If there is one thing I can recommend when studying abroad, it is to go somewhere different! We have spent so much time in the city of Paris for our class, but I have also gone on a few excursions outside of the city. Going outside of a major metropolitan area where there’s frequent tourist traps and people who can speak to you in English is MUCH different from the small town bakeries where I hope they can understand that I want a croissant (although, I have been complimented on my French). When you go to more of these smaller towns, it can give you an idea of how some other French people live, and how different a major city can be. I have been to quite a few different places in the Normandy region this trip, including Bayeux, Rouen, Rennes, and Giverny.
This past week we went to the Loire Valley to visit a Chateau, less of visit the towns surrounding but they were fun to look at on the ride there! We also went to Giverny to go to the Monet Gardens and House. Giverny was a lovely “Sunday Reset” as I said, it had a much different pace from the “go go go” of a city. We went on a cloudy and rainy day and I honestly thought it was a better day to go, the colors of the flowers really stood out against the dreary background. It also smelled particularly good considering we were surrounded by flowers (and visited the sewer museum a few days prior). I was surprised to see how easy it was to get around to the ’tourist’ destination from Paris, we simply took an hour and a half train ride and then hopped on a shuttle to get to Giverny from Vernon (the Vernon-Giverny train station). I will include manyyyyy pictures below, we couldn’t get enough of the flowers! So glad we were able to make a day trip out of this!
On Wednesday, class went on our day trip to Rouen. It has some similar characteristics to Bayeux that I visited at the end of June, the large cathedral in the center of town, the medieval buildings that sway in who knows what direction, and the small streets that I wouldn’t drive on. When in these places, it’s hard to imagine how long they have been there. In Rouen we walked past the oldest inn in France, which was older than the North Americas being “discovered” by Europeans. The amount of things that occurred in Rouen, like Joan of Arc being burned at the stake, before barely anything in the United States was developed, thought of, etc is wild to think about. My concept of time is totally skewed.
Needless to say, I have enjoyed the city, but I have also enjoyed exploring different parts of France. After this trip, I’ll have to think about where to go next!
Au Revoir from Ellie in Paris