Normandy & Mont St Michel

I also had the opportunity to visit Normandy with my program and couldn't say no! It's full of history and loads of good food (what part of France isn't?). We left Paris early in the morning and headed to the Mémorial de Caen - which is a museum that goes through the history of WWII and also has detailed information about what happened on the d-day beaches on June 6, 1944.

Afterwards we headed to the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach. Visiting the cemetery and the beach was a solemn experience, but both are so beautiful. It made me reflect on my own family, especially my grandfather who was a POW during WWII. 

After visiting the cemetery we walked along Omaha beach, which is one of the many d-day beaches along the coast in Normandy, France.

Then we headed to this cute little walled town named Saint Malo for the night and had this wonderful view from our hotel room.

We ventured outside the walls to this little "island" (becomes an island at high tide) and watched the sunset. France never ceases to amaze me with how beautiful it is.

The next day we headed over to the abbey Mont St Michel

The abbey is built on this island that can be an island or not be an island depending on the tide - confusing enough?

There are still some monks who live here and it is huge! There is a town below with lots of little shops and restaurants. 

Deux Châteaux

After spending the night in Tours, we headed to the next château, Château de Chambord.

This place is so massive! It's the biggest château in the Loire Valley and (only) has 365 fireplaces - one for each day of the year. My favorite part was this staircase in the middle. The guy who built it was basically a ladies man, so he built this staircase that is a double-helix design so that two people could be walking on it, could see each other through the center, but would never meet. How clever! 

We were told that this is also the Château that inspired the castle in Beauty and the Beast. 

 So many staircases!

 The back of the château with the dreaded scaffolding...

My friends and I always joke about the scaffolding. You see these pictures of these beautiful places and you go there and they are always being restored. 

My friends and I walking through the gardens at the castle. Thanks to Marissa for snapping this photo! (I actually have FRIENDS....haha). My housemom asked me one day if I had any friends, which was kind of embarrassing and funny, especially since I am no means a home-body in Paris. But here is the picture to prove it ;).

Un Château

Bonjour! Hello! It's been a while and I've been quite a few places so let's catch up!

First off: Château de Chenonceau in the Loire Valley

I took a trip to the Loire Valley a few weekends ago with my program. I didn't know much about it except that it's known for wine and chateaux. Sounds like a perfect weekend to me and it was!

This is one of the most beautiful châteaux I have ever seen in my life and it's now one of my favorites. If you ever have the chance to go see it - GO! It spans over a river (the River Cher to be exact) and the gardens surrounding it are stunning. Also, it's privately owned and decorated with fresh flowers, which gives it that extra touch of ambiance, and also makes it feel more "homey" than most of the other places. 

The kitchen was my favorite part - decorated for fall and an impressive copper pot collection. 

 The vegetable gardens were gorgeous! Even in October. 

When we were walking back towards the bus we went on this path and saw these flowers popping up from the grass - it was so beautiful I had never seen anything like it. It all looks like a painting. 

Here's a cheesy picture of me - I am horrible about having photos of myself taken, I actually hate it, but I'm trying to get better to document my adventures.

After touring the chateau we headed over to a local winery for a tasting. They showed us around the wine caves - the stones that were taken out of this cave were used to build some of the chateaus in the Loire - and then we got to 'taste' (aka drink) the wine.

Another great weekend in France!

à Bientôt!