April 22, 2026 • 23 mins
Episode Title: Episode 31: How Do We Do Worldschooling in France?
Hosts: Astrid & Clint, creators of The Wandering Daughter
(Intro clip sourced from 17:06 — Clint describing the day they were in Paris during a record-breaking heat wave: the equivalent of 120°F, with no air conditioning anywhere)
France may not have been a perfect trip — Paris in July turned out to be one of the hottest weeks on record there — but it was still full of the kinds of moments worldschooling families live for. Astrid and Clint cover the logistics of a month-long stay (Schengen rules, easy driving, a mix of house-sitting and Airbnbs), then move into the highlights they actually loved: castles dotting the countryside, a visit to Versailles that became a conversation about wealth and the French Revolution, wandering the medieval walled town of Pérouges, and a few days in Chamonix with views of Mont Blanc.
Lyon gets its own section — and deserves it. Astrid and Clint make the case for it as an underrated base for worldschooling families, with a strong museum scene (the Confluence science museum, a puppet museum, a miniature model of the city), and the ancient riverside quarter of Vieux-Lyon. Paris, despite the circumstances, still offered the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and one of the first immersive art experiences they'd ever seen — a Hokusai and Van Gogh projection show that predated the trend. They're candid that they want to give the city another chance, and reflective about not having had the time to explore Paris's postcolonial immigrant communities the way they did in Spain and the UK.
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📋 Episode Chapters: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:00:20 – Welcome to Worldschooling Q&A 00:01:25 – Today's Question: How Do I World School in France? 00:01:39 – France Overview: Size, Geography & Getting There 00:02:09 – Logistics: Schengen Zone, Language & Getting Around 00:04:32 – Lodging, Money & Safety 00:07:26 – Castles, History & the Palace of Versailles 00:10:04 – Medieval Towns: Walking Through Pérouges 00:12:35 – Nature: French Alps, Chamonix & a Dormant Volcano 00:13:38 – Lyon: Underrated Museums, Vieux-Lyon & Slow Travel Done Right 00:17:06 – ↩ Source of Intro Clip: Paris in July & the Hottest Day in History 00:21:47 – Outro & How to Support the Show
👉 For full show notes, resource links, and a complete episode guide, visit: https://thewanderingdaughter.com/episode-31-worldschooling-in-france
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Clint Bush (00:00):
One of the days we were there was the hottest day
(00:02):
in recorded history in Paris. Itwas the equivalent to 120
degrees us.
Astrid Vinje (00:08):
Don't go to Paris in July,
Clint Bush (00:12):
yeah, because there's also nothing. There's no
AC. I mean, apartments don'thave a seat like it's usually
mild temperatures throughout
Astrid Vinje (00:20):
the year. This is World schooling, Q and A. I'm
Astrid, creator of the wanderingdaughter as a traveling family,
we've spent four years travelingfull time to over 18 countries
and six continents, wherever wego. We try to learn as much as
we can about the countries andcultures we visit. While we
didn't coin the term. We like tocall this world schooling, using
(00:43):
the world as our classroom eachweek, my husband, Clint and I
will answer one question aboutworld schooling and share our
experiences of traveling theworld with our kids. Ready to
get started? Great. Let's divein. Just all right, continuing
(01:08):
with our country, reminiscing inrecommendations this week, we
are answering the question, howdo I World School in France? So
as we did with previousepisodes. We'll start with the
logistics, and then kind of gothrough some of our key
highlights.
Clint Bush (01:25):
Yeah, I think France is kind of an average sized
country. I think in Europe,somewhere like Spain, and
Astrid Vinje (01:33):
yeah,
Clint Bush (01:34):
Italy, if you scrunch it'll be up into a ball.
Astrid Vinje (01:36):
It's bigger than Italy. Actually,
Clint Bush (01:39):
I stay corrected. I believe there's multiple places
you can fly in. We only flew,we've only flown into per gone
into Paris.
Astrid Vinje (01:46):
Yeah, it's got a few, few major airports around
the country.
Clint Bush (01:50):
Yeah, it's French speaking. There are some English
spoken, especially in Jewishareas. But there, there's kind
of like Italy. It's kind of anational there's a nationalistic
pride about it. So I thinkFrench and French food is, is
what you're going to getprimarily.
Yeah,
what else? What are some
Astrid Vinje (02:09):
well, just like Italy, France is part of the
Schengen countries, and so ifyou want to spend an extended
amount of time in thosecountries, you get 90 days. So
you can either spend all thosemany days in France or, you
know, do like a month and thengo elsewhere among the other
Schengen countries.
Clint Bush (02:30):
Yeah, I think I forgot to mention something
about getting there. Lots ofpeople drive there, especially
from the UK or things like that.There's a lot of people actually
will drive into France. There'slots of trains all over Europe.
It's kind of cool because it'slike Central, so it's very easy.
Yeah,
Astrid Vinje (02:48):
I think France has a really good train system. And
like, as Clint was mentioning,you can drive from the UK to
France via, like, the tunnel,the underground tunnel below the
English Channel. We took myfamily and I took a train there
when I was a kid, through thechannel, so that that was cool
(03:11):
and kind of scary at the sametime.
Clint Bush (03:12):
She's cool.
It's kind of on my bucket list.
