This August, I had the opportunity to travel back to France to see family, and friends, explore a few new parts of Paris, and attend a friend’s wedding. We started off in Paris, where my brother lives. Paris is a great city, and especially since family lives there, always feels comfortable and welcoming. After a few days in Paris, my brother, parents, and I took the train and then a rental car south to arrive in our favourite beachside town, Cassis. It was beautiful as always, with gorgeout beaches, rugged hiking, and deep blue water filtering inland through the Calanques. Ben and Cynthina’s wedding in Beaucaire was beautiful as well. The ceremony and reception took place on the grounds of an old farmhouse, and we had a great time frolicking in the open fields, picking pears, and dancing all night with the newlyweds. Congrats Ben and Cynthia! Official photos from the wedding were done by Laurent Brouzet. I’ll let the photos and captions speak for themselves – France in the summer is wonderful. Next up after the south, Jason and I ventured northward to Chamonix and Mont Blanc.
![The Calanques of Cassis, France - beautiful water, people boating and swimming everywhere. From Wikipedia: A calanque (from the Corsican and Occitan words of pre-Indo-European origin calanca (plural calanche in Corsican, calancas in Occitan) with meaning "inlet" ) is a steep-walled inlet, cove, or bay that is developed in limestone, dolomite, or other carbonate strata and found along the Mediterranean coast. A calanque is a steep-sided valley formed within karstic regions either by fluvial erosion or the collapse of the roof of a cave that has been subsequently partially submerged by a rise in sea level.[1][2][3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.jeffreydonenfeld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DSC00548-2014-08-07-Paris-and-South-Donenfeld-Full-WM.jpg?ssl=1)
