Photos

We have 9803 pictures and 86 videos from the trip.  Suffice it to say, it will take a little while to sort through and post them all.  I plan to do that over the next month or two, so stay tuned.

A Whirlwind Week in Paris

Well, we are leaving Paris tomorrow and tonight is my first opportunity to sit for an hour or so and blog. Paris reminds me of NYC in so many ways, but the architecture and the food here are so much better and there are many, many, more parks than NYC.

My first adventure in Paris was going to mass Sunday at Sacre Couer Basilica. A truly stunning church, and A very young building (only two hundred years old). I got there thirty minutes early, did the whole mass, amd then waited another twenty minutes before taking pictures (without a flash) and found myself accosted and almost thrown out for doing so! I left church rather rattled! We had a horrible lunch after mass before going to the Salvador Dali museum. I loved the Dali museum and learned a lot, but he was a lot stranger than I thought. After the museum, we took the kids to a playground, and just let them play and run around.

We did a few really touristy things the next day. We went to Notre Dame and Sean and Leonardo climbed up into the bell towers. Tiff and I did the indoor tour and caught a daily mass (a great nap moment for Jasper). Most of my pictures didn't turn out because flash photography was not allowed and there isn't as much light in there as Sacre Couer. Now Notre Dame contstruction began in 1146. So I am sitting there pondering the millions of people who have sat in this church over the last eight and a half centuries, mesmerized by it's beauty. It is stunning. And after reading "Pillars of the Earth" I can't look at flying butresses the same way! (thanks, Paige):) After Notre Dame, and the park behind it, we walked to the Louvre, and looked around and took some pics. Didn't bother going into the Louvre with small children. We sat around Les Jardins de Tuilleries and rested before going to the Eiffel Tower. Sean, Tiffanie, Claire, and Leonardo all went to the very top of the Eifell Tower. I was perfectly content sitting at a lovely playground with the littles, enjoying the brisk weather. Then we had to haul butt home to get ready for the Moulin Rouge. I will provide a comlete review of the Moulin Rouge in a separate post!

Wednesday we took the train to Versailles. I used to wonder what the difference between a castle and a palace was. Well, now I know. Castles have large, beautiful gardens, Pallaces have acres and acres and acres of gardens. Castles are large. Palaces are several large buildings put together. Castles have beautiful rooms with wood paneling and painted ceilings and walls. Palaces have fabriced walls, marble panelling, painted ceilings and sculptures on the ceilings and walls. You can walk through an entire castle and its' grounds in one day. You need a golf cart to drive around the palace grounds in a day. There are no metal detectors and security staff at a castle. You have to go through the same level of security at a palace that you go through at the airport.

Thursday was my favorite day. We went to the Jardins de Luxembourg with the kids. It's an amazing park with a wonderful playground, and we let the kids just run around like crazy. We finished up with rides on the carousel.

As you may have noticed, we didn't do a lot of the traditional touristy things. We didn't go into the Louvre, or the Orsay, or any of the museums except the Dali one. We didn't walk the Champs Elyees, or see the Arc de Triumph either. But I told Sean (and Tiffanie), the littles were really loud, restless, and ill-mannered in places like that. I figured out early on, that keeping them outside and in child-friendly places really brought out the best in them, which made me more relaxed. I feel very blessed to have seen a lot of parts of Paris that most tourists never see, which is a shame, because we saw a lot of really cool, wondrous stuff! So I thoroughly enjoyed my kid friendly tours:)

Claire's corner: take eight

I made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower! It was pretty fun! I also went to the Norte Dame. How are you guys? This was all done yesterday. Today we walked a lot. I went to this place, I don't know what it was but it was fun! I love Paris! You have to come and see it! What i love about France is the Leonardo de Vinci playground. We had the best pork 1 night ago. My dad tried to make French pork. It was delicious!

Claire's Corner: Take Seven

Were in Paris. I think I'll get a scarf. Paris is a busy place for business. I hope you guys are ok. Only a few more days till we leave. Were really having fun. You are missing out!

Castles

We left Avignon the day after Sean's race and took a train to a town outside of Amboise. I must confess, the train ride to Amboise was not pretty. In fact, both of my littles set new records in bad behavior and in tantrum volume. More than one passenger shifted their hostile eyes between us (with our dueling scream-a-tronic-2000 models) and the doors. At one point,I feared a mutiny, but we were within walking distance to the station. This day was truly the low point of the trip. My children have never been so awful in public. Its the kind of record you hope you never break (again). We rented a small bus there, (nine seat van) and drove to Amboise. We were (not) so surprised to find a medieval wall around the town and a castle smack dab in the center of the town.

