A Winter Jaunt in France
Written and photographed by Wilson Melbostad
As a native Californian, I usually look forward to heading back to the Golden State every Christmas. Seeing friends and family and catching up on all the things that have transpired back home has always been a motivating factor whenever homesickness decided to rear its head. This past year, however, our family called an audible and decided it would be nice to spend the holidays together in a third location. While France didn’t really represent the most logical meet-me-in-the-middle scenario, its beautiful scenery and wonderous gastronomy made the distance for both my fiancé and me in Gwangju, as well as for the rest of my family back in California, negligible.
After a rather forgettable flight and an apocalyptic layover (just a tip: try to avoid flight transfers in Moscow at all costs), our trip officially kicked off after our arrival in Southern France. Next to the rather bourgeois city of Nice is a quaint little village in the French Riviera called Villefranche-sur-Mer, which roughly translates to “Village of France by the Sea.” The Bay of Villefranche is definitely one of the main attractions of the village, as it possesses one of the deepest natural harbors of any port on the Mediterranean Sea. Back in California, I’d become accustomed to watching the sun set over the water, and so had really never experienced a seaside sunrise. Accordingly, I was absolutely blown away by the exorbitant sunrises that we were graced with each morning. France’s convenient northern-latitude locale also meant that we could roll out of bed at 7:00 a.m., head to the local bakery to fetch our morning croissants, and then watch the sunrise’s glorious ballet of colors over a nice breakfast around 8:00 a.m.
After a jolly Christmas in France, the rest of my family returned to the States to celebrate the New Year, which left my fiancé and me about a week of adventuring by just the two of us. To maintain the integrity of my title, I won’t tell you about the superb experiences we had in Belgium, a country that’s casually not France, but will rather skip directly to our jump back into France at the northern port city of Honfleur. Located in France’s northern Normandy region, Honfleur is right on the estuary where the Seine River meets the English Channel. Before the town became popular with pesky tourists like us, the town’s timber-framed houses and quaint circular harbor used to beckon the likes of French impressionist painters, including Monet, Courbet, Cals, Dubourg, and Boudin. In fact, it was the landscape painter Eugene Boudin who called Honfleur “the most ravishing spot in the world.” After Honfleur, we skipped over to the iconic island castle commune of Le Mont-Saint-Michel. The commune is positioned on an island just a few hundred meters from land, which made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims who came to pray in the castle’s dazzling abbey, but also defensible, as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or even drowned would-be assailants. Case in point, Le Mont-Saint-Michel remained unconquered during the Hundred Years’ War (when the French famously fended off a full attack by the English in 1433).
Our last stop before heading back to Gwangju was Paris, the other “City of Light.” It’s said that Paris was actually called the “City of Light” (or “la Ville des Lumières”) because of its role in the Enlightenment period, but also more literally because it was one of the first cities to have gas lighting installed throughout its streets. Paris needs no introduction, so I won’t bore you with the details. Just get to Paris!
Although my fiancé and I certainly missed the cuisine and comfort of Korea at times during our trip (we had to pull our car over a couple of times for some emergency udong noodle sessions), we absolutely loved our time in France. I think it goes without saying that if you haven’t had a chance to visit this global center for art, fashion, gastronomy, and culture, you certainly need to make plans to do so!
The Author
Wilson Melbostad is a human rights attorney hailing from San Francisco, California, who is proud to call Gwangju his second hometown. Wilson is a lecturer at Chonnam National University who, in his spare time, works on various pro bono legal cases throughout the country. Wilson also enjoys breakfast food to the point where he feels comfortable putting such information in his bio.