Month: August 2022

So, Lily is ever the undaunted adventurer. Even though she caught what I had and was now in the throws of sickness herself, she has felt so alive in Europe and wanted the full itinerary. And so, we did A TON today.

We started out at Leonardo da Vinci’s retirement home. Here is a quick blurb about it from the Britannica website:

“…at age 65 Leonardo accepted the invitation of the young King Francis I to enter his service in France. At the end of 1516 he left Italy forever, together with Melzi, his most devoted pupil. Leonardo spent the last three years of his life in the small residence of Cloux (later called Clos-Lucé), near the king’s summer palace at Amboise on the Loire. He proudly bore the title Premier peintre, architecte et méchanicien du Roi (“First painter, architect, and engineer to the King”).”

We first started in the gardens. It was neat to see da Vinci was interested in botany. They also had a lot of models of his inventions around the gardens so that was also fun.

We then toured da Vinci’s home:

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After touring his home, we went to the exhibit about all his various inventions. I was interested to learn that a lot of his inventions were for militaristic purposes. For example, he invented a machine gun and an armored tank. He also made designs for a parachute, an automobile, bicycle, and a device for humans to fly. I don’t know how many of his inventions were ultimately used or made, but it was all very fascinating.

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After leaving da Vinci’s retirement estate, we went to the Château de Chenonceau. It is one of the most famous Chateaus in the Loire valley because of how early it was originally built, how beautiful it is, and also because of the people who lived there. Henry II gave it to Diane, his mistress, so she could live there. When Henry II died, his wife, Catherine de Medici, kicked Diane out and took over the palace.

Here are some pictures of our visit:

Henry famously had this emblem of H & C in Diana’s bedroom. The Cs are designed to actually reflect a “D” for Diana.

This long hallway reminded us of the hall of mirrors in Versailles. This is the hallway over the water, but it reminded us of the hall of mirrors because it is a long hallway with many exterior windows to catch the breeze.

Such a stunning Chateau!

We adored walking through the forrests as we took the scenic route back to our car.

Afterwards, we went to one more Chateau: Villandry. It is famous for its gardens. And deservedly so!! It is a top 3 highlight for my entire trip. We were blown away by the magnificence of these incredible gardens. Here are the pictures:

There was even a maze built from shrubs!

Beauty looking over beauty:

After being stunned by the gardens at Villandry, we went to a mushroom cave. I was soooo fascinated. First of all, the cave was created several hundred years ago from people quarrying limestone for the various chateaus and structures in the surrounding areas. Later on, the quarry was repurposed as a mushroom cave because of its stable temperatures. We learned all about the science of growing mushrooms. Shitake mushrooms only grow on oak bark, so they have to mix oak bark into the soil mixture (which I think might include manure) so those mushrooms will grow. Today the cave is not up to full production like it used to be, but it still makes a lot of mushrooms and serves them in various forms in their gift shop and also at their restaurant which we were able to eat at.

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The mushroom dishes were divine!

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Back at our chateau, our host gave us fresh eggs from their chickens. What a treat! We had them for breakfast the next day.

Today was one of my favorite days of the whole trip. Not only was I feeling better from my sickness, but the things we saw were all highlights for me. I’m so grateful for Lily who is the most amazing trip planner. By being linked to the ultimate adventurer, I find myself having the most amazing experiences. I love you babe!

We started the day by riding the glass elevator again and waiting in a very long line to see Chinon Castle. There was a medieval fair going on in the castle which made it a more popular destination than normal. It is the castle where Joan of Arc first met the Dauphin and got his permission to lead an army to free France.

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After the castle, we headed over to Chateau D’Usse, which is the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Inside they have rooms that tell the Sleeping Beauty story, which the kids enjoyed. They also have rooms that show how occupants of the Chateau lived during its glory days.

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After the chateau we went back to our Airbnb to relax during the heat of the day. I was reading a guidebook to the Loire Valley and discovered that there were mushroom caves nearby. They closed within the hour, but if we hurried we could make it and see if they would take us in the restaurant.

They were completely booked for the restaurant, but they did reserve a table for us for the next day. We spent the next two and a half hours wandering around the mushroom town and then back in Chinon trying to find a restaurant that wasn’t “complet.” The kids were crying so we got them ice cream to tide them over until we could find something open. (Even the grocery stores were all closed.)

Finally we discovered a fast food place that was open. By that point it was past 9pm and everyone was also tired. When the food finally arrived the kids were too tired to eat.

