Back in late 2019, my husband and I optimistically planned a fantastic French vacation – starting in Paris, where I had a work conference, a day trip to Giverny to see Monet’s house and gardens, and then heading south to the French Riveria (aka, Côte d’Azur), then over to the Verdon Gorge, and finishing up in Provence. We booked all the things and then of course, the pandemic struck and we had to unwind all of our plans.
I started taking French lessons leading up to this trip (plus the 2 other work trips I had scheduled that year, all in France) to help me move past my bits and pieces of the language and be able to carry on at least a basic conversation. When the pandemic canceled all of those trips, I decided to focus on language learning. I tried to view it as a positive: this way, I would have more time to learn the language so that I could speak it better when eventually my husband and I would be able to take our trip.
Well, “again” finally came this year, 4 years almost to the date later.
My husband and I dusted off the plans we had made in 2020 and basically rebooked the same trip (with a few small changes). Here is our itinerary:
- Paris, with a day trip to Giverny and a night at the Moulin Rouge
- Nice, with day trips to Antibes and other nearby cities in the Côte d’Azur
- Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, in the Verdon Gorge area
- St. Rémy de Provence, with day trips to Arles, Roussillon, Gordes, Les Baux-de-Provence Avignon
We encountered so many helpful and kind French people throughout our journey who helped us with directions, recommendations, making sure we were on the right platform/train, and indulging me with practicing my French. 😊
We had an incredible time with so many great experiences and memories! I’ll try to post with some more detail and pics for some of the more memorable things we did and saw, but sometimes the most magical moments were just us being quietly together and taking everything in.
For now, I’ll close with this pic of the fabulous view from our hotel room in Paris!
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