1. Nine Days of Adventure in France By: Grace Mimbs

2. In Transit Alex and I at the airport –so proud to be so close to our dream trip after we worked so hard for the money that year Nine hour flight @_@ International flight food was actually pretty good! CDG airport so much nicer than Hartsfield-Jackson

3. Paris for the first time Our Hotel Novotel was so nice and modern! One of my favorites, and not far from Le Tour Eiffel. My first time on the Metro was kind of crazy but exciting –a really great place to people watch!

4. The Louvre The Louvre The Louvre was huge! We only had an hour to run through it, so Alex and I saw some of the left wing. Seeing all the old architecture was one of my favorite things about our brief trip there The Mona Lisa is so much smaller than one would picture

5. Notre Dame It was drizzling while we were waiting to enter Notre Dame in the Latin Quarter It was very dimly lit inside, and since it was noon all the stain glass windows were illuminated Afterwards we had amazing crepes right across the street – I got mine filled with nutella :D

6. Montmartre You have to climb a million stairs to get up to the Montmartre area, but it is very worth it! It’s known as the bohemian section of the city, and is where my favorite church in Paris is located You must visit Sacre Coeur if you are in Paris, it is one of the most beautiful churches -you can see the city really well from right under it

7. Le Tour Eiffel I think it’s best to see the Eiffel Tower at night, and if you’re there on the hour it sparkles :D I think it’s best to see the Eiffel Tower at night, and if you’re there on the hour it sparkles :D We could have done without the rain when we We could have done without the rain when we were up though were up though

8. Free Day in Paris We went back to Notre Dame to go up into the towers to see the whole city in the morning, saw the Marie Antoinette exhibit at Le Grand Palais, saw Musee D’Orsay (I liked this impressionist museum better than the Louvre), and saw the Opera House (inspired Phantom of the Opera)

9. Trouville in Normandy Trouville in Normandy We took a train out of Paris to the next town we were staying at. We all got to go swim in ocean after dinner and play on the play ground. This area was so pretty! –I wish we could have stayed longer than a night!

10. D-Day Beaches D-Day Beaches Seeing the D-Day beaches was a really interesting part of our trip, very different from everything else we did. We saw a 360 degree movie on the invasion that was pretty intense, but very eye- opening. After seeing the movie it made us look off the cliffs onto the beach in a different way. When we first arrived, the beautiful sunny day and the calm waves didn’t give any indication of the magnitude of what had happened there in the forties. I was very surprised that so many Americans are buried in France and not at home.

11. Brittany The old fashioned hotel L’Hotel France et Chateaubriand was one of my favorites. After dinner again, we had free time to go down to another beach. The dessert that night was the best! –Baked Alaska :D Even though St.Malo was another coastal town it was very different from Trouville.

12. The Beach in Brittany We got down to the beach at sunset and it was gorgeous! The sky was pink and orange, and there were these huge mossy rocks to the side closest to the old pirate ramparts. We didn’t swim that night, but it was so great to enjoy the warm, breezy weather on the beach that night and watch the sun go down The water reflecting in the tide pools was a postcard waiting to happen

13. St. Malo We had about an hour an a half of free time in the morning to wander around the shops in St. Malo before we left. The cobble stone streets seemed ancient, and I really wanted to get a giant marshmallow as big as my head covered in chocolate from the bakery :D

14. Mont St. Michel Mont St. Michel A lot of climbing involved here too! You had to climb an inclined, winding path through a million little shops to get up to the monastery The view from the top was to die for! The tide was way out, so we could see all these shining reflective designs in the wet sand, even though it was kind of eerily foggy out to one side.

15. Mont St. Michel Mont St. Michel The pictures to the left show my favorite area of the monastery, the little, flower filled courtyard in the center. It was so relaxing there :D When we hiked back down to the bottom we got baguette sandwiches for lunch

16. Saumur This was the “castles galore” part of “castles galore” part of our trip, lol! I’ll never forget Rick Steve’s warning “Be careful or you’ll chateaux yourself silly!” But really, that’s very hard to do! hard to do!

17. Sleeping Beauty’s Castle Sleeping Beauty’s Castle Chateau Usse was one of my favorite castles we visited in the Loire Valley. It inspired Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots. It had lots of silly manikins everywhere in it too It had lots of silly manikins everywhere in it too

18. Chateau Azay-Le-Rideau Chateau Azay-Le-Rideau –I loved the moat –at this castle! At the gift shop I got my very own pop-up Chateau Azay-Le-Rideau We had the best time getting lunch and ice cream in the quiet, little town near the castle!

19. Chateau Villandry Villandry is famous for it’s Renaissance gardens! I really wanted to attempt the maze but I was afraid I wouldn’t get out in time if I got started :o

20. Chartre Cathedral Chartre is famous for having a piece of the tunic Mary wore when Jesus was conceived. Whether or not this is true, it was a famous place of pilgrimage in the middle ages Chartre is famous for having a piece of the tunic Mary wore when Jesus was conceived. Whether or not this is true, it was a famous place of pilgrimage in the middle ages and has a stone maze underneath the church

21. Versailles Versailles was VERY crowded on the Sunday we visited on Versailles was VERY crowded on the Sunday we visited on We got to tour through about ten rooms in a brief hour

22. Marie’s Hamlet Marie’s Hamlet My favorite part of Versailles was getting to visit Marie’s get-away!Our group had to race to get there and back because of our schedule, but it was so beautiful there! My favorite part of Versailles was getting to visit Marie’s get-away!Our group had to race to get there and back because of our schedule, but it was so beautiful there!

23. L’Arc de Triomphe L’Arc de Triomphe Our last night of the trip we were back in Paris, so our group decided to go see the L’Arc de Trioumphe. Our last night of the trip we were back in Paris, so our group decided to go see the L’Arc de Trioumphe. The sunset was such a pretty backdrop against the lights of the city –I wasn’t ready to go home!