As of the previous night, I was starting to feel really sick. Still, I rallied because I didn’t want us to miss the medieval market in Chinon, just ten minutes from our chateaux where we were staying. The town is incredible. It is an ancient town with some buildings almost 1,000 years old.

The people of Chinon seem to really appreciate their roots. There were a lot of people dressed up for this medieval market.

This is a peanut machine. I have no idea what it was, but I thought it looked really neat and old.

Here is a video of us walking around the market:

We also saw some awesome musicians and belly dancers:

We also got crepes for the kids.

It was so fun to walk around the market. One thing I noticed was how many people were in deep conversations. No one, not one person that I remember was on their phone. Just people talking, and being a community and enjoying each other. I’m sure some of the people were tourists, but Chinon is not a huge tourist destination, so I think a lot of it was just the local culture and people I was appreciating. The vibe of socializing and community was wonderful even if our family was just observing.

After the market, we went home and I rested in bed and blogged. I really felt quite sick. I think Lily spent time in and near the pool while the kids got their much coveted screen time (as they have not used them much at all this trip except for plain rides). Also, Lily did a ton of laundry which was a huge gift as people were starting to run out of things.

On Friday we woke up, packed up our things and spent one last morning in St. Malo. We picked up some pastries and sandwiches from the bakery by the city gates, and we brought them to the beach. Ammon, Mary and Clarissa all ate their food quickly so they could spend time playing in the sand. The tide came up so quickly that within an hour their sand castle was washed away and the water was lapping at the brick ramp at the base of the city walls!

Meanwhile Lydia and Abe were hunting in St. Malo for a sweatshirt, which they were unable to find. When the tide came fully up, we walked back to the car and started the drive to Chinon.

We had never seen fields upon fields of sunflowers before, and it was incredible to see how many sunflowers are grown in the Loire valley.

We were absolutely delighted by our Airbnb in Chinon, although we didn’t take pictures of it that day. After settling in we took a brief dip in the pool and relaxed after the drive.

Then we drove to dinner. We went to a pop-up restaurant recommended by our Airbnb host. The ambience was fantastic, but everyone was still hungry because the plates were so teeny tiny.

After these appetizers we drove to Chinon and found a pizza place on the town square. My four cheese pizza was one of my favorite things I ate the entire trip. It had a local chèvre, reblochon, mozzarella, and some type of green or blue cheese. So yummy.

Abe was starting to get sick, so after we went home and headed straight to bed. Clarissa claimed the princess bed and Lydia as her bed buddy, while Clarissa and Ammon shared the adorable upstairs bedroom down the hall from ours.

The kids have been loving the AirBnB at St. Malo. We are on the top floor so it reminds us Etienne’s 6-story house in All the Light You Cannot See. There was even a collection of sea-shells (shown in this picture) which reminded us of Marie Laure’s sea shell collection in the book. The unit was so fanciful and quirky. It had games for the children to play and fun spaces, like a little area where they could sleep together separated from living room by a curtain.

We started the day off with a carousel ride for Clarissa and Ammon. Ammon was sad the whole time because as I was on my way to him to give him his ticket, the ride started. When the person came to collect his ticket, he didn’t have his and he was really embarrassed and sad.

After the carousel, we all took a boat-ride to Dinard. Dinard was a getaway place for English people with consumption. It was a very charming place, and we could see St. Malo just across the way while we were there.

We spent our time at the beach in Dinard. We weren’t expecting to swim so no one brought swim-suits, but after we saw an amazing swimming pool set aside from the ocean that had ocean water, I ran back to our place for swim gear. The picture below is not of the pool at Dinard, but of a similar one at St. Malo so you get the idea. I had to run fast to catch the boat and not have to wait for the next one. I really enjoyed my run as I hadn’t been exercising and I was starting to feel sick, so it felt nice to sweat and to breathe deeply. After getting the swim gear, I drove 20 minutes to Dinard to meet up with everyone.

Lily, Ammon, Clarissa and I all took some turns swimming. And all the kids had tons of fun playing in the sand.

Towards the end of our time in Dinard, we are amazed at how low the tide was. In fact, a lot of the boats in the harbor were docked on the ground from the lack of water!

After our time in Dinard, we went back to St. Malo. We ate crepes outside at a cafe. I loved my goat cheese and honey crepe. Lily loved her scallop crepe.

Clarissa was in a super silly mood during dinner and she ate a TON of muscles.

