When Wisconsin meets France

Update: I bought a french press, saw my best friends parents and ran around Loire valley with my boyfriend. Now for the details.

Bonsoir!

Wow a week has come and gone just like that. A lot has happened. I went to ikea for a day, bought a french press and a fall candle (basic but makes my room here so cozy and feel like home) and I also accidentally bought lotion instead of body wash oops. I used to buy this face wash by La Roche Posay in and it was very hydrating so it was called a “milk” face wash but I accidentally bought the “milk” lotion?? All I know is that when I put this stuff of my Clarisonic and tried washing my face was that it did not bubble up and my face was confused. So, that was about a week and a half ago.

Rewind to 2 Friday’s ago and I got to run around Paris with my best friends parent’s (and their friends, we missed you Emily!) and I showed them many many places that were my favorites. We tried out a fondue place I had never been to called Le Refuge des Fondues, I highly recommend to anyone going to Paris. It is very reasonably priced for the fun experience you get. Oh and you get to drink wine out of baby bottles! What more could you ask for? It was so nice to see some familiar faces and to show them what life is sorta like here in France. Love you Tricia and Cliff :)

Then last Saturday (the reason I have been MIA) I got to pick up the one and only James Toal III from CDG airport and this past month and a few weeks of not seeing him made it seem so surreal that he was actually here in France. That Saturday we had a group Lille-Fam DIY Pizza night and he got to meet all my friends here in Lille (Shout out to my Ch’ti fam!) The next morning we were off to Loire Valley and I almost got us lost in the middle of nowhere France. Jimmy and I had to take 3 trains from Lille to Blois so we went from Lille to Paris, switched train stations in Paris then went from Paris to Orleans and lastly Orleans to Blois. But Before our last switch at Orleans, this is where things almost went wrong. I didn’t realize there was a stop just before Orleans in another small town and Jimmy and I literally got our bags and walked off the train before I realized that there was no sign that said “Orleans”. I asked the train guy who was on the platform and he said that the next stop was Orleans and not this one. So then we ran back on the train and it left about 30 seconds later. We were so close to being stuck for a bit in this tiny town :0 Once we arrived in Blois I called our Airbnb host and he told me to look up at this one window in a old french village looking building (Blois was so old and cute and reminded a lot of Aix) and he greeted us from his window. It was so funny and a warm welcome into the town of Blois. That night, Jimmy and I wandered around the rainy streets of Blois that were anything but lively and we ended up walking into a wine bar and we drank probably some of the best wine I have ever had, it was actually a friend of our guide (Sylvain) who showed us around the next day in Blois. We also had a planche (charcuterie board) and ate crepes at another place down the street after walking along the bridge next to the Loire river.

The next day was incredible. Absolutely so interesting and crazy to see 2 Chateaux (Blois and Chambord) they were magnificent and huge and I had seen them in classes my last semester at Wisconsin but I had never imagined seeing them in person only a mere 6 months later. To go from castle to castle, we booked a local driver/guide named Sylvain from Wine Geometry tours (If you ever happen to go to Loire we recommend him!!) I have never met someone so knowledgeable and well versed in languages, wine, history and architecture. He truly had such a passion for all of those subjects and wanted to share as much as possible. He is a sommelier and he taught us all about how to look for the age of the wine, taste for tanins and acidity and by the end of the tour Jimmy was describing and guessing which wines were full body/medium to low body and I have never seen him like this haha! Our day consisted of 2 wine tastings, an exquisite meal by the Loire River looking towards the chateau in Blois and also tickets into Chambord as well so we could wander through the gardens. Sylvain also had a personal relationship with the last vineyard we went to and we got to see how they bottled the wine and processed the red wine vs. white wine from start to finish. Truly a magical day!

Chambord!

The next day we left Blois and headed back to Paris and the first night in Paris we had a raclette soiree at my friend Madison’s boyfriends (S/O Aubin for the hospitality) apartment just north of Paris. If you don’t know what raclette is, it’s a heavy, yummy and heart-attack in the making kind of cheese that you put on top of sausage, meat, bread and potatoes. It was my first time doing a real raclette and it was Jimmy’s one request for the entire trip (to try raclette).

Raclette at Aubin's Apartment YUM

The next day I had a surprise planned for Jimmy’s birthday present that I planned about 7 weeks ago and I booked us (through airbnb experiences AGAIN ah my favorite company) a half day trip to Versailles. Right now, the train from Paris to Versailles is under construction and so I wasn’t exactly sure how to get us there. I played it down all week the fact that the line for Versailles is very long but I remembered that it is important to get tickets before for a timed entry and so the guy that drove us around in his cool retro looking car (his name is Fredric and I once again highly recommend him for a half day trip to explore the west side/forests around Paris. His company is called la petite frenchie) When the car pulled up Jimmy was so surprised and people kept looking at us and it was so funny.

The car that Fredric drove us around in :') This was taken in Blois de Boluogne.

We drove around the Eiffel Tower and Blois de Boulogne which was probably my favorite part. We also popped a bottle of champagne and drove off to Versailles which is when Jimmy realized where we were going! Fredric bought tickets for us to enter Trianon Palace which is a smaller palace on the grounds of Versailles and then we got lost in the gardens and drank vin chaud (my fav french drink aka hot wine). After our time with Fredric we had dinner reservations at the same fondue place that I took Emily’s parents.

Drinking out of baby bottles!

To sum up the rest of the week I’ll make a list of some of my favorite highlights:

1.Visiting the Louvre at night.

2. Almost getting crushed by the metro doors but Jimmy ripped them open to save me.

3, Canceling pretty much every dinner reservation because Jimmy and I snack too much. I think we were meant to travel together.

4. Eating a ham and cheese sandwich pretty much every day and sitting in numerous parks. We both realized we would rather spend money on happy hour and meat and cheese boards than a 3 course meal… I think we both have similar priorities lol!

5. Impromtu unscheduled dinner at a cute cafe after looking at art for 3ish hours. We got into the Louvre for free that night because we were under 26 so we decided to have ourselves some escargot, duck and salmon. Did I mention I think we travel well together? :P

6. Met up with Lille bff’s and one of my Paris Bff’s (S/O Matt Berry) on Halloween!

7. Deciding last minute saturday that we wanted to squeeze in one last airbnb experience… so we got tickets to a small intimate jazz concert in the 11 arrondisement. Also skipped our dinner reservation and got apero instead (and french mcdonalds) instead lol!

Madison and I have some GOOD looking men! Haha Aubin and Jimmy on the metro

Now today, I am back in Lille. My heart is so happy, I had a great 2 week break. I am so happy I was able to share France with some familiar faces. Now 6 more weeks until I get another 2 week break. In the meantime, I have to start working and planning lessons for the kids I am teaching. I want to reiterate that I feel so so SO grateful for these opportunities I have and to be able to work while I am here so I can travel. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

À bientôt,

Kristin