Astrid Vinje (03:16):
The other thing about getting around is you, you
mentioned we can you can alsodrive, like you can drive there,
or, you know, once you getthere, you can rent a car. It's
not very hard to rent a car, butthere are some like rules that
you need to be aware of, Ithink, like if you were gonna, I
think you just need tofamiliarize yourself that are
(03:38):
particular. And actually have anarticle on my website talking
about tips for driving inFrance,
Clint Bush (03:44):
similar Italy, similar driving rules you're
driving, It's same as the US. Soyou're driving on the right side
of the road, left side of thecar, there's Roy, you know,
obviously it's kilometers mileper mile, or, sorry, kilometers
per hour. I think the hardestthing maybe for US based drivers
is going to be road signs. Ifyou're not familiar with French,
(04:08):
that, that was a challenge forme. Yeah, other than that, I
think it's other than thosesmall rules you're talking
about. I think it's pretty easylodging, very similar to Italy,
obviously, Airbnbs, you canprobably find local listings
hotels. I mean, Europe is allhotel small hotel culture has
been like in it's an in cultureand has been forever.
(04:32):
So
most of your hotels in Italy issame way. If you are family.
It's a little challengingbecause the hotel rooms are
often small. They're based onoccupancy. A lot of times you'll
have to get two rooms dependingon the inn that you stay at.
Obviously, like modern hotelchains, that changes it a little
bit. But I mean, the inns arewhere it's at. I mean, they're
(04:56):
amazing if you want to stay, butthey're not really geared toward
long term. Says they do havevillas, right? Just like Italy,
they have villas that you canstay or you can find through
local renting. And so
Astrid Vinje (05:07):
yeah, and I would say to terms of like the money
they use euros, and you can useyour card if you want. But
there's, there's still someplaces that will take cash. So
kind of bring, bring your card,your credit card. But also, you
know, have a debit card that youcan withdraw from, like an ATM
(05:30):
or something.
Clint Bush (05:31):
I think we like to mention that because there are
certain places like wementioned, like Mexico, for
example, that's still heavilycash based. And then there's
places like the UK, that's verycard based, so and especially
TAP card. I you know, placeslike France and Italy tend to be
kind of a mix more similar tous. I guess actually us has
(05:51):
become mostly card based at thispoint.
Astrid Vinje (05:54):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (05:55):
but yeah, safety wise, I mean, I think this is
another reason that folks in theUnited States likes to go to
France. It's feels very safe ina lot of ways. Obviously, in
Paris, you deal with a littlebit more like petty
theft.
Yeah. Paris is also one of themajor metropolitan cities of the
world, so it can be a target forcertain things, as history has
(06:20):
shown. But for the most part, Idon't think anyone really has to
worry about their safety. InFrance, there is a nationalistic
pride, so just don't offendanyone.
Astrid Vinje (06:31):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (06:31):
but they we have friends who who have brought
their kid there, and, like, theFrench, and we had this too,
like they're very accommodatingtowards families, but yeah, at
least that was our experience.
Astrid Vinje (06:49):
Yeah. So let's go into some of the key highlights.
So we were in France for about amonth, and we spent three weeks
in Lyon, and a week in Paris.And then while we were in Lyon,
we did some, like, small daytrips to like, surrounding
areas. So that's kind of thecontext of our our highlights.
Clint Bush (07:12):
We did have a tiny stint, like a couple days in
Chamonix, just to get, like, ataste of the French Alps.
Astrid Vinje (07:21):
Yeah. So what did we like? What did you like about
some of those places that wevisited?
Clint Bush (07:26):
I know we started with Leon, but I'm going to skip
Leon for a second, because thething that I found absolutely
fascinating, just the castles.
I mean,
so in Italy, you talked aboutjust the rich history, like the
Roman Empire, and just like allthis old ruins and architecture
all around but in France, it wasthe castles. I mean, just they
(07:51):
and we saw this too. When wetalk about the UK, we'll talk
about this as well, but it'sjust like driving from one city
to another and just passing acastle. It's just it was for us
like that have grown up here inthe United States. It's just
that seems bizarre. I mean,
Astrid Vinje (08:12):
yeah,
Clint Bush (08:12):
crazy,
Astrid Vinje (08:13):
yeah.
Clint Bush (08:13):
So I think that was one major highlight for me.
Astrid Vinje (08:17):
Yeah, I think that was a nice that was a nice
highlight for me as well, andespecially like when we were in
Paris, we took a day trip out tothe Palace of Versailles. And
you know, say what you willabout, like the extravagance of
that era, but it really wasbeautiful, and just all of these
(08:38):
rooms and the gardens and thingslike that. And that was a fun,
like experience to walk throughthere. And we talked a little
bit afterwards about, like, youknow, the French Revolution and
what was going on in the rest ofthe country while the, you know,
the king and the queen werebuilding these palaces and
(08:59):
enjoying themselves. And so thatwas an interesting, like
opportunity to talk about, like,privilege and inequality.
Clint Bush (09:08):
Yeah. Well, speaking of that, like France somewhere,
most of Europe has thisincredible and deep history,
modern like, I say modernhistory, but it's like, kind of
modern civilization history, andso it's, it's, it's just
incredible. I mean, you know,like the Palace of Versailles,
(09:30):
for example,
and
the rich history it has Paris ingeneral. I mean, there's a
there's, I remember walkingthrough this part of Paris, and
it was like, Oh, this, this oneplaque on this just benign
corner of Paris. Whereas, youknow, restaurants, coffee shops,
just apartments. Nothingfantastic about it, in any way.
