deux beaux côtés de la france
This past summer we spent about 3 weeks in France with all our of kids-let me explain, Dan and I each came to this marriage with two kids, and they each have special people in their lives that we also adore-so this was a big group, spread over 2 places and 16 days. Our kids are all amazing, grown and with vibrant lives of their own, so I love spending time with each of them.
The first half of the trip was spent in Paris, celebrating one of their graduation from her Masters Program-remember I said they are all amazing? Yeah they are! It was nice to see the city again, and have a local show us around. Our first meal? Was at a sweet little Bistro across from our appart'city hotel, and for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it, but the menu? Said Bistro Happy-now I truly believe in signs and omens, so I was all set! We did the Parisian things everyone longs to do, and enjoyed every minute of it! Lots of walking! Lots of croissants, and delicious food!
We spent one evening dining at one of the 50 best restaurants to dine outside in the world-Le Bistro de dames-amazing! And it truly was a fantastic setting. Following this up with an evening sitting beneath the Eiffel Tower, in the grass with cheap champagne from the guys that walk around with buckets of it while we all wait for the lights to come on made for a pretty special night with some of our favorite people. There is something truly magical about the city of light-where in the summer the sun sets at around 10:30pm. There is a sense of joy, and night life that I don’t see here in America, people spending more time outside, dogs off leash happily walking with their owners, more smokers, kisses, and just a different feel. There are boulangeries all around, which makes me so happy-the bread is always amazing, the wine flows freely…..makes a girl’s heart happy.
We went to the Musee d’Orsay which is a smaller museum than the Louvre, but much more manageable. This amazing building started off as a train station for the World Fair and has fantastic architecture. It was only used as a train station for 2 years, and now houses permanent and changing exhibits. Just beautiful. We were able to see almost the entire thing in our visit, from statues to revolving exhibits, some of the beauty was overwhelming.
For some wholesome family fun to celebrate we went to the cabaret! Champagne, can-can and loved ones…perfect! The Moulin Rouge is partners with La Nouvelle Eve around the corner from them, so we headed off for a night of fun, laughs and silliness.
After sometime in Paris some of us headed to the country to stay at an air bnb right on the Seine near the town of Herblay. Herblay is about 20 kilometers from Paris, and about an hour train ride. This town is very sweet , as you climb the hill to the town the streets are lined with pretty flowers, it has an amazing farm market, and three nice little bakeries to keep us in croissants. It was beautiful, and the area and countryside was calmer than the city. We rented a car (Paris driving seems pretty scary to me, but in the country? all good), and from our little spot we were able to explore more of the country which I had not seen.
From here we ventured out to Rouen which was an almost two hour drive, but so worth it! On the way we stopped to to see Monet’s Garden in Giverny. These gardens are a UNESCO world heritage site and were brought back to their original glory beginning in the late 70’s by Gilbert Vahé, Giverny’s head gardener, who still is there working. The link will take you to an article about this amazing man and the gardens. You can also tour Monet’s home, but the line was really long so some of us decided to continue on to Rouen.
Dan had wanted to see Rouen for some time, and it did not disappoint. The capital of the region of Normandy, this medieval city is located on the Seine and has so much to see! Old churches, my favorite being the Church of St. Joan of arc which is built where she was executed. It is built near the ruins of the Church of St.Vincent, and uses the windows that used to be housed in that church prior to World War 2, you see the windows had been removed during the war and kept in a safe place, and preserved-talk about good planing! We also visited the Joan of Arc museum-they did a fabulous job of taking you through her life and court case, and execution. And yes, I cried, she got a really raw deal, and later, of course her mother and loved ones went back and proved the case against her was nonsense! As we all know now she has been sainted, and is thought of with reverence and respect.
Being that we love art, and there is so much here to celebrate we did visit the Louvre, which is HUGE! We saw a lot, but of course not all of it! We visited the Eiffel Tower again, and lucked out to end up there for the sunset, just amazing!
One of our favorite trips was to Ateliers de lumieres-workshops of light! Currently running an exhibit of Van Gogh’s work, and two shorter shows of Japanese art (after all the impressionists were fascinated by eastern art), and Verse about the Universe’s birth. This is a HUGE room that art and beauty is shown on all around you-an immersive, gorgeous, calming experience. If you can make it there-do it!
Continuing on the Van Gogh trail we also visited the town where he spent his last 70 days. Auvers-sur-oise is a sweet little town, where Van Gogh’s doctor was. You can visit the rooming house he stayed in for 3 franks a night back in the day. He was prolific in his time here, painting 80 paintings and 150 sketches according to the tour guide. The movie Loving Vincent does a beautiful job of telling this story, its animated with paintings-visually very interesting-worth a watch to learn more!
With all this fun, we did have a small airbnb nightmare-sadly we found that we had bed bugs in the cottage that was part of our rental, and we have learned way to much about these little hitchikers, they do not discriminate as my son’s girlfriend said. As we did our research we learned that they have become more prevalent in recent years due to traveling, they are really good at travelling for free! They can hop on your luggage, purse, whatever…but they don’t have claws to stick on to you. Wash all your clothes, in super hot water, shower, and get/stay out of the room. Diatomaceous earth will help too. We chose to throw out our suitcases, and not stay in that cottage of course! The little hitchhikers did not follow us, and some of stayed in a near by Ibis Hotel. I have stayed in campgrounds all the way to 5 star spots, this was on the higher end, and yet we still had a nightmare on our hands. I am still waiting to see how air bnb handles this for us, but my faith in their business model is pretty shaken to put it kindly.
As I spent these times hanging out with our kids, who are far from kids now, I realize they have just created amazing lives, I am truly truly proud of all of them. I also realize that we truly are empty nesters, which means we did our job and it is our time to move onto the next phase of our lives. But I truly love having them around, and I truly do miss them when they are not with us, but as a friend says we are here to give them roots and wings.
