20th Anniversary Countdown: Guest Post #13

In celebration of my blog's 20th anniversary, I'm having guest posters every week leading up to the big day. 

J lives in California with her husband Ted (who is actually an Edward, like my own Ted!) and her daughter Maya. She used to have an adorable dog named Mulder and I only bring this up because she has a controversial opinion that it's worse to pick up warm dog poop than cold dog poop and I just find this stance to be insane. Okay, back on track. J writes over at Thinking About and covers all the important topics of the day from what we should be watching on television to what summer salads we should be eating. Also, I learned from her that grapefruits grow on big trees, not small shrubs. 

Let's welcome her!

When Engie asked if I would be able to participate in her 20 years of blogging celebration, of course I said yes.  How could one possibly say no to Engie?  Answer: One could not.  I debated about what kind of list I might make.  Favorite songs, favorite movies, cities I’ve been to, favorite recipes, pictures of my past dogs…but when she sent me an email telling me that my post would run today, Bastille Day, I knew my theme had to be France.  Without further ado, here are 20 I have been (and loved) in France.

I have been to France 3 times (so far).  My husband and I went on our honeymoon in 1993; we went back in 2018 with our daughter, to celebrate our 25th anniversary and her graduation from college; and my cousin and I went in 2022.  I will happily go back as many times as they will have me.  Here are some pictures and memories of the places we went.

1. Point Saint-Mathieu - Brittany

On our trip in 2018, we flew in to Paris, and then drove out to the far west coast of Brittany.  My husband, Ted, wanted to meet up with his friend from graduate school, Jean-Marc, who is a college professor in Brest.  It was a long drive, but it was so lovely to see the French countryside.  The west coast of Brittany reminds me in some ways of California, with its rocky shoreline, and in some ways of Ireland, which makes sense as Ireland and Brittany are both Celtic nations.  I have not yet actually been to Ireland, so I should really say that Brittany reminds me of what I think Ireland looks like.  This pictures are of Point Saint-Mathieu (and bonus, horses!). The ruins of the Abbey are across the street from our little hotel.  It is said that the abbey once held the skull of the apostle Matthew, though that was lost to the sea.

2. Locronan - Brittany

Jean-Marc (could he look any more French?) took us to the historic village of Locronan, a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (meaning “the most beautiful villages of France”), and it is indeed a beautiful and charming village.  He brought us there to see the village and have crepes, as he said that the best crepes in France are in Brittany, and the best crepes in Brittany are in Locronan.  Who are we to argue?  They were amazing, and I wish we had known our first stop was going to be for a meal, I would have skipped breakfast.

3. Quimper - Brittany

From there we went on to the town of Quimper, which is charming and lovely.  The historic part of town has half-timbered houses with shops at street level selling crepes, macarons, chocolates, and pottery.  They are quite famous for their pottery, called Quimper faience, which has been made there since 1690.  We didn’t buy any faience in Quimper, I saved that for later in our trip.  Quimper has a distinctive Celtic heritage.  The street signs are in both French and Breton.  There is quite a sad history of the language in Brittany, as it was against the law to teach Breton for many years, and it is now considered an endangered language.  There is a revival effort underway to educate children in Breton.  I believe that Jean-Marc’s son attends a bilingual school (though it may be an immersion school, only in Breton, I don’t remember for sure.)

4. Landerneau and Pleben - Brittany

Landerneau, is known for its inhabited bridge, above.  I liked Landerneau, which has a thriving artist community, though I think I liked the busy vibe of Quimper more.  I sometimes dream of retiring in Brittany, it’s so beautiful.  I’m not sure I would like to get older in a country where I am not fluent in the language though, so I’d have to get serious about learning French.  (I got an F in 2nd year French in college.) Another town we visited in the area was Pleben, with a Calvary dated from 1555.  Sadly I did not know what a Calvary was when we visited, so we kind of passed right by that in looking at the church.  No pictures from me, but there is one on the link above.

5. Omaha Beach – Normandy Beaches

After a few days visiting with Jean-Marc and meeting his lovely family, we drove back east toward Paris, and stopped at Omaha Beach, one of the beaches where the Allied forces came ashore to liberate France from Nazi rule in World War II.  There are museums and tours there, as well as cemeteries, you can easily make it a full day.  We did not stop long, however, and merely visited the beach after our long day of driving.  We were there a couple of days before the June 6th anniversary, so there were bleachers and fences set up in preparation for commemorations.  The sculpture above is ‘Les Braves’, by Anilore Banon.  From NormandyWarGuide.com, it consists of three elements:

The Wings of Hope

So that the spirit which carried these men on June 6th, 1944 continues to inspire us, reminding us that together it is always possible to changing the future.

