France

France is so very French. Having watched Inspector Clouseau and Pepe Le Pew growing up I was set linguistically. Thankfully Mary Jo recalled some of her HS French! All Covid restrictions were lifted and the war backdrop was always present. It also seemed to have very few foreign tourists. There was lots of rain on day one but the rest of the trip was bright and sunny.

Our ship arrived in the port city of Brest in Brittany. We hopped in a rental car with our ship friends Kristen and Fernando from the Bay area and drove to Mount Saint Michel in Normandy. The film Harry Potter should have been filmed here! An island off the coast where some of the biggest tides in the world occur. Thankfully Henery our Art and Architecture professor was also with us to explain some of the work. That night we took a train deeper into Normandy to the quaint village of Bayeux. I bought wine, cheese and a baguette for the ride to truly experience France!

The next day we awoke to a bright blue sky for our tour of WWII D Day beaches, memorials and the American Cemetery. It was beautiful, emotional, empty and very relevant given Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. We had a quite St Patricks dinner at our hotel as we reflected on the day.

The next morning we rode the train to Paris. First we had lunch at the Yacht Club de France with included oysters and Chablis. We then checked in to our awesome AirBnB apartment across from the Hotels de Invalides in the 7th arrondissement. We walked to the Seine for a river tour which was a great way to kick off Paris. We went to a pizza joint down the street for dinner. Simple and easy and the pizza was better than any we had in Italy.

The next day we did a 4 hour bike tour (highly recommend) then had lunch a faux ski lodge, walked up Champs-Elysees to the Arc d Triumph. That evening we went to a Jazz Club called Le Bal Blomet and saw a very Persian performance. It was a 2 hour book reading with piano and bass. No English. The story is called Novecento. Dying to read the book!

On day 3 we took the Metro to Sacre Coure to see ground zero of the Sacred Heart order (Mary Jo and her mother attended Forrest Ridge Sacred Heart school growing up). After church we toured Montmartre and had lunch at Maison Rose then took the metro to Jardine Luxemburg to sit in the park and people watch. Mary Jo bought dinner at Bon Marche and we stayed in.

The next morning we went to the Louvre to see Mona Lisa and other works. Afterward we rented scooters and explored the city. I got hit by a van but was not hurt. We had lunch at Cafe de Flore and went to the Shakespeare bookstore. That evening we went up the Eiffel Tower then had dinner at Le Vauban.

On our final day we toured Museum d Orsay to see the impressionist art. After that Mary Jo went shopping and I rode a bike all over the city. Paris is super bike friendly so it was a great way to do a final tour. That night we had a cocktail at Rue Cler then went home for another home meal.

We woke up on the 23rd and went to Charles de Gaulle airport to fly to Scotland. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed France. We never encountered rudeness and felt very welcome. Perhaps it was post covid and pre tourist season and/or our newly reformed western alliance that influenced their super friendly hospitality? We will return!Meer informatie