A French Winter

In late 2019 Laurent and I took off to France for two months to spend Christmas with his family. We spent the first few weeks in Bretagne in North-Western France - a place which quickly became one of my favourites. The wide open space and narrow country roads reminded me of back home in NZ.

After our dose of fresh country air we headed south to Lyon, where Laurent is from. Lyon is known as the cuisine capital of France (we watched Anthony Bourdain’s episode on Lyon before we went to get his take on the delicious French food).
I don’t think we ate a bad thing during our whole trip - even the most simple of cheeses (Emmental) was mouth watering. Lyon is an incredibly beautiful city - especially when viewed from Fourvière, a Basilica perched on top of a hill overlooking the city.

We then ventured an hour out of Lyon to Saint-Etienne. From there we explored the surrounding mountains and walking trails - Crêt de la Perdrix and Chateau D'essalois. From these points you get a view right out to the French Alps, and if the weather is good enough you can even see Mont Blanc. I loved this dose of nature as a break from the city.

From there we headed to our final destination - Paris. We stayed with Laurent’s Grandmother who lives in the 15th arrondissement and has a view of the Eiffel Tower from her doorstep! We explored all of the main points of the city by foot and took Laurent’s Grandma up to the top of the Arc De Triomphe - something she hadn’t done for 50 years. On our final day she took us to her community garden in Saint Cloud Park and for a brief moment we felt like we were in the countryside.