(09:54):
But there's this one plaquelike, this is where famous
guillotine sat, where. Like,lots of people execute, and
you're like, Oh, this is a waydifferent place.
Astrid Vinje (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think. I mean, France is great
if you're wanting to, like, ifyou're a history buff, or if you
want to, like, you know, diveinto some history stuff, because
of there's like, still oldmedieval towns. I mean, when we
were staying in Lyon, we wentand did, like a day trip to
(10:26):
peruge,
Clint Bush (10:27):
yeah.
Astrid Vinje (10:28):
And then this is an old medieval town, and walked
through this castle, or I don'tknow, it was kind of a castle,
right, but it was like the townhad a wall, like a fortress. It
was kind of like a fortress too.And then I liked that, because I
felt like I was, like walkingback in time, but people were
but then there were these, likemodern businesses in there. So
(10:49):
there's this like juxtapositionof old and new that you find in
other parts of Europe too, andfor people like us. I grew up in
in North America, like, we justdon't get that
Clint Bush (11:05):
yeah, the closest
Astrid Vinje (11:06):
day to day,
Clint Bush (11:07):
yeah, the closest we get in the United States is,
like, the old forts from like,
yeah,
Old West days or and stuff. Andthen, or we get, like, if you go
really far back we get, like,the ruins and the cliff
dwellings and stuff in MesaVerde.
That's true,
but people are not livingamongst those and having
(11:29):
businesses and just treatingthem like every day. Well, of
course, we live it. No, they'relike, always tourists,
Astrid Vinje (11:36):
right?
Clint Bush (11:36):
Preserved things. So,
Astrid Vinje (11:38):
I mean, France has a lot of those, like medieval
towns, which is great if you'rewanting to, like, learn about
medieval history and kind ofwatch some videos, or read some
books ahead of time and then gowalk through these towns.
Clint Bush (11:53):
Yeah, it's
Astrid Vinje (11:54):
a cool, like, immersive experience.
Clint Bush (11:57):
I think I wanted to talk about the kind of the
nature, just the beauty ofFrance. I mean, it's similar to
Italy. It's it's nothingspecific, and you're not like,
you're not getting wildlife,type of nature and stuff like
that, but it's just absolutelygorgeous. I mean, Chamonix and
French Alps, Mont Blanc,incredible, incredible mountains
(12:20):
and beauty and just the rollinghills. And, I mean, it's
picturesque. That could just beour conditioning raised over
time of a Europe centric historyand school system. But yeah,
Astrid Vinje (12:35):
well, so when we were in Lyon, we were house
sitting for a couple weeks. Sowe had, like a dog that we, you
know, got to take a walk, and wewere able to borrow the owner's
car. So we did do some like daytrips out to, we did do some day
trips out to like parks, youknow, nearby nature parks. And I
(12:58):
do remember walking to one thatwas like a dormant volcano. And
in my mind, I was thinking,like, there are volcanoes in
France, yeah. But it was, it wasgorgeous. You know, we climbed
up mountain or the volcano, and,like, looked out onto the fields
and the hills and, yeah, so itwas nice. It was a nice
(13:21):
especially because, well, Iguess, prior to being in France,
we were in Italy, and so thatwas like a continuation of the
like being out in nature andseeing things like the
countryside type of experience.
Clint Bush (13:35):
What about Lyon? To say more about Lyon?
Astrid Vinje (13:38):
Oh, yeah, so Lyon is, I feel like it's an
underrated city as well. Likemost people, when they go to
France, they'll be like, Ohyeah, Paris, oh Marseille, or
nice, you know, along theMediterranean. But Leon had the
school vibe to it for us. And Ithink that, and I think what I
(13:58):
liked was the amount of museumsthat I had, so we there's, like
a fantastic science museumcalled the confluence museum.
And then there were some, likesmaller museums we went to, like
a puppet museum. We went tothis, like miniature, miniature
world, where every like theythey did, like the city of Leon
(14:21):
in miniature. And it was
Clint Bush (14:23):
awesome, yeah, wasn't there like, a movie?
There's some there was a movie,yeah,
Astrid Vinje (14:27):
museum
Clint Bush (14:28):
with movie props and things,
Astrid Vinje (14:30):
Yep, yeah. And then the the city itself is
great because there's, like, anold part of the town called vio
Leon. They called it the youngbecause it's old city and, you
know, and just it felt veryhistoric. And then there's like,
a little romance about it, youknow,
Clint Bush (14:50):
yeah, it reminds me, and it's right along the river,
actually reminds me of Kyoto.Also, it's like that very
similar, like old, old part ofthe town that's. Along the
river, which makes sense, right?They build along the river, and
that's super beautiful. Can getreally packed with tourists,
though it
is
definitely the popular touristspot of Leon, and it's so
(15:14):
concentrated Leon's fascinatingbecause tourism, it's almost
like Las Vegas, like all thetourism is concentrated on that
one strip, and then the rest ofthe town sees like, no tourism.
So you can totally ignore thatstrip if tourism is not your
thing, and
Astrid Vinje (15:31):
yeah, and
Clint Bush (15:32):
just live in this, like, French city,
Astrid Vinje (15:34):
one of the things kind of going back to the
logistics, though, we had a carwhen we were there. And one of
the things is like, if the roadsall are kind of like one ways.
So if you miss an exit, youcan't just, like, go and turn
around. You have to, like, go 20minutes and and then find a way
to turn back around and then goto that exit. So just keep that
(15:55):
in mind if you plan on driving,which
Clint Bush (15:57):
makes it a problem when you don't quite understand
how French words are spelled.They're trying to find exits.
