonies in Canada before was Canada so all of these the the United States the Caribbean were all colonies okay so the United States colonists they rebelled against England and um that’s when the United States was established as a Sovereign Nation now
The war went on for several years it didn’t just end overnight so another period of time when Africans migrated to Paris were in modern times right so um African people moved to Paris during modern times from their countries um because of economic reasons now we know that colonization
Continued on after slavery and then um in the 19 mid 19th century the 1900 1950s I believe Ghana was the first African nation to gain its independence 1957 or 1958 then the others started to follow like dominoes um but during that time the the country struggled to get
Their feet under them um economically so many people went to the colonies they went to the French colonies um people from the French colonies went to France because at that time then France let them come there to work and so many people migrated there for economic reasons right so why else
Do people migrate anywhere for economic or reasons or war or some benefit so that’s why they they went there were also some Afro Caribbean people who migrated to France um so we had some french-speaking colonies like guadaloop Haiti which was sand deing before now sanding was the first um
Nation in the Caribbean to gain its independence the first black colony to gain its independence from France so um and that was in the 1700s so um there were other frenchspeaking Caribbean countries um guadaloop is one um let’s see St Martin there’s a French side and there is an English side
Haiti and then there are a few others right so we also have an African Caribbean presence in Paris now so Paris is pretty mult Multicultural if you were to visit there you would not recognize it it’s nothing like you would imagine on TV you know all the things that we
Would see on TV France itself in general it’s it’s pretty Multicultural so um it became the cultural hub for black people coming from the Caribbean because um they’ve been residing there since the 18th century and then I’m going to be talking about a couple people who actually became quite famous
In France in Paris um specifically so here’s St George chaler he was he lived from 1745 to 1799 they made a movie about him he was called the black Mozart so he was the son of a French nobleman and an enslaved sagales woman so Sagal was one of the colonies
Um on the coast of Africa of course it wasn’t they had territories it wasn’t the countries the way they’re split right now so um there was actually a movie called chaler that came out and if you’re interested I can put the links to that movie chaler um it’s on Prime video
And you can watch it he was a composer and he actually um he was a very talented person so um he was a composer a violinist and a conductor of the Opera um and he was a swordsman now he came to his father sent him brought him to Paris from
Guadaloop and um sent him to school and if you do decide to check out that movie then um I think it’s a pretty good it’s a pretty good movie you know of course they dramatized it a lot they put a lot of drama in it and stuff you know but um he actually
Was in charge of the Opera when Marie Antoinette was Queen so he actually trained her um he wrote many many compositions of course when the French Revolution happened many of the records were burned and for other reasons his Works were also hidden it’s only now recently that people are starting to
Find and discover some of his um works that he wrote um his um he was he was a comp oser so when I was in school growing up my mom had us take piano lessons so we used to um play classical music so he was actually a in the same
He was a few years older than Mozart Ludwig Van Mozart they called him the black Mozart but he was actually a few years older than Mozart and Mozart actually um went to meet him so they had sort of a a rivalry there him and Mozart um he was the first black professional
Orchestra leader in France um and he was also a colel in the French Legion during the French Revolution so he was the leader of the first all black regiment in Europe so this was between the time of the fall of the French um Empire and the French Kingdom and during the French Revolution
Now um a lot of things happened during that time um but this guy I mean he was really talented he was also um a ladies man he never married but um he was quite an accomplished composer and he was quite competitive now here is Thomas general Thomas Alexandra Dumas now he was born
In 1762 and died in 1806 now he was born on the island of San DOI right Dominique or san Dei which is modern day Haiti now he was also the son of a noble person a nobleman and an enslaved woman so um he was sent to
Um Paris as well so Geraldine says she saw chaler yes it was an exit movie it really was um she excuse me he actually um became quite a swordsman himself he was a very famous General and you would never realize that this famous General was a black person a black man and um
During the French Revolutionary War he was one of the most respected commanders of the French army during the revolution and um he actually um knew Napoleon bonapart and um of course Napoleon after they deposed the king and queen and Napoleon became the ruler and then he decided to make
Himself the Emperor of course Mr or general Thomas Alexander Dumas was disposable but he was quite the swordsman’s too he and um Mr chaler Joseph bologna the chaler they actually served in the same unit but this guy was one of the most respected commanders of French army and guess who he
