Reminiscing about the French Countryside

Our last visit to my adopted home land was so brief that we only barely scratched the surface of all the things I loved about Paris. We barely even got to see the outlet shops and Disneyland, a situation that we got into even if we knew our time was limited there because that was still better that not seeing it at all.

Whenever friends ask me to help them with their itinerary in Paris or itinerary in France, I always ask them how many days they'll be there and we try to make the most of their time and we squeeze in all the must do's as well as my personal favorites (which you've seen peppered around my different posts). I always try to recommend a few days in the countryside... but this is normally easier said than done. People normally don't want to go to places they've never heard about posted on facebook! I was lucky that when I lived in Paris my family came to visit me and because we've all been to Paris before and we did all the must-do things, we had time to drive around France for a week. Our adventure took us all the way to Normandy in the north and down to Lourdes in the south, thanks to my Aunt's planning and my dad's willingness to drive anywhere the GPS directed him to.

I also took advantage of every long weekend (and believe me, in France there are a lot!) and cheap flight that came my way.

Here's a map of France where I tried to pin my way around the countryside.

If I remember correctly, when we did the road trip with my family, I think our first stop was (1) Chenonceau, it's a little bit south of Paris towards the center of France very near the Loire Valley.

We stayed at a homey B&B recommended by Rick Steeves for it's great food.

Even before facebook and food bloggers were the norm, we were already taking food shots... because it was just too good not to immortalize it!

I am sure this is Magret de Canard avec Poire (Duck Breast with poached pear).

and this would be the beouf quelque chose (beef something).

and my guess is this is a creme brulee or chocolate souffle.
whatever it is, it looks yum...

I remember the highlight of the place was Chateau de Chenonceau or Chenonceau Castle.
This is the whole family in front of a part of it. 

They had beautiful gardens.

More family pictures. I carried a tripod.

and this was us pretending to enter the labyrinth.

and this was us pretending to find our way out.

I think from there we made our way up north to Normandy, to (2) Lisieux, to visit St. Therese of Lisieux, the little flower of the Child Jesus.

The church with her remains in Lisieux.

My and my aunt and a rose.
I think there was something about if you make a wish (or maybe pray to St. Therese)
and someone gives you a rose it's a sign that it will come true.
I may also be totally making this up.

Then we made our way to (3) Mont Saint-Michel, it's actually a rocky island around 1km away from the northwest coast. As of 2006 (when we were there), the population of the island was 41. It may no longer be accurate if someone moved in or out or dropped dead... just saying.

This is Mont Saint-Michel from the coast of France.

Those dots you see are crossing sheep.
They were causing traffic, much like cows in India.

Having a crepe on the island. If I know myself well, that would have been beurre et sucre (butter and sugar).

On Mont Saint-Michel with the sea behind me.

Our next stop was quite a distance because we went all the way from the north to (4) Lourdes in the south. My mom had a bout with cancer a few years back so whenever we find ourselves in France, we visit Lourdes and line up to bathe in the healing (freezing too) water.

The people line up at the grotto.

My mom and dad.

Me.

My dad had a heel problem so he was putting holy water on it,
but it sure looks like he was washing his feet with holy water while other people were drinking it!

I think we made our way back to Paris after this. If I remember correctly, we were on the road for around a week working with our own schedule, coming and going as we pleased. It was a good way to see the country.

There are also other ways to see the countryside. Some of the nice places I've been to were just a train ride away and we just went for the day.

Versailles (5) is the closest one to Paris, I think it's even accessible by RER train. It's also the one most visited by tourists who make the trek to see Chateau de Versailles, where Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette used to live. 

I've been to Versailles so many times with so many visitors, for this trip I was with Comst.
Some part of Versailles in the background.

Comst by the royal gates.

I think it started raining so hard, the umbrella was no match for the weather.

There's a lake somewhere within the palace.
To see most of it, just get on the train even if you have to pay a few extra euros for it.

Pensive look... watching the ducks.

I am sure that's a beurre et sucre crepe!

On the train looking at the gardens.

Comst and the gardens.

The other days trips we did were a little bit farther and you'll need to buy your train tickets in advance so you can plan your departure time, your return time, then plan activities to maximize the time in between.

Giverny (6)

I think in our family, we like Impressionist art the best, so when I lived in Paris I loved going to the D'Orsay museum and I loved the work of Claude Monet so we went to Giverny to visit his home and the gardens that inspired a lot of his work.

This was definitely in Spring (2006)!

With my sister who has always been taller than me.

With the map of the property.

Recognize this bridge?
Just look at the water lilies series and you will probably see it.

So if you also like Monet, make the trip, it's worth it.

Deauville and Honfleur (7)

When my friend Comsti was in Paris, we also planned a trip to go back up north, but this time to visit the beaches of Normandy.

We went to Deauville first, a nice sea side town.

We were dressed for summer... but it was super freezing!!!
Global warming???

I had to sit on a lounger for the photo-op...
but you can see all the umbrellas behind me were folded.

I still see ads in magazines, shot here... in front of Al Pacino's dressing room.
They've have an American Film Festival in Deauville since 1975.

I think this was shot in the quaint town of Honfleur.
It's just a short bus ride (across the river or something) so you can do it on the same day.

Comst at the harbor in Honfleur.

We found our way to the beach on the Honfleur side before we called it a day.

The other parts of the country I've explored by taking a short flight. Whenever I had a free weekend, I'd surf the websites for a cheap flight... then I'd look and see if there was anything to do in that destination. If I find something of interest, I'd look for cheap but decent lodgings next. If I manage to get all three to work then off I go on a new adventure. This was how I found mysel in Milan, Barcelona and in other less travelled places in France like Marseilles and Aix-en-Provence (8).


Marseilles is another coastal city in southern France very near to Africa. It's also where Zinedine Zidane is from.

The port in Marseilles with a view of the castle on the hill.

The port is the center of town so you'll keep coming back.

On the ferry.

Me on the ferry.

We passed this castle looking thing. Just look at the color of the sea!

I found a ferry to take me to one of the beaches to enjoy the day.

Then I moved on to another beach... this one was quite rocky.

Tanned after beach hopping sitting by the port.
I remember I had foie gras something here!

Aix-en-Provence is the home town of another famouse impressionist Paul Cezanne. It's close enough to Marseilles that I remember just taking a bus, having booked my flight back to Paris from Marseilles. In those days, I was an expert at packing light.

avec Monsieur Cezanne
with Mr. Cezanne himself.

This town also had a different feel.

Old buildings, tree lined streets and fountains as you walked along.

Me and my havs in the town of Cezanne.

Even in this day and age (ok that was close to a decade ago), the town cultivates artists.

He was painting the doorway.

Hotel de Ville.
Visiting France 101: that's not the city hotel... It's the city hall.

I love sitting in a cafe and watching the world go by.
I can imagine Cezanne doing the same thing here...
but then he probably painted it after while I blogged about it :)

Pinning and penning about my way through France made me realize that there's still so much I have yet to discover about this second country on mine. It's already on the to do list for when we live there again. Just Saying.