Astrid Vinje (16:04):
Yeah, I have a article on my site with like,
highlights of Lyon. So we can,we can, you can dive into that a
little bit more if you'reinterested.
Clint Bush (16:14):
So I think we would be scolded if we didn't talk
about Paris.
Astrid Vinje (16:20):
Yeah, and
Clint Bush (16:21):
we didn't spend a lot of time in France, so we
can't really say we didn't getto explore as much of France as
as we wanted to, or, you know,travel around France as much as
wanted to. But we did go toParis. We went to Paris for a
week because we wanted to seeParis. Before you say anything,
I would just say we shouldprobably give it another chance,
(16:42):
because
a lot of people love Paris. Wedidn't have the best experience
in Paris
Astrid Vinje (16:47):
well. So here's the thing, we came in July, and
as it happened, it was the weekthat we were in Paris, France
was going through a heat stroke,and it was the hottest it had
been in
Clint Bush (17:02):
history.
Astrid Vinje (17:03):
In history, the hottest time in history,
Clint Bush (17:06):
literally, was one of the days we were there. Was
the hottest day and recordedhistory in Paris. It was the
equivalent to 120 degrees us.
Astrid Vinje (17:16):
Don't go to Paris in July,
Clint Bush (17:19):
yeah, because there's also nothing. There's no
AC. I mean, apartments don'thave AC, like, it's usually mild
temperatures throughout the
Astrid Vinje (17:27):
Yes, yeah.
Clint Bush (17:29):
So yeah, having said that, most of our time, because
it was so hot, was spent in thesubway and malls trying to,
like, stay cool,
yeah,
museums or things like that. So,so just made everything hard,
taking the subway everywhere,being out, walking like
everything was hard. And we did.We did a lot of the and because
(17:53):
we were only there a week, Ithink we did mostly touristy
type of things,
Astrid Vinje (17:56):
yeah.
Clint Bush (17:56):
So we went to the louver, which I thought was
beautiful, but you are waitingin line a lot. You know, we went
to the Eiffel Tower. What weresome of the other
Astrid Vinje (18:06):
well? So Paris is great because it does have so
many museums, and we went to onethat was like at the time. This
was in 2019 at the time, thesetypes of museums were not that
popular. But now you can findthem everywhere. But it was
like, they called it, like theLumiere workshop, or something
(18:28):
like the light workshop. Butit's basically those, like
immersive art experiences where,and we did, the one that we did
was like a Japanese artist, Ithink, was it Hokusai? Yeah,
Clint Bush (18:41):
it was Hokusai.
Astrid Vinje (18:42):
Hokusai, and then Van Gogh. And you go in, and
it's just a big room, andthere's like projectors, and
then they, like, splash thepaintings on the walls, but it's
kind of like animated, moving,so you feel like you're in these
paintings. So that was reallycool. Now you can find those
types of experiences aroundaround the world, essentially in
(19:06):
like big cities, but that wasthe first time that we had
something like that.
Clint Bush (19:11):
We also, we didn't really get to experience French
food, even in Lyon, we did acouple times. It wasn't really
our cup of tea is little heavy,kind of expensive. So when we
were at Paris, we also couldhave just been the places that
we're picking to. We just like,we just felt like we're paying a
(19:31):
lot all the time,
Astrid Vinje (19:32):
right?
Clint Bush (19:33):
And so it's a little disappointing. Now we have
really close friends of ours whoabsolutely adore Paris, and we
like, we need to go back withthem,
Astrid Vinje (19:44):
yeah,
Clint Bush (19:45):
and experience it differently.
Astrid Vinje (19:47):
I think, I think what was interesting, too, is I
would have expected to see a lotmore. You know, like France used
to be one of the colonialcultures, right? Like. It had
colonies all around the world,and I would have expected to see
at least in Paris, and maybe wewere just not going into the
(20:09):
right places. But like some ofthose, like former colonies, you
know, community, like immigrantcommunities from those former
colonies, like having a place inthe city, or having like,
communities in the city. Butmaybe we, because we were there
for such a short time, we like,stuck to the same area, the
(20:34):
touristy areas that we didn'treally try and like, go in
there. So I think that issomething I would have wanted
to, like, dive into a little bitmore, just like, you know, post
colonialism, like, whatinfluence to those former
colonies have on France?
Clint Bush (20:51):
Yeah, you're right, because that was something we
saw in Spain. It was somethingwe saw in the UK. We never
really see it in Italy. But thatmakes sense, because the Roman
Empire was so long ago that youdidn't really get that, yeah,
Astrid Vinje (21:02):
yeah. I think it's really big in the UK, because,
you know, you have so manyimmigrant populations there,
Clint Bush (21:07):
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (21:08):
yeah,
Clint Bush (21:08):
that was interesting. So having said
that, we're city people, we'rebig city people, like, we love
Tokyo, we love London, and welove New York City and so,
Astrid Vinje (21:20):
yeah, I
Clint Bush (21:20):
think, I think it was a little bit disappointing
for us to have kind of not agreat experience in Paris,
because it's like, it's one ofthe major metropolitan places in
the world. So we were like,Yeah, of course we would love
this place. And it was like,what happened? So we'll give it
another chance.
Astrid Vinje (21:37):
Yeah, we'll give it another
Clint Bush (21:38):
chance. Yeah, for sure. Anything else you want to
mention about friends?