Fathered Alexander Dumas the writer one of the greatest French writers of all times he wrote The Count of Monte Christo how many of you remember that from school and how many times have you seen the Three Musketeers I’ve seen the Three Musketeers uh since I was a kid and it’s
Been made over so many times but who would have known that it was a black guy a um he was he’s a mixed rised ancestry but look at his hair is a black man um he wrote The Count of Monte Christo if you remember the story at all so uh yep thanks
Doc so he wrote the story of The Count of Monte Christo about his father the general because the father was thrown in prison by Napoleon in at one time hello levette from Texas I have a lot of Texas people here today good to see you so he
Was his dad was thrown into prison and he that story was um inspired by the experiences of his father General Alexander Dumas um he also wrote like I said the Three Musketeers and he also helped break down racial barriers in French society so um after they deposed
The king and queen remember Maran tette said let them eat cake and they beheaded her so and then they took over now it’s been a republic ever since now here’s some other um famous people Angelique Kido kijo and this lady she I would love to be able to see her
In concert one day this lady here is a really really talented artist she is from Benin she’s a Benin French artist singer songwriter actress and activist born in 1960 she studied at the sim a jazz School in Paris um because of things that were going on in her country
At the time she in the 80s went to live in Paris and then went to school and she was supposed to be an an attorney but she actually studied music and she is really one of the most talented um singers because of her Fusion of Music um different styles Jazz
And some of her native Styles um she is quite famous and um she’s known all over the world Angelique kiddo kijo so she actually was the recipient of the Polar music prize in 2023 that considered to be the most prestigious music prize in the entire world so that’s Angelie kijo
So she’s just another example of black people um living in France and contributing to the culture and the society now here we go to the africanamerican here we go to the africanamerican Chronicles now some of you may know but others of you may not be familiar about
Some of our history as an American in France an africanamerican an africanamerican an africanamerican in France so there’s some unique history there um regarding us so James hemings and I was just talking to my husband about that this afternoon he was born in 176 5 died in
1801 he didn’t live very long um he was a formally enslaved Chef he was an American Chef he was how many people can you guess who he was related to James hemings hemings is the hint can anybody guess who James hemings may have been related to so I’m gonna give you a
Chance hemings Thomas Jefferson is the other hint well I’m GNA tell you so James hemings was Sally hemings brother so um he yep that’s right Robert of course my African-American studies Professor would know that answer nice to see you Robert so James hemings he he was related yep Sally yep
Jakay Joyce yep related to Sally Hennings he was um he was owned by Thomas Jefferson now this is before the Revolution well during the revolution before the United States became the United States okay so Thomas Jefferson as well as um um James Madison um John J and some of those
Other founding father dudes that we learned about um back in elementary school they went to France they were ambassadors or they had posts in France because they wanted to be recognized as independent nations now Thomas Jefferson at the time was the this is before he became president because it was before
The United States was the United States he was the Ambassador the American minister to France in the 1780s now what he did was is he took Sally hemings with him remember the story about Sally and um the thing of it is is when they went there with him they were free because
France had already abolished slavery during that time the time that they were there Sally was free and so was James so James was actually a chef he was already a cook um on the plantation but when he went there he made a deal with Thomas Jefferson because Thomas Jefferson
Wanted to have clout and this man was so talented at his skill he went to school he sent him to cullin inary school so he went to formal culinary school in France right and this guy act actually worked for some of the royalty um in France and he studied with a famous
Um caterer in France right I can’t remember his name now um he went to formal culinary training and guess what he introduced to us Cuisine so he actually negotiated the terms of his freedom because he said if I do this when I come back to the United States I
Want to Be Free I’ll come back because he could have just stayed you know they didn’t make him go back he could have just stayed and Sally could have too um they could have just stayed in France and they would have been free so something similar happened during the Haitian
Revolution um when they they the um Haitian people they rebelled against France and then all of the French nobility they left and came to the United States this was like in the 1790s I believe so when they went to Pennsylvania now Pennsylvania was a free state so when they got there they
Brought some of their slaves now the slaves didn’t want to go on their own they made them go right they grabbed some and took them and um when they got there they were not happy to find out that slaves were free and I know that this story is close to my heart because
