Provence

{our little house}

{the neighbors}

{lavender ice cream..incredible stuff right there}

 

{Gorde}

Ahh the land of lavender. One of the best smells in the world. Am I right? YEP. im right.

So we arrived in Provence and immediately went to a little town called Rochegude where we settled in to our little lavender house. SO adorable! All the houses were once again...AMAZING! All of them had colored shudders and colored doors with flowers in their windowsills. I wanna live there so bad!

We took a bunch of road trips around the area and MY main mission was to find blooming lavender fields. Thats literally all I wanted to do. So we searched and searched, drove all around the countryside and finally we came upon magnificent lavender fields and man was I happy! What a beautful sight it is to see an entire field of purple {instead of green} for a change! Wow...totally fell in love with the area. 3 of my favorite places we went in Provence were Gorde & Vaison la Romaine & Sault (great little towns).

Overall the trip was incredible! We stayed for 4 days and then headed back to Paris to catch our flight back to the US of A and of course to our wonderful state of Idaho :)

Alsace region

After 5 days in Paris we adventured on to the Alsace region of France. Here we met up with our foreign exchange student (Jean) and his family. We had a WONDERFUL time with. They took us all around the countryside, made dinner for us, took us wine tasting at an authentic french winery, and took us to an auberge on top of a giant mountain. 

The architechture here was incredible --it looked like Disneyland or something--but it was all real and people actually lived in these towns {blew my mind}. One of my favorites was Colmar, which had a place called Little Venice. We got to ride on a little gondola down the river to view the town.

I totally totally recommend visiting this area of France--totally beautiful and worth it all the way!

Next stop: Provence region!

Versaille

Versaille. Home of Marie Antoinette.

This place is INCREDIBLE, extravagant, and totally breathtaking. Just the gardens alone are about 100 miles long....(not really) but check out how far these gardens stretch...and yes they reach past that 20 mile pool (not really 20 miles). 

But, this side trip was freakin' fun. I totally recommend Versaille as a side trip if you go to Paris.

These last 2 photos are of Marie Antoinette's getaway as if her palace wasn't big enough.

Next stop....Colmar in the Alsace region

Leaving on a jet plane...

I can't wait to go to France tomorrow and above all to see my sister who I have not seen in 1 whole year! Our plan is to go to Paris for 5 days (YES!), visit the Alsace region for 4 days, then to Provence for the rest of the time! We get to meet Em's house-stay parents, see Jean who we said bye to on Monday, and explore explore explore. I am so excited to bring my camera to France. Last time I went I had a little dinky camera and the pics didn't turn out too great...but this time I get to bring my camera baby.

Also, I have managed to pack all of my stuff into one little carry on suitcase and another little bag. I am so so so proud of myself because I am the QUEEN of over packing. So, hopefully this will make for an easier and lighter trip for me!

My books for the trip are going to be Water for Elephants & You Can Heal Your Life. I decided to bring two since its going to be a 12 hour flight!!

I've been brushing up on my French as well. Dad and I are the only ones going who don't know any French. John has been taking classes, Mom majored in French in college, and Emily is of course now fluent. So, I have been listening to Coffee Break French (a free podcast on Itunes) which is fun. That's what the first picture is of.

Here is a picture of John and Jean at the TF airport saying goodbye! He isn't smiling because he is "French and we don't smile in pictures" :)
























Be back in 2 weeks!
xoxo,
Katie