American Invasion

After almost five months since my departure from Los Angeles, my parents decided to make the long trip out to Paris to make sure their only daughter was in fact alive and well. I wasn't completely sure if they would actually make the trip since I know they are not big on traveling and long trips, but since I wasn't planning to visit Los Angeles again for another four months, they decided to venture out to another continent.

I was proud of them and touched that they would make such a trip and excited to show them the beautiful city and country that I now call my home. So, after two weeks of my parents first visit to France, I was happily exhausted. My boyfriend and I showed them as much of France as we possibly could in two weeks and I think they now see why I love France so much. They arrived on May 7th after a 10 1/2 hour direct flight from Los Angeles and said they felt like they were packed in like sardines since the seats were so small. Their first contact with Parisian culture and way of life was, of course, the RER and metro. It was a bit tricky for them to figure out how to get through the turnstyle intially with their tickets, but eventually they got it down. After they were situated in their hotel in Montmartre and had a bit of a nap, we began our two week "Tour de Paris/France." We started by taking them through my local streets of Montmartre to see the Moulin Rouge, the Sacré Coeur and all the wonderful cafes, restaurants, shops and boulangeries. Then we took them to the Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées, Notre Dame, Louvre, Trocadéro and the Musée d'Orsay. We then headed out for a few days by car to the northwestern part of France called Brittany or Bretagne.

Our first stop was my boyfriend's sister's house for lunch in Rouen so my parents could meet some of his family. I had a great time seeing my parents mingle with my French "in-laws." We had lots of fun eating, laughing and drinking wine and I particularly enjoyed watching my "in-laws" trying to sell their house to my parents and my mother considering it! Hilarious! My parents fell in love with Rouen and the beautiful cathedral in the center of the town. (If you ever get to visit Rouen, make sure to go inside the cathedral. I was actually more impressed with this than the Notre Dame and there were a lot less people inside too.) And to further help my parents adapt to French culture, I bought my father some of the obligatory scarves that all French people wear, which he ended up wearing the rest of the trip.

    

From Rouen, we headed to see Mont St. Michel. It was quite beautiful to see with the surrounding ocean and marshes all around and the little city was very quaint. It was a bit expensive though since you now have to pay 8 euros to park and if you want to go into the cathedral you have to pay another 9 euro per person which seemed a bit much so we skipped this part. We then headed to St. Malo for an overnight stay and to enjoy the beach-side city with it's wonderful history and quaint feel. My mother was also able to enjoy a bit of gambling since they have a small casino, although definitely not the same as Las Vegas.

(Mt. St. Michel)

       

(St. Malo)

    

Lastly, we headed to Brocéliande for a beautiful hike through the "magical" forest. Apparently, there are many legends about Merlin the Magician, King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable and fairies here. I don't know much about these legends but I can say the area is quite picturesque and peaceful. The yellow wildflowers called, Colza, were in full-bloom everywhere and were absolutely magnificent as well as all the beautiful trees and other flowers.

(Brocéliande)

      

I think this four-day trip was definitely my parents as well as my favorite part of their vacation, as it was completely different from Paris and being around so much nature was very relaxing. Living in Paris can sometimes get to be a bit much with all the people and buildlings, so I find that getting out of it to visit other cities is a nice and needed change of pace.

Two of the last things we did with them which I think impressed them greatly, was watching the Eiffel Tower at night when it glitters each hour. It was cute to see my parents like children at Christmas time looking at a Christmas tree with their eyes wide open saying, "wow" and "ooooooh." I also love watching the Eiffel Tower glitter at night. It's quite an impressive site and a "must see" on a first trip to Paris. We then took them to see Versaille which was also quite eye-opening and dazzling. The tickets to see the Palace and garden area are about 25 euros per person which seemed pretty expensive but it's definitely a unique place to visit. We were advised to see the garden area first since the line to enter the Palace at the beginning of the day can take about 2 hours. This turned out to be great advise since by the time we entered the Palace later in the afternoon there was no line at all. Although the Palace is quite impressive inside, there were lots and lots of tourists which made it difficult to enjoy it. I actually appreciated the garden much more and my parents did as well as they pretended to be royalty walking through the garden together! We got some really funny videos of them dancing together which I thoroughly enjoyed and will never forget. Also, be aware that there are different "fountain shows" througout the garden and throughout the day. This was also a nice treat to enjoy since you get to hear beautiful classical music and to see a water-fountain show.

All-in-all I think my parents can now see why I love France and Paris so much. Between the amazing food, wine, pasteries, cheese, coffee, sites, architecture, history, music, culture and people, what's not to love! Hopefully, they will make another trip back here some day so we can show them the south of France like Toulouse, Nice, Albi and Carcassonne, but if not, I think they have a good taste of what France is like. I want to thank my parents for making the long journey to visit their crazy daughter and her crazy French boyfriend in another continent and to being open to a completely different culture country. I also want to thank my amazing boyfriend who "put up" with my crazy family for two weeks and without whom we would not have seen as much as we did. Merci beaucoup! Bisous!

Comments

[Vagabonde]

I found your blog by chance and enjoyed reading your post and looking at your photos. I was searching on the Web to see the differences in culture between France and the US and why so many Americans think that the French don’t like them. I see you do like France and that makes me happy (I am French but living in the US.)