Rise, Freedom!

So that the example of those who rose against barbarity, helps us remain standing strong against all forms of inhumanity.

The Wings of Fraternity

So that this surge of brotherhood always reminds us of our responsibility towards others as well as ourselves. On June 6th, 1944 these man were more than soldiers, they were our brothers.

6. Rouen - Normandy

Our next stop was Rouen, where Joan of Arc was burned as a heretic in 1431.  There is now a modern church at the site of her immolation, surrounded by more traditional buildings inhabited by restaurants and shops.  The beautiful stained glass windows were rescued from the 16th century Church of St. Vincent, which was destroyed in World War II.  Luckily, the windows had been removed for their safety prior to the war.  We had dinner one night at La Couronne, which was founded in 1345 and is the oldest inn in France.  Julia Child ate there in 1948, where she had her first French meal, which famously changed her life.  If you have seen the film Julie and Julia, the exterior of the restaurant looks nothing like the real building.  It is pictured above, the brown building with all of the flags.  If you’re so inclined, read this post about a woman who traveled to France in search of the meal that Julia Child had in 1948.  Spoiler alert: She loved every bite.  Maya was the smart diner in our party, and ordered the Sole Meunière.  She said, “If it's good enough for Julia, it’s good enough for me.”  I had a bite, and it was divine.  I had duck, and Ted had a steak.  Both were good, but not divine.  Still, it was fun to eat there.  While in Rouen, I bought some faience, a plate for Ted’s mom and a little covered dish for myself, which sits on my desk.

7. Monet’s Gardens – Giverny

I have visited Monet’s famous gardens in Giverny twice, in June of 2018 and again in September of 2022.  The gardens are stunning, though they have the feeling of being a palette rather than a place to relax and visit.  I loved seeing the many colored flowers, and his house.  The purple ball shaped ones (allium) in the left lower picture look like they belong in a Doctor Seuss book to me.  I’ve tried a couple of times to grow them, but I’ve not even gotten a sprout from my bulbs.  I have a brown thumb.

When my cousin and I visited France in 2022, we spent a week in the Côte d'Azur, and a week outside of Paris.  She had a timeshare in Mougins, so this is where we stayed.

8. Mougins

The Côte d'Azur, also known as the French Riviera, is the French coastline on the Mediterranean Sea.  It is made up of coastal towns and hillside villages.  Mougins is one such hillside village, located uphill from Cannes.  This historic village has been occupied since the pre-Roman period.  It is a charming village, full of artists and artisans, restaurants, homes, and a wonderful antiquities museum.  I was recently daydreaming about my trip, as one does, and thought of the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins, and discovered that it has closed.  The museum is a private collection of a very wealthy art collector, and he has decided to sell off a lot of the antiquities, and re-open with his collection art by European women, renamed Female Artists of the Mougins Museum.  If I ever find myself in the South of France again, I would love to check it out.  I will always have a special place in my heart for Mougins, especially the amazing boulangerie where we bought our baguettes and croissants every morning.

9. Cannes

Just down the hill from Mougins is Cannes, famous for the annual film festival, and for its beautiful beaches.  We stopped at the beach to put our feet in the Mediterranean Sea, though we did not spend a lot of time in Cannes.  We did visit the gothic style stone church, the Church of Notre-Dame-d'Espérance which dates back to the 1600s, where we lit candles for our parents.  We perused the shops, had a couple of questionable meals (our worst in France, I believe) and stopped for a drink or two.  Mostly we enjoyed the seaside vibe of it, and people watching, though certainly the majority of the people we were watching were tourists.

10.     Nice

We spent one day in Nice, where we visited Cathedrale Orthodoxe Russe St. Nicolas, a beautiful Russian Orthodox church, which is said to be the finest outside of Russia. It is very much an active church.  When we arrived, a bride and groom and their family were leaving the church, and while we were there we were unceremoniously asked to move out of the main area so they could baptize a couple of babies.  We also visited the Musee Marc Chagall, which houses 12 large paintings dedicated to the books of Genesis and Exodus.  Truly stunning.  From there we walked through the main square, the Place Masséna, to the Promenade des Anglais, where we enjoyed an ice cream cone and watched parasailors taking off and landing.