It's actually becoming a norm for us. I know it sounds awful, but at frst you think "I can never get tired or bored of these castles. Its just so amazing" But then, after dozens of them, you find youreself thinking, "oh look, it's another castle, *sigh*" and you feel ashamed (a little) because you know that most people never see one back home, but they are everywhere here!

Would you believe we never made it to see the Amboise castle? We spent our first night there just having a lovely dinner at the hotel and getting the kids to bed. The next day, we wandered around, saw an incredible gothic church, and meandered through town and the shops, walked along the Loire, and had a nap. Then we saw the last home of Leonardo da Vinci. This place was so cool! Working models of so may of his inventions. Including the round flotation device, the paddle boat, a working water loch system for canals, water pumps, the crane, and some of the weapons he designed. What is really amazing is how many things we use today that are based on his designs:)

The next day we managed to squeeze in three castles (and we were exhausted that night). We saw
Cheverny, a small castle, still lived in by current royal descendants, and immaculately furnished. Then we headed over to Fourge a Beivre, a medieval castle, that is almost empty. BUT, this castle was very cool because inside, it has demonstrations and examples of how people actually built these castles, and it had real tools that were used. Fascinating. Our last castle of the day was Chenonceau. It's a castle on an island in the middle of a river.
King Louie the XIV was one of it's inhabitants! Catherine de Medici's garden was my favorite:) the kids loved the maze the most. Naturally. It's like the world's best hide and seek game:)

Our last full day in Amboise, we spent half a day doing chores. Laundry, the post office, and market day. But we still managed to go to a museum and two castles. The museum was the Maurice Dufremse museum and it was nothing short of amazing. This guy had a love of inventions, and he collected agriculture machines, automobiles, toys, bikes,fire trucks, horse buggies, and a menagerie of mechanical engineering equipment (not to mention weapons). Then he bought an old mill and put all of his stuff there. We learned so much. My favorite was the weaving looms from the eighteenth century. We stopped at a castle for pictures only, can't remember the name, and then we saw Villandry. We only saw the gardens at Villandry. But the gardens there were amazing. Another labryinth for the kids to runaround in. The vegetable garden was mind-blowing. My gardening is to Villandry what finger painting is to Renoir. Sammy ate grapes off the trellises (and the ground) by the fist fulls.

I felt like we missed out on so much in the Loire valley. There are archeological sites, mushroom caves, wine caves, candy store tours, and dozens of other things to do there that we just couldnt get to (not to mention a couple of hundred more castles), but we have lots left to do for next time!

Top Ten Things I Love About France

10) Buildings: the new ones. When we pass new buildings, I am amazed to see that they still build them here like the old ones. Solid pieces of wood going across the beams for a roof. Cinder block structures under stucco. I haven't seen a single piece of particle board here. They still build houses to last. Very cool.

9) Flowers. Millions of them. Everywhere. In fact, I think that gardening and smoking cigarettes are tied for first for the national past time. Everyone has gardens here, and everyone has flowers. I've even seen flower and vegetable gardens in neutral areas and beside train tracks. People just pick a patch of earth if they don't own property and they grow flowers and veggies. I think it is easier to count yards without gardens but I can assure you, you have to look hard. Everyone here seems to grow food and flowers.

8) Market days: I LOVE walking through market on market day. The fresh meat and produce here is astounding. Seriously. You can also get clothes, shoes, flowers, and so much more on market day. Every town has a big market day and two little market days. *sigh* I am really going to miss market days:(

7) Pharmacies: I know what you are thinking. You are thinking we already have these. But you are so wrong! Here in France, if you are sick with something mild, or have a physical issue (liked cracked and bleeding heels) you just walk in and show the pharmacist and they give you a prescription med! How cool is that? No calling for an appointment with your GP and asking for a referral and then getting an appointment with the referral specialist who can see you in three months...no red tape! Very simple. Common sense and medicine combined. I love it:)

6) Pain au Chocolate or chocolate bread: Imagine a croissant meeting a Hershey's kiss and you are on the track to thinking about this wonderful breakfast food. Having warm chocolate bread for breakfast is comparable only to experiences best not discussed in the presence of minors.

5) Wine: their wine is famous for a reason. They don't even export some of their most popular wines because it would be too expensive in the states. I sure love drinking it here!

4) Walking: most of the places that we go, people mostly walk to get where they are going. This is so cool because their roads are narrower, there are bike and pedestrian lanes, and some streets are closed off to cars completely. There are cross walks everywhere and I am amazed at the way cars come to a screeching halt when you are in a cross walk. They take pedestrians seriously over here.

3) Trains: there are over eight hundred trains in France, for a country the size of Texas. It is so easy to hope on a train and a bus and be anywhere. It's easier to see the Loire Valley with a car, but other than that, we really haven't needed a car much. I love the mass transit in this country. We need to stop subsidizing roads, pay tolls to use them, and start using our tax dollars on some meaningful infrastructure change that brings us into the twenty-first century.

