my first time in france a week in the french riviera slow mornings day trips lots of food

Hey guys, welcome back and welcome to my channel My name is Brianna and today's video is my long-awaited south of france vlog and i'm gonna be popping in and out of this video Just narrating from the comfort of my home now that i'm back and i'm just gonna give a little bit of context So get a drink get a snack get comfortable and let's get into the story So for some context, you need to know the background of the players in this story And it's me ainsley and garbo. We're a girl trio. It's important to note. Garbo is a little bit older than us She's married and she has a newborn and her husband vincent is like an honorary quad And then baby is obviously a quid now So there's five of us and we're a group and we've all been friends for the last year and six months I've only been friends with emile for like seven months because he's only seven months old and vincent's not from toronto He's originally from france And so one of my best friends is going to paris to introduce the baby to her in-laws and obviously their grandson And I was going to london for a brand trip, which is very close to paris and sort of the south of france And so I was considering extending my trip to kind of just tag along and experience the south of france from a local's perspective And that's exactly what ainsley and I ended up doing for about a week It's important to note that this is not garbo and ainsley and I's first trip traveling together as well We did go to halifax one year ago, and that was a great trip. We traveled well together And so did we impose on my friend's husband's family? Maybe I still feel very bad about it and I did try to make it up You'll see in the vlog of like me trying to be a good guess, but we'll just like walk through kind of what happened So on our first day, we actually explored mons and we first went to this really beloved bakery that vincent's family goes to all the time and we just got a Bunch of treats and looked at some of the super gorgeous views We walked around a bunch and the one thing that I will say that I love about french culture People are always greeting you no matter where you walk I don't know if it's because we look like tourists or that's just like the culture I am assuming it's the culture and I just really like that I feel like I smile and like make small talk with people in toronto all the time And i'm kind of just met with an awkward smile, and I don't think that's people being necessarily cold But I just think it's a little more friendly or a little more normal to be chatty in the south of france And so I really liked that and then we also explored grass as well Which is the city that invented perfume that was new to me I actually picked up the fragrance up from fragonard and it smells so good I was really expensive so I didn't get a huge bottle But i'm now regretting it because anytime I wear it people are always telling me that I smell super good We also got gelato and just like walked around and it was really nice and because this is the first full night I've been since family's place. I wanted to make a good impression and cook some pho So we got all the ingredients at the grocery store and that's what I ended up making for them It was a little untraditional because I didn't have the exact ingredients that I needed But I think it turned out really well and it was honestly a lot of fun What are you making? We're making pho tonight Yeah, i'm just doing the garnish Don't cut your finger. I have the soup going on the stove Let's check out the soupy soup. Wow, the meat looks so good There's always those dirty The trick is to usually have like a bowl of water so you can like You can like rinse it off and this is a gas stove. So I was actually able to char the veggie, which is oh, yeah Oh, yeah, that's great. I love gas Don't scare Drops everything in the pot And then I have the spice bag. There's two of them. So you just do like one. It's the whole thing for 20 people Yeah, wow, that's so smart It's just like half it you throw it in there to cook And now we wait Up here the shrimpy boys Brianna and her element And then that brings us to day two. We had a very classic french breakfast, which was Delish, it's just like brioche with butter and jam and you guys know I am not a jam girl at all But french jam is different. Like it's not as sour sweet tasting and as american jam The only way that I can describe is that it's a bit lighter and it tastes fresher this morning Ainsley also went for like a 20k bike ride and she's all suited up with the gear and she had a really great time I spent some time playing with emile as well We were just singing some french songs and then we drove out to cannes. That was our day trip So most of our time in the south of france, we did day trips to different areas Everyone loved their outfit today. So we took so many pictures. We had such a great time The views were really amazing. It was very very beautiful I would love to go back and stay there actually And of course we got some seafood for lunch because we were by the water and it was so so delicious I've never seen such an exquisite seafood platter, but we got one for lunch and it was delicious and then we also went down to the water and we just took our shoes off and we're running around because We're in the south of france. Like how are you not gonna enjoy the beach? Like this is one of my favorite days, honestly Vincent did all of the driving between the home base and all the different like areas that we were going to and so Huge shout out to him. The roads are so twisty and windy and narrow The next day was very exciting It was a bit of a side quest day because I flew a planner which is basically a glider plane It doesn't have an engine and so you are towed up into the air by a normal plane And then you kind