France was amazing
I have been to France 3 times. Twice to Paris, both times a bit "meh". Am I allowed to say that? I'm saying that.
Once to the Loire Valley. Mistakes were made on that trip - it was holidays in France, everything was closed. I was pregnant and could not eat cheese or wine. It was a bit.. Meh.
I planned this trip a few months ago - I used ChatGPT to find a location most of my family could meet. It needed to be accessible from Chicago, San Francisco, Rennes (France), and London and had temperatures above 10 degrees and it picked out south of France. A friend of mine had visited Arles last year and had an amazing time so I decided to follow in her footsteps. Quite literally - I stayed in the same house.
(actually, short aside, I booked another town that had a cheaper AirBnB, and a week before we flew out I read about the town and realized it was possibly not nice at all and decided to rebook the AirBnB my friends had instead)
The big kids and I stayed overnight at Gatwick airport because we had early morning flights. We flew into Marseilles airport and then took a bus and a train to Arles. Arles is a cute little town in the Provence region.
I would like to someday do a full recap of the trip BUT the short recap is:
We ate a lot of Pain au chocolat, cheese, and fresh bread
We visited a super cool art building with a two story indoor slide:
There are amazing beaches nearby and it was sunny and 19c/70f one of the days
The house had an hot tub!
The kids had ice cream and rode a carousel at least half the days
Ha! Coming back from vacation is over-rated.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great trip. And sunshine and the beach?? I am looking out at a giant pile of snow and I am feeling decidedly over winter.
Sounds like the kids had a wonderful adventure, too. I love that you made this work!
haha good thing you wont have to come back fo a while! I was SHOCKED that not everywhere has terrible cold weather right now. What a surprise! I am so excited for your european adventure starting SO SOON!
DeleteHooray! Hooray! I probably can't get approval for another trip to Europe in 2027, but put me down for France in 2028! :-) Kat
ReplyDeleteI think we can do Summer 2027 - Was thinking finland or sweden? Think about it.....
DeleteI love the little small towns in France. I did like Paris, but more so the more time that I spent there, so maybe you need one more trip just to wander and eat and it will grow on you more. However, you ARE allowed to not like it. Why go with the herd?
ReplyDeleteDid you go to any Van Gogh museums (ha, I am guessing not, with the kiddos)? Did you feel the mistral? I always wanted to go to Arles and see the sunflowers and cafes and the mistral in the fields!
I think maybe I do like paris I just have a distinctly ungood memory of parts of it. I want to go back one more time to see if I do maybe like it. I was suprised how much I loved Arles and Provance.
DeleteI didn't get to do much Van Gogh but I really want to go back and do more. Next time! I highly recommend Arles & Surround!
How wonderful, Rachel. The town on South of France are amazing. This year we are going to the Dolomites but one day I’ll be back to the south of France. Soooo beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, re-entry is blergh, always. Hey, can we have a picture of you in that blazer? If you show me yours, ill show you mine lol
Daria
Ahh Daria I haven't worn the blazer yet! I didn't have the right jumper to wear underneath when I went to london. but I need to! I think my wardrobe is close... next London trip will be blazer trip! and you know I'm always up for a Daria blazer update!
DeleteThat sounds like a great vacation spot that is not as well known. I’m glad fourth time in France was better than meh.
ReplyDeleteI have only been to Paris in France and I wouldn’t have thought there was a Roman coliseum to visit in the South of France. I’m always anxious if an Airbnb is going to be clean and in a good location since the local details are hard to know. It’s great that you could stay in one vetted by a friend.
It was super great having an AirBnB recommendation. I generally am very picky about AirBnBs and need lots of reviews to book.
DeleteThere are roman ruins all over the UK - but the actual Coliseums are so cool. I mean it wasn't Rome but it was impressive!
This is Lisa. I have been the Paris 3 times and absolutely adore that city. I’ve also visited Lyon and Annecy. I would love to visit more of France with my husband when we are retired. My 3 trips to Paris were before I was married to Phil.
ReplyDeleteRe-entry can be so tough! Glad it’s gone ok for the most part!
Ooh I have Lyon on my list! I've not heard of Annecy before but it looks amazing! France would be a great place to road trip, all the towns were so unique and lovely.
DeleteOh, France. I love France. I’ve been to 3 times. 1st time was in 1993, Paris only. Second time was 2018, the far west coast of Brittany and a couple of days in Paris. Third time was 2022, a week near Cannes and Nice, and a week in Paris (plus Normandy). All were very busy. I would like a week to just wander in Paris, take it slow. What else? Well, every bit of France I have seen is so lovely, I’d like to see more. We are hopefully going this fall, but not sure yet what that means. It’s expensive from where you are, even more so from here. Why did you fly instead of taking the train? Quicker plus kids? Is it cheaper too?
ReplyDeleteFlying was quicker and cheaper for us. For the train It's 2 hours to London, then 2 hours to Paris, and then whatever onward trains. Plus transfering trains is tricky, and you have to get to London early. The flight from London to Marseilles was £44 for the 3 of us (which is crazy!) but the return was £240 total and then we paid £100 to check a bag there and back (which is also crazy). So it's not cheap, but it was really fun.
DeleteI want to visit Cannes and Nice someday.