Sister love.
When I told my sister I was quitting my job to travel she immediately started asking when and where she could meet me. Her husband and her have a pact that if one person gets a solo trip, the other does too. Because, you know, they have three children at home that cannot yet take care of themselves. So Scot had a trip planned for June and therefore Emily had a week to meet me! We booked flights over Christmas and started planning the trip! Neither of us have been to France so we had a week to explore and try to fit in as much as we could. I wanted to see Paris, Emmy wanted Bordeaux and Nice was a great place to end our travels.
Burning trashcans.
Turns out now is not the time to visit France, but we planned this trip months ago so who would have known the political environment at that time. We started in Paris. Right now there are riots and protests happening all over the country because the president is increasing the retirement age by two years and the French don’t love that. Therefore, several public services are striking, the big ones being the trash and transportation services. Since people are angry, they are then lighting heaps and heaps of trash bags and cans on fire…it doesn’t smell great. Even though there was trash all over the city, we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying the beauty of France! We only had two days in Paris to explore, so I immediately booked us tickets to the Eiffel tower, walking up the stairs obviously, because I love the stairs. That was a cool experience and the view from the top was stunning on the clear day. We got traditional baguette sandwiches for lunch and made our way to the Louvre. A friend I met in Ecuador on the canyoning tour is from France and was also in Paris so she met us for the afternoon. AKA we had a private tour guide (thank you Chloe – so good to see you again!!). I think we walked over 12 miles that day and were quite exhausted. However, we had dinner plans with my brother’s friend, Matt, who also lives in Paris. He took us to a small French restaurant and had a delicious traditional meal at Verse Toujours. Matt showed us some local bars for the night life (which is not like Barcelona) and we had an absolute blast. We walked the long way home to see the Pantheon and Notre Dame in the evening – pictures just don’t do these buildings justice (check ’em out anyways: https://thejenessentials.com/france-pics/.)
The next day we went to the grocery store to get things to make sandwiches and headed to the Jardin du Luxembourg to chill. We walked the Siene River to the arch way north of the city and trained it back. We got aperol spritzes while people-watching in the main shopping area near the Louvre. We drank champagne on the river watching the sunset and ended the evening again at the Louvre taking in the old architecture in contrast with the glass triangles. We never actually went in to the museum because it was sold out and the reviews said quite overwhelming. Overall, Paris was a big, lively city, with historical and beautiful buildings…even with all the trash everywhere.
Wine country.
No trip to France is complete without drinking wine. We originally had a fast train booked for early morning, but because of the strikes it was canceled. All other trains were booked, flights were triple the prices, rental cars were unreasonable. The only option was to take an eight-hour bus unfortunately and basically lose a day in Bordeaux. But we would eventually make it there! Good news, we watched the new season of Love is Blind on the bus and time passed quickly. We got to Bordeaux and headed straight to Wine Council of Medoc that has three-euro local glasses of wine. Just my kind of place. Ballin’ on a budget. We had an early train to catch in the morning to Saint Emilion – one of the most popular Bordeaux regions of wine. It was a 40-minute local train and 15-minute walk into the town. We had breakfast (crepes of course) and made our way to our first tasting at Chateau Cadet Bon. Our very handsome French tour guide was waiting for us at the door and gave us a very in-depth tour of the vineyards, wine making process and history of the winery. He was the nephew of the owner. Makes sense when you are from that region, you work in something wine related. We went on to four more tastings and Emily continued to buy a bottle at every place. She needed to bring it home for her and Scot to enjoy. We tried Chateau de Candale, Chateau Cormeil-Figaec, and Chateau La Croizille. After a long day of trying different wines, mostly merlot and cab sauv as those are the grapes in that region, we headed back to the city to check out the night scene. We visited a few different bars (a local spot, fancy hotel rooftop bar, and an Irish pub with live music) and made our way home for our flight to the south of France the next day.
The french riviera.
When I think of the south of France, I associate it with a hot spot for celebrity vacations. While I am not a celebrity, I didn’t want to visit the country and not see what the hype is about. We took an afternoon flight to Nice and arrived in time to explore and watch the sunset on the beach. We walked around, had some aperol spritz overlooking the water, went to Le Safari for dinner, a very traditional southern France restaurant, and I got fish while my sister got a beef stew. The next day I convinced my sister to take a 30-minute train to Monaco, the second smallest country in the world!! We woke up early to stop at a small quaint village on the way to Monaco called Eze. The city sits on a cliff and to get there you can choose to hike up from the water about 45 minutes. It was rocky and difficult, but stunning. We walked around the small old village (not much was open that early in the AM), had a coffee, and headed back down to continue our way to Monaco. Someone had told me about the Palace of Monaco and the changing of the guards that happens the top of every hour. I am shocked this type of thing still happens, but I am grateful for old traditions and history staying alive. The country had tons of construction getting ready for a huge Grand Prix event happening in a few weeks. We found a pub for lunch to enjoy some locally brewed beer and salads before beginning our journey back to Nice. We had cheese fries for dinner at an American bar called Blast – I needed a taste of home, and called it an early night. Unfortunately, this was the end of our girl’s trip and Emily had an early flight to catch in the AM back to Detroit.
I booked a bus to Marseille to check out one more city before making my way east. I got in early and explored, walked the entire port, checked out a giant church, walked through the small streets and read on many different benches. Marseille was much more working class and local, I did not see many tourists like I did in other parts of France. I took a yoga class in the evening and caught up on some upcoming travel plans. I found a very delish lunch spot called Pain Al Ail with a cod and garlic sandwich. I went back the next day to try the other beef stew sandwich and was again very impressed. It was a great end to end my France adventure. All the places we went were so beautiful in their own way!
The jen essentials for france.
- Wine tasting reservations (depending on when you go (busy or slow season), these are required and many wineries do not offer walk ins, so plan ahead)
- The love for WINE (this is an understatement – wine is cheaper than bottled water in most establishments)
- The desire to deal with lots and lots of tourists (Paris especially…all the main tourist hubs are PACKED)
- A rain jacket (springtime in France is unpredictable and quite chilly)
- Google translate (unless you speak French – then you good)
- My wonderful sister, Emily (we make good travel partners, and I wouldn’t have wanted to travel to France with anyone else)
- The ability to problem-solve quickly (when trains are canceled, you need a backup plan and quick – trains, planes, rental cars, buses, and taxi searches were necessary to get to Bordeaux)
- Crepes (we had at least one a day – the French know how to make crepes)
- A bike for Saint Emilion (the wineries are extremely spread apart and difficult to get to except by car or bike – we walked like idiots and would not recommend this mode of transportation in wine country)
- Happy hour (France does happy hour right – but not all do it, so plan ahead to ensure you hit the best deals)
Wrap it up jen.
From big cities to wine country, to beach life, France has something for everyone. While our timing could have been better with the current political climate, we made the most of our week there. Even with that hiccup, my sister and I had the best time. We walked so many miles, drank so many aperol spritzes and wine, and most importantly laughed so much. It is not often that I get to spend time with my sister away from the kiddos (because they demand all our attention) so I cherish every moment we get those opportunities. I cannot wait until the next trip with her and know it will be just as great.
Up next: Malta for some island time.
Signing off for now,
Jennifer