Honeymoon Series: Normandy, France

Over the summer, my husband and I went on our honeymoon shortly after our wedding. We visited many cool places, and you can read about all of that in this post. I'm going to be chronicling each stop on our amazing trip. Today's post will feature our favorite photos from our eighth stop: Normandy Region, France

(I will update the links below once all posts have been written and published.)

STOP 1 | STOP 2 | STOP 3 | STOP 4 | STOP 5 | STOP 6 | STOP 7 | STOP 8 | STOP 9

What an amazing decision it was that we decided to go to Normandy. Dan and I are both really into history, and I am especially into World War II. Our good friends Lizzie and Michael went to Normandy for their honeymoon and told us we HAD to go, and I am SO glad we did!

Normandy was seriously our favorite stop on the entire trip! It was more laidback and relaxed than all of the big cities we visited (duh), and that was a nice change of pace. We were exhausted by this point of our trip.

I got to cross something off of my bucket list on this trip: running on Omaha Beach. I don't know why I wanted to do that so badly, but it was just as spectacular as I thought it would be. That's where all of the famous scenes from D-Day took place - it's where the Americans (and British and Canadians) invaded, and it was a major turning point in the war. American flags are hung up ALL OVER the little cities over there, and the people we met were so nice to us. It was amazing to see that part of history, and we even stayed at a couple's home from AirBnB.com - they were the cutest and made us typical French breakfasts each day. I could have gotten used to that.

We just had the best time in Normandy - the food was amazing, the scenery was gorgeous, and the history was rich. We visited the American Cemetery of Normandy, and it was surreal walking through there. It was immaculate, and we both felt pretty strongly about seeing that area.

We also got to tour all kinds of old German batteries - where they would try to shoot the Allied Forces from. They're falling apart, but some awesome French people keep them in tact so that history can live on and generations to come will be able to see what the Axis powers did during WWII. It was such a unique experience to be able to crawl through the batteries and see the old cannons. We had a blast being up close and personal to all of those.

We drove back to Paris after leaving Normandy (the only part of our trip we had a car), and on the way, we were able to stop at William the Conqueror's castle - talk about neat as well! This place is just amazing, and I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip to the Normandy region!

Whew! Looking through these pictures sure takes me back... and we'd head back to the Normandy region in a heartbeat! It was seriously the best. 

• Have you ever been to Normandy?
• What was your favorite thing to do there?

Honeymoon Series: Paris, France

Over the summer, my husband and I went on our honeymoon shortly after our wedding. We visited many cool places, and you can read about all of that in this post. I'm going to be chronicling each stop on our amazing trip. Today's post will feature our favorite photos from our seventh stop: Paris, France

(I will update the links below once all posts have been written and published.)

STOP 1 | STOP 2 | STOP 3 | STOP 4 | STOP 5 | STOP 6 | STOP 7 | STOP 8 | STOP 9

Where do I even begin with this post? Paris is a place I had wanted to visit my entire life. I took six years of French, and I wanted to visit Paris more than any other place. I am so happy to report that it did not disappoint! All of the sights we went to were magical. Walking around the city was like a dream - seriously. I LOVED Paris, and I would go back in a heartbeat.

In fact, I really want to for a couple of reasons. 1) We definitely did not get to do everything on our list. It's just such a huge city, and we only had three days there. 2) I was really sick. I had a bad inner ear infection from the sleeper train we took to get from Venice to Paris after our cruise. I even ended up going to the emergency room at the American Hospital of Paris - where they actually still only spoke French - go figure. Instead of staying in, though, I fought my way through the city and still enjoyed it very much.

I'd love to go back when I'm 100% healthy and enjoy it even more. The bread was good, the cheese was good, and the wine & champagne were superb. Dan and I both enjoyed this part of our trip a lot. Seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time from across the city made me jump up and down. Going to the top was AMAZING. The Arc du Triomphe was even better - there's just so much history surrounding it. Checking out the Sacré Couer at sunset was unbelievable, and the Notre Dame Cathedral, flying buttresses and all, was incredible. 

Every time I look through these pictures, I smile and think about how amazing our honeymoon was. I think this stop actually came in second place, though. My number one is coming up in my next honeymoon series post, though, so be on the lookout for that! 

• Have you ever been to Paris?
• What is your favorite thing to do there?
• Is Paris on your wish-list?