Introduction:

Two years after getting married my wife and I finally found time to go on a proper honeymoon! The decision to choose France as our honeymoon destination came naturally as France offered everything we would appreciate in an adventure: Legendary cuisine, excellent variety of photographic opportunities, and of course being the romance capital of the world (I know it’s a cliché, but why not go for the gold?).

On our 16-day adventure we wanted to spend at least a week in Paris since this was our first time visiting France, and spend the rest of our time “sampling” different parts of France at a relatively leisure pace (we wanted to smell the roses too!). Cote d’Azur (French Riviera) emerged as an ideal second destination because it combined relaxation with an excellent public transport system. Upon departure our itinerary looked like this: Paris (7 days) -> Avignon area (2.5 days) -> Nice (5 days) -> return to Paris for our flight home (we did not have a daily itinerary because getting lost had led to many amazing surprises throughout our travels in the past).  Unlike our trip to China, my wife's semi-fluent French turned out to be an extremely important asset.

AND… For the first time ever instead of staying at hotels we rented private apartments for both Paris and Nice… as for Provence… we opted to let fate decide our fortunes.

1 day whirlwind visit in August

I have always considered Seattle as Vancouver's twin because these two cities are so close geographically from each other (~2 hours by car excluding the border wait).  In typical northwest fashion Seattleites are polite, laid-back, and generally fit (who can blame them? Northwest's natural beauty = outdoor activities).

I have been to/through Seattle many times before but I have never "toured" around the city (like many Vancouverites, Seattle's existence was purely for cross-border shopping... until now).  With the entire northwest enjoying a history-setting fantastic summer, and the Toronto Blue Jays coming to Seattle... Seattle here I come!