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burgundy, champagne, colmar, expat life: france, fontainebleau, france, loire valley, mont st. michel, montigny sur loing, normandy, paris
city escapes // exploring the french countryside
I had hoped to achieve many things by spending one year in France and now, here we are—almost on the other side. We’re older, we’re wiser. Most importantly, we’ve seen more of the French countryside than I ever thought I would in one lifetime. I mean, fine. We’re not much more fluent in French than the day we moved in. I never did learn how to make croissants from scratch. And yes, fine, the metric system continues to stump me in both the kitchen and on the road. But we made it. Luckily, as far as personal goals go, there…
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parisian perfection on the île saint-louis
At this very instant, as I type, the wino is lounging on a beach. Book in one hand, cocktail in another, getting tan. Meanwhile, I’ve been living it up on an island just slightly different than the wino’s St. Thomas. I’ve been in my very own little apartment on Paris’s Île Saint-Louis. (Sidenote, do you think Saint Louis & Saint Thomas were buds?*) So, despite my jealousy over her Vitamin Sea, it hasn’t been all bad. After our #LTnyc madness, one of my best friends from college crossed the Atlantic for a week in France. Along with showing her around…
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foodie break: in the kitchen with a french master baker
It’s well documented that we are more savory than sweet around these parts. As you might expect, it’s been six solid months of eating beaucoup de baguettes. So recently, when two friends and I had the chance to experience a day of baking with an acclaimed French Master Baker in his kitchen, I had a sudden vision. Me! Covered in flour, befriending all the locals as I handed them the most delicious baguettes in all the land! Yes, well… non. That didn’t happen. Really, listening to Frédéric tell us about life as a Parisian baker cemented what I’ve always known…
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bottoms up: can’t-miss bars in paris
True fact: you can wander into almost any of cafes, restaurants, or bars in Paris and spend the night drinking perfectly delicious and relatively cheap French wine. Obviously, you could spend your entire time in Paris without stopping in any of the bars we’ve outlined below. You’d still be completely satisfied with your drinking experience. But like, we recommend trying at least one. The French do a lot of things right, and serving up some of the best wine in the world is certainly one of them. Oh, but you’re not a wine drinker? First, shame. Second, we still have…
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#LTfrancais: living the parisien life in saint-germain-des-prés
You know that travel quote about how no one realizes how beautiful travel is until he gets home and mashes his face into his old, familiar pillow? …Or something like that? Ugh, hold on, it’s all over Pinterest… Yeah, that one. It’s, like, the Joni Mitchell/Dorothy Gale of travel quotes (it’s also courtesy of Lin Yutang in case you collect quotes or something) (nerd). Anyway, you don’t know what you got til it’s gone, there’s no place like home, we get it. Except we kind of don’t get it anymore, because we’re slowly finding that other people’s pillows — especially those found…
