FRANCE

FEB. 02. 2023.
//
FEB 05. 2023.
LHR -----------------------> CDG (HOLY MOLY IT IS PARIS)

WE DO NOT 
SPEAK A LICK 
OF FRENCH.

J'aime la France! (i think)

So, I WENT TO PARIS!
Home of the Pink Panther. Boy oh boy did we bring the HEAT! Once we landed in Paris, we fought for our lives to escape the airport taxi drivers who were not ACTUALLY taxi drivers. Once we safely piled into our little taxi and drove 40 minutes into the city, we saw the Eiffel Tower. My heart is clenching thinking of how magical this moment was. This was when it finally hit me that I was halfway across the world with four kids I just met, in a random taxi, in a country that I whose language I do not speak, and my heart was POUNDING. Well, was it pounding orrrrrrr were those the tires of the taxi going over the cobblestone sidewalks as our driver pretended he was in Fast and Furious.
First view of the
Eiffel Tower.
ESPRESSO PIT-stop
I thought
Notre-Dame
was in Indiana?
mmm affordable french food! (bread.)
After walking through the city streets discussing where to go first we landed on going to Miss Mona Lisa herself at the Louvre. I think if humans were programmed to never get tired, I could have stayed there forever. We saw so many beautiful works of art. I had sat in Duke Hall for hours studying from a big smart board or textbook, and suddenly these works were five feet away from me. It brought me to tears, I was drunk from color. Then from such a poetic experience, I ran into Jana and Cailor posing like the roman and greek statues and knew I had to jump in on the fun. Leave it to the Americans to act like goobers in one of the world's most famous museums. We also went to the Eiffel Tower, offffff course! I held on to my friends for dear life, I mean it doesn't look THAT tall when you're on the ground, but oh my goodness when you are up there, I thought that was gonna be the end for me.
FEB. 02. 2023.
//
FEB 05. 2023.
8 HOUR BUS RIDE
FLORENCE --------> NICE

NICE IS NICE!

Tip to the masses, check the weather before you go to a beach town in February in a foreign country expecting to get tan and lay in the sun all day. Besides the torrential downpour that was practically walking through a hurricane, France is still my favorite country we visited. The pastries. The streets. The clothes. The art. The people. I love the french. After crashing for a couple hours in the airbnb we took the streets by storm.

(By storm I mean we really racked up the bill at happy hour and every hour after that ended because we were a half an hour late)

Walking up and down the beach, especially at night, was absolutely bellissima. Dropping an entire bottle of wine in the McDonald's was definitely on the humbling side, but thank goodness my friends were willing to share. We took our time in Nice, wandering the streets and shopping all day, stopping for an espresso here and there which is always embracing the risk of embarrassment when trying to order in French. Bought the handy dandy "Phrases to Know Around Europe" book at the airport only to open it once and end up learning to count to ten in Greek. I never went to Greece nor had I planned to. But I guess now when I go there in the future I can learn to count to ten in French on the way! France, I will definitely be seeing you again soon.