11. Grasse

Grasse is up the hill from Mougins and Cannes, and is known for their perfume industry.  The historic village there reminded me a lot of Mougins, with its narrow winding roads, though the shops were different.  Mougins was artists and artisans, whereas Grasse was more clothing shops and perfumeries.  We had a lovely day there, looking through the shops and sampling perfume.  While in Grasse, we came across a statue of the Comte de Grasse, a French Admiral whose fleet was instrumental in helping the United States win the Revolutionary War.

12. Saint-Tropez

On our last day in the South of France, we took a boat ride from Cannes to Saint-Tropez.  Neither of us had a strong desire to visit Saint-Tropez itself, but we wanted to go out on a boat and see the coastline from the water, and this was a lovely way to do it.  Saint-Tropez has a port full of yachts, and is full of high end shops and restaurants.  We walked around for a little while, then found a café to enjoy lunch and a glass of wine.  The stores were too expensive for my blood, though I did buy postcard stamps and a small hairbrush (it was VERY windy on the boat, and my hair was full of tangles when we got there.)

After our time in the South, we took the train to Paris. One of my few regrets from this trip is that we did not get sandwiches from the boulangerie in Mougins to eat on the train.  It never occurred to me that we could bring our own food, until one of our seat mates did so.  The food in the dining car was definitely questionable, and how much better would it have been to enjoy a sandwich and a bottle of wine?  C’est la vie.  Next time.

13. Mont St. Michel

One trip we made from Paris was to visit Mont St. Michel, a Benadictine abbey off the north coast of France, where the provinces of Normandy and Brittany meet.  This was a bucket list item for my cousin, who used to have a poster of Mont St. Michel on her bedroom wall.  From Paris, you can take an all day bus tour, or you can drive.  We chose to drive, so we could also visit Monet’s Gardens in Giverny, and Rouen.  Especially if you are making stops to other destinations, it’s a pretty long drive, so we spent the night in a nearby Air BnB.  The Abbey was beautiful, and we enjoyed our visit, though this was easily the busiest, most touristy place we visited in France.  That’s saying a lot.

14. Vincennes

Vincennes is just to the east of Paris, and is separated from Paris by the perifique.  Vincennes is known for its castle, the Château de Vincennes, and its large park, the Bois de Vincennes (which is technically part of Paris).  The castle was built between 1361 and 1369, and was a residence for French kings.  Later it became known as a prison and military headquarters.  The prison housed such notables as King Henry IV, the Marquis de Sade, Marie Antionette, and German spy Mata Hari.  The Bois de Vincennes is the largest public park in Paris, and includes an English landscape garden with four lakes, a zoo, a botanical garden, and a horse-racing track.  My cousin’s timeshare was located in Vincennes, so we began and ended our days here.  We visited the Château and saw some horse races, but sadly did not see any more of the park.  I enjoyed Vincennes, the shops and restaurants were lovely.  It was less bustling than the touristy areas of Paris, and it felt more like a place for locals.  Would I leave my hotel in the center of Paris to come to Vincennes?  Sure, if I were there for a couple of weeks or a month, it might be worth a day trip.  If I were in Paris for a week or 10 days, I think I would probably skip it.  You can read about things to do in Vincennes, here.

PARIS!

Of course, PARIS, my favorite city in the world.  I don’t think any of the things we did on any of my trips would be considered ‘hidden gems’.  Maybe if I go a few more times I will get to that phase.  For now, here are the places we went in Paris.  Coincidentally, we were in Paris on Bastille Day in 1993, as Paris was the 3rd leg of our Honeymoon, after London and Amsterdam.  I remember being suddenly very worried about my horrible French when we first arrived, but everyone was lovely, though brusque in that big city way.  I fell in love with France, and specifically with Paris.  There are so many wonderful neighborhoods, museums, parks, and restaurants, it would be easy to spend years there just soaking it all in.  This is my impression at least, I’ve never been there for more than a week at a time.

15. Montmartre

While in Paris, it is fun to visit the beautiful church, Basilique du Sacré-Cœur in the Montmartre neighborhood.  The church is truly lovely to tour, and the neighborhood is vibrant and busy with artists, restaurants, and nightclubs.  In the heart of Montmartre is the Place du Tertre, where artists set up tables and umbrellas and sell their works.  This area is very touristy and very crowded.  We must have gone earlier in the day when I was there in 1993, but it was much more crowded when I went in 2022.