2) Historical buildings: I feel like we have done three months of history in two weeks. The ancient Roman ruins, the medieval castles, the Renaissance palaces. This country is freckled with history that you can tour, touch, and see. We saw archeological digs in some caves from the road. We saw remnants of medieval castles and towns from the road. I have finally come to terms with the fact that there is just too much too see. You would have to make it your life's work to see and categorize all of the historical structures that are here. There are castles, medieval walls, and Roman ruins everywhere.

1) Food: if you don't come to France for the food, you are here for the wrong reasons. I got fast food in an airport that was just as good as the take-out from Fresh Market or Whole Foods. I was in a grocery store last night and the country of origin for everything in the produce section was France except for one item from Spain (endives). We went to a Chinese buffet tonight and had the most delicious food, and most of it, I have never even seen in the states! The French take their food seriously, and if you are breathing and eating, you can't help but notice. We haven't had a bad meal yet. I think you have to overtly try to eat bad food here just to find some. Most of the food at the casual restaraunts here, is like the food you get at a really fancy place at home. Bon appetite!

Things I hate about France

The thing I hate most about France is the smoking. These people smoke like chimneys. Pregnant women, women with babies, junior high kids, teens, etc. Everyone seems to smoke here, and they smoke everywhere. There are not a lot of non smoking areas. They smoke in buildings, restaurants, elevators, public bathrooms, etc. I find this so perplexing when you consider that they have socialized health care. The cost of these smokers must be billions. Our government is anti smoking because of the costs to our health care system and the bulk of our system is private pay!

The second thing I hate about Farnce is that people bring their dogs everywhere. Which isn't a big deal EXCEPT that no one seems to pick up their dog's poop. There is dog poop EVERYWhERE here. It's all over the sidewalks, it's in the streets, its in the parks, it's everywhere. It's gross. My kids have stepped in dog poop playing at the park, walking on the sidewalk,and playing in the squares.

Road rage is an art form in France. They honk and swear and rev their engines like they are driving monster trucks and they are going to run you over when they are really only driving a Pugeot four-door clown car.

I hate that they don't export most of their wine because their wine is really good.

It's a short list because I really love France:)





These people

Sean's race day!

Claire and I got up at six in the morning to meet up with some other wives to carpool to the top of the mountain. We were ahead of schedule, and managed to find some breakfast at a Patissieri. It was quite an adventure. We took a bus to a train station and found the rental car place (which took a while because their rental car buildings are not marked and look empty from behind). The GPS system wouldn't work and we were just kind of driving around lost, when Katerina thought to go to the train station for a map! So we managed to find a map with Mont Ventoux and Katerina and I navigated from the back seat:) We made it to Bedouin and found the main road closed for market day but we managed to find the detour easily. From the distance, Mt. Ventoux is this huge mountain with a bald spot on top and a tower at the peak. Claire had asked me "Mommy, is that a light house?" and I simply said I didn't know. Little did I know that the race ended at the base of that tower! BTW, that tower is on top of a huge two story building (that is not even visible from the bottom) The race had started, so when we began to climb, we found ourselves passing the Adecco racers. Tanya saw Aaron and Katerina saw Kimmo, but there was no Sean. I wasn't surprised. I knew he wanted to be a front runner;) Sure enough, we found Sean already climbing and he was in third place. We stopped at the side of the road to cheer them on. The bottom third of the mountain is a lovely forest terrain. You really couldn't see down or up the mountain and you didn't know for sure how high you were. I got some great pics of Sean. It was so great to be there for him. We climbed up some more and paused again at a restaraunt. Sean was still in third, and I got more pictures. The terrain here had changed. Instead of woods, there were just green patches with lots of barren rock patches. We cheered the first thirty or so people and then we climbed higher to catch the front runners. Sean was in fourth at this point, and we left just in time, because the first and second place people had already finished when we got up there! Sean finished fourth, and I was so proud of him and so thankful that we had made this trip together and that I could be there for that moment:) It took three hours for all of the contestants to finish. Sean played percussion with the drum circle most of the time after the race. We walked down the mountain briefly to cheer others on. It was like a three hour party up there. After everyone finished, we went to a restaraunt on the mountain for lunch. It was three in the afternoon! It was a long day. The climb down was less scary, but we got lost going home. I had a wonderful dinner with my carpooling friends, Katerina, Tanya, and Rowen.

