Biarritz was the first stop we made after entering southwestern France. It has been a luxurious seaside resort since the 1800's, with long sandy beaches and a palace hotel that was once the summer home of Napoleon III.
Further east is yet another medieval town, Sarlat, which has remained preserved and one of the most representative of 14th-century France. It is located in a region where foie gras is one major agricultural production and many small farms raise geese and ducks to produce products such as confits, pate, etc. in the area.
Bordeaux is a major city in southwestern France (and the fifth largest in the country). It has a city square surrounded by old majestic buildings and a reflective pool, public gardens along the curving river quays, and a small cathedral I felt particularly mystical inside.
To the east of Bordeaux, we visited a medieval town St. Emilion, a hilly commune surrounded by vineyards that was designated UNESCO World Heritage Site for its living history of wine-making, Romanesque churches and ruins stretching along steep and narrow streets.
Further east is yet another medieval town, Sarlat, which has remained preserved and one of the most representative of 14th-century France. It is located in a region where foie gras is one major agricultural production and many small farms raise geese and ducks to produce products such as confits, pate, etc. in the area.
Continuing our journey north, we stopped by a one-street-town perched between a cliff and a river, and a 13th century castle that changed hands seven times surrounded by a picturesque field that was a no-man's-land during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) between the French and the English.
As we reached the heartland of France, the Loire Valley, we stayed at a beautifully decorated, charming old French mansion hosted by a hospitable couple, and visited a chateau on the river, and a grand garden that rivaled the grace and class – if not pomp and grandiosity – of the Versailles.
Then we were in Paris. We stayed four nights at a hotel just minutes away from major shopping centers, the opera house, and the Seine River. The re-opened Notre Dame Cathedral was as crowded as we last visited seven years ago, so were the lines in front of the Louis Vuitton flagship store on the Champs-Élysées.
We visited a Sunday morning farmer's market,
a turn-of-the-century museum where a Moulin Rouge-like live show appeared right at the center court,
a public garden featured in Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables,
and heard a choir from England singing at a church that once held the body of the executed King Louis XVI during the French Revolution.
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