Adventure in France!

Bonjour!  Zach and I are grateful to still be on this crazy adventure and recently hit the mark of 100 days of travel!  In this update, I’d like to share with you about our time in France. We spent about 2 weeks exploring Paris, Normandy and the Loire Valley.  This was Zach’s third time in Paris and my first, so there was a lot to see!

 Our days were full of delicious food, art, museums, palaces, gardens and of course that stunning Eiffel Tower!  I spent hours exploring the Louvre and barely made a dent in all the incredible art. For my first visit, my goal was to see the famous Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Everyone always exclaims she is so much smaller than expected! So having my expectations in check, The Mona Lisa did not disappoint! It was also really cool to see the Venus de Milo because we recently spent time on the island of Milos where it was discovered. (You can read more about our time in Milos in my 5th newsletter!) My favorite museum was the Musée de l’Orangerie. This museum is famous for being the permanent home of eight large Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet.  The murals engulf the room and it’s stunning to be able to walk alongside them. Later in our trip we visited Giverny, where Monet lived and worked. The gardens were stunning and it was not hard to see why they were so inspiring to Monet. 

Visiting the Palace of Versailles was a huge bucket list item for me.  In 2016, I produced and choreographed a marketing event for the BBC show, Versailles.  Ever since then it has been a dream for me to visit. I got their first time slot of the day and that helped to avoid some of the crowds.  The Hall of Mirrors was a beautiful as I hoped and I was lucky to have it almost all to myself! The palace is ornate and the grounds are extensive. Even though the weather was gray, it was incredible to spend an afternoon strolling through the gardens. 

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing a performance at the Paris Opera House. The Opera House on it’s own is a stunning place to visit. There is a ballroom that took my breath away and might be just as beautiful as the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. It was incredible timing that the performance we saw was the world premiere of Crystal Pite’s, Body and Soul with the Paris Opera Ballet dancers. This was my first time seeing Pite’s work live and I was blown away. As described in a review by the New York Times, “The physical language is gestural and convulsive, torsos contracting, bodies lunging, the movement low and grounded.” Below you will find a link to The New York Times review if you are interested in reading it in full. I was particularly in awe of her use of the floor.  Instead of feeling like a hard surface or a barrier, it felt like the dancers were melting into it or using it as a supple springboard. The full length evening finished with an electric dance party on stage and left me leaving the theater with a smile on my face. 

Our last week in France we spent visiting Normandy, D-Day beaches and the Loire Valley. We stayed in the towns of Bayeaux and Ambroise, visiting many castles including Château de Chambord, Château de Cheverny and Château de Chenonceau.  From here we took a train back to Amsterdam (under the English Channel!) to catch a flight to our next destination.  We made our first continent change and flew to Cape Town!  Look for my next newsletter to here all about our adventures in South Africa.  Thanks for reading! 

Best, 
Ashley

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/arts/dance/crystal-pite-body-and-soul-review.html

Travel Tip # 7

France is a huge country and it was helpful for us to divide the country into North and South! We can save Southern France for another trip!