Avignon

Ok. Where did I leave off? We took the train from Carcassonne to Avignon and had a nice laid back ride. I was completely surprised by the size of Avignon: it's a large town: the capital of the province of Provence. There are Roman ruins everywhere around here! Its a very hippy, urban city, with people and stores all crowded into the city walls. The streets are cobbled and narrow. The buildings are all stuck together, and everything had to go "up" because it wouldn't fit going "out". We had a tour guide show us around on Saturday since Sean is now off on his cycling adventure. That's the whole reason we are here! Well, it's not the whole reason, but it was the deciding factor:) Our tour guide was absolutely amazing. We went to a city called Orange. In addition to an incredible Roman arch, they have the largest Roman outdoor theater in Europe. It's enormous and there is an archeological excavation site of a temple right next to it. The acoustics are so good in this theater, that every summer, symphonies come from all over the world for an outdoor classical musical festival! NO MICROPHONES are needed or used. Then we went to a site where the pope had his summer home. The castle is in ruins and only one room is still intact, but the views were amazing and what was left of Chateaux de Neuf Pape was still amazing. We went to a wine cave and saw how they make wine and how they store it. Then we did a wine tasting and I learned a lot about bouquets:) I am a bigger wine snob now than before! Our tour guide said something so wonderful in regards to wine tasting. He said "You drink to forget, but you taste to remember". Most people taste and spit out the wine without really drinking the wine. (I let Leonardo do this, heads up, he can't wait to blog about that). After wine tasting, we went for a lovely lunch, and then brought the kids to an outdoor inflatable park. Then we went to another castle, chateaux Baux. Amazing pictures, reminded me of Carcassonne. It's not intact, but it's enough to be awe inspiring. We went to an olive oil tasting, and all of the kids loved that.
We had dinner at the St. Pierre cloister, just staring at the facade of St. Pierre. I couldn't wait to go to mass there on Sunday. I was not disappointed. I took dozens of pictures and hope to post soon.

One of the cool things about France is how much fruit and produce they grow here. We have seen: grapevines, cherry trees, apple trees, pear trees, kiwi plants, olive trees, sunflowers, lavender, ( both dead and out of season) dill, figs, tomatoes, lettuces, and lots of wild fennel that grows everywhere, and people use it. There is so much fresh stuff here. French olive oil is delicious too!

We had a rough night with the babies. Jasper was up four hours with a stomach ache. AUGH! But we pushed through our morning and made it to mass at St. Pierre. St. Pierre is a beautiful gothic church. The mass was half sung Latin, half French. Luckily, they have out cheat sheets with all of the Latin responses.

OMG. I have got to go to bed. Tomorrow is Sean's big race day! I have to get up at 6 am:(

Eat Pray Love

Ok so today we had a tour guide from 9:00-6:00. Laurent Catoni pronounced Lou Won anyway he was incredibly knowledgeable, helpful with the kids! Spoke very plain English, beautiful French, also fluent in Spanish. He helped us adjust our whole day and schedule with the younger kids. I kept up pretty well with the portable wifi and posted pictures on Facebook. What I did not post is later after we had kids in bed. Alicia says how wonderful the day was, how helpful the guide was she was telling Uncle Sean about how helpful he was. ( we got to meet Uncle Sean for 15 min or so earlier) Anyway I told her that the guide asked me what my husband did, if he did the same work Sean did. I said No I did not have a husband. Anyway as I was speaking to Alicia she says to me Tiffanie are you serious? I could clearly see and tell he was very interested in you. You had your Eat Pray Love moment with the Tour guide and you totally just dismissed it and threw it away!! For those of you reading this laughing your head off yes I did! Anyway, I had an amazing day, I really enjoyed everything we did, everywhere we went and the kids had great day! I love being in France with my sister and I am so pleased I am and can do this journey! We did so much today. The wine tasting, The olive oil tasting the several sites we went to the kids had a blast at lunch playing in the Park. It was so awesome and the weather once again perfect!

Six days in one blog

OMG! I can't believe how busy I am on my vacation. We left Avignon on Wed. morning and drove to Carcassonne. We stopped outside Nimes at the Pont du Gard for a break. That was really an amazing sight. When we read Story of the World, vol. 2 last year, there was information about the aqueducts. Well when you see one of these Roman aqueducts, you have a whole new appreciation for these Romans and their skills. They had no power tools, no cranes,and only elementary things, yet they created these amazing engineering structures. Meanwhile, in this day and age, you can't buy a kitchen appliance that's built to last ten years. Go figure. The fun part of the trip was you are just driving along and you say "wow, look at that medieval fortress over there, or, hey! Do you see that castle on the top of the hill?". We made it to Carcassonne and the hotel was great and we walked about a half mile, and then this huge fortress just appears on the horizon. Carcassonne is a medieval, walled city, and it is so cool. I don't care how old you are, when you see this thing, you are just giddy with awe. It's enormous!

