My cousin and best friend growing up, Wendi, invited me to
be a chaperone in France with her school group.
It was a major bargain and the opportunity of a lifetime, so how could I
pass it up. I have always dreamed of
going to France, but never thought I would make it especially because Shane and
I love tropical vacations and this was a lot of sightseeing. We spent 9 days
and traveled by bus every day to different destinations around the north of
France. There were 15 teenagers and 7
adults and they were the best teenagers.
I could not believe how well behaved they were and kind. We stayed in the most beautiful, quaint
hotels along the French countryside, visited many chateaus and cathedrals, and
even went up in the Eiffel tower. It was
dreamy I tell you, the entire time I just kept thinking “I am in France”. I met some wonderful friends adults and
teenagers. Wendi and I had some marvelous conversations about life and
children. I feel so blessed I was able
to go and that my kids were very well taken care of back home.
We got to go on the elevator up inside the Eiffel tower and it was everything I dreamed it would be. Some of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my life.
Chartes Cathederal was breathtaking. Right when we got out of the bus the bells were ringing and people were entering to go to mass. The bells rang throughout the entire city in this perfect quaint little town that just epitomized France. We had a lovely lunch right to the side of the beautiful building then spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the city. The streets were empty and quiet and it was dreamy. I loved all the window boxes on all the buildings full of flowers draping over the edges.
I loved the cobblestone streets, and had to take a pic of each one as I went along.
The Chateaus were also very beautiful. We went through many of them and saw how the royalty of France lived many many years ago. One thing I found strange is the Queen and the mistress both lived in the castle and in fact, the king loved the Mistress more, the Queen was mostly for making babies and for political purposes.
We ate dinner in a troglodyte cave, it was beautiful. It was sausage so I passed but the potatoes were delicious.
One of my favorite parts of the entire trip was when we took a tour of a winery. Gonzalo's, our son from Spain, family owns vineyards and a wine company in Spain and it was so cool to see into a piece of his life that I haven't ever experienced.
They use Nutella so much. It was on everything especially the Crepes. It is so delicious. I thought this was hilarious that it was pumped out of the giant jar.
