Finally, I'm back with the France recap! To make it easier on you (and on me!), I'll follow the same best of/worst of format that I used for the Germany recap. We only spent a total of 5 days in France, versus the 7 days we spent in Germany, so naturally we didn't get to do as much, but there are still plenty of stories and photos to share! Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us and it rained every day we were there. It mostly rained in the morning and during the day and then cleared up by evening. As the French Riviera is renowned for it's mild and tropical-like climate, the French seemed to be almost embarrassed about it! I was apologized to many times by Frenchmen proclaiming, "It hasn't been like this in 15 years; it's usually beautiful!"
Best Meals
Surprisingly, or not so considering our close vicinity to Italy, the South of France was inundated with Italian cuisine and it was quite difficult to find any distinctly French food. Here are some of my favorites, regardless of origin!
The margherita panini I had while on my own in Juan les Pins
The banana-chocolate crepe Jon and I shared in a small cafe in Paris (heavenly!)
And believe it or not, the spread of cheese, meat, bread and other hors d'oeuvres (plus open bar) in the Hilton Executive Lounge. Absolutely free! In our one night in Paris, we actually opted to just eat that and not go out for dinner because it was so good. Plus, can you beat the seating?
Best Views
Obviously, as seen in the above picture, the view from our hotel was pretty spectacular! But I think one of the prettiest views we saw was on the road to Monaco, sadly, the same road where Princess Grace had her fatal accident.
And then there was the view from the Observatory of the Cote d'Azur in Nice. It's not open to the public, but we were given a private tour. It's a long way up, but the view is stunning!
Best Tours
The Louvre is free to the public on the first Sunday of every month. As chance would have it, the only day that we were in Paris was the very first Sunday of June! Though I have already been there, Jon had not so we took full advantage of the free Louvre admission. It kind of made me want to go back to school to major in Art History and become a curator!
My other favorite tour was through the Jardin Exotique in Monaco. It had the most beautifully exotic flowers and plants and it was set on a cliff overlooking the sea. It was spectacular!
I almost forgot our tour of the Fragonard Parfumeur in Grasse. It was kind of like going on a beer brewery tour, but for perfume! Pretty neat, though I think all of our noses were on sensory overload after that!
Favorite Tourist Attraction
The Eiffel Tower, of course! When I was in Paris as a little girl, we didn't do the Eiffel Tower tour because the lines were ridiculously long and the tickets were quite expensive for a family of four on a budget. That was the one thing I really wanted to do in our one day in Paris, so Jon obliged a girl her wish. We didn't go to the very tip top, but we did pay to climb up to the center section, which was quite high itself!
The 700 steps up were well worth it!
I'm hoping to use some of the pictures I took on our trip to redo my banner, since it needs a name revamp anyway! Also, stay tuned for my Jimmy Buffett concert recap. As you can tell from my pictures on Flickr, we had an excellent time!