We had dinner in the old city and I had some of the most amazing food of my life:). I ordered a tomato and mozzarella salad and they brought me a tart with roasted tomatoes that had small cubes of mozzarella with a pesto sauce poured on top, I have never had anything like it yet I have had dozens of tomato and mozzarella salads in my life. We got lost walking around and walked the entire perimeter of the fortress at night. It was a very cool thing to do in the dark. The kids had a blast. We all did, really:). We spent the whole day there the next day. Well, Tiffanie and I did. Sean took the kids after lunch back to the hotel for nap time. Tiff and I went into the castle, and learned a lot about the architecture and building of the city. Then we went to the Basilica of Saint Nazairre. The Basilica was so beautiful I kept weeping. Seriously, it was beauty beyond words. I could not stop taking pictures. I took over 150 pictures of the castle, artifacts and the church. I took pictures until my camera shut itself off and said "re charge batteries".

I really loved Carcassonne. The new city, in the valley, (which is about 200 years old) had parts that looked like uptown New Orleans or Marigny, but on a much larger scale. The walk to the train station was a good hike, but there was a park right in front of the station where we picnicked, and let the kids play. The train ride was lovely, scenic, uneventful, and successful by napping standards. Both kids napped:)

I was shocked at how busy and large Avignon is. It's nothing like the sleepy little village of Annecy. And guess what? Avignon has a wall around it too! it's a wall from Roman times too! I asked our tour guide today, how many French cities have walls around them and he said dozens. It's so funny. We were driving along, and I am yelling " what's that?" And our guide is very dismissive, "oh, that's just some ancient roman ruins from about two thousand years ago," and he just keeps driving, and doesn't even bother to stop. (He did stop later so I could get pictures).

I'm just too tired to finish tonight. I'll finish our adventures and get caught up tomorrow!

France France France

The past few days have been so busy and yet unbelievable! Our first city Annecey was so family, calm beautiful and amazing, then we left for The Pont Du Gard, then we went to Carcassonne the city was oh my Goodness!! The food the buildings, Art and everything Is so much to take in. Our train ride and walking to Avignon was very busy and fun. Avignon is a very very busy city! We enjoyed dinner outside and we will have a tour tomorrow with a guide from 9:00-6:00. Pictures to follow!! It is 10:25 here our time so goodnight all and I promise to blog more later!!

Leonardo's corner - take three

It’s been a long time since I last posted so this is going to take a while.

The drive to Carcassonne wasn’t that bad. It was about six hours long but we stopped at the Pont du Gard, which was about halfway there.

The Pont du Gard was ENORMOUS! It took about three minutes to walk from the entrance to there, (at my moms pace, slow) and even I was impressed, which doesn’t happen often. The three arches together reached about a hundred something feet and it was about 150-175 feet long. It was incredible how it was built since they didn’t use any cement. Talk about engineering.

From there we finished the next two and a half hours to Carcassonne, which was pretty lame looking when we first got there. We got to our hotel and dropped off our bags, it was pretty nice, even if I got stuck on the bottom half of a trundle bed with Sammy. My mom said that Rick Steve had recommended a restraint so my dad to a quick look at it and took the lead. We turned a corner and this huge castle came into view. We walked inside and entered a crowded little cobbled street with little souveneir shops on both sides.

We walked down a little side road and my dad just kept on walking. I was kind of confused but I kept following him. We reached this little dead end with a little outdoor resturaunt at the end. We got a table and sat down. My mom got a bottle of wine for her and aunt Ticky and everyone else water. He let me get a steak, which was awesome, because all the beef is grass fed in France. We got the wine and we got our dinners and things just went up from there. My steak was incredible, but unfortuanetly I didn’t get a picture. My dad gave Jabba a sip of wine and he got this big Jabba smile and started to ask for more. He let me have some because its legal there J and it was really good. My Dad gave up being a vegetarian and ate some of my steak and my mom’s lamb. We got our dessert, I did get a pic of that, and I got this incredible chocolate cake with whip crème surrounded by a design of dark and white chocolate. We got lost going home and we had to walk around the outskirts of the entire castle before we found the way home, so much for the iPhone’s maps.

The next day we just toured the castle. We walked on the ramparts, which had some really nice views, and around the inside. My dad let me try to climb a castle wall because I said I could, I’m trying to be more optimistic with my life because I find it helps me to be a better person, I failed epically. We stopped at a nice little resturaunt that was tucked away in a nice little corner. And I had a HAMBURGER!!! Monumental moment. We went home and I swam in the freezing indoor pool? This made no sense to me why an indoor pool would be so cold that no one wanted to get in. then my dad and I went on an hour-long expedition to get some food and I spent twenty minutes trying to find a bathroom. We had pasta for dinner and all was well. I owed my dad 150 push-ups and did them all for a four inch long éclair, Carlos, Mr. Miller would be proud.