Also, Lily was adorably teaching Clarissa math this evening. Below you can see Clarissa demonstrating her *in-progress* knowledge of fractions. Lydia is such a great teacher!

Walking around after crepes, we grabbed ice-cream and the most incredible donuts and stumbled upon a music group playing sea-shanties. We were memorized by the music. At one point Ammon disappeared and went away from us down by where the musicians were. He was dancing near them. We finally found him and had to correct him for running off (again).

We ended the day with a Ferris wheel ride. We had been using the possibility of it to help incentivize Clarissa to behave well. It worked! Overall she was very good today, and it was so fun to give her the reward.

Today was so fun. St. Malo is one of my favorite cities in the world, and I got to explore it (and Dinard) more with my favorite people!

This morning, we hustled out of our AirBnb without wasting much time because we had timed tickets for Mont-Saint-Michel. Before leaving, we said hello to our AirBnB friend. He must be friends with the owner, because he was also featured in the online brochure for the place!

Also, we had the most amazing view from our window. We were amazed to see how far the tide had receded given that it was all the way up to the city wall last night when we arrived!

Mont-Saint-Michel was absolutely stunning. It started out as a church that was built after someone had a vision of Michael the Archangel in which Michael told him to build a church on this rock. Then over time, it was added to until it became what you see today. It was ruled by a very powerful and influential abbot.

Prisoners would walk on this wheel to help raise and lower supplies.

I really enjoyed some of the colors and textures of the rock. I was reminded of the Alcatraz walls.

We were so lucky to have Lily’s foresight to get us timed tickets for the morning. By the time we were finished some areas of Mont-Saint-Michel were so crowded we actually couldn’t move at times. It cleared up a bit once we made it to the lower parts (featured in the video below), but you can still get a sense for the crowds.

We had oysters and other yummy food at a great cafe. It was awesome to sit outside!

I ordered an apple crepe with burning alcohol poured on it. The wind blew out the flame, so that part was a bit anticlimactic, lol.

I think Lily and I were both a little tired after how hard we had been hitting the previous week. We had a bit of emotional turbulence when a misunderstanding led to us eating at the restaurant featured above and not at a place she had read about and really wanted to go. We had some additional turbulence when we got separated on the way back, and I thought Lily took the bus, but she decided to walk, and I was unable to contact her. I was really stressed out that we were separated and she didn’t know there was an issue, so it was another misunderstanding. We talked through it and were able to still have a really good day even though there were two bumps in the road.

It was so nice to spend time on the beach after Mont-Saint-Michel

I got such a kick out of the sand crabs!

Meanwhile, my own little sand crabs (Lydia, Mary, Ammon and Clarissa) were playing in the sand and building wonderful structures.

We then went to old-city in San Malo. San Malo was very special for us because as a family we have been listening to the audio-book of All the Light you Cannot See. A lot of that book takes place in San Malo so it was so fun to think about the book while we were there. It was so fun to walk around old city. The shops were delightful, and it was amazing how old all the buildings were.

We went to a delicious crepe place for dinner called Histoire de Crepes. It was DELICIOUS. I especially loved the veggie crepe that Lydia ordered (and needed help with).

Lily had more success than I did with her flaming crepe desert!

Afterwards people got icecream.

And hugged

After dinner we walked all around the pier. We saw so many neat boats at the dock, including some that looked like pirate ships!

While walking towards the famous part of the wall that juts into the ocean, we noticed crowds of people. Lily asked someone and figured out that people were gathered to see the National Army boat of Argentina disembarking. It was on a journey of goodwill and just finished it’s visit with France. It was a beautiful boat!

We watched the ship sail off from the part of the wall that juts into the ocean. Everything was so beautiful. I got a photo and a video of the water because I was so taken by it. The light on the water makes me think of Monet and the way he explored the way light plays on water.

On the way back we past some big spot lights pointed at one of the city walls. We all had a lot of fun playing with our shadows.

When we got back near our place, I took the following photo and videos to show how high the tide was. Can you believe we were so far down the beach just hours earlier!?

Lily noticed this emblem on the sidewalk right outside where we were staying. It says, “The sea starts here.” When the tide is high enough, I’m sure it does!

Today was an extremely eventful day. Ammon started out the day still feeling sick. Poor guy.