of just glide and use like the air currents to stay afloat and you can actually steer it i'm gonna be flying in a My french is horrible, but this is what they look like they are planes without any motors or engines But i'm gonna be a passenger so we're just gonna be gliding I think i'm a little nervous and it was a little impulsive because I hadn't planned on doing this when I came to france But then they asked me if I wanted to try it and I was like, why not? So that's what we're doing today I ended up steering it a little bit had a pilot behind me that did most of the steering So I really liked that. It was a lot of fun I had to sign like a waiver and all that stuff, but everything was great. So I really enjoyed that Thank you And then we had such a beautiful dinner one thing that I will say i'm eternally grateful to Vincent and his family for is like really showing and sharing meals with us because it was like the full french experience Vincent kept telling us that it doesn't get more french than this It's like having little bites and cheese and bread Everyone has a glass of champagne and then you bring out mains and then you bring out dessert with more champagne And it was honestly really nice because we probably spent two to three hours per night Just like breaking bread and having chat at dinner And I don't think that's something i've experienced in a family setting in a really long time I think in the last couple of years I spent most of my life with like chosen family And so I think it was really nice to just see and experience that family setting Vincent also made this like plum pie that was really delicious It's kind of like a galette and then we cut the tropézienne Which is what we picked up on day one from that bakery. We went to it was this massive cake guys It was probably like four five inches tall and they only order it for special occasions Which is whenever vincent visits and then he also brings along his wives two gremlins me and ainsley, but it was so Delicious we had it for maybe like two and a half three days because everyone was just having a massive slice and it was so good And then next morning we had another warm breakfast again with lots of cheese and this day we went to antibes And we were kind of just exploring around we didn't get out this day until pretty late I think we got out around 2 3 p.m But we took lots of lots of pictures, but we just like browsed around today We are in antibes, which is a nice small little town close to mons and we're just browsing around for the evening And it is so cute But I think things are closing because we got here around five o'clock and I think everything closes at seven I looked at some postcards and we also got crepes and then I also bought some tinned fish If you guys have watched any of my previous like foodie videos, then you know, I loved tinned fish And so I just bought a bunch for myself and then also for souvenirs for my sisters because they also love tinned fish another thing that I want to talk about is I have never had this much dairy in such a short amount of time in My life, but I did not have a single stomach problem anything like that on this entire trip And I used to think people were making up online where they're the food is so much better in europe It doesn't make you bloat. It doesn't make your stomach hurt. Oh blah No those people are not lying and listen to me like I have one of the most sensitive stomachs out of all the people that I And I didn't have a single like there's one year like in 2024 I kept a tummy journal and my average was having a tummy three times a week regardless of the amount dairy that I had Because i'm always gonna have dairy and i'm gonna take lactaid with it But there are some days where I was kind of just like testing myself when I was in france I got a little bit of dairy and see if it would make my stomach gurgle or not And it didn't so that is the one thing that I also freaking loved about france But yeah, we explored in thieves and then the next day we actually went back to cannes and we had more seafood The girls and I kind of just like shared this platter and it was really good another thing that I felt was that like hollywood is a dupe of Cannes just because I feel like it has like all like the glitz and the glamour It's like very wealthy looking people walking the streets all the luxury stores all the really fancy cars Obviously cannes film festival is held there. And so it just really felt like a better more original version of hollywood We also spent some time at the beach and emile got to put his feet in the ocean And play with a little bit of sand and that was such a cute moment And i've never been the type of person to really want kids or have like any kind of baby fever But I think seeing how vincent and garbo parent but how much love and joy emile has brought them really makes me think twice, I guess And then later that night when we got home ainsley really wanted to remake her salted walnut banana bread It is such a good recipe. I think half of it is just because she loves everybody so much And she's such a caring and loving person and that's why her desserts come out so great But we did that for a little while, but all in all it was genuinely a life-changing trip I would not have done anything differently I am eternally grateful to garbo and vincent and obviously all of his family welcoming me and ainsley It's literally just like one of the best trips i've ever taken But yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed this south of france vlog It's a little bit more homey and not as polished as my other ones, but it was genuinely one of my favorite memories ever So yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed and really felt immersed in the trip with me and really felt like you were taken along On this family trip. Yeah, i'll see you guys in the next one. Bye