My dad was from Philadelphia and he’s to tell us about the abolitionists and the the Society of the the abolition society and he’s to tell us about um that we believe that our ancestors our great great grandfather or U came from Haiti During the Revolution so there were some
Families who came and um some changed the names from French last names two English names because they were afraid that they would be made to because it was litigation and everything of course um they didn’t they didn’t win the former plantation owners so some of them started going to Louisiana because they
Wanted to preserve slavery but yeah so this fella here he invented macaroni and cheese that’s one of our American Staples he brought it back introduced it to United States Cuisine Creme Brule as well that’s what of my favorites I love creme brulee so also they suspect french
Fries french fries get it french fries yeah so if you go to France you’ll you some of the food you’ll find some of the the same foods that we eat here in the restaurants hamburgers french fries things like that um of course they have their other um FR fru food that’s a bit
Different but yeah he introduced thank you Sandra he introduced macaroni and cheese to the you United States Cuisine so he came back became free and then um it was pretty sad what happened with him because once he came back to the US of course slavery was still um going on
Here in the US and then there was extreme um um you know Supremacy and Ray to the ISM here in the United States so he did not have the same celebrity status or the same level of um reputation and you know he was he was he was a big guy in
When he was in France so when he came back he wasn’t he he died from alcoholism he was an alcoholic and he got sick so and he died early that was James hemings now here we go to some more African-Americans now these African-Americans some of you may not
Know about them Robert may know this is James Europe and the 369th Harlem Hell fighter ban from World War I now how many of you knew that um us black soldiers fought in World War I for Europe and for France how many of you know that they helped liberate
France during the first world war um from the Germans so this band actually you see they’re playing their their jazz instruments they’re the ones who introduced Jazz to France uh this guy James Europe he was a famous um band leader in the United States um in Harlem
And um he joined the military this 369th um regiment um these folks wanted to distinguish themselves and they joined they figured we would they would we would be considered equal if we served our country now there black people have been in every single War in the United States
Every single War there have been African-American people in those Wars um so that’s important that people know that even the Revolutionary War they fought then too so these folks went to World War I they were mainly um Supply they did supplies they worked in the back but the French needed help so the
US government loaned these black soldiers to France and then when they did they distinguished themselves so much Ah that’s right Robert he was talking about the very first um black combat pilot was you Gene um bullup and he did he could only fight for France during World War I because the military
Was segregated so black people weren’t allowed to have guns and the French were like that doesn’t make sense why would you do that to your citizens you know what I mean so but the French used these soldiers and they distinguished themselves um and they were very Fierce
Warriors that’s why they called them the Harlem hell Fighters and this band The Harlem Hell fighter band brought um Jazz to France so jazz is pretty big in France because of this now um they brought Black Culture to France so PE during World War I um many African-Americans after the war decided
To go back because when they came back home after the war there were a lot of uprisings against black people okay so um there were these race riots so there was one in New York because this group was from New York there was a big one in um New York
So many of these people they they didn’t experience the same level of respect and and they were free to date who they wanted and um some of them went back to France so we have a lot of musicians who went back back to France after World War
I hello Gloria from Ohio glad to see you so here goes some of the artists we’ve got Eugene excuse me Sydney bashet um he was from Louisiana he was a famous um saxophonist clarinetist excuse me clarinetist uh and he was a jazz player and um he went from France to
Britain um back to the US and then in his Elder years he went back to France but he was one of the very first we have Louis Satchmo Armstrong he was also um a famous um jazz music blues player and we have Adam bricktop Smith this is just these are just some
Examples of um some black entertainers who moved to France moved to Paris um actually because they wanted they had the freedom to pursue their their craft they could um Escape extreme racism so that’s why they went then we have the most famous of all Miss Josephine Baker Miss Josephine
Baker went to um France during I think the 1920s so she was a black entertainer she lived through the race Wars of St Louis I believe she lived through that so um she went to Paris and um became an overnight success she was a trailblazing Entertainer she was um she
Also served as a double agent for the French Resistance during World War II now how many people knew that did anybody know that um Josephine Baker was actually a resistance fighter during well world World War II for the French he was a spy um she actually used to
