{Home}

It has been a long few days, but I have made it home! We left Avignon (near the village where we were the past two weeks) at 6:30 AM. This meant an early morning. The shuttles left the villa at 5:15AM...you do the math. It is about a 3 hour train ride to the airport from Avignon. I slept most of the time. By that, I mean dozed which is a new term while on vacation. At the airport, we said our goodbye's to the students. Maggie, Reed, Sabrina and I went to check in which takes a LONG time. It was much like waiting in line at Disneyland, but no scary ride at the end. Anyway, after making it through the ticketing line, the baggage line, the passport line, the security line we had lunch (another line). After waiting about an hour we got in the check in line.

The 8+ hour flight went well. It felt like 8 hours. Sabrina sat adjacent to me and Maggie and Reed were in front of us. I watched a movie, ate parts of the meal provided, listened to music, and dozed. (I might have even slept for an hour or so). Once in Detroit, we had another meal. At this point, I am not sure what I would call it...lunch or dinner. I guess it doesn't matter. We took Sabrina to her gate (she went to Colorado) and shortly there after, boarded our plane to Seattle. Now this time, we ALL slept. We were out of it. Finally, shortly before 10PM we landed and did the usual waiting to get off the plane and waiting for luggage.

Richard picked me up and wanted details from when he left France. This was rather fun since he knew the students and their personalities. We went to grab a bite to eat even though I didn't feel great because of pure exhaustion, but it was the right choice. I came home to a clean house, a bed that was made, a pillow that felt great, a mattress that had some substance, and blankies tucked under the covers. Ahhh.. that is what I call a good night.

Today (Sunday) even though my watch says Monday (France time), I was able to sleep in until 8ish which was not enough. I went back to bed around noon for a "nap" and ended up sleeping until 5. There was no dozing, just pure sleep. The good news is that I have a few days to recover and hopefully I will be back to feeling normal. Whatever that means.

Home, Sweet Home.

{South}

Euro Disney with the "kitchen crew"

Richard drinking a brew at McDonald's

As my adventure in France is coming to an end, I am in shock that I have been away from home for almost 6 weeks. I think the first half flew by because I was anticipating Richard's arrival and the excitement to see France with him.
I am thrilled that Richard came to see what this gig is all about. We were able to spend a day in Paris together. I was able to show him the Lourve and another musuem that I loved last year where Monet's water lily painting are displayed. We also had a blast at Euro Disney with a few friends from the trip! Thanks, Seth and Alex!
We have been in the South of France for a little over a week now. It is a tropical oasis here. There has been more time to unwind, but we are still constantly busy. There is less driving that we have to do here which makes a huge difference as well. I am mastering the manual transmission car and the round abouts have nothing on me at this point! (I will be happy to get back to an automatic)
There was a rain storm the other night. Thunder, lightning and my room flooding. Thankfully we caught it in time and were able to stop some of the water. Amanda, the owner of the villa, was not the least bit concerned. She says it happens whenever it rains. Perhaps she should check into having that fixed?
Laundry is done in the machine and then hung on the line to dry. It dries so quickly. I swear that by the time you get the last piece hung, the first is dry! Someone's clothes are hanging from the railing as I type...I guess the clothesline works in some cases and not in others. It looks like a yard sale from here.
The past few days we have been listening to LIVE music from the comfort of our villa! We are so lucky to have Amanda's friends around and wanting to play their instruments. It all started a few ngihts ago with two guys jamming out on their guitars after their dinner. (By the by, Amanda lives in this villa in an apartment so she entertains here as well) It turned into another jam session with a guitar and accordian and finally last night a concert with three guys playing and singing for hours. And, typical France, the concert didn't start until 11PM which meant a late, late night. I am not complaining though because it has been dreamy falling asleep the past several nights with a live band playing outside my apartment. It's a rough life.

Honfleur

{07.14.10}

We have been in Honfleur since Saturday afternoon and we are finally having a quiet moment to catch up. Kind of. Most of the students are out of the house, some are napping, and few are just quietly hanging around. Maggie and I both scored two comfy chairs in the living room which never happens. Our feet are up, wine is poured, windows are open. It is great to be back in Honfleur...we know the stores, the kitchen and love the atmosphere.

Today is Bastille Day in France. It will be a fun night in Honfleur...dancing, fireworks, lots of people milling about and the good news is that we just have to walk down the hill to entertainment. Hopefully the walk back up after the festivities will be fairly early and we will be able to corral most of the students in good time as well.

Now, more about the amazing food that we have prepared and the amazing people that have chosen to help us out. There are now about 6 consistent kitchen crew members that ALWAYS are willing to help us out. Today we made quiche for lunch and making chicken and rice for dinner. The quiche was a big hit. Last night after a trip to Bayeux to see the tapestry, we finished making African Peanut soup which was tasty as well.

