It's easy for me to be content with the conveniences and cultural amenities that are afforded to U.S. citizens. I mean why bother traveling when I already have so much "stuff" right where I am? Southern California in particular has Disneyland, beaches, mountains, deserts, museums and the film capital of the world, Hollywood. I'll be the first to say that I'm blessed to live where I do, however I also believe it's important to expose oneself to different perspectives and cultures by traveling abroad and exploring what the rest of the world has to offer.

The United States is said to be the "melting pot" nation and has a little bit of every culture from around the world, but it doesn't provide the same feeling as seeing the enchanted Palace of Versailles before your very eyes and eating some authentic escargot (it's yummy, seriously) in a Paris café. Plus every other developed country has universal, single-payer healthcare so perhaps we should get on board and put some of that in our melting pot too, right? With all that aside, I want to share my experience traveling abroad with my family through France and other parts of Western Europe.

My family and I traveled to so many places in such a short time (about two weeks) that it'll be hard to fully summarize every detail coherently, as the trip was anything but coherent. So to help organize my thoughts and guide the reader along, I'd like to divide the countries I visited into different segments, with the centerpiece being France of course. So without further adieu, here is the story of my travels.

Spain

The first stop on my trip was Barcelona where we stayed for a couple days. We didn't explore the country so much as stay where we were in the city. The first night was relatively uneventful and was spent mostly finding our way to the hotel through the congested and narrow roads downtown, though we did have a nice dinner and ate some authentic paella (very similar to jambalaya). The second day was more action-packed and was spent looking at some famous buildings from renowned Spanish-Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí.

The main attraction of the city is the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia (pictured above), which has been under construction since 1882; this is in the same tradition as the older medieval Gothic cathedrals that regularly took centuries to create. We unfortunately were not able to go inside because the lines were too long and we had more things to see that day, but the exterior was still a sight to behold and the different layers of the church's construction reveal so much history even though it's not technically "complete" yet.

The next place we saw that day was Park Güell, which was also created by Gaudí. This was originally supposed to be some kind of artsy neighborhood for the city's elite based off an idea by Count Eusebi Güell, the park's namesake. However that idea never went off the ground as planned and became a public park instead.

A lot of the architecture is based off a uniquely Catalan offshoot of the Art Nouveau movement called "Modernisme" and reflects the bridge between the earlier historical revival movements of the 19th century and the later streamlined movements like Art Deco and International Style that were still to come. It was a pretty quick visit, but it was a fascinating peek into the vibrant cultural scene of Barcelona.

Northern Ireland

After a long drive up from Barcelona to Nice, France, we took a plane from there over to Belfast in Northern Ireland for a friend's wedding. The weather was refreshingly cold in the middle of summer, being higher up latitude-wise, and it rained frequently while I was there. We stayed in Derry which is about an hour away from Belfast and it featured a fascinating contrast of peaceful historical sites like the church in the photo above, and militant IRA propaganda as shown in the photo below.

As I was walking through town, I never got the sense that this place has had a violent history associated with the conflict between the Unionists (those loyal to Great Britain) and the Republicans (those who want a united, independent Ireland). Despite being aware of the history beforehand, I honestly felt safer and less wary of gunfire in this place covered with militaristic murals than I do back home. Derry as a whole is very lovely and quaint and it's not until you see reminders like this that you realize there's some real tension and bad blood underneath the surface.

Other than the wedding there wasn't much else that we did, as we were only there for a couple days. However we were able to get a good view of that wonderful Irish countryside and coastline before we left. I can't remember the last time I've seen fields this green, as Southern California's been pretty dry and brown for a while. It felt refreshing overall to return to the land of my ancestors, even for a short time.

England

Before making our way down to France, we spent the spent the night in London (my fourth visit here overall) and spent the next morning riding one of the red trolleys downtown, passing by many of the city's usual icons. Not much to say since we didn't stay here too long, but it was a pleasant, albeit brief stay before taking the train down to Normandy.

