Tour de France
La beauté de la France ! Ses châteaux, sa cuisine exquise, sa belle langue et son air pur. Ce pays unique a quelque chose de complètement mystique. C'est aussi là qu'Eric et moi passerons 25% de notre temps à la retraite.
-The beauty of France! The chateaus, the exquisite foods, the beautiful language, and the air. There is something completely mystical about this unique country. It is also where Eric and I will be spending 25% of our year when we retire.
Paris
Who wouldn't want to go to Paris? It was one of my goals since I was a young girl. Being French and marrying into a French family made the intrinsic motivation even more desirable. Finally, in 2023, we made it happen. And guess what we learned, Paris can be seen on a dime or a large budget. It is also completely accessible with ramps at every curb intersection, and large Ubers for mobility devices, ramps leading to boats which take you down the Rhine River for a dinner cruise, and guess what? You can enter the Louvre for free and your companion pays half price. Here are our five top favorite things to do in Paris-
1. Purchase a baguette and a bottle of wine and find the perfect spot to view the Eiffel Tower and enjoy the afternoon.
2. Dinner cruise on the Rhine River.
3. With so many cafes to choose from, find one and enjoy a cappuccino while people watching and listening to the French language.
4. Visit the Louvre and go on a scavenger hunt to find the Mona Lisa. Oh, and after 6:00, the Louvre is free for all.
5. Our favorite, take a hat making class and learn the art of measuring, forming, and embellishing your own personalized hat.
Tips of the day, all museums are free on Sundays in Paris, if you can manage it, the Metro and bus system are the most affordable ways to go, and our best tip, if you order tap water, which is completely safe, it is FREE!
"We'll always have Paris."
Loire Valley
You may need your Tiara and top hat for this one! The Loire Valley is located about 2 hours outside of Paris, by car. In fact this is the first time we ever drove in Europe and it was quite easy and made it even more easy for me and my physical challenge. The Loire Valley was absolutely beautiful with its chateaus, rivers, and rolling hills. We stayed at the cutest bed and breakfast Airbnb and immersed ourselves in the language as few people spoke English. I was fortunate to take French in high school and then in the last 2 years brushed up on my French skills using the app, Duolingo, which my students suggested. I was definitely prepared and enjoyed getting to use my French skills. Now let's talk accessibility. Except for the restaurants, you definitely need to be more mobile to take in The Full Experience for this one. First, many of the chateaus are located on Hills or down in deep valleys. They also do not have a lot of pavement, but instead gravel. Finally, they wanted to keep the Integrity of the historical structure and did not add elevators to most of the museums and chateaus. I did give it a try, but it was a lot of work and I skipped going upstairs! If you have slight mobility, it is definitely possible if you take your time.
Bordeaux
One of our favorite things to do being from Southern California is visiting wineries. Bordeaux has some of the oldest wineries and vineyards in the world. We decided to treat ourselves and hired a driver which spun us around out in the country in a vintage London taxi cab. It was such a cool experience and we truly enjoyed our afternoon. Check out some of the photos!
The next day, we drove down to Archachon, a little sea town where we enjoyed some shopping and a beautiful lunch. This was a fun little visit and was quite accessible with my scooter as they have concrete sidewalks everywhere and ramps.
