I’m not sure where to begin this blog post as there is just so much I could say. I am not great with words so I prefer to let my pictures speak for themselves, but there are certain things about me that I would love to let you in on that just make my heart sing ( but I would love for everyone to be able to see that through my pictures — and feel it too). My mom has always been a traveler, forcing us as children to hike, camp, explore and go places, try new things, things you may not have thought you’d like. However, I couldn’t get her to leave the continental U.S. I remember my grandfather gifted us a timeshare anywhere in the world and she chose Mexico. It was an awesome trip, but she got a lot of grief from me for choosing a place that was just an hour plane trip away when she could have gone ANYWHERE! Well last year she and my dad and grandfather took a trip to Italy, she got roped into having to leave the continent. When she got back her one remark was that she wished she could have stayed longer and seen more. I was so excited.
Brett and I traveled to Europe 2 years ago and had a blast. We didn’t make it to see the Louvre since we had already walked about 40 miles so far on our trip and we were just done. When I told my mom that she said, great, now we will have something new for you to do when we go back. I am a lover of French foods, wine, the language, the clothes.. When she decided she could leave the continent I knew our first stop had to be my favorite stop — Paris! My mom was determined to make the trip vastly different than my trip from two years ago, so we saw and did all different things. We spent a week in Paris in early September and saw a lot! Her brother, my Uncle Randy, lives in England and hopped on an hour long plane ride and came to stay with us in our apartment in Paris for a few days. When we dropped him back off at the airport we picked up my husband, Brett for the second half of the trip — touring through the countryside. Now we are determined to live there :) It was just awesome. I can hardly pick a favorite stop. After we picked Brett up we went to possibly one of my favorites, Bayeux. We passed the Rue de Cidre (they have all these ciders made from different kinds of apple trees that was like nothing you’ve ever tasted here before). Brett and I sat outside the huge church there as my mom attended a concert (we had Hadley, so didn’t dare try to join a church concert with a one year old). We then headed to the incredible Mont Saint Michel – a photographers dream. That was on our 7 year anniversary and we ended the night in a cute little beachfront B&B, and had THE MOST INCREDIBLE sunset beach walk you’ve ever seen in St. Malo, Bretagne. I do apologize in advance that the sunset was photographed on my phone as I couldn’t run back to our room quick enough to grab my big girl camera ;) After that we went to Normandie beaches for a bit of our history. And then came my next favorite, or my top favorite, (I really can’t decide which it was) Chinon. The wine that comes from Chinon is like nothing you’ve ever tried. And it is REALLY hard to find in the US – we’ve tried. The coolest part of Chinon was the troglodyte caves where the wine is kept cool in the barrels. We toured some of those, bought the wine, drank the wine, bought some more, drank some more and tried to bring one home with us.
If you made it through all of this I’m proud. Enjoy the pictures, I plan to go back again as soon as possible. Some were photographed with my phone as that is clearly the easiest thing to carry when getting around with a toddler.
Also a huge shoutout to my baby girl Hadley June who was THE BEST traveler you’ve ever heard of. Time change hardly phased her, being in a foreign country eating their foods and schedules in general being thrown off was not a problem for this young world traveler. Read the comments by the pictures for explainations, locations, etc. Au revoir et merci beaucoup.