France 2018

In June, we took a 10 day trip to France. The trip was planned around the wedding of my 2nd cousin, Henri, and we started planning it last year.  When I say "we," I really mean my mom, because we leave all travel arrangements to her. We spent 2 days in the town of La Bourboule in the region of Auvergne, and then we drove over to the Dordogne for 5 days. We ended our trip with a day and 2 nights in Paris.

Our trip began with a flight out of Newark on Wednesday, June 6. The kids were excellent travelers, and the seat back screens certainly seemed to help. After we ate dinner, the kids settled down and went to sleep, and slept until they woke us up in the morning. I, on the other hand, slept zero minutes.

My traveling buddy

We landed in Paris, and it took forever to go through customs, then my dad needed coffee, then we had to rent our 9-person van, then we finally got on the road toward Auvergne.

We stopped about an hour into the trip for lunch in Fontainebleau, which was an adorable town. We had an ok lunch at a cafe in the main plaza in town, and the kids played in the water there and got totally soaked.

Elana and her boyfriend Alec were at lunch at a fancy restaurant in town, and we poked our heads in to say hello before we continued on our way to our house in La Bourboule.

Elana and Alec 

The car ride to La Bourboule- jetlagged and quiet

 When we got to La Bourboule, it was cold and rainy, and our house was on a steep hill, where my dad needed to parallel park our gigantic van. By that point we were all exhausted, crabby, and hungry. Our house was 5 stories in all, with a few rooms on each floor. It was excellent exercise going up and down the stairs incessantly. The house itself was spacious and sunny, and the kids slept in a room under the eaves which they loved. We went out to buy some food for dinner, and by the time we got back, Elana and Alec had arrived in their own car. We cooked and ate a simple dinner, then went to bed and slept for almost 12 hours!

The next day, despite predictions of rain and thunder, the sun was shining. After breakfast we headed out to the park nearby, which turned out to be full of excitement and surprises. There were tall and twisty slides, little trampolines, a little zipline, hiking trails, and more.

On her way to the Parc de Fenestre through the hilly streets of La Bourboule

Little Charlotte and Big Charlotte on the trampoline

The bright and sunny morning turned cloudy and rainy at lunchtime. I went with my sister and mom to a farmer's market and we picked up food for lunch. By the time we had all eaten lunch, the sun had come out again. We walked up our street to my mom's cousin's rental house, which was really a gated villa with an indoor pool. The kids all went swimming in the indoor pool, and the adults roamed around and ate cheese and drank wine.  My 3 kids met their cousins (my first cousin Noa's 2 children) who have lived in Prague all their lives and they all hit it off. 

Charlotte swimming with her cousins

My cousins Hannah and Noa with Charlotte and Noa's daughter Lielle

Between our house and theirs was a horse farm

The whole town knew Fanny, the bride, who is on TV in France. Everyone in town knew the Americans were there for the wedding. Fortunately, they were welcoming and hospitable. The town was like something out of a story book, nestled in the mountains with houses all up and down the hills.

The view to the right from our living room window

The view from the kids' room in the attic- Asher took this picture.

That night it was Friday, Shabbat. My uncle Richard and aunt Esther hosted us- my mom, her sister, my 3 cousins, my sister and me (plus spouses and children).

My mom & her siblings & families

Saturday was wedding day. The wedding began 2. In the morning I took the kids to the playground and to a cafe for lunch, and Eric went for a hike with Elana and Alec. They definitely got the better end of the deal! The wedding was in City Hall, in a room that was a theater, with a stage set up like a talk show. The ceremony included a music video, a comedian as the MC, the real mayor of the town, and several speeches and poems. The ring bearer was a falcon, who apparently didn't like crowds, and refused to deliver the rings for 10 minutes. The ceremony took a total of 2.5 hours, and outside of city hall, all of the town residents who hadn't been invited gathered to catch a glimpse of the bride (she is famous in the small town, because she is on TV in France). The bride and groom left the church and were pelted with tennis balls and then got on to a cart pulled by cows to take a trip around town. The wedding reception didn't start for another 1.5 hours, and we were all hot and hungry. We went to my uncle's place and had a snack while we waited for the party to start.

Outside the city hall after the ceremony

We arrived late to the party and apparently missed the bride arriving on a black horse. The cocktail hour was 2 hours and included some local folk dancing.

Sophia with Charlotte, who is holding one of the tennis balls from the ceremony

Asher with Kyle, who he loves

the ring bearer

Hannah, Noa, me, Elana

The dinner part of the reception didn't begin until after 8 pm. The kids were starving! The reception then began with a potato peeling contest, and the bride and groom making an entrance to the song "The Final Countdown," complete with dry ice.

The only food the boys got

Charlotte with her cousins Charlotte and Sophia

Dinner was served around 10 pm, and Charlotte wouldn't eat any of it. We ended up leaving around 11, and we went home and fed Charlotte yogurt and strawberries. We missed all of the dancing, which apparently went on until 5 in the morning!

