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| Outside the cathedral in Bourges |
We managed to get her to seven countries while she was here (Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, England, the Netherlands and Germany), the highlight of which was a big road trip to the south of France for ten days. It was a lot of fun - all five teens (Maddie, my three boys and Charlotte, Florian's girlfriend) were great company and good travellers. I had been wanting to take my kids to the area for years to see the medieval city of Carcassonne, which I visited when I was a teenager travelling with my French host family.
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| Cloisters in Narbonne Cathedral |
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| Hiking down to the natural bridge in Minerve |
We stayed in a gorgeous gite in Pouzols-Minervois, a small village in the middle of vinyards located about a half hour inland from Narbonne, which was really well located for the Mediterranean coast as well as neat places like Carcassonne and our new favorite spot, Minerve (which inspired our running joke of saying "tu Minerve" while we were driving there) - a very cool ancient Cathare city built on cliffs and with an amazing natural bridge in the ravine below - and much much less touristic than Carcassonne, which really put the kids off. Most days we went and visited things in the morning and then headed back to the gite late afternoon to spend some time relaxing before making dinner. And one day we drove the 150 kilometers to Spain, to visit Figueres, which happens to be the birthplace of Salvador Dali, and where they have an incredible museum showcasing his life and work.
We could not get over how busy it was at the Dali museum! The line to get in stretched right around the building and the place was jam packed. The crazy architecture and the sheer number of Dali's works of art made the trip more than worth it, however. It was quite an adventure!
I feel so lucky to have been able to get to know my niece better, spend time with her, my husband, kids and my son's lovely girlfriend, and get back to one of my all time favorite parts of Europe.
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| Enjoying a relaxing boat ride on the Canal du Midi Can you tell I'm in my laughing place? |
France Part 1
France Part 2
London
Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany
8 comments:
Tell your niece that I loved her blog pics. makes me want to go to all those places.
Thanks, Darlene - I will!
That is really awesome! While following the Tour De France this year we decided we want to visit there for sure and do a trip to all the countries you mentioned.
It sounds wonderful. Making life long memories for sure for everyone there.
What a fabulous trip. You're so lucky to be living where you can just get in a car and drive to another country. Six countries in one trip is amazing!
Thanks, everyone! Yes, I do consider myself lucky - I'm very grateful to live here. Johann, I've always thought the Tour de France is one of the most amazing tourism plugs for France - it makes you realize just how varied and gorgeous the country is.
That's really a wonderful trip, Amy ... although you didn't chose Italy :) My country is closer to Belgium than Spain.
Your niece's blog is interesting (especially the part which shows Germany)! Thanks for sharing.
That was a wonderful trip. You visited beautiful places. Last year I went to the "Cathar country" (terrible what happened there many centuries ago) and Carcassonne is something of special.
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