16. Notre Dame Paris

We went to Notre Dame in 2018, even though we had been to several gothic cathedrals in Brittany and Rouen, because Maya had studied Notre Dame in an art class in college.  The fire was the following year, so I’m really glad that we got to see it when we did.  St. Denis, the saint above carrying his head, was bishop of Paris in the 3rd century.  After he was decapitated for his faith, he picked up his head and walked several miles preaching a sermon of repentance.  He is the patron saint of France and Paris.  The suburb north of Paris, St. Denis, is named for him.  Notre Dame is scheduled to reopen on December 8, 2024. [Note from NGS: I was not expecting "he picked up his head and walked several miles" from this post.]

17. Sainte-Chappelle, Palais Garnier, and Musée de l’Orangerie

On my trip in 2022, my cousin and I visited the beautiful Palais Garnier, the Musée de l’Orangerie, and the stunning stained glass windows at Sainte-Chappelle.  The Palais Garnier is known as the Paris Opera House, and while it sometimes has operas, most of the Operas are now held at the newer Bastille Opera, while the Palais is used for ballet performances.  The Musée de l’Orangerie is known for the amazing paintings by Claude Monet of his water lilies pond in Giverny, his gift to Paris after World War I.  It also houses other impressionist and post-impressionist works, and is well worth a couple of hours of your Paris itinerary.

18. Musée d'Orsay, Musée de Cluny, Jardin du Luxembourg, Batobus Seine River

Other very touristy and wonderfully worthwhile things we did in Paris included the Musée d’Orsay, which I had seen when I was in Paris in 2018, and houses a wonderful collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art.  The Musée de Cluny is in the Latin Quarter, and is a museum of the Middle Ages, with its most famous pieces being the beautiful tapestries, the Lady and the unicorn.  Nearby is the beautiful Jardin du Luxembourg, a beautiful, relaxing, serene park.  We also took a ride on the Batobus, which is a hop-on, hop-off boat that travels the Seine from the Eiffel tower to the Jardin des Plantes and back. There are definitely fancier boats you can take, but I liked the low key vibe of this one. It dropped us at the foot of the Eiffel tower, which was very crowded but fun.  We walked across the river and found a place for dinner, and watched as the sun set and the lights came on.

19. Food, Glorious Food!

One cannot mention France without mentioning the food.  The French take their food very seriously, and meals there are to be savored and enjoyed, not rushed.  On our honeymoon, we mostly ate at inexpensive restaurants near our hotel.  We had some amazing Chinese food at a little deli around the corner.  We picked up roast duck, fruit, and wine from nearby shops, and brought it back to our hotel.  We had one amazing meal (which everyone should do if possible, one amazing meal in Paris!) at Lapérouse (the website makes it look like a brothel or something.  I don’t think it is that, but it was certainly a memorable meal!)  We’ve had wonderful crepes, baguettes, croissants, fish, cheese, souffle, quiche, salads, wine, on and on and on.  We’ve had some less than stellar meals – weird steak in Brittany, tasteless mussels in Nice, soggy vegetables (also Nice).  Not every bite is amazing.  But so many are.  France is a foodie's paradise, especially Paris.

20. Dreaming of Next Time

This picture is of our Bastille Day dinner a few years ago, which seems an appropriate time to dream of possible future trips to France.  There are a couple of things I would still like to do in Paris.  I would love to stay for a week or three, and not be quite so go-go-go.  I struggle with this, there is so much to see, and I want to see it all!  Between my three trips to Paris, though, I do feel like I have seen a lot, and would like to spend quieter days, sitting on the banks of the Seine or in the shadow of the Eiffel tower with a nice picnic.  I would like to walk the Promenade Plantée, and peruse the shops and restaurants of Le Marais, the neighborhood where we honeymooned.  I would like to visit the Musée Marmottan Monet.  I have seen the Louvre, and while it is spectacular, I found it a bit overwhelming.  Perhaps I would go again if I could find a quiet time.  Is there such a thing?  Outside of Paris, I would like to drive through the Loire valley and taste some wine, maybe visit Champagne.  I would be open to Province, to revisiting the South or the West.

Thank you, Engie, for giving me this chance to dream of my trips to France.  I hope to go back someday!  What should I see, do you think?

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Who's dreaming of a fresh baguette now? Have you been to France? What do you most want to see there?