Unknown (21:42):
I think I don't have anything else.
Clint Bush (21:45):
Yeah, it's okay.
Astrid Vinje (21:47):
Well, that's all for today. Thank you for joining
us on this episode of Worldschooling, Q and A with Astrid
and Clint. Be sure
Clint Bush (21:55):
to
Astrid Vinje (21:55):
check out the show notes for any links we mentioned
in the episode, and visit mywebsite, the wandering
daughter.com to dive deeper intoworld schooling and family
travel.
Clint Bush (22:04):
If you like what you hear, please consider supporting
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(22:25):
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Astrid Vinje (22:31):
If you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to
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(22:52):
them in the comments or send usa message at the wandering
daughter.com. Forward slashpodcast until next time. Happy
travels. Bye. You.
One of the days we were there was the hottest day
(00:02):
in recorded history in Paris. Itwas the equivalent to 120
degrees us.
Astrid Vinje (00:08):
Don't go to Paris in July,
Clint Bush (00:12):
yeah, because there's also nothing. There's no
AC. I mean, apartments don'thave a seat like it's usually
mild temperatures throughout
Astrid Vinje (00:20):
the year. This is World schooling, Q and A. I'm
Astrid, creator of the wanderingdaughter as a traveling family,
we've spent four years travelingfull time to over 18 countries
and six continents, wherever wego. We try to learn as much as
we can about the countries andcultures we visit. While we
didn't coin the term. We like tocall this world schooling, using
(00:43):
the world as our classroom eachweek, my husband, Clint and I
will answer one question aboutworld schooling and share our
experiences of traveling theworld with our kids. Ready to
get started? Great. Let's divein. Just all right, continuing
(01:08):
with our country, reminiscing inrecommendations this week, we
are answering the question, howdo I World School in France? So
as we did with previousepisodes. We'll start with the
logistics, and then kind of gothrough some of our key
highlights.
Clint Bush (01:25):
Yeah, I think France is kind of an average sized
country. I think in Europe,somewhere like Spain, and
Astrid Vinje (01:33):
yeah,
Clint Bush (01:34):
Italy, if you scrunch it'll be up into a ball.
Astrid Vinje (01:36):
It's bigger than Italy. Actually,
Clint Bush (01:39):
I stay corrected. I believe there's multiple places
you can fly in. We only flew,we've only flown into per gone
into Paris.
Astrid Vinje (01:46):
Yeah, it's got a few, few major airports around
the country.
Clint Bush (01:50):
Yeah, it's French speaking. There are some English
spoken, especially in Jewishareas. But there, there's kind
of like Italy. It's kind of anational there's a nationalistic
pride about it. So I thinkFrench and French food is, is
what you're going to getprimarily.
Yeah,
what else? What are some
Astrid Vinje (02:09):
well, just like Italy, France is part of the
Schengen countries, and so ifyou want to spend an extended
amount of time in thosecountries, you get 90 days. So
you can either spend all thosemany days in France or, you
know, do like a month and thengo elsewhere among the other
Schengen countries.
Clint Bush (02:30):
Yeah, I think I forgot to mention something
about getting there. Lots ofpeople drive there, especially
from the UK or things like that.There's a lot of people actually
will drive into France. There'slots of trains all over Europe.
It's kind of cool because it'slike Central, so it's very easy.
Yeah,
Astrid Vinje (02:48):
I think France has a really good train system. And
like, as Clint was mentioning,you can drive from the UK to
France via, like, the tunnel,the underground tunnel below the
English Channel. We took myfamily and I took a train there
when I was a kid, through thechannel, so that that was cool
(03:11):
and kind of scary at the sametime.
Clint Bush (03:12):
She's cool.
It's kind of on my bucket list.
Astrid Vinje (03:16):
The other thing about getting around is you, you
mentioned we can you can alsodrive, like you can drive there,
or, you know, once you getthere, you can rent a car. It's
not very hard to rent a car, butthere are some like rules that
you need to be aware of, Ithink, like if you were gonna, I
think you just need tofamiliarize yourself that are
(03:38):
particular. And actually have anarticle on my website talking
about tips for driving inFrance,
Clint Bush (03:44):
similar Italy, similar driving rules you're
driving, It's same as the US. Soyou're driving on the right side
of the road, left side of thecar, there's Roy, you know,
obviously it's kilometers mileper mile, or, sorry, kilometers
per hour. I think the hardestthing maybe for US based drivers
is going to be road signs. Ifyou're not familiar with French,
(04:08):
that, that was a challenge forme. Yeah, other than that, I
think it's other than thosesmall rules you're talking
about. I think it's pretty easylodging, very similar to Italy,
obviously, Airbnbs, you canprobably find local listings
hotels. I mean, Europe is allhotel small hotel culture has
been like in it's an in cultureand has been forever.
(04:32):
So
most of your hotels in Italy issame way. If you are family.
It's a little challengingbecause the hotel rooms are
often small. They're based onoccupancy. A lot of times you'll
have to get two rooms dependingon the inn that you stay at.
Obviously, like modern hotelchains, that changes it a little
bit. But I mean, the inns arewhere it's at. I mean, they're
(04:56):
amazing if you want to stay, butthey're not really geared toward
long term. Says they do havevillas, right? Just like Italy,
they have villas that you canstay or you can find through
local renting. And so
Astrid Vinje (05:07):
yeah, and I would say to terms of like the money
they use euros, and you can useyour card if you want. But
there's, there's still someplaces that will take cash. So
kind of bring, bring your card,your credit card. But also, you
know, have a debit card that youcan withdraw from, like an ATM
(05:30):
or something.
