Let me begin by saying that I am not a travel blogger, but I do love to write so here goes…

This summer my husband and I had the opportunity to visit parts of France and England, and it was such a treat and privilege filled with many hours of planning (mostly spent on organizing things for at home while we were gone!…kids, dog, house, lawn, etc.) and joy of being wanderlusters for just shy of two weeks! The last time my husband and I took a trip was when my oldest was about 20 months old…fast forward to today and my oldest turned nine years old the day we flew home from the UK….needless to say, it had been a while! And by no trips….I mean we haven’t even done a weekend away with just the two of us….I know…sad. Note to self to add that to next year’s New Year’s Resolutions!

Back to the main story….this trip all became a reality because my sweet Aileen was getting married, we decided we had to go!! The wedding was to be in Brighton, England, and our first thought was to tack on a few days in the UK traveling north from London. Well, there is a huge amount of possibilities that you can try….a literary tour, a whiskey tour, a castle tour, a highlands tour…..we tried to make our “wish list” to narrow down the possibilities, and it simply wasn’t feasible. Enter our wild hair of, “hey! why don’t we go to France?” Now, let me pause here to tell you that Adam does NOT like Paris. During college, when Adam and I were both studying abroad (he was in Copenhagen), we met up in Paris with the plan to catch a train to Spain. We spent almost 48 hours trying to leave the city because of strikes. Then when we returned to Paris, I hopped the Chunnel back to London, and he planned to tour the city by himself. Again, everything was on strike. After multiple attempts to “just see something!” he hopped an early flight back to Denmark, and has never had the desire to see the city again. I, on the other hand, love Paris….and all of France…the art, the food, the language, the architecture….so when I threw out this idea of traveling through France it was with a caveat that we could fly into Paris but get the heck out of dodge and just see the country because even if he doesn’t like Paris, I desperately wanted Adam to love France as I do! 🙂

Again, the possibilities of where in France you can go are endless….hello, it is the size of the state of Texas…. but our bucket list was actually pretty short and simple. We had about three destinations that were “must haves:” 1. Beaune (I wanted Adam to see where Aileen and I had traveled after college), 2. The Provençal region (hello rosé wineries, beautiful coastlines, and amazing artist inspirations), and 3. The Normandy Region….which 2019 was the 75th anniversary of D-Day. It felt like it was just meant to be!

We had a lot of airline miles through American Airlines, and decided to cash them in for some of our hotels in France…..most of which I would recommend, and we really enjoyed! We also used our miles to book a rental car….yes, we are the crazy people who drove through France….oh the adventures! Adam’s family had driven a few of his European vacations when he was growing up, and he wanted us to have the same experience. Sure….why not? 🙂 Let me just tell you, however, that my husband is a VERY good driver. (you’re welcome, baby! :)) He has done driving experiences, and can handle a vehicle with a great level of confidence. When we picked up our cute little Renault Clio (only slightly emasculating! :)), we were supposed to have a manual drive which he was super pumped about….fast forward a day where we almost took out a motorcyclist, and we were BOTH glad that they had mistakenly given us an automatic. And on that note, and I am going to sound very, very American here, but driving in France is NOT for the faint at heart. Motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians act like there are no cars on the road. They move right with and in between all kinds of traffic. After our close call, we had a quick check list for every move we made….no bikes, check!….no motorbikes, check!…no pedestrians, check! It might have taken a few years off of my life!

So, this post is about the France portion of our travels (I will add a link for the England portion here when I get it written), and I’ve broken it down by days. We joked that we “Americanized” our European vacation by touching on so many places and packing in so many details….but it was soooo fun and such a treat!

DAY 1: sens, beaune, & lyon

As I mentioned earlier, we arrived fresh off of our flight into Paris, grabbed our rental car, and hit the road! Our first stop…which was completely unplanned…was Sens, France! We were looking for a Bureau de Change to exchange dollars to Euros, and we pulled into this cute town! It was pretty much storybook from the start. Stucco homes, flowers everywhere, and a massive gothic cathedral. Such a great stop….first order of business: eat a croissant! My first attempt at speaking French…I croaked…haha! But she was kind, and the croissant did not disappoint! As we ate our yummy treats, we walked through the Cathedrale St-Etienne which was the first cathedral to be built in the gothic architecture in France.