Smuggle messages between um the French who were occupied by the Germans again they um used to smuggle messages to um the Allied Forces Canada uh United States forces um British forces because she was a performer they didn’t think anything of her you know they didn’t think she
Would actually was smart enough to do anything like that but um she actually became a citizen of France she gave up her United States citizenship and she just never came back yeah she did that too Robert she hid Jews also during the Holocaust in her chatau she did she hid
Some Jewish people at her chatau so this lady she was really really Brave um could you imagine what would have could have happened to her had she been found out she would have um messages written in invisible Inc invisible Inc of all things I would never I would have who
Would have thought that there was invisible Inc invented back then invisible ink was written in her gowns and in her sheet music between the lines and she would pass messages around pass messages between the French resistants and the Allied Forces so that’s Miss Josephine Baker she died in 1975 she was
Also a um civil rights activist she refused to sing at um segregated audiences in the United States she just refused to do it she would not do it she was like nope if um these audiences segregated don’t I’m just not going to do it she refused to performed she was famous in Europe
Famous in France um and uh she was a celebrian and she was a civil rights activist yes she did Robert she did speak at the March on Washington got a chance to say it before I got a chance to say it she sure did she really did so um in
2021 she was symbolically intered at the French Pantheon that’s the the um Hall of Heroes in Paris so they didn’t as she was actually buried in Monaco um on her friend um the princess of Monica I believe that was Grace Kelly as a matter of fact and her friends
Estate her family didn’t want to move her bones but they symbolically interred her she was recognized as a hero she was a French hero she was the first black person to be recognized um as a hero um and she was that’s where all the heroes were
Buried now we also can talk about the Harlem Renaissance which also occurred during the 1920s and span to the 1930s so we’ve got many African American artists such as writers musicians I talked a little bit about that already um many performers they sought artistic freedom and they wanted to escape racism
And segregation so James Baldwin is just one person Langston Hughes spent some time there um there are many of them who um went to Paris to purer their craft there were artists who went there the because they were they would not be successful during those times the United
States they wen’t would not be galleries wouldn’t show their work they were not given the opportunity so they went to France they went to Paris so um just to say um black Parisian so these people became Josephine beger became a black Parisian we’ve had other parisians from Africa from um the
Caribbean from the US St um I believe Sydney bashet actually moved back there um before he died to um Paris and uh had a family in his old age who would think so um there are many significant contributions to paris’s culture society and its political movements it’s also
Culturally diverse and it’s help shape um the countries um Global and cultural face okay let’s see oh yeah so Robert saying yep he was also harassed for being gay James Baldwin yeah he was so I remember reading his books when I was a kid I do remember because we
Used to have reading lists and I mean where we actually read books by authors now I I I don’t even want to go into what they’re doing these days with I don’t even know what they’re teaching the kids these days I I I just can’t
Imagine so it’s up to us to pass this knowledge on to our Offspring make sure that they learn it my parents taught me so next is live The Good Life Soulful epicurian experience for France 2025 many of you are going with me because I’m going this summer and um it
Was sold out 2024 2023 was the first sailing and that one sold out so quickly um they did it in 2024 now they’re doing 2025 so we have from now until November of TW excuse me August of 2025 so the follow on of this um Soulful epicurian experience will be happening
We’re I’m already booking for it I will be announcing it this week when I nailed down all the pricing for like um single supplement and um the um triple cabin so what’s included in this is a luxury river cruise it’s a seven night River Cruise um in an elegant State room it’s
On um the amama Christina now river cruise ships are not like your ocean liners totally different so r River Cruises take you through countries excuse yes River Cruises take you through countries the ocean liners they take you to them so if you’re the type of person that’s into culture and
Who’s into um food and wine and performances and just experiencing a destination than River cruising is for you so um there’s also a three night uh Cruise day it’ll be at the OCTA Hotel or similar this year it’s moved to another hotel um because of the Olympics
But um 20125 it should be back at the OCTA Triumph um I’ve actually stayed there before I’ve actually sailed this cruise before just not with the black um um Heritage emphasis on it all fine dining is included on board including the Chef’s Table Restaurant which is a specialty restaurant where each person
On the cruise has the opportunity to eat um with the chef and it’s a seven course meal it’s a gourmet meal and um each person you don’t pay anything extra for it it’s all including included all of the dining on board three meals is three
Meals a day on the S day river cruise is included even your wines your beers um the spirits now premium Spirits there’s a cause for that but wine champagne beers things like that all of that is included there’s no drink package you don’t have to pay for internet either
