We continued our journey south through the French cities of Toulouse, Carcassonne and Perpignan.

Bordeaux lived up to expectations. It’s a port city on the Garonne River with some of the most beautiful architecture and buildings we saw in France.
We stayed at a budget hotel, Hotel ibis budget Bordeaux Centre Bastide, located across the river. Although it was a bit of a walk to the city center, we got to cross the Pont-de-Pierre, a majestic road bridge built in the 1820s.
The Loire Valley is a beautiful area of French countryside just south of Paris. With our backpacks in tow, we train traveled through the valley from Cheville to Orléans, then from Blois to Tours.
We put off our honeymoon until summer so we could spend a full month in Europe exploring France, Spain, Andorra and Portugal. We started off in Paris, one of the most romantic cities in the world.