We packed up on the morning to leave Paris and were out waiting for our ride around 9:30. Lily is always the hero with packing up. She is just so efficient, organized and good at it. I generally try to help, but I’m the supporting cast to her amazing energy that zaps all the chaos into organized suitcases that are ready to go. When we got outside we realized that our Uber driver cancelled on us and was not going to pick us up. Our AirBNB host then called two taxis for us, which was extremely nice of him. Lily took off in the first cab with Clarissa and Mary and I waited for the second cab with Ammon and Lydia. While waiting for the cab, Ammon started puking. Lily gave me two paper bags just in case Ammon started puking and he got both of them dirty with his puke. I was so embarrassed because the second cab driver pulled up right as Ammon was throwing up into the bags. The driver was in a button shirt, and very clean cut with gel in his hair. His cab was very nice and clean and had leather seats. I was half expecting him to say that he was not willing to take this bio-hazard family to the airport Avis rent-a-car, but I was so grateful that he still offered to take us. There was one more problem though. I now had no bag for Ammon in case he needed to throw up again in the car. I was just about ready to jump in the car with Ammon and just pray to God that he would not throw up. But at the last second, our airBNB host (the same one who called us the taxis) ran inside, grabbed a bag, and stuffed it into my hand. What a saint! 25 minutes into the ride, Ammon started throwing up. I was soooo grateful for that bag, and for the wonderful man who helped save the day. Thank you God for good people.

We waited a long time in line at Avis, but we finally got our car. While checking out for it, I learned that it was a manual transmission, and they had no automatics in the size that we needed. It had been about 20 years or so since I drove a stick shift, and even then I didn’t drive it that much. I felt very grateful for Suzanne and Jere (who both let me drive their stick-shift BMWs) so I at least had some exposure to a manual transmission. I worried though that it was going to be rough as it had been such a long time. The first time I hit the gas, I left forward with a jolt out of my parking space and then killed the car. That was cause for some concern. But then I settled down, and everything started coming back to me. I drove it just fine. It’s now a week later, and sure I’ve killed the car a number of times, and I’m still a bit jolty, but overall, I’m driving it with no problem. It has actually been really fun to refresh an old skill.

We took the long way to St. Malo so that we could see the war sites of Normandy. Our first stop was Omaha Beach. To prepare us, Lily had the whole family watch the movie The Longest Day. It is gut wrenching to imagine what it would be like to be one of the first to charge the Germans on that beach. You almost certainly knew you were going to die, but you also knew it was a crucial mission. The US and our allies actually freed France from Germany and turned the tide of World War II. The whole place felt sacred and had me thinking about my own commitment to noble sacrifice.

While the adults and older kids were having a transcendent experience, Clarissa was completely beside herself and wailing in protest. She literally could not process (at least not calmly) the idea that we would go right to a beach, and not play in it. Her wailing lasted a solid 10 or so minutes.

After Omaha beach, we went to St. Mereglise. This town is featured in The Longest Day, and thee town is very famous for the paratrooper that got caught on the church during entry via parachute. It is a very tragic story, because the paratroopers dropped at night to take the town by surprise. But someone’s house had caught on fire, and the German officials in the area were all awake and in the town square trying to help put the fire out. Thus, when the paratroopers landed, the German officials just gunned them all down. The paratrooper caught on the building was one of the only (and maybe the only) survivors, and he also died a year later, I think due to complications from his injuries.

Some of the paratroopers landed in swampy areas.

Remembering the heroes that died in World War II in Normandy was so inspiring. I felt a deeper conviction to make the sacrifices for good that my own life calls me to do. I am truly humbled and inspired by the people who died to save the world from a fascist dictator. Democracy is such a precious, fragile thing, and I’m so inspired every time I see someone stand up for it. I even felt a wave hope and inspiration go through my heart when I learned about Dick Cheney’s ad calling out Donald Trump as the greatest threat to American democracy. Politically, I have a lot against Dick Cheney, but the fact that he’s sticking up for democracy, and that his daughter is too as she runs the Jan 6 hearings, to me is another example of good people making sacrifices and sticking up for democracy. I thank the Lord for good people who stand up for goodness. It is honestly one of the things that most keeps my hope going.

After the adults and older kids got heir education, we gave the little kids what they most wanted. Something purely fun! Yay for carousels!

https://youtube.com/shorts/E1yWh3vqKIY?feature=share

In that same town, we then bought a bunch of yummy fruit and drinks at a grocery store and got burgers from a food truck. We were also delighted to find out that there was a magic show happening right while we were eating. It was in French, but the kids were still enthralled.

