Paris Tidbits+ Trip to Normandy

---

---

Happy Easter!

I've got just under two months left of my time here in Europe. The rhythm of time is incredible. I've had some exciting adventures in the last couple weeks and they continue all the way through the last two months.

To start the month off, Lena came and visited me in Paris! She landed Friday morning and I pretty much dragged her jet-lagged-self off the plane and kept her awake during a busy first day in Paris. The reason being, I was able to give a presentation at the Louvre that night. I was participating in a night called "Les Jeunes ont la Parole" where art students prepare presentations on various works at the Louvre and present them to the public. My partner Alex and I researched the portrait of King Francois Premier and gave our presentation in french to visitors. It was fun to be able to converse with art buffs in french and thinking that this was something I would remember my whole life.
On Sunday morning, Lena and I woke up early to begin our rental car adventure to a small town Ver-sur-Mer in Normandy. We opted to pay the extra ten euro/day to have the GPS. It was necessary to just get out of Paris. We programmed our destination and the GPS TomTom (re-named Sheila) asked us oh so kindly if we would like to avoid toll roads. We chose this option which took us through small towns and beautiful countryside which was such a breath of fresh air, literally, from Paris. We stopped at a small flea market in one of the towns and managed to find an awesome set of bocce balls through the clutter of mismatching shoes and baby clothes. They are the authentic silver balls that the old guys in Paris parks use with the wooden marker. The drive took about 4 hours up to our bed and breakfast. Once we arrived we were greeted by two dogs and our friendly host. She showed us to our cottage, which although it was on wheels, was the quaintest house I had ever seen. She told us breakfast would be served between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. the next morning!
We spent the afternoon at Gold Beach, a World War II landing site. The beach was lined with naked babies, the boardwalk dotted with café's and up the shore paragliders jumping off cliffs. We stopped for a café and Lena had her first eclair. I will never forget the look on her face. She was in love, even for a lady who works at a bakery 😊 Later we did some shopping and stopped in at a local store featuring Normandy region specialties. Normandy is known for it's apple products so we tried calvados, an aged alcohol and pear and apple cider. It was so refreshing to be with Lena, who was on her vacation. I've been able to travel all year, and it was nice to be reminded of how incredible this time is by her curiosity and enthusiasm. It was really special to spend time with her here.
Later in the afternoon we played bocce ball, drank wine and walked to the beach to watch the sunset. When we woke up in the morning we walked to the sunroom and sat down to an incredible breakfast spread. The table was filled with six different kinds of preservatives, fruit, fromage blanc, fresh apple juice, coffee, tea, brioche rolls, whole wheat bread, and local honey. SO tasty. We talked to another family staying there and took our time enjoying the sun and our tasty meal. We packed up and headed to Juno Beach, where the Canadians had landed. We played frisbee and walked along the beach all morning. Before heading back to Paris we each got a huge bowl of mussels and fries to savor some more of the local cuisine.
It was the perfect little mini-vacation. We had time to relax, read, journal, laugh hard, explore, and enjoy being together.

---

Photos

Alex and I
At the Louvre in front of our man!

Rental Car
Us with our Citroen!