a vicarious vacation.

well, my friends.
i am about to indulge myself.
upon the request of it,
and the fact that i no longer am subjecting myself to my own philosophy about blogging,
i am going to take you on a trip through france.
in fact, i'm going to do more than that.
i am going to indulge myself for the rest of this entire month. because my life has been beautiful. and i want to share it with you. i will also probably throw in sappy odes to my best friends and show you way too many pictures of myself. maybe if we're lucky, we'll learn something, too.
i feel joy. i want to share it.


today,
enter normandy.

here we are.
richard the lionheart's castle.
and the pretty little town below.
from up on the grassy hill,
i wonder if this is reality.
or if this is a movie set.

i spent days driving through the countryside.
staring out my window as the green hills grew and fell, and small towns like this one flew by.
there are yellow fields everywhere,
they are supposed to be crops for canola oil.
i think they're just for the color.
we stopped in this small town.
we ate strawberries. and i bought my first croissant.
bonjour, je voudrais un croissant s'il vous plait.
deux euros.
voila.
merci beaucoup.
bonne journee.

the town flew by again, out of sight.
i found myself in giverny,
at monet's home, to be exact. his gardens are beautiful.
so is his paint.

i like that monet was one of the first to let his imagination dictate what he saw,
and what he made.
he wasn't a slave to reality. to the meticulous details of flesh and texture and form.
he saw light. so he shared it.

we slept here. at the chilcott's home.
an old english couple.
that first morning, i woke up, and walked out here.
can you imagine?
i felt like drew barrymore in ever after.
i felt like i wanted to live here forever.
it was a plus that there was a swing,
two ducks,
a cat,
and pink flowers.


the rest?
let's save it for another rainy day.
a preview:
-a dead bird in mr. chilcott's mini war museum
-baguettes
-cathedrals
-sacred spaces
-department stores
-emails from the loved
-paris dresses
-art museums
-bike locks on bridges
-street performers playing sinatra, the beatles, and la vie en rose
-drunk guys on the metros (which i navigated all by myself. human compass.)
-hot guys all over the place
-elizabeth smart
-bruno mars, lady gaga, and avril squandering every hope i had of exposure to french music
-flower shaped gelato
-and an exploration of the latin quarter with cousin michael. (two seventeen year olds let loose in paris. a wonderful night.)

til then.
han.