Germany has always been high on my travel bucket list. Growing up, we always thought our heritage was mostly German. That is until we began to dig into the records a bit more, as well as taking the Ancestry DNA tests and finding out we are much less German than we thought. Even so, the... Continue Reading →
Carcassonne: City and Castle
I climbed every step on the way up to this ancient, wall-enclosed city with reverence. The sun was just barely above the horizon. With each step, I tried to remember the facts I had read about the long history of the city. Over time, the Celts, Romans, Visigoths, Saracens, and Franks took, fortified, and strengthened... Continue Reading →
How Avignon Grew on Me
One of the most important lessons I learned on this particular trip was not to judge a city by its first impression. Despite all of the historic hype given to the once Papal city of Avignon, it was not an immediate favorite of mine. For some reason, my first impression just lacked that wow factor.... Continue Reading →
4 Reasons I Loved Clisson
Clisson, France is a small town located just a few hours outside of Paris and only about 20 minutes from Nantes. Easily accessible by car or train, this cute little city is a nice quiet getaway. A slow moving river cuts the town in half, like many French cities, that can be crossed via an... Continue Reading →
The Magic of Mont-Saint-Michel
Everyone has seen pictures of Mont-Saint-Michel, right? The beautiful, picturesque island looming out of the sea off the Norman coast topped with a towering monastery, the foundation of which stretches back to the late 10th century. As enthralling as all of the pictures make it look, the island is even more magical in person. I... Continue Reading →
Narbonne: The Unexpected Adventure
I write fairly often about how important it is to be flexible when you travel. I'm picky when it comes to who I choose to travel with because there are too many people who have exact ideas of what they want to see and when they want to see it. I find this puts way... Continue Reading →
Paris and Beyond: Nearby Cities to Explore
Everyone knows about Paris. The City of Lights, romance, and wine with thousands of years of history, plenty of museums, and the eye-catching Eiffel Tower, visible from almost everywhere you go. There are so many monuments and Instagram picture worthy things to see. Countless hours can be spent wandering random streets. Millennia of intense (and... Continue Reading →
Answering Your Questions- Part 3
-If you could go back to one place you visited, where would you go and why? I had a really hard time with this question because I saw so many cities in such a short span of time (24 cities in 17 days!) I feel like I could return to any of the places I... Continue Reading →
Answering Your Questions- Part 1
-Why did you go to this place? There are actually quite a few reasons why I chose to go to France as my first solo trip. I think probably the foremost reason on my mind when I was choosing a travel destination was the fact that I already speak the language. I started learning French... Continue Reading →
Tea, Sandwiches, Soup, and…Ancestral Castles?
This was by far one of the most personal experiences I had on the trip so you may have to bear with me a bit. In my last post, I talked about Emerson and the invisible eyeball in transcendentalism. This time was a little different but I'll dive into that a little later. The majority... Continue Reading →