Here's how the conversation went:
{flashback to 2 summers ago}
ME: Ooh, I love Paris! I went there once.
TIM: That must have been nice. I've never been.
ME: Really? And you love cycling? And beautiful things? We should go!
TIM: That would be great!
ME: Yeah, but we should probably try to go for two weeks so we can see a lot. When I was there before, it was only for three days and that was certainly not long enough to see everything I needed to see.
TIM: Why don't we go for a month?
ME: (shocked into silence with the delicious thought of traveling around France for an entire month)
{return to present-day}
We leave in 2 1/2 weeks! And we're going to France! For a month!!! Holy cow, I'm excited! (Can you tell?)
This trip is actually one of the things that precipitated my leaving the day job. I knew that I wanted to go. Tim has time off right now. It all worked. The only thing standing in my way was my pesky desk job. So, I started making plans. Note: there were certainly a ton of other factors that influenced my decision to leave my job. It wasn't just that I wanted to take a vacation with my boyfriend, although that helped!
So now, I'm reaching out to all of you, my blog friends. We have the guidebooks, we've read the stuff online, but there's no substituting for real advice from real people who have real experiences.
We will be traveling to the Cote D'Azur, Provence, Lyon, the Loire Valley, Champagne, and then wrapping up with two wondrous weeks in Paris. We are also planning a day trip to Versailles from Paris, but are certainly open to other suggestions as well.
Given this, do you have any advice for us as we make our way? Any favorite places we shouldn't miss? Any un-favorite places we should do whatever we can to miss? Any general good advice for getting around or not being "those American tourists?"
Merci beaucoup, mes amis!