Clint Bush (05:31):
I think we like to mention that because there are
certain places like wementioned, like Mexico, for
example, that's still heavilycash based. And then there's
places like the UK, that's verycard based, so and especially
TAP card. I you know, placeslike France and Italy tend to be
kind of a mix more similar tous. I guess actually us has
(05:51):
become mostly card based at thispoint.
Astrid Vinje (05:54):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (05:55):
but yeah, safety wise, I mean, I think this is
another reason that folks in theUnited States likes to go to
France. It's feels very safe ina lot of ways. Obviously, in
Paris, you deal with a littlebit more like petty
theft.
Yeah. Paris is also one of themajor metropolitan cities of the
world, so it can be a target forcertain things, as history has
(06:20):
shown. But for the most part, Idon't think anyone really has to
worry about their safety. InFrance, there is a nationalistic
pride, so just don't offendanyone.
Astrid Vinje (06:31):
Yeah,
Clint Bush (06:31):
but they we have friends who who have brought
their kid there, and, like, theFrench, and we had this too,
like they're very accommodatingtowards families, but yeah, at
least that was our experience.
Astrid Vinje (06:49):
Yeah. So let's go into some of the key highlights.
So we were in France for about amonth, and we spent three weeks
in Lyon, and a week in Paris.And then while we were in Lyon,
we did some, like, small daytrips to like, surrounding
areas. So that's kind of thecontext of our our highlights.
Clint Bush (07:12):
We did have a tiny stint, like a couple days in
Chamonix, just to get, like, ataste of the French Alps.
Astrid Vinje (07:21):
Yeah. So what did we like? What did you like about
some of those places that wevisited?
Clint Bush (07:26):
I know we started with Leon, but I'm going to skip
Leon for a second, because thething that I found absolutely
fascinating, just the castles.
I mean,
so in Italy, you talked aboutjust the rich history, like the
Roman Empire, and just like allthis old ruins and architecture
all around but in France, it wasthe castles. I mean, just they
(07:51):
and we saw this too. When wetalk about the UK, we'll talk
about this as well, but it'sjust like driving from one city
to another and just passing acastle. It's just it was for us
like that have grown up here inthe United States. It's just
that seems bizarre. I mean,
Astrid Vinje (08:12):
yeah,
Clint Bush (08:12):
crazy,
Astrid Vinje (08:13):
yeah.
Clint Bush (08:13):
So I think that was one major highlight for me.
Astrid Vinje (08:17):
Yeah, I think that was a nice that was a nice
highlight for me as well, andespecially like when we were in
Paris, we took a day trip out tothe Palace of Versailles. And
you know, say what you willabout, like the extravagance of
that era, but it really wasbeautiful, and just all of these
(08:38):
rooms and the gardens and thingslike that. And that was a fun,
like experience to walk throughthere. And we talked a little
bit afterwards about, like, youknow, the French Revolution and
what was going on in the rest ofthe country while the, you know,
the king and the queen werebuilding these palaces and
(08:59):
enjoying themselves. And so thatwas an interesting, like
opportunity to talk about, like,privilege and inequality.
Clint Bush (09:08):
Yeah. Well, speaking of that, like France somewhere,
most of Europe has thisincredible and deep history,
modern like, I say modernhistory, but it's like, kind of
modern civilization history, andso it's, it's, it's just
incredible. I mean, you know,like the Palace of Versailles,
(09:30):
for example,
and
the rich history it has Paris ingeneral. I mean, there's a
there's, I remember walkingthrough this part of Paris, and
it was like, Oh, this, this oneplaque on this just benign
corner of Paris. Whereas, youknow, restaurants, coffee shops,
just apartments. Nothingfantastic about it, in any way.
(09:54):
But there's this one plaquelike, this is where famous
guillotine sat, where. Like,lots of people execute, and
you're like, Oh, this is a waydifferent place.
Astrid Vinje (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think. I mean, France is great
if you're wanting to, like, ifyou're a history buff, or if you
want to, like, you know, diveinto some history stuff, because
of there's like, still oldmedieval towns. I mean, when we
were staying in Lyon, we wentand did, like a day trip to
(10:26):
peruge,
Clint Bush (10:27):
yeah.
Astrid Vinje (10:28):
And then this is an old medieval town, and walked
through this castle, or I don'tknow, it was kind of a castle,
right, but it was like the townhad a wall, like a fortress. It
was kind of like a fortress too.And then I liked that, because I
felt like I was, like walkingback in time, but people were
but then there were these, likemodern businesses in there. So
(10:49):
there's this like juxtapositionof old and new that you find in
other parts of Europe too, andfor people like us. I grew up in
in North America, like, we justdon't get that
Clint Bush (11:05):
yeah, the closest
Astrid Vinje (11:06):
day to day,
Clint Bush (11:07):
yeah, the closest we get in the United States is,
like, the old forts from like,
yeah,
Old West days or and stuff. Andthen, or we get, like, if you go
really far back we get, like,the ruins and the cliff
dwellings and stuff in MesaVerde.
That's true,
but people are not livingamongst those and having
(11:29):
businesses and just treatingthem like every day. Well, of
course, we live it. No, they'relike, always tourists,
Astrid Vinje (11:36):
right?
