La Piscine....

Okay, after 2 weeks of my wife becoming the author of the year with her stellar blogging of our National Lampoon's European Vacation, I thought I would steal just one day to be the guest author of the day.  Nothing super exciting to post about today.  We knew we had to prepare for our trip to Amsterdam and it would be a quiet day overall.  Unfortunately, by noon, our 3 super well behaved charming children were driving us absolutely nuts, so I thought it would be a good idea to take the kids to the community pool and give Lady Di some peace.  The local Marly Le-Roi pool closed at 1pm, so we ventured out to the neighboring town of St. Germain En Laye, which I heard was a bigger pool with BIG diving boards.  Just finding the pool felt like a victory in and of itself as our car navigation system has a bit of a mind of its own.  After some navigational challenges, we found it!

The French have really got it right in terms of their swimming pools, they are fun filled, crazy clean (no globs of hair floating around or over-chlorination), and a place for the entire family to just chill out.  The kids got to see first hand how you first take off your shoes before entering the locker room area, then shower with warm water, walk through the foot bath moat, and finally enter into the cool Piscine.  As Jacob gave a sigh of relief to see the many swimmers also sporting fashionable Speedos, we all jumped into the huge Olympic pool.  Maddie thought the water was amazingly clean and we all noticed how the many French families played together, floated on rafts, swam laps with masks and snorkels, dove off the platform boards, and lounged in the sun on the deck lawn where you can have a fresh Crepe made for 2 Euros.  Good times today and although I would have loved to swim a few miles in the 50 Meter lap lanes pretending I am Michael Phelps defeating the French in the Olympics, I had a great time hanging with the kiddos at the pool today!

Driving in Paris

Before we came to France, we had quite a number of people advise us against driving in Paris.  The reasoning behind this advice included "crazy drivers", "crazy pedestrians", "poorly marked roads", "too many roundabouts", "rare parking spaces",  etc.  Of course, my triathlete husband heard these words as a challenge.  The gauntlet was thrown and he would conquer Paris.

We set off early this morning planning to head to the Catacombs in the Montparnasse district.  This tends to be one of the most popular spots in Paris with crazy long lines---we hoped to get there early enough to be 5 of the first 200 to enter.  The drive in went pretty well although I had to close my eyes a few times.  Believe it or not, we even found free street parking close by.  We jumped out of the car and got in line for an underground adventure.  It was easy to excite the kids about an hour and a half wait because they were going to see dead bodies---lots of them.  In 1786 these skeletons were transferred from church cemeteries in Paris in order to improve the sanitary conditions and relieve congestion.  Hopefully, if the kids stopped fighting, they would make it out alive themselves.....

We started by walking through dark tunnels that felt like they could go on forever.  When we came to the skeletons, a strange smell entered our nostrils---super creepy.  Even creepier that we eventually got used to the smell.

We walked by thousands and thousands of bones and tried to imagine how the bones were transported here and then stacked so precisely to stay in place for hundreds of years.  This was definitely a fun experience for all of us and especially the kids.  I am hoping they won't have too many nightmares.

With Bobby feeling pretty sure of himself, we decided to drive across the city to Sacre Coeur and the Montmartre district.  On this leg of the trip, our GPS led us on a tour of the city.  We drove past the Louvre, around the Opera House, through a congested shopping district, past the Moulin Rouge, and almost straight up to the front of the very busy Sacre Coeur.  Okay--this is where I got really scared.  At one point the pedestrian traffic got so heavy that we almost ran over a lady who fell out of her wheelchair.  I didn't even have any pity for her, I just wanted her to get out of the way of our car before we hit her!

We found street parking again and made our way up the hill to the beautiful Basilica.

On the way back to the car, we stopped for some gelato and watched a street performer.

Overall, it was another awesome day in Paris.  Please say a prayer for the lady in the wheelchair--I am pretty sure she survived our driving, but I could be mistaken!

Perspective

Not a lot to post today.  It was definitely a day of rest.  I am so grateful that we are here in France long enough that we can have these types of days.  I don't underestimate the luxury of traveling this way and I am very clear that we probably won't experience this type of vacation again.  We haven't watched the news or read a newspaper in almost two weeks---I have absolutely no idea what is going on in the rest of the world--except via Facebook:).  In some ways, this is a very disconcerting feeling--what if something big has happened and I have no idea?  In most ways, it gives me a peaceful feeling that what is going on in the world doesn't matter so much. As I look up at the clouds this evening, I am reminded that God is truly in control and all the rest is just my own distraction.  So grateful....

Mont St. Michel

Yesterday was one of the more difficult days we have had in France.  As I mentioned previously, car drives are not our favorite family outing--yesterday, we did a total of 6 hours in the car (should have been 5, but we spent an hour getting lost!).  The fact that we made it home without physically harming one another is a true miracle.

The day started beautifully with a wonderful breakfast at the chateau--I think Maddie is going to turn into a chocolate croissant by the end of the trip.  We said "Au Revoir" to our wonderful hosts and little Paul and set out for a visit to Mont St. Michel.  We had been warned about the crowds, but were sure that we could tolerate this as I was armed with my Rick Steve's book and a good strategy for seeing the Abbey while avoiding the crowded walkways.  As we got closer to the island, the Abbey appeared to be floating in the sky--it was absolutely surreal.  It is easy to imagine why pilgrims have journeyed to this site for over a thousand years.  (My picture doesn't do it justice.)

