France, 2009

With each trip you learn a little more about how you might do it better the next time. In England we benefitted from keeping it simple, but the consequence was that there were large areas we did not see at all. In Scandinavia, we saw an amazing amount, but the pacing was too fast to ever just sit and relax. For our next trip, we wanted to find a happy medium. The most obvious way to do that was to spend more time. So we extended the trip another nine days to a full month away from home. We know that this is a luxury many families do not have. But since we have always followed a school calendar in our family, it is reasonable for us to take advantage of the extra time off in the summer to make our trips as fulfilling as possible.

We now considered ourselves ready to tackle a non-English-speaking country. After taking on six countries the year before, we were ready to focus on just one (well, 1+) this time. Since Michelle knew a little French from college, we decided to focus on France. Each region of France has it's own unique character, often resembling the character of it's neighbor across the border. We wanted to visit each of these and to use cottage rentals in at least two, plus rent an apartment in Paris for a week. France has many cottages and apartments for rent and they are a wonderful bargain for families who would otherwise have to find two rooms in a hotel. It also provides kitchen facilities which can save a small fortune vs. dining out.

We used IcelandAir again for our round-trip flight to Paris. They were a bit less expensive than other carriers, but no bargains this year with tickets at $940/pp. The recession that caused airfare to plummet did not hit until later, making this the first year that we did not get the best deals possible on airfare. However, buying early made it possible for us to secure cottage and apartment rentals at good rates which more than made up for the difference.

We wanted to save Paris for last and be there for their national celebration - Bastille Day - on July 14th. So our first stop after landing was the train station where we boarded the TGV for the cute Alsacian town of Colmar in the northeast, or "German" part of France. We stayed there for two nights and saw several other villages nearby.

Our next major destination was Provence, in the southeastern, or "Italian" corner of France. But we simply could not pass up the opportunity to dip into Switzerland on the way. I had read so much about the Jungfrau region south of Interlachen that we had to visit. So we drove our rental car (a dull chevrolet) into the alpine valley, parked, and rode cable cars up the mountain to the village of Mürren where we stayed for two nights in a lovely B&B.

In Provence, we rented a cottage for six nights on an old winery in a rural area of the Cote du Rhone, near the tiny village of Crestet. During the week we made day trips each day to many nearby villages as well as the larger cities of Arles, Avignon, and Marseilles. We also dipped our feet in the Mediterranean at the seaside village of Cassis.

We then drove west to the medieval walled city of Carcassonne in the "Spanish" (aka Basque) area of France. We stayed one amazing night within the walls of the 1000-year-old city and then continued on, driving north into the Dordogne region. The Dordogne River, near Sarlat was the front lines of the 100-years-war between France and England in the 1500s. So the shores of the river are peppered with tiny villages, each with it's own castle. Looking down the river valley it is sometimes possible to see four villages and castles at once. Here we stayed for a week in a cottage rental in a rural area near the river and just a few miles from Sarlat.

After a relatively sedate two weeks of cottage stays, we now faced four consecutive 1-night stays in the Loire Valley and Normandy - the "English" corner of France. They included Amboise and Chinon (where we say amazing chateau), Mont St. Michel (and the nearby D-day beaches), and the fishing village of Honfleur. On our last day with the car, we visited Monet's home and gardens in Giverny and the cathedral in Chartres.

The 30-day trip was capped off by spending a week in a cozy apartment in Paris in an amazing location, just steps away from Notre Dame. We saw many museums and parks - combining some short walks with rides on the Metro. We spent one full day at Versailles, and another at Montmartre and climbing the Eiffel Tower. Our last day in Paris was Bastille day, where we saw the morning parade and evening fireworks over the Eiffel Tower. Even after 30 days away from home, trapped each day with their siblings and parents, the children were sad to see the trip come to an end. Everything went amazingly well. We experienced a lot and felt we had a good balance between seeing sights and relaxation.

Surely it must be tempting fate to try to top this, right?...