Clint Bush (11:36):
Preserved things. So,
Astrid Vinje (11:38):
I mean, France has a lot of those, like medieval
towns, which is great if you'rewanting to, like, learn about
medieval history and kind ofwatch some videos, or read some
books ahead of time and then gowalk through these towns.
Clint Bush (11:53):
Yeah, it's
Astrid Vinje (11:54):
a cool, like, immersive experience.
Clint Bush (11:57):
I think I wanted to talk about the kind of the
nature, just the beauty ofFrance. I mean, it's similar to
Italy. It's it's nothingspecific, and you're not like,
you're not getting wildlife,type of nature and stuff like
that, but it's just absolutelygorgeous. I mean, Chamonix and
French Alps, Mont Blanc,incredible, incredible mountains
(12:20):
and beauty and just the rollinghills. And, I mean, it's
picturesque. That could just beour conditioning raised over
time of a Europe centric historyand school system. But yeah,
Astrid Vinje (12:35):
well, so when we were in Lyon, we were house
sitting for a couple weeks. Sowe had, like a dog that we, you
know, got to take a walk, and wewere able to borrow the owner's
car. So we did do some like daytrips out to, we did do some day
trips out to like parks, youknow, nearby nature parks. And I
(12:58):
do remember walking to one thatwas like a dormant volcano. And
in my mind, I was thinking,like, there are volcanoes in
France, yeah. But it was, it wasgorgeous. You know, we climbed
up mountain or the volcano, and,like, looked out onto the fields
and the hills and, yeah, so itwas nice. It was a nice
(13:21):
especially because, well, Iguess, prior to being in France,
we were in Italy, and so thatwas like a continuation of the
like being out in nature andseeing things like the
countryside type of experience.
Clint Bush (13:35):
What about Lyon? To say more about Lyon?
Astrid Vinje (13:38):
Oh, yeah, so Lyon is, I feel like it's an
underrated city as well. Likemost people, when they go to
France, they'll be like, Ohyeah, Paris, oh Marseille, or
nice, you know, along theMediterranean. But Leon had the
school vibe to it for us. And Ithink that, and I think what I
(13:58):
liked was the amount of museumsthat I had, so we there's, like
a fantastic science museumcalled the confluence museum.
And then there were some, likesmaller museums we went to, like
a puppet museum. We went tothis, like miniature, miniature
world, where every like theythey did, like the city of Leon
(14:21):
in miniature. And it was
Clint Bush (14:23):
awesome, yeah, wasn't there like, a movie?
There's some there was a movie,yeah,
Astrid Vinje (14:27):
museum
Clint Bush (14:28):
with movie props and things,
Astrid Vinje (14:30):
Yep, yeah. And then the the city itself is
great because there's, like, anold part of the town called vio
Leon. They called it the youngbecause it's old city and, you
know, and just it felt veryhistoric. And then there's like,
a little romance about it, youknow,
Clint Bush (14:50):
yeah, it reminds me, and it's right along the river,
actually reminds me of Kyoto.Also, it's like that very
similar, like old, old part ofthe town that's. Along the
river, which makes sense, right?They build along the river, and
that's super beautiful. Can getreally packed with tourists,
though it
is
definitely the popular touristspot of Leon, and it's so
(15:14):
concentrated Leon's fascinatingbecause tourism, it's almost
like Las Vegas, like all thetourism is concentrated on that
one strip, and then the rest ofthe town sees like, no tourism.
So you can totally ignore thatstrip if tourism is not your
thing, and
Astrid Vinje (15:31):
yeah, and
Clint Bush (15:32):
just live in this, like, French city,
Astrid Vinje (15:34):
one of the things kind of going back to the
logistics, though, we had a carwhen we were there. And one of
the things is like, if the roadsall are kind of like one ways.
So if you miss an exit, youcan't just, like, go and turn
around. You have to, like, go 20minutes and and then find a way
to turn back around and then goto that exit. So just keep that
(15:55):
in mind if you plan on driving,which
Clint Bush (15:57):
makes it a problem when you don't quite understand
how French words are spelled.They're trying to find exits.
Astrid Vinje (16:04):
Yeah, I have a article on my site with like,
highlights of Lyon. So we can,we can, you can dive into that a
little bit more if you'reinterested.
Clint Bush (16:14):
So I think we would be scolded if we didn't talk
about Paris.
Astrid Vinje (16:20):
Yeah, and
Clint Bush (16:21):
we didn't spend a lot of time in France, so we
can't really say we didn't getto explore as much of France as
as we wanted to, or, you know,travel around France as much as
wanted to. But we did go toParis. We went to Paris for a
week because we wanted to seeParis. Before you say anything,
I would just say we shouldprobably give it another chance,
(16:42):
because
a lot of people love Paris. Wedidn't have the best experience
in Paris
Astrid Vinje (16:47):
well. So here's the thing, we came in July, and
as it happened, it was the weekthat we were in Paris, France
was going through a heat stroke,and it was the hottest it had
been in
Clint Bush (17:02):
history.
Astrid Vinje (17:03):
In history, the hottest time in history,
Clint Bush (17:06):
literally, was one of the days we were there. Was
the hottest day and recordedhistory in Paris. It was the
equivalent to 120 degrees us.
Astrid Vinje (17:16):
Don't go to Paris in July,
Clint Bush (17:19):
yeah, because there's also nothing. There's no
AC. I mean, apartments don'thave AC, like, it's usually mild
temperatures throughout the
Astrid Vinje (17:27):
Yes, yeah.