The next few days we have a few excursions planned. Tomorrow we are heading to Rouen and Giverny. Friday we are going to the D Day Beaches. The days with field trips can sometimes be tricky with food since we are gone all day, but we are managing and attempting to prepare meals in advance. It's about that time to get back in the kitchen. I need to find Richard...he has been the grill master and needs to get going on that chicken!

Mont Saint Michelle

A few photos for your enjoyment from our excursion today...

{07.08.10}

Today we drove to Mont Saint Michelle. It was about an hour and a half drive. I drove another manual transmission car and let's just say I am getting better, but always happy to park! The past few days have been busy. Because of the excursion today we had to do some major planning of car rentals and food prep. I think we got it taken care of though.

And...we are getting really good at the caravan thing. After being lost and missing each other on the way to Brittany from Paris, we are sticking together much better. No one wants to relive that nightmare. Today I drove a van with a GPS which was super helpful and we now know which cars need walkie talkies, maps and phones.

The sun is warm. The food is great. The company is fabulous!

Paris

{07.02.10}
We are back in Paris! We left Brittany this morning and this time it only took us 5 hours! Only 5 hours! Thank goodness for the GPS and Maggie's great driving skills. We arrived about 15 before meeting Richard at the hotel! He walked up in a long shirt, jeans and sweaty hot. Instead of taking a cab, he took the subway which is brave after a LONG trip to France and not ever being here. What a guy.

Trying to cool down in the hotel as I type. Reed is looking for a few of the students that are arriving today. Richard is napping. Sabrina is complaining about her sweaty shirt. Maggie is crashed on the bed attempting to cool down. Tomorrow we will be gathering ALL of the students at the airport and transporting them back to Brittany (oh, boy, a 5 hour drive) in 5 vans. My bet is that we don't get 5 vans and there will be some changes in the plan. This is all part of the fun being in France.

Until next time.

Guemene

{7.01.10}

Happy people. Very happy people. We are at McDonald's with WiFi. Something you begin to adore in France!

We made it to Paris on Tuesday morning and waited several hours at the airport waiting to find Sabrina who was "waiting in the hall" like Dr. Davis said. Too bad we weren't looking for her in THAT hall. It was a long wait mostly because we were exhausted from the flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. Finally we met up and hopped in the rental car which was supposed to be a van. Whatever at that point. After aquainting oursleves with the Garmin GPS, we made our way from the airport to Brittany. This was supposed to be a 4 hour drive which really took almost 7 hours. We were exhausted!

The highlights of the 7 hour road trip were: 1. Getting the GPS switched from Maple Valley, WA to France (Shout out to me for that!) 2. Maggie teaching me the beginning part to the song Mockingbird (Finally, they broke it down for me and told me the parts after TWO years) 3. Finding a McDonald's off the route to get some road food (And WiFi) 4. Sabrina, Maggie and I hanging out outside a gas station in plastic yard chairs and realizing, "Wow, we are in France!" while Reed woke up slowly from a power nap. (The car was blazing hot inside and he kept the windows rolled up) 5. Making it to the Carrefour 10 minutes before they closed. 6. Arriving to our destination shortly after 8 PM and meeting Ron (the owner of the place).

After a decent night sleep (try 11 hours) we woke up and headed to Guemene, a small town about 15 minutes from the house. The photo is the outside of the Creperie where we had breakfast. I had a crepe with ham, cheese and mushrooms along with a tasty cup of coffee.

We poked around the rest of the day. Took a nap. I took a dip in the pool (quite refreshing after a nap). Then, we drove around the area and ended up in Guemene for dinner at a pizza/pub joint. Last night we realized we had a lot of planning to do for the grocery store and the realization that we have small/dorm-like fridges to work with became daunting. Never fear though, with all of us we figured out a plan.

Today, we are in Loriant looking for the rental car place then heading back to the house. We NEED to do all the shopping for Saturday, Sunday and Monday today since the stores are closed on Monday AND we will be gone tomorrow to Paris and picking the students up on Saturday.

I am looking forward to getting the road trip out of the way (the one that took us 7 hours!) and getting settled for a few days.

I see London, I see France!

{JUNE 27, 2010}
I leave for France tomorrow. I am anxious. I am mostly packed and mostly feel prepared to spend 6 weeks away from home. I am attempting to revive this blog...internet access is always sketchy, but I am feeling good about it this time.

We fly to Paris and then off to Brittany, France. An unknown territory to us, but I am confident we will find some adventure during our stay.