this post is dedicated to chandler goeckeritz who, when i announced my discovery that my 13th great-grandfather was the king of norway, told me that there's no such thing as princesses. and that in fact, they were just something disney made up to suck in little girls.


false, elder goeckeritz. very false indeed cause I FINALLY SAW SOME CASTLES THAT LOOKED LIKE A PRINCESS COULD LIVE THERE. after fortress upon fortress i saw some real pretty, once in a lifetime stuff. so here are my brief thoughts on each.

mont saint michel: everyone in the world is about to tell me REAGAN this is not a castle it's a monastery you are a mess. and to this i say TRUE but it also looks like a castle. as in tangled. as in it's on a mini island in the middle of the ocean and looks fake and i love it. and there are a lot of stairs.

angers: highlight was the tour guide explaining that you could tell which armies were of the devil in the tapestry because their uniforms resembled that of england. i thought of tyler dodd. also we barely got to see that actual fortress so, tears.

ussé: TEN FOR TEN WOULD RECOMMEND. full blow sleeping beauty manequins set up, bit creepy, but the castle itself is charming and tucked away in the forest and i can 100% picture a slightly bewildered prince wandering through those woods and coming across a beauty fast asleep, locked in that tower. so so so pretty.

me not waiting for prince charming cause mission

azay le rideau: cute and little and if you stuck your head out the window over the river it smelled really good. ask micah. also very intrigued that it is a renaissance castle built on top of the remnants of a medieval castle. history upon history, literally.

chambord: J'AIME. J'AIME THE MOST. ask me if i was already emotionally compromised after finishing les mis for the first time ever, because i was. and then i played the beauty and the beast soundtrack instead of listening to our guide who actually spoke full blown franglish, and then went back to the les mis soundtrack because EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED. also this chateau had the most beautiful out of all beautiful photographs showcased here of the woods surrounding the castle. like, breathtaking. ah. dead.

amboise: ALL I WANTED WAS TO SEE SISTER ABIGAIL NEWELL AGAIN IN TOURS. but alas, it was not to be. but i did see leonardo de vinci's grave so you win some you lose some i guess.


blois: let's just take a moment to appreciate that this town/castle is literally pronounced "blah". or close enough. interesting. i ran past this castle in the morning and then liked it. and then went inside in the afternoon and really just wanted to get back to my sweet lil bus so wasn't overly pleased BUT more fun love triangles with Henry + Catherine +Diane. a baby girl with a disease that gave her hair all over her body. very fun, very fun.

chenonceau: i genuinely think i already wrote about this but because i LIVE TO BLOG and BLOG TO LIVE i'll hit it again real quick. (zero to a hunna real quick). cute castle. on the river. world war 1 soliders fishing out of the windows. kennan dodging pigeons. madeline and anneka assigning everyone their respective residences on the grounds. fresh flowers everywhere. more love triangle. YAY. seriously loved this one.





okay and NOW I AM HERE IN NICE! ALIVE AND WELL IN THIS CUTE BEACH TOWN! thank you for your time. also if you note the extreme lack of photos it's cause i LOST my camera memory card so there were some tears.

last week i lived on a bus, a bus that i willingly would call home. and i miss my bus. not only because within my little row of seats i had a functional pantry, a theatre, a bed, and a bookshelf, but because that bus took me all over france and to literal FAIRYTALE places. castles upon castles. i cannot even tell you all the crazy things i saw.


BUT I SHALL TRY


okay the photos that follow hail from the first two days (I think). Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery in Normandy was truly, truly incredible. sacred ground. on the anniversary of D-Day, no less. I've been studying these things my entire life, from history classes in elementary school to my political science major at BYU, I have always been fascinated by this period in history. I think that more than any other time in history, this second world war was more good versus evil. light and dark. I think that this war was fought on both sides of the veil, at one time or another, and that for once good guys and bad guys were not simply defined politically, but by hate. this, this is why walking between those crosses. those stars of david, the crescents of ramadan. those are boys and girls, lying beneath your feet, who gave it all so that one more beach, one more mile, one more day could be free.

here we go here we go it's three am and my cute host mom is wondering why on earth I'm still up and actually same but last three walks and then never again will I speak of these lol

WALK SEPT: Marais 1: Places des Vosges and Musée Carnavalet

well when I did this there was slight chaos considering the fact that a solid portion of paris is UNDERWATER (don't worry mom I'm taking a bus out of this city first thing in the morning) butttttt I do still love the Marais area in general. couldn't quite picture it as a swamp. but I did seriously love seeing the historical buildings, cause for the ninth time #polisci. lovvved victor hugo's house as well. beautiful and inspiring. and how cool to stand where all these influential people have stood/lived/slept/wrote world changing books? very good, very good.

ps if you want the photos from this (@ professor lebras) feel free to let me know, just having techincal difficulties getting them from my phone to the laptop :(

WALK QUINZE: Saint-Ouen's Labyrinth: Navigating the World's Largest Flea Market

look I'm all for shopping and digging about and finding treasures in flea markets but this was un PEU sketch. very happy that madeline got her leather bag, and that we got to witness dina bartering in arabic to do so but after the 23rd scary man tried to sell me a selfie stick for ten euros i was dooooonnne. still a good experience though. a learning experience. walk fast, do not pause if you have no desire to be swarmed. always keep at least one arabic speaking friend around when navigating flea-market type situations.