I woke up this morning to find out that Sammy had rolled off the top of the trundle and landed on me. Never the less after five minutes of her calling me a “stupid dummy” the day started good, I had chocolate and pasta for breakfast and then walked a mile and a half to the train station were I got on the train I am now on.

This is Jake Sully, signing out.

Claire's corner - take six!

Well we’re on  train. (Going medium fast.) Almost time to get off. Hey Olivia, if you read my blogs then you will know what I’m doing. Your presents will be bought in Paris. You might see pictures of us in the car ride. Maybe us somewhere else. My dads nagging me that this is to short. I don’t care because I’m out of things to say. You HAVE to read this because in Carcassonne there are no safety rails and thers a drop out that’s about 60 feet steep. And if you die its your fault.

France pictures

Here are pictures taken by me, Leonardo, Claire and Alicia of our trip.  This is just a starter, but I will add more to it when I have time.

France photo album on Facebook

Leonardo's corner: take two

Sun, 9/4/11

Today was pretty boring. It rained all day. We went to a prison in the middle of the canal and then we went to a castle that was turned into a crappy little museum. I've spent most of today reading "The Book Thief", which I found on a shelf next to "Calvin and Hobbes, the original", The FarSide Gallery 3, and 5. So the apartments turned out to be pretty darned good, and even though I'm sleeping on a couch, and I probably gained 5 pounds at a crepe store, Carlos would be proud, But hey, it's France!

Mon. 9/5/11

We actually had some fun today! Ot started out pretty boring, I finished "The Book Thief" this morning, and they just kinda kicked around and didnt do anything until my dad came home and we went for a bike ride on some bikes from this little-hole-in-the-wall bike rental place. I wanted a scooter, ( which are enormously popular here, all the kids my age here rode them) but my dad wouldn't let me:( we rode around the lake to this incredible crepe place that was a little ramshackle hut attached to a trailer that the owners lived in. We rode home after that and passed the Annecy skate park, which is enormous, and dropped the bikes off. We stopped at a chocolate shop and my mom got some chocolate. We had left overs for dinner:p

Claire's corner: take five!

Well this is the last day here in Annecy. I spelled that wright by the way! Tomorrow we go to Avignon. Daddy says that it might rain. Remember what I said about the perfume? Well which kind should I get? I mean what if I get the wrong kind and he turns out smelling like a lady?

Yesterday we visited a Museum and walked an amazing castle. I was not allowed to take photos in the Museum. However trust me when I say the Art and furniture they had was had painted and or hand carved and was from the 17 th century.. It was the most amazing stuff I have ever seen. We had a very rainy day yesterday. It did not slow us down or anyone. The weather is perfect here even with rain. We do not have A/C here. We have heaters because this is a ski city when it's winter. Temperatures are 70's and low 50's at night. Everyone just closes the metal shutters but sleeps with the windows open. FYI if anyone ever wants to travel and come over here. Bring your own TP! Yes your own toilet paper. Haha it is like sandpaper over here trust me don't say I did not warn you. We had a wonderful day today beautiful sunshine. We took a bike ride. We enjoyed lunch at a really small place on our bike trail. I posted some photos on Facebook. The food, beverages and everything is so amazing here. They do not serve large portions like we do. They do not have anyone to bag your groceries in the stores. Everyone here pretty much does for themselves. The strollers for the children have plastic covers when it rains. They have bikes that are 2 and 3 seats for parents and child in the middle to ride. They have tiny bikes for the little ones. They start early learning that is just the way it is. They also have rode rage! Tempers can flare here no doubt. They have many parks, skate board, roller blades and bikes. It is so cool to see all the families napping in the parks on blankets. The older people bike and roller blade. I love it here. We will be packing up and leaving Annecy France Wednesday to take a 5-6 hour ride to our next city of exploration. We are going to Carcassonne. I hope you are enjoying our journey as much as I am sharing it! Love and miss you all back at home! ;)

Monday, Monday

Our Monday went so much better than expected! The rain didn't come, the sun came out,and we spent the day outside. We rented bikes and rode around the lake some. We only went about five kilometers, but we rode out to a crepe shop Sean had found. The crepes there were amazing. And the best part was they had gluten free buckwheat crepes,so Sean could have crepes too! YAY! The scenery is just amazing. These French Alps are huge! And gorgeous. Then we wandered through town on our walk back, stopping for chocolate, wine, and cheese (my dinner is complete):) We found out that the boat tours around the lake continue rain or shine, so we have a rain plan for tomorrow if it's needed. I braved my way through the laundromat, the grocery, the pharmacy, and the chocolatier today, speaking really bad French, but getting what I needed. I absolutely love the town of Annency. I love the scenery, the mountains, the parks, the walking/biking culture, and the markets. I am sure that Paris will be an adventure in and of itself, but I really love this town!

