Sunday, March 2, 2008

Quiet After the Family Leaves




Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but my family was here for about 12 days! Aaron arrived on my birthday, the morning of the 16th, and we took the train an hour away to Tours, where we did some white wine tasting in Vouvray, and ended up 'hitch hikin' in the wine country along a road with old stone walls and little chateaus. We had some great sauerkraut for dinner, and the next morning did a mini tour of old Tours...which was really cool! Aaron and I spent a couple days site-seeing in Paris, and once he knew how to use the metro and get around on his own, he ventured off into the city when I had to work. He also came with me into St. Germain to pick the kids up for school, so that was neat to have someone see where I work and what I do.
The rest of the family (Mom, Harry, Megan and Andy) arrived on the 21st. I had Tiphaine and Matt with me and we met them at the hotel. It was really cute to have them with us at the cafe (they ordered apple juice) and then we walked all the way up the Champs Elysees. Matt was mainly interested in skipping the cracks on the pavement and trying to pick up loose pavement from the Champs Elysees. Tiphaine and Megan got along great, and it was actually quite nice to have all those extra hands to help me with the kids! The day before Aaron and I had taken all 3 into the city to ice skate. It was fun, but a real challenge...although I think it's good for the kids to see what big city is like in Paris and to experience more culture than Bougival and their school can offer.
I then had about 5 days free from work, so we did a LOT of site-seeing, and I got to see in the inside of Versailles for the first time! It was gorgeous, but almost too"gawdy", all decked out in gold...but it was great to see the Hall of Mirrors. Friday night we had a big French dinner and red wine at Willi's Wine Bar (my favorite hang out spot). A few of us even purchased some of their art posters, so I'm excited to have that in my home in the future.
Saturday night we went to the Paris St. Germain vs. Monaco soccer match at the Park des Princes in Paris! It was REALLY COOL to see that, even though it ended in a tie. It was a great experience to be in that environment of crazy fans in a big stadium.
Monday night we had a dinner with the family at the house in Bougival. It was really nice to all sit around and visit and for my family to meet the parents. We ate "raclette" which is like cheese fondue, on top of a baked potatoe with ham.
Well, there are more fun details and if I think of them and have time to write more, I will! I have to go for now......but soon I'll write about my Les Miserables day in LONDON!!! IT WAS FANTASTIC!

1 comment:

Carly and Jason said...

I think raclette is a Swiss dish too, because we ate some at a mountaintop restaurant in the Alps and it was DE-LISH. Mmmm. You'll have to teach me some of your European cooking tips when you come home.
P.S. I told Jason I might want to road trip it with you down to Cali. He seemed to think it would be okay. If it works out, it could be fun in the sun! :)