There’s also a daily Sip and sell cocktail hour where the um Cruise manager meets with everyone and we go over the next day’s itinerary there will also be some um activities on the ship as well as some jazz performances on board as well as as on land so like I
Mentioned before the French have adop had adopted Jazz because African-Americans brought it there so to this day they they do they have a lot of jazz in the country of France so it’s really big there so um there are a variety of excursions for each day um like guided hikes bike rides
And tasting tours so I never took the Bike Tour or the hikes I was fine doing the walks um but there the guided tours everything is included um it’s just an it’s just a wonderful experience because you’re being catered to um and you really get to hear about the history
Um of all these people that I just talked about just a few of them there are so many more and there are so so many different experiences that we can have in France um celebrating black Heritage and history over there um there’s also the Wi-Fi is complimentary
And then after the seven night River Cruise because this time we’re going to start in leyon no not leyon sorry about that start on the coast uh the first tour will be in meray and that’s a black Heritage Tour as well Claude Mckay actually lived in um M and um there’ll
Be some black Heritage Tours there visit to uh the African district there and um sailing from ARL up the ran River to leyon which is the Gastronomy capital of France then from there we disembark get off the ship and transfer from Leon to Paris by highspeed rail that’s a
Pretty cool experience the train is pretty cool I wish we had those kinds of trains here I really wish we had like highspeed rail here because it’s so much more economical and those trains go like 200 miles an hour so people live farther out from Paris than um and they just
Commute way out into the countryside as a matter of fact okay so there’s also a specially curated tour a Josephine Baker Excursion and a black history tour in the city of Paris so there’s a black Paris tour and there’s also a Josephine Baker tour in the city of Paris so those two cities
Have the main black Heritage Tours but throughout the entire river cruise we still get the French culture and Cuisine the jazz is incorporated into it there are many other places other than those two cities like there are some sites where um the landing on Normandy during
Dday as well as some other places say farther down the rone where there was fighting during the world wars there’s also a group called The senales Riflemen who also distinguished themselves during the World War I um so there’s a lot of this history you know is going to be
We’re going to learn about this on this Cruise that’s why it’s such a great Cruise it’s in addition to your regular French um quisine and culture because the Roman there’s a huge Roman footprint in France and I was shocked to see Roman ruins in the middle of towns so um those
Things are still included all the tours are included all the meals included on the river cruise now in the in the three night stay at Paris it’s going to be at the hotel breakfast is included but then there’s plenty of places for you to walk around and get food because you’re right
That hotel is right down the street from the OCTA Triumph and the shandel where all the shopping and everything is and in Paris you can go just about anywhere by taking the train so you can catch the train to go anywhere you want because we’ll be smack dab in the middle of Paris
Um one of the armal waterways because this is an armal waterways River Cruise will be accompanying us as well on this trip so you’re never even if you were going solo you’re never really going to be by yourself because the cruise man is going to be with everyone all throughout
The cruise as well as the 10 the three days in Paris so what’s not included are flights to France so International Air is not included in the cost so you can book your air yourself or I can book the air for you now Amma waterways gets a pretty
Good rate and right now if you were to make your deposit and book you can actually take advantage of pre-published flights and I believe it’s like um 1,800 or 2200 for economy um now I got that backwards 1,00 for economy premium economy as a matter of fact business Class it’s a little bit more I I’m not going to say what it is but it’s it’s because I’d have to look at it it’s really really reasonable um so because it’s the rates are not published yet before the airlines publish those rates you can get these pre-published negotiated rates through arm
Waterways um and then you can make a deposit on the air and roll it into your payment so I do offer payment plans as well structured payments what I call a structured payments um where I just set you up to make your own payments and or you can I have a a
Payment financing Plan called uplift where you can Finance the trip pay up to 24 months and then you make payments with uplift so there are many payment options you’re free to make your credit card payment you’re free to do autodraft I’m also going to be introducing a
Payments where you could sign up for that and save on the fees because the fees there are a lot of fees now there’s no way to get around the fees these days with the interest rates the way that they are so um there are plenty of options you you
If you make your deposit now you have like 14 months to make payments um so that’s quite a bit of time to do that give you some breathing room um things of a personal nature are not covered that’s not included and any food that at the hotel that’s not already stated