We parked in a giant parking lot and started to make our way to the shuttle that would take us out to the island.  This would have been great except it was 95 degrees outside and around 110 degrees on the shuttle.  I started to get a little worried at this point, but we drove an hour and a half out of our way to get here, so there is no way we were going to give up!

Wishing that there was an elevator to the top, we started our ascent to the abbey---it is all uphill and Bobby carried Brooke on his shoulders the entire way.  

This is the kids pretending to enjoy this visit.

Here is how they really felt.

Once we reached the top and made our way through the crushing crowds, we decided that our 1 hour visit was enough and it was time to head back to the car.  Not our best sightseeing day!

Next, we were off towards Rouen to visit with my friend Hanne.  Hanne graduated with me from Truckee High School.  She came for her senior year as an exchange student from Norway.  I hadn't seen her in years and was looking forward to catching up and meeting her family.  We had a delicious dinner and a wonderful time.  It was special to have the kids experience a visit with a French family--they had a great time and were actually well-behaved:).

Our day ended with our final drive towards home in Marly le Roi.  We got lost of course---scary to be lost in France at night, but finally made it home at midnight.  Rest day tomorrow!

D-Day Beaches

I could never have imagined how much we would enjoy our visit to the Normandy Beaches.  In the car on our way to the beaches, I gave the kids a timeline of WWII events (from my Rick-Steve's book, not from memory!).  I was hoping desperately that this would give them context for what they were going to experience today.   From the moment we approached Arromanches and got a view of the makeshift harbor (Port Winston) created by the British, we were overwhelmed by emotion.  I could imagine the young men parachuting into German occupied France in the dark of night, and then the thousands of men facing enemy fire on these beaches.

In Arromanches, you can still see the cement blocks that were pulled across the channel and then sunk by the Allies to create a breakwater and ultimately a makeshift bay.  On the beach, there are also rusted floats that supported the pontoon roads that allowed the Allies to transport vehicles, troops, and goods to the beach.

Arromanches is also a cute little seaside town so we also stopped to take a quick carousel ride.  Gotta keep it a little light for the kiddos!

From Arromanches, we traveled to the German gun batteries in Longues sur Mer.  The kids loved this as they were able to go inside a battery and climb on the guns.  I still cannot believe that these guns could aim accurately 12 miles out to sea.

Last, we pulled out our tissues and visited the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach which is an amazing memorial to all the troops that were lost during this battle.  They have a great visitor center with videos and exhibits and the cemetery itself is breathtakingly beautiful.

This day is one that Bobby and I will never forget.  I think the kids were impacted as well and I wish this was something that every American kid could experience.  The courage and sacrifice of our troops is vividly displayed throughout Normandy and the people here have not forgotten the sacrifices made to free occupied France and end the Nazi regime.  We are truly proud to be Americans today:)

Bound for Normandy

We left Marly le Roi yesterday to travel by car to Normandy.  I must say that the most miserable times we have are with all of us in the car.  Inevitably, someone is arguing, hungry, thirsty, angry, whining, getting smacked, or otherwise miserable.  Add to this tornado of emotions the anxiety of driving in a foreign country and you can understand that car rides are not our favorite.  So, we decided to prepare well for this 2.5 hour drive to Bayeux--the car was filled with snacks, all electronics were charged, bathroom stops were mapped out--check.

The drive north passes through beautiful countryside---many times I am reminded of the east coast of the US because it is so lush.  As we entered Bayeaux, the first thing I noticed was the American flags flying.  I read that this area of Normandy is very grateful to Americans for our D-Day participation and I expected that we would be greeted with kindness as we have all over France, but I never imagined that I would see our flag flying at the entrance to a town in France.

Bayeaux is a lovely town with a beautiful Cathedral at the center.  We saw the cathedral, said a few prayers for better weather and family harmony, and headed down to the Battle of Normandy Museum.

This museum was excellent, but it is really difficult to explain WWII to the kids since they haven't studied it in school and without this frame of reference, I'm not sure that this battle has much meaning for them.  Maddie asked really excellent questions and I was wishing that I had a degree in history so that I could answer her accurately.

After the museum, we checked into Chateau de Damigny.

 The surroundings of this chateau date back to the 12th century and contain an original defense tower from that time period.  The current chateau was built in the 1800s and was renovated several years ago by the owners who run it as a Chambre d'Hote (B&B).  The most enchanting part of the Chateau is 3 year old Paul (the son of the owners) who greets you at the door and loves playing with the kids.  There is also a pretty fruit and vegetable orchard to explore--Maddie tried the fresh green beans and loved them--now how can I get her to eat them at home?


Last evening, we went back to Bayeux for a yummy dinner and the kids ate their first chocolate crepe--the best quote is from Jacob who said, "This is like heaven!".  The plate was licked clean.

A final view of the Cathedral at night and off to bed in the castle----Bonne Nuit!

Giverny

Today we visited Monet's house and gardens in Giverny.  It was breathtaking to see the garden that inspired this wonderful artist.  The kids were not too excited about this day trip and I guess I can't really blame them.  However, I do think they appreciated the beauty of the gardens and I pray that this trip will broaden their world view and expand their minds.

Off to Normandy---another adventure awaits!