Claire's corner: take four!

We've been out for almost all day long. Remember what I said about the indoor park? Well none of that happened,instead we rented bikes and rode out to lunch. Oh and by the way Ashley,I ate chocolate ice cream like you said! I think French money is a lot more interesting than ours.

The rainy weekend

Our Saturday lost it's charm when the rain started and it never stopped. We played cards together and I got a game of chess in with Leonardo. Sammy and I took a nap. I expected to rest for an hour or so but we ended up sleeping a solid two hours and Sammy and I both had a hard time going to bed. I had to give both of us melatonin just to sleep. It was raining from the start this morning. We walked arond the town in the rain. We found a crepe place and had crepes for lunch. We made it to the Palais de L'Isle, a small castle in the middle of a river on an island. They have turned it into an architecture museum of the town. The bottom line, it was cool because it's more than seven hundred years old. The prison cells were inspiring time out rooms:). We saw another castle that has been turned into a Contemporary Art and Animation Film Museum. Again, the art was ok, but the building was so cool. The walls are two and three feet deep. There was a chapel in the first place with ancient paintings of Mary and Jesus that are so old, you almost can't see them. The furniture display in the second castle was super cool. Armoires and trunks from the sixteenth century! The built in potties were most impressive. The arches in the ceilings of the tower rooms were so cool. Tiffany and I went to mass at St. Maurice's. It was a very old church. The architecture was amazing. I kept staring at the wood carvings with gargoyles and saints. The most incredible thing though: the organist played a classical piece before and after mass. We walked in as he was finishing the before piece, but his after piece was Toccatta in D Minor, by Bach. Talk about a holy experience. Hearing that song played on an organ like that in church with those acoustics: WOW! It's stil raining and the kids are getting really crazy with all of this pent up energy. We are thinking of going to the library tomorrow if it's still raining (and it's supposed to). I am bummed out because if it keeps raining, we won't be biking around the lake, and we certainly won't be swimming in it:(

The travel was long but very good. My first flight was from Shreveport to Houston. Then from Houston to Newark-Liberty airport. I met Alicia and family there. We got to eat hang out and visit until time to load the plane for Geneva Switzerland. We did load the plane and sit on the runway for an hour. That seems to be not an uncommon thing with international flights. The airplane was larger than any plane I have ever been on. It had 2 rows of 2 seats on each side of the plane. With rows of 3 seats in the center. It even had 2 bathrooms!! Our flight was around 7 hours. They served us dinner and beverages. Alicia and I enjoyed a glass of wine. Yes mom I took a picture of our toast just for you. ;) We arrived early in the morning around 7:00 am. Not on my bodies time clock. This Louisiana lady had been awake since 3:00 am the morning before. It was around 2:00 back at home. As I mentioned in a few of my Facebook posts I am 6 hours ahead of y'all!! We went to claim luggage had to venture through customs. We then awaited in a wonderful restaurant in the airport for time to catch our bus. The Coffee here in Europe is amazing!!! We had a hour and a half bus ride into Annecy. I took pictures it is beautiful!! The weather has been perfect! Sunny and 70's!! We waited at a park a few blocks from our apartment we are staying at until check in time. I posted a few pictures on Facebook! I have many photos on my camera. I haven't started to even think about uploading them yet. I may wait until I get home and create a whole album. It is ALOT easier to take with my phone and upload. We went to bed early last night! We awoke this morning around 9:00. We went to market! They believe in fresh everything here. Fresh bread, pasta, cheese, fruits, vegetables. As long as I speak Bonjour then smile. They appreciate you trying to speak the language. They love perfumes and smelling nice. They walk and bike everywhere here!! They have parks all over the place. Everyone sits in the parks and visits. I hope to blog more later. The Paley kids are having a blast! I am so beyond blessed to be here in France with my sister and her family, I love you all and miss you back at home!

The flight and arrival experience

Sean and I went to bed last night, both of us talking about how lucky we are that everything went as well as it did. We were talking about the kids. The flight to Geneva was so long, but we managed to play and sing with the kids until their dinners. Thank God they served the kids and special meals first. This was so helpful because Sean had ordered a vegetarian meal and he ate with the little ones, and then our meals came later when they were done. Dinner shifts were successful. We immediately tried to get kids to sleep. It was hard, but thank God Jasper is still nursing because you can't scream and nurse at the same time and warm milk is better than crying. He went to sleep first and slept the most; probably five hours total. Claire was out next with maybe two hours of sleep on the plane. Sean and I got maybe an hour a piece, Tiffanie might have slept a little more, and Leonardo slept less. When we got off the plane, our plane neighbors were telling us how well our kids behaved on the flight! We had three hours between landing and bus departure so we ate breakfast at an airport cafe and just sat. The bus ride was beautiful but I missed some of it because I would doze off. Later, I would be falling asleep outside while sitting on the grass, and on the pavement. Very disconcerting. We got to Anncey around noon but our check in was at four pm. So we walked around the old town, found the lake and spent a couple of hours at the park. The worst part of the day was getting to our apartment at 3:40 hoping to check in early, and sitting in the parking lot for an hour and a half because the manager had our arrival day late, expecting us tomorrow. Sean managed to cook a simple pasta meal with the most amazing fresh EVERTHING: fresh pasta, fresh salad, fresh olives (yummy). We were struggling to stay up till 8:30 so we played Apples to Apples. Despite the extreme exhaustion, four kids, and extreme exhaustion, (the exhaustion was Biblical)there were rumbles, but no major emotional quakes. We went to bed grateful for a safe journey with no drama!