France

Our stay in France was definitely the most all-encompassing portion of the trip, as we traveled through a large amount of the country from top to bottom, from Normandy in the north, to the French Riviera in the south. I was technically here before flying up to Ireland, having drove from Barcelona through cities like Nimes, where they have this cool Roman temple, and Saint-Tropez all the way to Nice. I decided however to save France for this later section as it did not become a main part of the trip until after leaving England.

The day we left for Normandy was probably the most physically taxing part of the trip for me, riding trains all day and attending to the petty needs of about 10 other people all in a rush to get to the interchange station in Paris which would then take us to our next day's destination in Bayeux.

We wake up the next morning in the quiet town and a tour bus waits for us outside our hotel, which brings us around the key locations of the D-Day invasion. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave us an informative, detailed view into how the invasion went down as it did. Some of the places we went to included Omaha Beach, a commune where the paratroopers landed called Sainte-Mére-Eglise, the bunkers and bombing site of Pont-Du-Hoc, and the American Cemetery at the end of the day. Even though I wasn't able to celebrate Fourth of July the day before, I was still able to get my fill of "hoo-rah" patriotism for my country anyway. Soon enough we took a train down to Paris to get ready for the jam-packed day ahead of us.

We stayed at a hotel just down the road from the Paris Opera House and woke up preparing ourselves for an exhausting list of things to do at some of the city's main attractions. We took two cars in the morning over to the commune of Versailles outside of the city center and parked a short walk away from the palace itself. One of the drivers was our tour guide who gave us audio devices that would make it easier for us to hear him as we went strolling through the palace grounds. We looked around the immaculate gardens and statues outside before heading into the lavish Baroque interior.

The tour guide had much to say about the palace's layers of bureaucracy and how this place acted as both the government center and personal home of King Louis XIV and his successors up until the French Revolution. Considering the palace costed a pretty penny to construct, I'm fairly certain this must have contributed to the debt that would lead to the destabilization and eventual downfall of the Ancien Régime. Very pretty to look at, but not necessarily good for your long-term economic health, just saying. After this, we ate at this great café in Paris where they served some exquisite escargot and moved on to the Louvre.

We met with a couple guides outside the entrance and split off into two groups before walking inside. The tour guide I was with was very friendly and showed us some of her personal highlights along with the centerpieces of the museum that everyone knows, like the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. She discussed a lot about the symbolism of the pieces and the deeper meanings they express overall, but I definitely need to come back for repeated visits because the museum is huge and I didn't see even a fraction of what this cool place has to offer.

After finding my way back to the hotel through the crowded Paris streets, I had to immediately get dressed in a nice outfit despite wanting to lie down at that point. We capped off the day with a fancy dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower, where I asked multiple times for still water instead of sparkling water, which was brought to me repeatedly, as if they were snubbing me for not accepting their default drink. At long last however, they brought out a nice bottle of Evian just for me after much hand wringing in my dehydrated state. My family and I were able to get some good pictures outside and we went back to the hotel to get ready for the flight back down to Nice.

Monaco

We stayed in a beach resort area of Nice, where there wasn't much to do admittedly, however we would make two trips down to the tiny city of Monaco for some good times. On the first trip, I was dressed up once again along with the family at a yacht club and had some savory seafood and a tangy lemon desert before walking into the center of the city to do a little gambling. We didn't go into the main casino itself, as it was a bit too formal for our tastes, but went over to a nearby hotel which had a more casual atmosphere. We stayed at the casino late into the night, as I was holding steady and winning a lifeline every time I was about to lose. This was until my brother suggested I double-down, which proves you shouldn't always count on your brother for everything. We eventually convinced each other to leave for the hotel after losing all of our earnings.

We would come back a second time, this time by boat, and walk around the city during the day. It was a pretty ordinary, but peaceful venture back down to the enclave before a sentimental final moment. The last day of the trip didn't have much going on except for catching up with my younger brother, who had been working on the deck of a yacht that had just landed in Cannes. He still had to work most of the time at port, but it was still nice to be able to see him going places and evolving as a person, I'm happy for him.

So that's the end of my story and I have nothing else to say than thanks for reading and Vive le France!