Bonjour,

What a dream it is to wake up in Paris. We spent the first week here severely jet lagged, which meant instead of sticking to my schedule, we stayed up all night and slept in until noon. We didn’t get out of the apartment until after 3 pm! Whoopsie, I always forget how tired we are the first few days in a new place. So originally I was planning to drive to Deauville but the weather was too cold and rainy to head towards the ocean so we drove an hour north towards the little village of Chantilly. I really love driving in Paris. At first it was scary and confusing but by the second day, it was just like driving in LA except a million more motorcyclists to watch out for. Everyone told us that the weather was freezing in Paris but we didn’t mind at all. It rains here much more often than we are used to but other than Olivia and my hair turning into a huge pouf, we were fine.

It lightly drizzled most of the day. The best part of the apartment we are staying at is, it’s on a private street so I get all the free parking I want.

My gangsta ride.

I kinda love how the toll roads work in France however, we got hit hard with one that was 18 euros and I was like, can we get a heads up before we get hit with that high toll?!

How cute are these maisons? The road was so narrow, Antz was nervous about my driving in the rain. I love setting all our navigation and Siri devices to British accents.

After about 50 roundabouts and having to back up on a narrow one lane street because I missed a turn, we made it! Chateau de Chantilly is so moody and beautiful.

The water was frozen, that’s how cold it was. Chateau de Chantilly was closed because it was Sunday but we took advantage of the picturesque scene and popped out a quick photo shoot with Liv’s Animalesque rabbit headress.

This kid is always asking for baguettes, she is a bread addict! We headed back into the city and went grocery shopping. Guess what? Nearly everything is closed on Sundays, so we had to go to Bic C’ Bon. It is tiny and doesn’t have half of what Monoprix carries but we were able to get some necessities.

Our first home cooked meal was breakfast for dinner! It was yummy but I was dying for our favorite rotisserie chicken.

The next day we managed to get up and out of the house by 10 am. I searched Pinterest the night before for French road trips that were under 3 hours from Paris and Rouen kept coming up. I could tell by the photos it would be worth the drive. The funny thing about driving on the freeway here is how the toll road just suddenly appear and they don’t give you any indication of how much it will be.

First we stocked up on croissants from our neighborhood boulanger.

I can’t even describe how pretty the drive was through Normandie. We made a quick stop along the way to check out this Mairie (Town Hall) when Olivia found the friendliest cat I’ve ever met. She wanted to take her with us (after naming her Marie) but I convinced her that she belonged to someone in the town.

Rouen was much bigger than I expected. There were so many churches but you couldn’t miss the Rouen Cathedral. It was so massive we couldn’t capture it in one photo. Antz took this amazing shot using panorama.

I prayed and lit a candle for my family (living and dead), Liv was fascinated! I explained to her the significance of prayer and she should take time to talk to her Grandma Maria. She loves to light candles now, we can’t pass a church without her asking to light a candle.

Antz found a Saint that beared his likeness. Saint Antho-key?

We walked around the town in awe of the medieval architecture.

I can’t wait until our next road trip. I would like to drive to the beautiful town of Giverny, Claude Monet’s home town for Easter weekend.

Bisous.

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