Clint Bush (17:29):
So yeah, having said that, most of our time, because
it was so hot, was spent in thesubway and malls trying to,
like, stay cool,
yeah,
museums or things like that. So,so just made everything hard,
taking the subway everywhere,being out, walking like
everything was hard. And we did.We did a lot of the and because
(17:53):
we were only there a week, Ithink we did mostly touristy
type of things,
Astrid Vinje (17:56):
yeah.
Clint Bush (17:56):
So we went to the louver, which I thought was
beautiful, but you are waitingin line a lot. You know, we went
to the Eiffel Tower. What weresome of the other
Astrid Vinje (18:06):
well? So Paris is great because it does have so
many museums, and we went to onethat was like at the time. This
was in 2019 at the time, thesetypes of museums were not that
popular. But now you can findthem everywhere. But it was
like, they called it, like theLumiere workshop, or something
(18:28):
like the light workshop. Butit's basically those, like
immersive art experiences where,and we did, the one that we did
was like a Japanese artist, Ithink, was it Hokusai? Yeah,
Clint Bush (18:41):
it was Hokusai.
Astrid Vinje (18:42):
Hokusai, and then Van Gogh. And you go in, and
it's just a big room, andthere's like projectors, and
then they, like, splash thepaintings on the walls, but it's
kind of like animated, moving,so you feel like you're in these
paintings. So that was reallycool. Now you can find those
types of experiences aroundaround the world, essentially in
(19:06):
like big cities, but that wasthe first time that we had
something like that.
Clint Bush (19:11):
We also, we didn't really get to experience French
food, even in Lyon, we did acouple times. It wasn't really
our cup of tea is little heavy,kind of expensive. So when we
were at Paris, we also couldhave just been the places that
we're picking to. We just like,we just felt like we're paying a
(19:31):
lot all the time,
Astrid Vinje (19:32):
right?
Clint Bush (19:33):
And so it's a little disappointing. Now we have
really close friends of ours whoabsolutely adore Paris, and we
like, we need to go back withthem,
Astrid Vinje (19:44):
yeah,
Clint Bush (19:45):
and experience it differently.
Astrid Vinje (19:47):
I think, I think what was interesting, too, is I
would have expected to see a lotmore. You know, like France used
to be one of the colonialcultures, right? Like. It had
colonies all around the world,and I would have expected to see
at least in Paris, and maybe wewere just not going into the
(20:09):
right places. But like some ofthose, like former colonies, you
know, community, like immigrantcommunities from those former
colonies, like having a place inthe city, or having like,
communities in the city. Butmaybe we, because we were there
for such a short time, we like,stuck to the same area, the
(20:34):
touristy areas that we didn'treally try and like, go in
there. So I think that issomething I would have wanted
to, like, dive into a little bitmore, just like, you know, post
colonialism, like, whatinfluence to those former
colonies have on France?
Clint Bush (20:51):
Yeah, you're right, because that was something we
saw in Spain. It was somethingwe saw in the UK. We never
really see it in Italy. But thatmakes sense, because the Roman
Empire was so long ago that youdidn't really get that, yeah,
Astrid Vinje (21:02):
yeah. I think it's really big in the UK, because,
you know, you have so manyimmigrant populations there,
Clint Bush (21:07):
yeah,
Astrid Vinje (21:08):
yeah,
Clint Bush (21:08):
that was interesting. So having said
that, we're city people, we'rebig city people, like, we love
Tokyo, we love London, and welove New York City and so,
Astrid Vinje (21:20):
yeah, I
Clint Bush (21:20):
think, I think it was a little bit disappointing
for us to have kind of not agreat experience in Paris,
because it's like, it's one ofthe major metropolitan places in
the world. So we were like,Yeah, of course we would love
this place. And it was like,what happened? So we'll give it
another chance.
Astrid Vinje (21:37):
Yeah, we'll give it another
Clint Bush (21:38):
chance. Yeah, for sure. Anything else you want to
mention about friends?
Unknown (21:42):
I think I don't have anything else.
Clint Bush (21:45):
Yeah, it's okay.
Astrid Vinje (21:47):
Well, that's all for today. Thank you for joining
us on this episode of Worldschooling, Q and A with Astrid
and Clint. Be sure
Clint Bush (21:55):
to
Astrid Vinje (21:55):
check out the show notes for any links we mentioned
in the episode, and visit mywebsite, the wandering
daughter.com to dive deeper intoworld schooling and family
travel.
Clint Bush (22:04):
If you like what you hear, please consider supporting
the wandering daughter onPatreon. It really helps us out
and keeps the show going. You'llalso get exclusive perks, like
episode transcripts, additionalresources, access to office
hours with us and more. You canfind us on Spotify or the
podcast app of your choice. Ifyou're listening to this on
Spotify, you can tap the bellicon to get notified when new
(22:25):
episodes come out. And if youlike this episode, please give
us a five star review. It reallyhelps new people find our show.
Astrid Vinje (22:31):
If you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to
like and subscribe and tap thebell icon to get notified of new
episodes. You can follow me oninstagram@wander.or follow the
wandering daughter on Facebook.Links to these are also in the
show notes. If you have anyworld schooling questions you'd
like us to answer for futureepisodes, feel free to throw
(22:52):
them in the comments or send usa message at the wandering
daughter.com. Forward slashpodcast until next time. Happy
travels. Bye. You.
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