In the car, the kids had fun taking pictures.

They played a game where someone would make a face and then everyone else would try to copy it. How did they do?

We arrived late in St. Malo. What a wonderful day! Honestly, one of the best of my life. I was so amazed and touched by the World War 2 heroes.

Today Ammon was feeling really sick. He sweat a lot at night and had a fever in the morning. He was also extremely lethargic. Lily and I realized that he must have gotten heat exhaustion from the Versailles day (which was very hot) or a bug or both. Lily decided to stay home with Ammon while I took the girls to Giverny to see Monet’s home and gardens.

The way to and from Giverny was a CRAZY adventure. It has been such a gift to have Lily all the time on this trip. She is great with languages and even though she isn’t fluent in French, she knows some key words and can stumble through almost any interaction that we need. I on the other had was completely at a loss at the ticket machine in the train station. I did my best to look for Vernon which is the train stop I was supposed to go to. I couldn’t find it for the life of me, so knowing the train was leaving soon, I just picked a random destination and bought my adult ticket. Then I did the same for the kids tickets, but the machine only let me buy a booklet of kids passes, so I ended up buying about 10 kids passes. All in all, I paid 12.5 Euros. We jumped on the train and I was a bit worried that someone would stop to check our tickets (as happened yesterday on the way to Versailles), but I just figured I could look up with a puzzled look on my face, and display my 11 tickets for the wrong train and to the wrong destination and just hope they’d understand I was a very confused tourist and that they would have pity on me.

The way back was even more dramatic. Our bus was late, but we still got to the station two minutes before our train departed. We skipped buying tickets, ran strait on the train, and sat down with a good 90 seconds to spare before the doors closed. The next train left 2-3 hours later so we really wanted to make sure we caught this train. Again, if we got caught, I was hoping that displaying my abundance of tickets would solve the matter, lol. No one ever asked for our tickets, so I then started worrying that I underpaid for our journey. When we arrived in Paris, I tried to figure out again what tickets I was supposed to buy (now that there was no time pressure), but I still couldn’t figure anything out, so I just let it alone. What a crazy day of travel. But enough about the logistics! Let’s dive into our time at Monet’s house and gardens!

The garden was perhaps the most beautiful I have ever seen. And it gave me such an understanding into the inspiration behind so many of Monet’s paintings. Lily laughed when I told her over the phone that I didn’t realize that Monet was just hanging out in his own garden the whole time he was painting. I think the kids loved it too. Lydia did the flower close-ups (as well as the below rooster video). Didn’t she do a great job capturing the exquisite beauty of the flowers, and the um….the fascinating..uh…goofiness(?) of the roosters?

The inside of the house was so charming as well and it had so many of the beautiful colors from Monet’s paintings and garden.

After the house and flower garden, we toured the lily pond. We were on a time schedule because we wanted to catch our train. We moved through it pretty quickly, but it still made a huge impression (no pun intended) on me, and I assume on Lydia and Mary as well. Also, it was insanely crowded the whole time (I don’t even think it was peak time for crowds!), but that honestly didn’t really take away from just seeing what the place was like. It was incredible!

Here is Clarissa again breaking my back in the most adorable way possible, lol. The bus was late, so I stood like this for about 30 minutes. The girls got icecream at a nearby ice-cream truck. Lydia was startled by a bee and dropped her ice-cream off her cone, and the man was nice and gave her another scoop of ice-cream. Lydia returned the favor by tipping him. It was sweet.

As mentioned before, we barely caught the train without buying any tickets. Here’s me probably thinking about what will happen if they stop and ask us for tickets.

Here is Mary zonked out.

Here is Lydia zonked out.

And here is our silly mystery photographer looking as smug as ever. Lol, I love this picture.

Then we walked back to the apartment where we were staying.

We stopped at a park on the way and Lydia sat with me while the others played.

While I was in Giverny with the girls, Lily was resting, reading and taking care of our sweet Ammon. They also made it out for lunch, but he mostly sat there as he had very little appetite.

After arriving at home, we all went out for delicious Empanadas.

After Empanadas, I went home with Ammon who was still feeling sick, and Lily went around town with the girls. As soon as I got to the apartment with Ammon, he started throwing up majorly in the toilet on the main floor. He was such a champ about it. He just did it without any fuss or crying. Poor guy was really sick today.

I had such a fun daddy daughter day today. I love my family so much. Each person is so special to me. Off to more adventures tomorrow!