Twenty Years, One Ring Per Five: Our Anniversary on the French Riviera

1- Twenty Years, One Ring Per Five: Our Anniversary on the French Riviera

Twenty Years

Twenty years of marriage is one of those milestones that sounds significant even before you start trying to describe what it actually means. It's not just time. It's the accumulated weight of every decision made together, every trip packed for, every dinner cooked, every inside joke that wouldn't make sense to anyone else on the planet.

We decided to celebrate in France (of course we did). It’s a country that changed us both, and we went all in: a road trip through the south, ending in Paris, two weeks total. We had a French rap playlist queued up before the wheels hit the tarmac. We landed, picked up our rental car and hit the open road…credit card at the ready for the million toll stops we knew were on the way.

Dijon: Grey Poupon and a Good Night

First stop was Dijon, overnight on our way south, and yes, we absolutely leaned into the Grey Poupon reference. We had to. The town itself is charming in that very French way where the architecture does most of the work and you just have to show up and walk around appreciating it. A nice meal, a comfortable night, and then south toward the Mediterranean.

We had a wonderful dinner dining on chicken with fresh morel mushrooms that was unbelievably perfect and then wandering through the small streets as the sun went down. It’s a town that we would return to anytime we have the possibility.

Cassis: The Winemaker, the Wine Bar, and the Ring

Cassis sits on the Mediterranean east of Marseille, and if you've never heard of it, that's honestly part of its charm. It's not famous the way Nice or Cannes is famous. It's just deeply, quietly beautiful, with turquoise water and limestone cliffs and a small harbor where fishing boats still go out in the morning.

We were there for two days, and Uncle Larry had done us an enormous favor by pointing us toward Clos Ste Magdeleine, a winery considered one of the most beautiful vineyards in the world. The family still lives in the main house on the property, so you can't wander the whole estate, but what you can see of it is extraordinary. The sea visible through the vines. The kind of view that makes you understand immediately why someone chose this exact piece of ground to plant something permanent.

The people were so lovely. They walked us to a spot with a view of the sea, unhurried and genuinely warm, the way small family wineries often are when they're not performing hospitality but just actually being hospitable.

Then there was the wine bar.

We found a spot in town where the owner was what I can only describe as unreservedly wonderful. He gave us free pours. He gave us hugs. Every time we came back, which was more than once, he treated us like people he'd known for years. That kind of spontaneous human warmth is exactly why we travel.

Cassis is just a wonderful, quitter seaside stop where you could laze away the days and just relax. An enjoyable stay to say the least.

Gordes: The Hilltop Town That Earns Every Cliché

We made a day trip to Gordes, which is one of those Provençal hilltop villages that shows up on every 'most beautiful villages in France' list and still manages to exceed the expectations that list creates. The town is built into the rock. The stone buildings rise out of the limestone as if they grew there organically rather than being placed by human hands. The light in the late afternoon does things I don't have adequate language for.

We drove into the heart of the town and popped in and out of shops, took pictures, and then found a wonderful little café with excellent meringues, cocktails, and a nice view to boot. The sun was out and it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Eze and the Château Eza: Our Splurge Moment

We made the short drive to Eze next, and I want to be careful about how I say this because I don't want to oversell it and I don't think I can undersell it: the view from Eze literally took my breath away when we arrived. I felt emotional. I wasn't expecting to feel emotional. But there it was.

Eze is a medieval village perched on a rocky peak above the Mediterranean, about 400 meters up, and from certain angles it looks like it shouldn't be physically possible that a village exists there. The sea below is that particular impossible shade of blue that the Mediterranean does in summer, and the whole picture is just too much to absorb at once.

Château Eza was our splurge hotel and room for this trip, and we committed to it completely. We sat in the on-deck jacuzzi with wine and champagne and looked out at the sea and tried very hard to absorb everything. We had a tasting menu for dinner that we watched unfold as the sun set over the Mediterranean.

I feel a wee bit like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous showing up in a place like that, but I also feel like 20 years of marriage and a lifetime of traveling as real working people earns you an occasional jacuzzi above the Mediterranean. We earned it.

Monaco: Because It Was 20 Minutes Away

We had never thought seriously about visiting Monaco, but when you're in Eze and Monaco is literally 20 minutes down the coast, the question becomes less 'should we go' and more 'why wouldn't we.' So we went.

It is exactly what you think it is. Incomprehensible concentrations of wealth made very visible in the form of yachts and sports cars that cost more than most people's houses. The casino sits there like it knows exactly what it is. It's a genuinely strange place to spend a few hours and I'm glad we did it, but I don't think Monaco is on our 'can't wait to go back' list.

Vienne: The Perfect Last Night on the Road

Our last night of the road trip before Paris was in Vienne, about halfway between Eze and the capital. Matt found an apartment on a couple's property with a view of the city, which is exactly the kind of accommodation discovery that makes you feel like you're actually living somewhere rather than just passing through it.

Fruits de mer for dinner. Which is to say: a glorious, cold platter of everything the sea has to offer, with good bread and butter and wine, the way the French do it, leisurely and completely unpretentious about the fact that you're eating very well.

Then we were on our way back to our travel heart…Paris.