Leonardo's Corner: take one

The first flight to Newark wasn't that bad. But now we're waiting for another two hours to get on the plane to Europe during our 4 hour layover. I mean really? Who needs a layover that long?

The flight from Geneva wasn't actually that bad. I watched Kung-Fu Panda 2 and beat a really annoying ten year old game called "Invasion". I got a grand total of about 45 min. Of sleep. Our bus to Annency from Geneva was two-and-a-half hrs. after our flight landed so we ate at some Jazz Cafe. I got 2 us dollars worth of Swiss Franks (1.5 franks) and then Sammy found a 200 peso (Columbian) coin:'(

The bus ride went pass some beautiful scenes, and we saw a Ferrari 458 Italia! We haven't seen as many Porches as I've liked, only three. I see more on daily basis back home! We get to Annency and out came the cameras. We passed a stall that had about 100 types of cheese (sadly, no picture). We also saw a really cool little castle in the middle of the canal. We walked to the lake Anncency's famous for and hung out around the park. We got some yummy sandwiches fur lunch ( they were incredible) and then got some ice cream. Fast forward 4 boring hrs. I'm now sitting on a hard wooden chair in our apartment in Annency about to pass out while the baby's are running around screaming......but hey, it's FRANCE!!

Hanging before the big flight

We had a great first flight. We were thrilled to discover a healthy food place in the Newark airport (thanks Karen! Your memory is better than you think;) Mostly, we have sat, but we walked laps some with the littles. We managed to find Tiffanie within fifteen minutes of landing. We are about to board the plane, and Sean says we might not have a signal, so the next time we blog, we should be in France. The kids have been great (so far). Jasper slept thirty minutes on the plane, Sammy has had no nap.

claires corner: take 2

I am at the airport now waiting to get on the plane. Im so excited.

The journey has begun

We managed to get packed, load the car, drive to the airpoirt, check in, go through security and get to the gate.  The Thing shirts are a big hit.

The things ready to hit the road.

Pringles at the airport, courtesy of Leonardo

Claire's corner: take three.

We are at the apartment. Somebody better give Leo a bottle of perfume. We have the most delicious bread and cheese you ever had! I think we are going to a indoor park today. We might even eat out to. Aunt Tiffany was sitting on a chair when she flipped a switch and poof! The lights went out. Now we have to take showers in the dark. We went to the market on Saturday. Every thing there was fresh! So for every day now we have to give Jasper Thomas or else he'll cry very loud and not stop. He is addicted to it now.

We are going to France TODAY! (((((scream)))))

Yesterday was crazy. Last night, the natives were more than restless. They were rattling their cages and yelling. Jasper seems to know a lot more than we give him credit for. It took two hours to put him to sleep. He kept standing up in his crib singing Aloutte at the top of his lungs and counting his crib slats in French. We finished packing last night. If packing were an Olympic sport, we would be on team USA for sure. Sean and I decided in the early planning phase, to pack light, Rick Steve's style. Basically, we each have one carry on roller. The littles are sharing a carry on roller, and we have one extra carry on roller for toiletries. Three of these carry ons are convertible back packs. In theory, Sean, Leonardo, and myself should be able to wear a bag and pull one, or push the one stroller I am bringing. We decided on this strategy because most of our travels through out France will be by train. Here's some interesting trivia for you: France is roughly the size of Texas, yet it has over eight hundred train lines linking it to Europe and within it's own borders. Every city in France has at least one train station which will connect you to the bigger TGv stations. The TGV lines are high speed trains that travel ninety or so miles per hour to all of the big cities in France and Europe. That's the kind of infrastructure I'd like to see here in the states. Can you imagine going to any state in our country in a matter of hours? I am hoping to post pics of our luggage and our "travel uniforms". I saw these shirts at Universal and thought, ya know, that would be perfect for crowded airports. I woke up at six am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. Claire was in here at 6:30 am and Jasper sounds like he's up at seven. We are all too excited to sleep!