Which is your breakfast is not going to be included so those are your exclusions but everything else is included this is a luxury experience so we have the Soulful epicurian experience France 2025 uh it’s 10 nights 11 Days Seven night R cruit from ARL Leon plus three
Nights in Paris and it’s going to be August 21st to August 31st in 2025 there’s no um additional Barcelona stay this time um and it’s going to be $500 off per person until January 31st if you make your deposit you get $500 off per person prices start at
$51.99 per person for this luxury river cruise experience so how to book is I’m going to put the right now the VIP list is open I am going to send a link I’m going to put the link right now in the chat to sign up for the VIP list and then once
You sign up for the VIP list then you can um you will get an invitation you’ll get an invitation from me um to make your deposit so by the end of the this week I’ll have all of the pricing nailed down and then um you’ll have the opportunity to make
Your deposit the deposit is only $500 per person and um you would have up to 14 months to pay and I’ll let me put a link to this VIP list how to sign up for it right here so that’s how you sign up for it and
Then you can also um book a river cruise consult once you sign up for the VIP list make sure that you book your River Cruise consult because this is even though um you can sign up and have autodraft and all of those things it’s this is still a personalized experience
So I really want you to get on the phone with me and figure out which account a which room which cabin is going to be best for you work out what your payments are going to be you know because like I said I’m going to offer different
Methods of payment um so that’s sort of personal it’s not like you’re automatic um sort of just go and just book in one and done this is a luxury experience so um this is the kind of experience that I want to talk to you and not one person who’s booked this
Cruise has booked without having a conversation because this is a luxury product so I definitely understand so that’s why I’m saying you will book your River Cruise consultation and then once we go over everything and agree then you can um make your deposit now let me take
You to a video I’m GNA stop sharing my slides and um I’m going to share something else I’m going to share this booking page with you and okay now let me present all right now can you see the screen let me know if you can see it so this is the
Page this is the booking page and um this is where you sign up for the VIP list because you’ll get a personal invite at the end of the week get on the VIP list it’s back for 2025 this is the good life and some soul um just some
Information on here um talks about uplift it has everything that I talked about here um this is going to be an unforgettable experience now this these are testimonials from the 2023 trip so there’s so much history as African-Americans that we do not know we’ve never been shared or taught
About in our history as an africanamerican and so for me to come to France and be immerged into the culture and learn about what the impact has been for people in Fr sorry about that it’s buffering or what the impact like to hear I will make sure to share this with
You because it’s the internet is like slow right now that Claude MCC lived in Mars let me just put the link there because it just does not want to cooperate here let me open it up in YouTube that’s what I’ll do hang on one second let me share it from can you hear
It for okay you can’t hear it so let me I put a link in the chat very moving to hear the different stories the experience the so let me try to share it directly from YouTube maybe it’ll do better than it’s doing right now now you can see but
You can’t hear yeah it is buffering let us see I did put a link in the chat for you and if you go to the page you can actually um see it so let’s try to do that again there’s so much history okay so it’s not going to do it
I did put the link there for you because my Internet is just iffy so African that we do not know okay so it’s it’s buffering it’s buffering today is just not the day to try to share a video it’s it’s just so sorry about
That so if you go to the page the video is embedded on the page so you can click on the video and you can watch what um clients said on the trip when they went there in 2023 um it went like hot cakes so I put
A link there it’s in the chat you’ll see the YouTube video link as well as the the VIP list page so make sure if you’re interested in this trip to sign up for that VIP list so that as soon as I nail down those couple of details about um
The single supplement and the price for triples because there are a couple cabinets where you can have three people in a cabin and um but it’s going to be a pull pull out couch you can have two beds and a pull out couch like a futon
So I have to nail down which cabins those are which ones are available and what the prices would be for that just in case um someone was interested in that as well as the um single supplement this time but does anyone have any questions at all about what I talked about any
Questions internet’s just not going to be cooperative me to share that video today so does anyone have any questions or any comments or anything is anyone interested in this fabulous trip like I said I’m going to be on 2020 um four couple of people who are on the video
They’re going to um online here they’re going to be with us as well but it’s because there’s so much demand for it that they offered it again in 2025 and they will offer offered again in 2026 so this is the Soulful epicurian experience um in France sailing the rone
