"I see London, I see France," Part 1



Life can be full of surprises, you never know what can happen or where life can take you. They can be good surprises or bad, but either way you have to be prepared and adapt to change. I feel like my life has been full of changes and surprises the last year, both good and bad. I have had to make several changes in both my business and personal life ,but I will delve more into the business changes in a later post. After a year of some pretty negative things, I had the opportunity to experience something amazing


My dad called me one afternoon and asked me if I would like to go on a river tour of Europe. I had to stop and think about what he had just said to me, because it was not registering in my brain. When his words finally did sink in, I of course said "Hell yeah I wannna go!!!" He told me the dates, and that it was going to be him, my step mom and my step brother and his girlfriend. My sister could not go because she was moving to Costa Rica and was not sure if she would be able to make it. She actually has a blog, if anyone wants to read about her journey, you can find it here


So here I am, a little over halfway done with our trip, and I feel relaxed and inspired. I don't think I realized how bad I needed a vacation until I was here. I'm sitting with my parents and a couple from Canada, having cocktails while the boat is on its way to Conflans. We are waiting to have dinner, which tonight will be a multi course tasting menu complete with wine pairings


I cannot remember the names of most of these dishes, but boy, were they amazing. The one below is a quiche Florentine, and the trio of deserts included blood orange ice cream, which was also very delicious. I'm a foodie. I LOVE good food and I like to try new foods whenever I can




This was the first time I have ever been to a tasting, and it was a pretty great experience. Being France and all, you know we had to have a cheese plate in the mix. I tasted several new cheeses I have never tried before and it was all very good


I am not trying to sell you on this cruise line, but it is amazing. It is basically a moving five star hotel. There is no packing up every other day and taking a long bus ride to a new town. The boat moves while you sleep. The food is also incredible, and I will miss having a waiter top off my wine during dinner. All in all, it has been an amazing trip, full of inspiration and new adventures. I have seen so many incredible things and learned a lot about the way people live in Normandy and London


It seems that there are fresh markets everywhere in France, and people do their grocery shopping every day (or every few days), and just buy what they are going to use. It is a much different concept from what we have here in the US. There seem to be an abundance of fresh local produce, meat, and of course, cheese



It is safe to say I could relocate to France and be happy as a clam, or a mouse in cheese heaven. For now, I will use my pictures and memories to inspire me to create some beautiful spaces. You can also live vicariously through my pictures and seek inspiration from to  create in your own home

I will write about several of the places I visited that inspired me over the next few weeks in an installment I call "I see London, I see France." The next post will be of my absolute favorite place I visited. Have you ever been out of the country? If so, where, and what inspired you about that place?


In the meantime, here is a little sneak peak of what the next post in this series will be. Can you guess where this was? 

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