From there we drove to Beaune, France which is one of the most important cities for wine production in the Burgundy region! In college, I had stayed at a beautiful home there for a night with a family friend of Aileen’s. Beaune is such a cute and interesting city…not necessarily touristy. It is a walled city with a moat, but the people are very fashionable, yet casual. It is very welcoming and friendly….and bustling with such interesting medieval and renaissance style of architecture. It was a fun step down memory lane. And, of course, we sampled croissants there, too! 🙂

We started driving again, and man, jet lag really set in! What I love about Europe is that the rest stops are literally used to do just that….rest, have tea, eat a meal…just stop and enjoy. While we didn’t bring a picnic, we did decide that a stop and a quick nap in the car would be better suited than falling asleep at the wheel! It was one of our funnier experiences, but it was oh so refreshing! Haha!

Next stop: Lyon, France’s third largest city known for its amazing food and for being an important area for the production and weaving of silk. Google maps was great in Europe…most of the time, but when there were road closures, it seemed to take you all over the place for a destination that was a block away! When we finally arrived in Lyon to an open square close to our first hotel, we were so excited to get a prime parking spot. In fact, there were a lot of available parking spots. And then we noticed the two police vehicles and the large police presence. The meter said it was fine to park there. They didn’t stop us…so we plugged the meter, grabbed our bags, and checked in! The hotel informed us that they would cross their fingers that our car would not be lighted on fire or overturned. OKAY?! The weekend before there had been a “yellow vest” protest further ignited by a futbol game celebration where everything had gone wonky and crazy and lots of rioting had occurred. That night we were in Lyon was the night of the Algeria vs Senegal futbol match in the Africa Cup of Nations, and evidently there are some passionate fans that like to celebrate….even though the game was held in Cairo, Egypt. We were warned that it would probably be best to not be out too late…haha!

We stayed at a cute boutique hotel called the Globe et Cecil. Our room was fashioned after a Paris apartment and was full of all the charm…the marble fireplace, the lady’s writing desk, the beautiful doors to the balconettes.

Close to 9pm we finally made it to supper down by the Saône River at The Diplomatico. We were so hungry, and we waaaaayyyyy over ordered! We split a Lyonnaise salad (greens, poached egg, croutons, and bacon with dijon dressing…must remember to make this at home), and I had steak tartare while Adam had a traditional sausage dish and risotto. It all washed down beautifully with a bottle of yummy white Burgundy wine!

Back at our hotel, it was this first night where we learned the difference between air conditioning in Europe vs. what we think of air conditioning in the US. It was a little toasty so we had to sleep with the windows open…and guess, what?! There was a lot of super enthusiastic celebrating….all. night. long. Fireworks, loud motorcycles, yelling, cheering, police sirens. We NEVER felt unsafe, but it was a very restless sleep. I would totally stay in this hotel again…just maybe not in the middle of the summer!

 

dAY 2: Valensole, Cassis, Marseille

In the morning, we had a quick breakfast at our hotel and headed out to peruse the street markets of Lyon. Lots of beautiful fruits and vegetables mixed in with a touch of fashion accessories and homemade goods.

What we didn’t know for the day was that we would be driving through the western side of the Alps! Wow! They were pretty spectacular…nothing like the Rockies….more sheared off! Here is where my husband would like for me to share his favorite part of the drive, the D1075, full of great switchbacks and windy fun roads!

Further south we made a stopover in Valensole, France where the lavender fields rule the landscape. We knew we were on the very back end of the season, but we couldn’t resist trying to see them in person! And they did not disappoint! Fields and fields of purple mixed in with fields of sunflowers. Y’all, when I tell you it is completely spectacular, my photos will never do this justice. AND THE SMELL! It was so sweet! And the fields were literally buzzing with bees. Even the rows that had been harvested were these beautiful works of art on the horizon….just perfectly groomed rows of green! This was a major highlight of the trip, and we were so spectacularly blessed to get to see it! AND L’Occitane is practically right around the corner. I would totally add that to my trip for the next time!

 

From there we traveled to the coast to a small town called Cassis….pronounced kah-see by the locals and not to be confused with Creme de Cassis which comes from the Burgundy region of France closer to Dijon. This Cote D’Azur town is known for its cliffs, beautiful rocky beaches, calanques, local French beach goers, and its amazing wine! A friend of a friend recommended that we had to visit a local winery, Bodin Vins de Cassis. We barely made it about 20 minutes before they closed and were met by a wonderful hostess, Audrey. You could instantly tell how much she loves where she works, and though she claimed her English wasn’t great, she was simply delightful!

Cassis is pretty much the MOST idyllic coastal town I have ever visited! It is like the “pretty” of Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard had a baby with the rocky beaches of Greece….nothing like we have ever visited! I am already dreaming of going back one day to rent a beach house with my family…it is truly that stunning…and oh the food….and oh the wine….and oh the shopping! AND it isn’t as globally touristy as much of the coast of France can be….just mostly French people at the beach. Think Seaside but with beautiful, laid-back yet fashionable, French people! This one checked all of my boxes for a great vacation destination….complete with access to fantastic day trips by car! Hold me to it that we will go back to Cassis someday!