River um three nights in Paris exploring Paris with black history and Heritage culture tours and in meray as well and it’s just a fabulous experience and if you look at the page my images my pictures that I took in 2021 um are there of course it’s not the
Black history aspect of it but I went and because the owner of the company one of the owner of the companies was on this was on the cruise and she had a meeting with us and um the African-American travel advisor Community were like please you could do something for us here in France
Because um we know you’re doing Jewish Heritage we know you do you do Hispanic heritage of course you know Portugal they have Portugal tours so there was also a Portugal tour in lisban um I’ll let you know if there any cancellations I definitely will but um but not much about African-Americans
And so we were like listen number one put us in your Imaging that’ll draw us so they did they said okay the first time how about if we take your pictures so um that started the whole thing and they’ve really gone out of their way to create an extraordinary experience um
For um African-Americans or people of color really it’s really for anyone but just the idea that they’re emphasizing the contributions of black people and we go all the way to France to have something like that it’s just one of those extraordinary experiences so we get an opportunity to see why uh the
Claude mccay’s and James Baldwin and Josephine Baker and and um James Europe they went to France so uh they went there for a reason to so that they could be free to express themselves so um I know there’s a lot going on right now with France and um the sahal region of
Africa with them um basically saying no more neoc colon neoc colonization there’s a lot going on there but um as for us African-Americans I mean I’m glad for them but as far as African-Americans we like I said before we have been in every single War the United States of America
Has had from Colonial times we have been with Lewis and Clark um the guides one of the guides was a black guy for Lewis and Clark when they wanted to um go from coast to coast um and expand the United States um a black guide was with the explorer who
The first explorer who went to the North Pole but we don’t hear these stories so it’s up to us to learn right Robert so Robert is a is a African-American studies teacher so he’s he’s up on this stuff but I mean it’s up to us to learn
Then we pass this information along to our kids because they need to know so my parents had to do it for us my sister and I when we were growing up because in the 60s and 70s that was unheard of you know but now the opportuni there but
It’s being taken out of the school so we have to go back to what we did before all right okay Joyce Matthew Henson Matthew Henson who’s Matthew Henson I know you said that for a reason Matthew Henson he was one of Sally’s um Brothers I know there was James there
Was another one there were quite there were a number of them and um yeah so I definitely will let you know um Joyce if there are any cancellations in 2024 but you can get the jump on 2025 because before you know it it’ll 2025 will be here so if you’re
Interested in this Cruise um click the link um sign up for the VIP list and um get a river cruise consultation so let me put the link to the river cruise consultation in there just in case you have some questions about it before then so let’s see schedule your free consultation let
Me put the link to that in here oh the Explorer yeah his name was Matthew Perry yeah um yeah that’s what she’s saying Matthew Perry we don’t you know we don’t hear about those things so it’s up to us to learn and pass the information along so
Um unless anybody has any questions or comments yes you can watch and share this video because it’s on streamyard right so you should have gotten if you signed up you should have gotten a um link and you’ll get the replay so even if you didn’t you can still sign up for
It so I’ll make sure that I share that information because you’ll get an email I’ll send everybody else out an email and I’m going to go over this week I’m G to have another um session on actually the excursions and all of the experiences that we’ll actually have um we
We were everywhere was my point yes Joyce yes we were we were we were everywhere and we still are we still are so yes um Geraldine you can watch this video again if you sign up on um streamyard you’ll get the replay you can watch it on demand so if you have any
More questions or comments just let me know and anything else you want to ask questions about this trip this is a luxury experience it’s one of those greatest of all trips I love these kinds of trips you know because you work your entire life you know and then you’re like I
Finally can do something I’m gonna do it after the pandemic I’m like I’m not waiting on anyone else so I’m gonna do it while I can do it so this is Priscilla with Sila travel so glad that you joined me this evening uh and I’m going to do one more
Round any questions or comments on YouTube because I’m streaming on YouTube let’s see up you’re welcome Geraldine let’s see anybody on LinkedIn I think the stream is working on LinkedIn I’m not sure because I had these issues but let me know if you’ve got any comments or
Any questions at all before I sign off so this is Priscilla Lilla travel hoping that you have a great rest of your day morning afternoon or evening whenever it is that you watch this video and from wherever you watch it if you share it with your friends and
Family thanks for watching and remember as always live the dream Bye-bye