A Week of Day Trips: Giverny & Versailles

If you are given the opportunity to explore Giverny, take it.

I have never seen something as beautiful and breathtaking as Monet's gardens.  I have also never seen so many flowers and plants in one garden.  It is truly amazing.   After a long trek out to Vernon, we got to explore Monet's home, garden, lily pond and everything that inspired him.  We chose a great day to go because the weather was sunny and hot, and the lines were not outrageous.  

Saying that everything in France is breath taking is an understatement, even though I know I am being repetitive.  Everything is breathtaking in its own sense- Monet's gardens were a quiet and relaxing kind of breathtaking, while Versailles was phenomenal in an architectural and conceptual sense.  Anyone who knows me knows that I ask a lot of questions, many of which remain unanswered.  So here are my questions that my mind could not grasp about Versailles...

How did someone build Versailles?  How much work and money went into it?  How did Louis XIV justify spending all of the people's tax money on such a palace?  Why did Marie Antoinette need her own "mini Versailles" down the road (which was gorgeous, by the way)?  And lastly... Who needs gardens that go on forever?

All I can say is that Versailles is absolutely a sight to see.  Even though there was a torrential downpour on our long walk through the garden's to Marie Antoinette's estate, we still enjoyed every second of it.  Anyone who travels to Europe should set a day aside to visit Versailles. 

And of course we go to Versailles and find the food.  We had a nice little afternoon snack at Angelina, and by afternoon snack I mean their famous iced hot chocolate, a fruit tart and a carmel and creme pastry.

Weekend Getaway: Normandy, France

When I think about France, I almost immediately picture the Eiffel Tower, delicious French food and cute little Parisians walking around.  What I have not thought about are all of the other amazing cities in France, outside of Paris.  This weekend I experienced something that I never would have experienced if I was not on an organized study abroad trip.  Our trip organizers and liaisons organized a trip for us to Normandy, a region of northern France well-known for D-Day during World War II.

We began our journey on a three hour bus ride to Caen where we spent a few hours going through the exhibits of the Caen Memorial, a D-Day museum.  After taking in an overwhelming amount of information, we visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.  I have to say this is one of the most beautiful and well thought out cemeteries/memorials I have ever seen.  Each soldier is remembered with a marble headstone shaped like a cross or a star of david, all facing the direction of the U.S.  We then visited the German Cemetery and many of the different beaches involved in the events of D-Day.

Late last night we finally made it to our little (tiny) hotel (if it can even be called that) to set our things down before we went on a long walk to see the Château de Caen, built by William the Conquerer.  The center of the city is built around the Château, so we walked down a few small streets to find ourselves in the heart of what seemed to be their little restaurant district.  There were a ton of cute restaurants and brasseries to choose from, and it obviously took us an hour to decide, but we finally chose a cute Italian restaurant where we polished off a vegetarian pizza and a bottle of wine (like I said... It is cheaper than water).  Of course we had to end the night with something sweet, so why not Nutella crepes with real vanilla ice cream?

This morning we woke up early to drive to Honfleur, the cutest little city I have ever seen.  The architecture and design of the houses and buildings were out of this world.  Cara and I are considering purchasing a vacation home- why not?  We were given a few hours to roam around the fishing port, picturesque streets and museums.  Our first stop was the Eugéne Boudin Museum, which was filled with art from many different impressionist artists.  For lunch we ate with a group of girls at a tiny little restaurant in the harbor.  It was nice being able to enjoy the view while we ate.  We spent the rest of our time visiting cute little shops where I purchased a bottle of fresh strawberry jam, a bag of caramel candy and a bag of assorted dried fruits.  Clearly my life revolves around food.

From Honfleur we drove to the small city of Deauville, famous for its marinas, seaside resorts. race course and international film festivals.  We only had an hour here, but we used our time wisely.