WALK VINGt-ET-UN: Get Lost! The Anti-Walk Walk

for sure completed this like 500 times. do not even know where to begin describing this. but probably our most successful "pick a random stop and get off" experience led to the discover of KOI!!!! just a happy japanese restaurant with a really good three-for-eleven-euros menu which insured our return. multiples returns, actually. also found the canadian embassy so #missionbound! (ps found it in belgium this weekend too so yeah).


go team, goodnight. <3

good news I actually may enjoy writing this blog post cause it's about CULTURAL ACTIVITIES! as in the three times I said "hey I'm in France so now I'm going to participate in this distinctly French things" and it went real well, except for a few shambles situations but we would expect nothing less.

1: LES CATACOMBES

roughly 900 people told me I had to check this out so when the homies had time to kill in Paris after their meetings we said "lessgo", and then we did. considering the fact that it was me and a group of seven boys I probably enjoyed it the least out of everyone but STILL was a huuuuge fan. learned so much about the city. wanted nothing more than to know the stories of all the people whose bones rest there. and also, the idea that only a teeny portion of the catacombes are open, let alone explored? k seriously field trip or something???/ would die to see the rest of those. what a strange idea, we're wandering around on top of another reality. or at least, the reality of a few centuries ago.


2: MONET'S HOUSE @ GIVERNY

rain upon rain upon rain but WHO CARES WE ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF GENIUS! also the umbrellas were 30 euros so that was a downside but we good everyone. we good. spent an afternoon wandering monet's gardens, transfixed by the water lilies, both painted and literal. people cross oceans to see those works, it was incredible to be there.


3: FRENCH OPEN @ ROLAND-GARROS

okay people here is where my dreams come true. here is where the fourteen-year-old reagan on a tennis court somewhere in montana, playing a tournament amidst heat stroke wanted to be. I was on the same court as serena williams people. the bryan brother walked past me. we accidentally bought premium tickets and they fed us salmon and steak and green-tea ice cream for freeeeeeee (which resulted in a not-so-brief infirmary visit for anneka LITERALLY SADDEST THING EVER micah and i were very nearly having sympathy allergic reactions). but it's okay, it's okay everyone. i actually can't talk about this anymore because the remaining events of the day were beyond tragic BUT still worth it. still just so beyond thrilled to have seen those clay courts. magic, again.

thirteen and fourteen here we gooooooooo and for you french speakers:

WALK TREIZE et QUATORZE!

Seizième Arrondissement: Guimard and Monet:

dina-rina and I hit this one hard. very good power walking through the neighborhoods of Paris' high and mighty. some highlights? okay it wasn't chronologically first but I ADORED the Marmatton Museum. even though I had to pay to get in. which is for real saying something. dina and I made friends with the kindest security guard, then escaped our never-ending conversation and happily sat in silence, surrounded by monet's and all other kinds of magic. also the political science nerd in me loved the note about the "CD" on license plates indicating a representative of a foreign government????? cool stuff friends.

Eighteenth-Century Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Musée Jacquemart-André, Musée Nissim de Camondo Museums, Parc Monceau:

NEW FAVE PARK. to the point that i got to meet up with miss sara joy davis here later last week, and then returned again to kill some time with dina, and another time purely to eat ice cream. honestly overall I liked the huitième better than the seizième. so take notes future husband s'il vous plaît. both hôtels particuliers were loooooovely. empty, luckily. so us girls were free to wander and picture ourselves in the nineteenth century. long live the eighth arrondissement.

WALK DEUX: Discover the Metro

maybe possibly did this walk too thoroughly, as in i have spent wayyyyy more time than recommended all alone wandering the french metro system the past two months. my assessment? big fan of the Franklin D Roosevelt station cause it is pretty and warmly lit and i like the way the french say "roosevelt". line 12 has super modern looking quais, concorde looks like a word search, chatelet is organized chaos except not that well organized, and line 1 has nicer trains than the rest of them. rer A never really shuts down cause a lot of rich people live out on the end of it, rer C is currently under water (interessing), and Motte-Picquet-Granelle is my favorite above-ground station. there are roughly a billion other mental notes i have about discovering the metro system, so if anyone has further questions please direct them to my ask.fm account. thank you for your time.


WALK DOUZE: Time Travel, Tricks, and Treats Around Saint-Sulpice

first of all, shout out to lexi friend i just saw the first art-deco hotel in paris YOU ARE WELCOME. second of all, lots of yummy things such as macaroons that were very nearly to pretty to eat, old churches (shocker), Poilâne bakery with my favorite food in all of ever BREAD!!! and a really lovely centaur statue. jk, out of all the statues i've seen in this city it was not my favorite. 5/10 would recommend. but you don't have to take my word for it. oh, and i've never seen the Da Vinci Code so Saint Sulpice was intriguing at best BUT i'm sure I will appreciate it far more once i do my research. all in all, good walk, twas pretty weather, good friends, and ps WHY would you name a cafe les deux magots??? just out of curiosity.

it me, again. with more walk updates for you friends.

WALK ONZE: Lutetia Pulchra Est: Musée National du Moyen Âge, Sorbonne, Pantheon, Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, Arènes du Lutèce

okay yeah that was a mouthful. all kinds of very old, very neat things here. especially cool to have the Roman Baths on this walk, I visited them in England with my family two summers ago and making that connection in another country was cool for suuuuure. also the middle ages museum? not a huge fan to be honest. but I was happy to traipse about in there and see the stained glass and the tombstones and such.

sorbonne!! I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL THERE. okay to be honest I just love the idea of how in history the students at that school have been a part of BIG things. revolutionary things. philosophically revolutionary things. and philosophical revolutions are a hobby of mine.

speaking of sciences and studies and such: pantheon was cool in every sense of the word. like, foucalt's pendulum was super intriguing and also it was just super chilly in there guys. ha, puns. physics!!! history! france! all in one!


peace and blessings, goodnight world
reagan