Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Five countries. Five days.

Well we're back in our little village after a crazy few days gallivanting all over Europe!
July 9th we headed to Paris and stayed the night at a Novotel close to the airport. We ordered a pizza to our hotel room and watched Puss n' Boots! 
Mom took Dad to the airport early the next morning and then came back to the hotel to get me and Connor. We ate breakfast and then headed to Trier, Germany! It was only a three and a half hour drive. 
We got there just after Rasmus' (our friend who lives in Germany) train had arrived. We stayed in a fantastic little Bed and Breakfast for two nights and toured around Trier for a couple of days, we even tried Schnitzel! It is the oldest city in Germany and used to be a Roman city. Truly an incredible place! 














This is Rasmus with Dirk - the owner or ouf B&B who took us on a little tour of his town. He was soo good to us!




After we said goodbye to Rasmus, we headed to Luxembourg - via the Autobahn! 





Connor used these road-trips to teach himself how to type!


We then drove to Maastricht, Netherlands! We stayed at Chateau Bethlehem which is a training hotel for students who are in the midst of obtaining their degree in Hotel Management. We were lucky enough to get to stay in one of the themed suites. The theme was "The Body". Our room was designed to focus on the well-being of the body and soul so there was exercise equipment everywhere and a steam shower! Connor was in heaven. 







After our lovely stay in the Netherlands, we headed off to Belgium where we stayed in a Euro Space Museum... Mom's idea. It was super cool! Until we were eaten alive by bed bugs and mutant mice. Okay it wasn't THAT bad. It was actually really neat! We got there around one in the afternoon and were able to tour the Museum and do a zero-gravity walk. We even tried eating a freeze dried ice cream sandwich like the astronauts eat in space. It was surprisingly delicious. We then found our room and dropped off the bags before heading out for supper. Our goal was to find a cute little restaurant, but we ended up finding a cute little grocery store and having a picnic near a lake instead! It's moments like those where you just can't help but think "Why is there no Boston Pizza here?!" ;) We actually ended up having a really great time and Belgium was a blast! 

Connor had this all to himself (well, with Mom!) for endless hours. 











The next day we piled into the car and started our 6 hour drive back to our village. We took a little detour to Paris because who doesn't love Paris? We were a little confused when we had to pull over to let a big parade of military vehicles pass, but we then realized it was Bastille day (France's big national holiday). Needless to say, it took a LOT longer to get out of Paris than we thought, but it was worth it. 

We've been back here since Sunday and just hanging around. It has been ridiculously hot here so we spend most of our time trying to cool down! Last night we had Claire, Robbie and their  four year old twin boys over for dinner. It was a blast! So much cuteness. Four year old twins with English accents? Oh my goooosh. 


Connor making a robot.





Tonight we are going to see Monsters University!! In french haha. Tomorrow we head off to the South of France to visit friends from our first little village. Connor is beside himself with excitement! We come back here Monday!
I will be sure to post once we are home :) Well, I will try to remember.
Au revoir! xoxo



Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Big Gulps Huh?

I couldn't think of a proper title for this post seeing as I have neglected this blog for a month now (my sincerest apologies to everyone, but apparently there actually is stuff to do here), so I just wrote what was on my mind.

This past month has been incredible!
Aunty Cher came the week after Johners left and stayed for a week!
We went and explored the various troglodytes in our area (caves that people lived in), went and saw the Chanteloup (leaning tower of France) AND got to go see Chateau Amboise, which is the chateau in the movie Ever After with Drew Barrymore! We watched the movie the night before we went, of course. Oh - Chateau Amboise is also where Leonardo Da Vinci lived and is buried. We also visited Chateau Breze!


This was a common pose for Mom and Auntie Cher while Connor did this....


Some of the troglodytes...





                                                                                    Chateau Amboise

                                                    The chapel where DaVinci is buried.

                                                         Le Pagode Chanteloup





                                      
                                                Chateau Breze


Inside the huge moat.


A week after she arrived, Auntie Cher took Beth and I on the train to Paris where we met u

p with Ev (Watson) and had a blast! We did tons of shopping, eating and even visited Le Grevin wax museum!! Mom and Connor stayed back in our village, but spent the night in "Le Caverne D'etoile"  - little star-gazer shacks, which are right in our village and we didn't even know. They loved it!






Sadly, I didn't take any picture in Paris because I had a drink in each hand the entire time. ;)
After a great day and night in Paris, we said goodbye to Ev and Aunty Cher and boarded the train back to our village.
We spent about a week at our house just relaxing while Connor went to school. Beth and I spent a lot of time volunteering at the school and Beth also finished up her cyber classes (got a 90% average!).


A wee festival in our neighbouring town.


Our favourite roses in our yard!



Connor's class

My class


Beth's class

Connor was also loving going into Saumur every Monday afternoon for swimming lessons with his class. Of course, Mom always went along too. :) Yes, speedos and bathing camps. Standard in this part of the world. 



That weekend we went to the Zoo close to our house while Beth wrote one of her exams. We spent most of our time with the monkeys! They were so amazing - and it was the most beautiful, natural zoo we have ever seen. The animals really were living in the wild. We were just passersby. 












The next week we went to Terra Botanica which is a "theme park" mom scoped out - all about plants... It was interesting, to say the least. 






AND THEN... On June 28th we drove to Paris to meet up with DAD!!! And the YORKS!!
We rented apartments right near the Louvre and only a block away from each other! Just like back home on Collins Terrace. :) We went to the Louvre, Versailles, L'Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Musee D'Orangerie, the Opera House, Mass at Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, boat cruise on the river Seine and tons of other stuff! We managed to do the Louvre in a record breaking time of 30 minutes and were then able to squeeze in some time to shop!


Our apartment



















Getting cozy on the subway.

We bought these chunks of Paris' finest fabrics so the girls could enter the Church ( to see St. Catherine) in their shorts. oops!






There are WAY too many pictures to post all of them, but these are just a few to sum up the trip! It was a great time!
Sadly, on June 30th, we had to say bye to Bethie. She went back to Saskatoon to work at Blackstrap youth camp.
July 3rd, we left Paris and came back to our home in Le Puy Notre Dame, where we have just been relaxing and living life for a week.











 Today we are heading to Paris so that dad can catch his flight home tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow, Mom, Connor, and I head off to Germany!!!!
I will be sure to post again soon! Or not... But I'll try my very best.
Well, see ya later!