How Does An Anglophile Learn to Love France?

Before I start on this France journey, I think it's only fair to come clean. I'm an Anglophile. I've studied English history most of my life, and snap up historical fiction novels about Britain as soon as they hit the library shelves. You can imagine how wonderful it was to spend two weeks in England last summer, gazing at the locations I've imagined for all of these years. I called it "walking today where Anne Boleyn walked" to respectfully parody one of my favorite hymns. I got chills when I stood at the site of Anne's scaffold in the Tower yard, and I badgered my husband until we took the tour of Kensington Palace, which was not on our original itinerary. He pretended he did not know me when I took the photos of the Diana and Dodi shrine at Harrods. You get the picture.

I want to feel the same way about France, but I don't have the time in the next nine months to become fully immersed in French history. I know the basics, with Marie Antoinette and Napoleon coming immediately to mind. I want to read, read, read, and watch lots of movies about France and set in France.

I decided to start with a video about Versailles called Versailles: The Visit. Earlier in my life I would have wondered how any human being could actually think it was appropriate to cover walls, ceilings, floors, woodwork, and furniture in gold. It always seemed like it was the crazy behavior of Louis XIV, and that other people would also think it was crazy. That was before I visited the Hapsburg palaces in Austria. Unbelievable, but beautiful. Marie Antoinette was used to such ostentatious displays of wealth in her homes in Austria, but the Hapsburgs privately lived what they considered an informal lifestyle, primarily at Schoenbrunn Palace. That's what makes it even more interesting to visit Versailles where Louis XVI also "allowed" her to live "off campus" with her court in a much more informal dwelling.

Unfortunately, this video was so boring I almost fell asleep. It seems impossible to actually make Versailles boring, but this video did that. It gave an insider's view of Versailles which I guess I won't get to see when I visit, but it was very dry and certainly did not give me any flavor of court life in 18th century France. What it did tell me, however, is that when we actually get there, I will need a full day to explore the palace and all of the outbuildings and gardens. I am really looking forward to seeing the Palace, including the recently restored Hall of Mirrors, the Gardens, the Trianon, and Marie Antoinette's estate.

I'm reading French Milk in my free time, which is much lighter than Versailles: The Visit, and making my way through the Rick Steve's travel videos on France. More later on them. Bon voyage!

Getting Started

It seems strange that I am planning my next vacation before I finish cataloguing the digital photos from the last one, but maybe it’s not really strange at all. Isn’t that what travelers do? I don’t think I’m much different than anyone else who loves to travel. I read magazines and books and watch movies and see intriguing locations in which I want to be more than an armchair traveler. So, here is my journey. I’m going to write it down for the world to see. Maybe someone wants to connect with me, maybe not, although I’m hopeful that people will comment and recommend special places. Mostly, I just want to write about my thoughts, plans, and dreams.

In looking back, I know I started planning this trip several years ago after my friends came back from visiting France. A military family, they were figuratively blown away by the experience of visiting the Normandy beaches and the cemeteries. Then, my father died in the spring of 2009. He was a WWII veteran who was drafted in 1943, became a mechanic, and followed the Normandy first wave into France. He never got to go back to Normandy, and I’m not really sure if he wanted to. He hated how WWII was shown on television and movies and never really came to grips with the fact that many human beings learn how to deal with grief and pain by using humor to leaven the memories. When my brothers and I tried to watch Hogan’s Heroes, Dad always said, “That’s not really how it was.” We children were supposed to take his war and all wars seriously and understand the toll that war takes on individual soldiers as well as nations. He was proud of his military service and appreciated that he got to see places in Europe as a young man that he would never have had the opportunity of seeing, and he also valued the benefit of the GI Bill that allowed him to go to college when he came out of the Army. So, when the opportunity came to plan a trip to France, I knew that I wanted to honor Dad’s memory by going to Normandy.

As I started to look at my options, I began reading about trips to Normandy that included visits to the beaches. Many of the reviewers commented about having WWII veterans on their tours, and I realized that shortly, there won’t be anyone traveling who was actually there. Honoring my father’s memory became easier; we were going on a tour that was likely to include WWII veterans. That’s why I decided to choose a Seine river cruise from Paris to Normandy and back.

I asked my dear friend Nadya, who is a travel agent, to recommend a cruise line. As with so many other elements of traveling, she has experience with the cruise lines and was quick to sort through our options. We decided to spend four days in Paris on our own prior to sailing, and then another extra day at the end of the cruise. That way, we have some group time and some individual time to tour.

Now that you know my story, here is the road map for this journey. As I read books and view movies to prep myself for the trip, I’ll comment on them and review them for you. In between, I’m sure you’ll find more of my homegrown philosophy and some more about my wonderful family and friends. Bon voyage!