Well I’ve been meaning to share about our time in France for literally MONTHS now, but to be honest, France took me some time to process! Even now, how do I share all of the beauty, and kindness, and patriotism, and fresh air of such a special country in just a few words? Therefore, I’ll just share some of my favorite details that made France so wonderful to me!
THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE
We traveled north of Paris to the normandy region and it consistently took our breath away, from the centuries-old architecture, to the beautiful English Channel, to the greenest of green grass, to the romantic falling leaves. Every day felt like we were stepping into a fairy tale filled with tales of romance, heroism, raging war, stories of kings and princes, and of boys from Kentucky fighting for freedom. It was overwhelming and breathtaking and peaceful and beautiful!
NORMANDY
Never have I ever felt a sense of pure, righteous, soul-swelling patriotism as in Normandy France. The cities are filled with landmarks and monuments celebrating and remembering American soldiers for their sacrifice, bravery, and honor. The centuries-old church’s had replaced their bomb-shattered stain glass with modern-age stain glass depicting the Virgin Mary being surrounded by American paratroopers, with the American flag waving in the background. The people celebrate annually the season of warfare when the American’s (and English, and Canadians) came to the rescue of their people and country! It’s unbelievable. It’s emotional, and painful, and utterly epic.
MONT ST MICHEL
Guys. Stop what you’re doing right now. Book a flight. Don’t forget to pack your passport. Get to Mont St Michel with some immediacy because it’s unrealistic! If you don’t know, Mont St Michel is a mountain in the region of Normandy that erects right out of the water of the English Channel! When the tide is low, you can travel to Mont St Michel by walking, but when the tide is high, you must journey across a bridge to stay above the water! At the very top of the mountain is an old and beautiful monastery that took no damage during world war 2, by some miracle! You can tour the monastery in all of it’s grandeur and poke around the village that rests atop the mountain, it’s just simply magical!
VERSAILLES
Now — if you think I was excited about the things I wrote about already— hold onto your hat. Versailles was EASILY my favorite part of the trip. By far. Y’alllllll! Versailles is just splendor, and majesty, and over the top, and royalty. Versailles is everything! First off, Versailles was originally just a country hunting lodge used by Louis the 14th’s father. It was an old grimy place that the men would journey from Paris to carouse and hunt and do generally un-ladylike things, until Louis the 14th was coronated. Louis the 14th then cast a vision for France to be the greatest country that ever was. They had almost no money at the time, so he understood that France would never be the powerhouse through military prowess or financial strength. He instead determined that he would put France on the map through their cultural splendor. Through fashion, architecture, general grandeur, excessive gardens, etc. He single-handedly created the vision for Versailles which was to transition from his dad’s hunting lodge, to the King’s Palace, complete with houses for the entire court, and gardens for the entire world to visit. Y’all. It’s unbelievable!
Now these pictures aren’t beautiful, but my heart nearly beat out of my chest the whole night. 🙂 I lived a pure dream. On Thanksgiving Day, after spending the day exploring Versailles, we enjoyed dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s Au Trianon seated at the Chef’s Table. Chef’s Table is a private room overlooking the kitchen! A Michelin Star restaurant kitchen! I felt like Remy in ratatouille except way more excited! We enjoyed every bite, and the services was truly remarkable, and then they invited me INTO THE KITCHEN, where I promptly died of glee overload! They warned us to “stay off the bread” because it was to be a 7-course meal. The French under-shot it by 5 courses!!! We left a little before midnight after having 12 courses! Such an incredible blessing and a wonderful experience!
France as a whole was wonderful. Everyone we encountered was kind, helpful, and inviting! The weather was incredibly cold, but still unbelievably green and lovely! We enjoyed every minute and we’re just so incredibly grateful and thankful to be able to travel and experience different people and places! We constantly would look at each other and say things like “can you imagine us? The Lambert’s in France on Thanksgiving?! How did we get so lucky?!”
-Katie
Check out our instagram for a full recap video!