From there, and let me tell you it was hard to leave (I was really wanting to cancel our reservations in Marseille and just stay in Cassis), but we moved on to our destination of Hôtel La Residence Du Vieux Port. We arrived in town just before sundown, and I was so thankful for the last of daylight because parking was totally overcrowded. We found a car park a couple of blocks away from our hotel, and hoofed it. Our hotel was a very refreshing, very clean, and very “American” air-conditioned stay complete with a large balcony with a port view! This city is probably the only place in our entire trip where we felt better about staying in the very touristy, well-lighted area of the city. It had such a different feel than Cassis. Marseille had beautiful buildings, great food, and a beautiful port, but the feel of the crowd was very seedy….you kind of felt like you always needed a hand on your wallet. Finally around 10pm we sat down for a quick supper at Le Petit Pernod that faced the port before tucking in to our delightfully freezing hotel room for the night.

 

 

dAY 3: Aix-En-Provence, Palavas-Les-Flots, & Toulouse

Day three was simply gorgeous….I’m not sure what it was about it…maybe it was because it began with a quick drive into Aix-en-Provence where we grabbed breakfast at Les Deux Garcons where Paul Cézanne once sat and gained inspiration for his art. It was just a cool experience…a total tourist trap, but we felt like we hadn’t done any of those yet…haha! The food was fair, and the staff was actually horrible, but the atmosphere made you feel like Cezanne’s spirit was nearby. While Cézanne’s work is not my favorite, it was so cool to learn about how he grew up in a very educated and privileged home so contrary to Vincent Van Gogh who was barely loved by his family, suffered from severe mental health, and yet also created some of the world’s most beautiful art not far from this same area. Cézanne’s work was all about use of nature and light from the shadows while Van Gogh was all about color.

Not only is Aix known for being Cézanne’s birthplace, but it is also known for its beautiful tree-lined streets and open air markets. We did a little shopping…surprise, surprise….and picked up a few little treats. On the way out of town we made a quick stop at Cezanne’s home and got a peek at his gardens! We knew we wanted to stop at another winery in the Provençal region, and Adam came across Château La Coste. It was such a different feel and setting than Bodin Vins de Cassis. This vineyard had the original home and tasting spaces, but they had also built a very modern building as an event space and filled it with a museum of very modern works of art. It was pretty extraordinary in itself to see the two very different worlds together in one vineyard/winery, and the wine was delicious! They also had a great olive oil selection from olives on their property! Makes my mouth water to remember it all! 🙂 We snagged a bottle to take with us hoping it would stay chilled for a later stop at another beach….hmmmmm…

In a little bit of a wine haze, we decided to take the back roads to venture down to the coast to a little town called Palavas-Les-Flots. It reminded me a little of Galveston with one main street running along the beach, and this beach was sand as opposed to the rocky beach of Cassis. We made a quick change in the car into our swimsuits and took our now lukewarm bottle of rosé wine and a few nibbles down to the beach for a picnic! The water of the Mediterranean Sea was certainly chilly, and Adam was brave to get in up to his knees! We enjoyed our picnic, waded in the water, and picked up a few shells to bring home as souvenirs. AND then it was back in the car for our final push to Toulouse.

Arriving in a city in a foreign country at night when you are relying only on Google maps is not something I would recommend. Up until that point, our mapping system had been really accurate, but it became waaaaayyyyy glitchy in Toulouse! We drove around the city for about 45 minutes trying to “route” to our hotel. It was not very fun at 11pm at night! Thank goodness there was a well-lighted car park very close to Hôtel Le Père Léon. We crashed pretty quickly!!

Toulouse is known as the pink city, or the rose city, because of its pink-ish terracotta brick architecture. It is also a medieval city with two UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Canal du Midi which is a major canal that links several waterways between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

By this point in our travels we had learned pretty quickly that you are better off skipping the cold, “meh”, tourist-focused breakfast at the hotel and instead opting for a quick walk to a boulangerie for a fresh-baked croissant! There is a HUGE difference in quality, taste, and price….try €20 for hotel breakfast vs €1-2 for a made-from-scratch, uber delicious croissant! I usually avoid all things gluten, but in France something about their bread didn’t bother my tummy at all! I think it was a God thing….maybe God is French…haha! Regardless, I count myself lucky to have enjoyed many, many, many croissants over the course of our vacation!

To read K&C Travel: France Part Deux, be sure to check back here soon for days four-six in this beautiful country!

 

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Thank you!  – K&C