Day 1 — Arrive in Nice and have a slow integration into French life with a leisurely walk along the Promenade des Anglais, a stop for a glass of rosé (obviously!), and an early dinner of socca and salade niçoise at a café terrace before everyone crashes from the transatlantic journey.

Day 2 — Spend your morning at the Matisse Museum, filled with light and art, followed by an afternoon exploring the old town's maze of ochre-colored streets and a stroll through the flower and antique market. Then settle in in for a long, unhurried dinner together.

Day 3 — A day trip to the hilltop village of Èze, where the views over the Mediterranean are genuinely astounding and the Fragonard perfumery offers a chance to create your own signature scent, or at least sniff a lot of things and feel ✨very sophisticated.✨

Day 4 — Cooking class day: learn to make bouillabaisse, ratatouille, or a proper tapenade from a local chef, followed by the deeply satisfying act of eating what you made! Then enjoy a slow afternoon on the beach, in a shady cafe, or at a rooftop bar with your Aperol Spritz.

Day 5 — Weather dependent, take a train or boat excursion to Monaco for a walk through the palace quarter and the famous Casino gardens (you don't have to gamble, just gawk)! Then it's back to Nice in time for a sunset aperitif and a dinner of fresh grilled fish and chilled white wine.

Day 6 — Spa morning! (It's vacation, after all.) The afternoon will be spent on a ramble through one of the region's weekend markets for lavender sachets, local honey, good olive oil, and an extra market bag in order to bring it all back home.

Day 7 — A day among the vineyards of Provence, with a visit to a small domaine for a tasting or two. Find a spot with an outdoor terrace and enjoy a lunch that stretches into the golden afternoon the way only French lunches can. Leave enough time to pick up a few bottles for the journey home.

Day 8 — It's time to bid adieu to the Côte d'Azur, probably with one last café crème on a terrace, a final sweep of the market for anything you forgot to buy, and the understanding that your annual reunion has officially been upgraded.

Day 1 — Take your time with immersion into French life with a walk along the riverfront, a stop at a wine bar for your first glass of something extraordinary (this will not be your last), and a relaxed dinner of duck confit and crusty bread while you all agree that yes, this was a very good idea.

Day 2 — A morning orientation through the city's grand 18th-century architecture, a stroll through the covered Marché des Capucins for cheese and charcuterie, and an afternoon tasting workshop where a local sommelier walks you through the art of distinguishing a Pauillac from a Saint-Émilion.

Day 3 — A full day excursion to the Médoc, visiting two or three châteaux where the names on the labels are ones you've been ordering at restaurants for years, followed by a long, wine-soaked lunch that nobody is in any hurry to finish.

Day 4 — A Michelin-starred dinner is on the agenda tonight, so the day is intentionally light: a morning at the Cité du Vin museum, which is both interesting and informative, and a slow afternoon of browsing the city's excellent food shops to stock up on things you'll have to explain at customs.

Day 5 — A day trip to Saint-Émilion, the medieval hillside village that looks almost too picturesque to be real. Included in your day: a historical walk, a climb up the bell tower for views over the vineyards, and macarons from the bakery that claims to have invented them.

Day 6 — A cooking and pairing class with a local chef, so you can learn some new techniques to bring home to your own kitchen. Spend a leisurely afternoon wandering the Bordeaux museum, strolling its shopping district, or sitting at a cafe along the riverfront, lost in a book.

Day 7 — A day trip to the Atlantic coast, where you'll spend the morning eating oysters straight off the boat with crusty bread, salted butter, and a glass of something cold and crisp, because that is simply how it is done! In the afternoon, climb up the Dune du Pilat, Europe's tallest sand dune, which rewards your effort with a view over the Atlantic on one side and an endless pine forest on the other.

Day 8 — It's time to bid adieu to Bordeaux, probably with a crate of wine to ship home, the business card of at least one château owner, and a shared group resolution to meet next time in Burgundy.

Day 1 — You will arrive in Paris in the morning, allowing just enough time to wander along the Seine, browsing the secondhand book stalls, snap some photos of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Enjoy a dinner of steak frites and red wine while you contemplate the week ahead.

Day 2 — Spend a full day in Paris discovering the women who shaped the French resistance, visit the Mémorial de la Shoah, and take a walk through the Marais neighborhood where so much of the wartime story played out. 

Day 3 — Enjoy the short train ride to Bayeux, your base of operations for the rest of the trip. Take a slow walk through this historic and remarkably well-preserved medieval town, stopping at a few of the region's excellent independent bookshops for a curated haul of French novels and history titles. Finish with a dinner of local Normandy specialties: moules-frites, aged Camembert, and a very good Calvados nightcap.

Day 4 — The Bayeux Tapestry is not to be missed: it tells the story of William the Conqueror and is genuinely spectacular. Your afternoon will be at the Bayeux Memorial Museum, which brings D-Day into sharp focus before the beach visits begin.

Day 5 — A day trip to where it all happened, starting at serene Omaha Beach. The American Cemetery is next, where the scale and stillness of the place will seep into you. Finally, head to Pointe du Hoc where you will find its still-cratered landscape. End with a quiet dinner back in Bayeux to process the day.

Day 6 — A visit to Sainte-Mère-Église, where the famous parachutist dummy still hangs from the church steeple, then on to the Utah Beach Museum, and a detour through the countryside that made the Allied advance so brutally difficult and yet is quite beautiful today.

Day 7 — Drive to Mont-Saint-Michel, the impossibly dramatic island abbey that rises out of the tidal flats. The morning will have you following the winding village streets up to the abbey itself. The afternoon will allow you to linger in the abbey, explore the ramparts, and watch the tide before heading back to Bayeux for a celebratory farewell dinner with Normandy cider and tarte tatin.

Day 8 — It's time to bid adieu to Normandy, with suitcases heavy with books, a shared reading list that just got considerably longer, and a better sense of WWII that comes from having walked through the land instead of just reading about it.