The next morning we woke up around 9, and my mom realized that we had to vacate our apartment by 9:30 am! A mad rush ensued, where we threw our things into suitcases and moved everything into the apartment my mom was staying in. We ate breakfast, packed up, and left for the wedding brunch, which took place at the Chateau de Val, a medieval castle on a river. The bride and groom arrived by boat, and the bride got stung by a bee- she is allergic and had to be given an Epi pen on her way into the party. Unlike the wedding the night before, there were endless amounts of food. The day was bright and sunny, and the kids had a wonderful time exploring the castle and talking with all their cousins.

The kids waving from a window in the tower in the castle

Charlotte and her admirer's- Kyle's girlfriend and Sophia

True love. Charlotte is very similar to Sophia when Sophia was a young girl

The family on the steps of the chateau

Eventually we had to leave in order to drive to the Dordogne, where we would stay for 5 days. The ride seemed to take forever, and it seemed so frustrating to spend a beautiful sunny day in the car. We got to our house around dinner time, and after unloading our bags, we went into the center of the small town for dinner. We ate at a small restaurant where the chef was very friendly, but got annoyed when my children requested only noodles for dinner. 

The next day, it was gray and rainy to start. We drove into Sarlat, a medieval town with narrow, winding streets. to look around. The kids were kind of hungry and grumpy, and it was raining, so we ended up spending the majority of our time there having a big lunch at a cafe, which is too bad because the town looked very interesting. Every store sold foie gras, a specialty of the region. We didn't buy any of it.

Our days in France were divided by what beverage we consumed- coffee the first half of the day, wine the second half, with overlap during lunch. I always ordered a café au lait at lunch, even though real French people only drink that at breakfast time. 

In Sarlat

As we finished lunch that day, the rain stopped and the skies lightened. We drove to a chateau, Chateau de Commarque. We had to park about 1 km away from the chateau and walk through the woods to get there. In the hills surrounding it are cave dwellings, and then the chateau itself is large. The sun was out, and by the end of our walk around, we were sweating. The kids got ice cream treats to cool off.

Ice cream treats with cave dwellings in the background

The walk back to the car from the chateau

That night, we cooked a simple dinner of chicken and potatoes at home. My mom swore she saw a supermarket somewhere near our rental house, but when we drove to find it, it couldn't be found. There was a small market in town that had enough for dinner, but she complained about how awful it was. The real problem was that the bakery in town was closed the whole week we were there- it was their vacation, too! This meant going out for a drive every morning in order to have bread for breakfast. Elana's boyfriend, Alec, is very kind and offered to drive Mom since she wasn't on any rental car contracts.

The following day, we piled all 9 of us: My parents, Eric and me, our 3 kids, Elana and her boyfriend, into our gigantic rental van. We drove to the caves at Lascaux- the site of some of the oldest known prehistoric cave paintings. The original caves are too fragile to support the tourist traffic, so they have been recreated completely, and there are guided tours to explain what you are seeing. The cave paintings are intricate and detailed, quite impressive considering they are about 20,000 years old. It was interesting for my mom and me to compare these cave paintings with the ones we had seen a few months prior in Arizona- the ones in France were much more clear in their depictions.

After our tour through the caves, and a 3D movie that was existential in nature, we had a snack in the cafe, and then decided to go to lunch. After lunch we stopped at a distillery which sold fruit and nut liqueurs of all kinds.

These poppies were outside the distillery, but bright poppies were all over the countryside

Then, we visited another castle, Chateau de Castelnaud. This was a castle at the top of a medieval town, and the town is now part of the tourist attraction, with souvenir shops, cafes, and archery paraphernalia. Benjamin was quite taken with all of it, because he is fascinated with weapons of any kind. The castle itself was filled with weapons and armor of all kinds, including a trebuchet. The tour gave you a good idea of how the castle was used, including a ramp up into the kitchen to let the horses in! No concept of hygiene.

Benjamin trying a weapon we wouldn't buy

On the twisty streets leading up to the castle

The view of the valley and the Dordogne river from the castle

Charlotte admiring her knight and nobleman

That night, we ate dinner at the other restaurant in the town of Daglan- Le Petit Paris. This one was a little more fancy than the one we had eaten in two days prior, and they stuck the 9 of us upstairs, and no one else was seated on that level with us! The kids were mostly behaved, but were shocked that the menu contained no pasta at all! They tried some new things, and Charlotte enjoyed a whipped goat cheese, and the boys ate lentils with bacon and duck samosas. The grownups ate everything and it was delicious.

After dinner, Elana and I took Charlotte and Asher for a walk in town. The sun had just set at 10 pm, and the light was beautiful. Down a street, we found a big park by the river- no one was there. On the way to the park there were two underfed horses and what looked to be an abandoned property. 

A very quiet town- few cars drove down the narrow streets

The sun has set- at 10 pm

The next day, our last day of predicted good weather, we went kayaking and canoeing on the Dordogne river. Elana and Alec got kayaks, Eric got a canoe with the boys, and I got a canoe with Charlotte. Within moments, Charlotte and I got marooned in some bushes on the riverbank. Alec came to our rescue and suggested that perhaps he, as the more experienced and stronger paddler, could take the canoe with Charlotte, and I could take his kayak. Great idea!

Elana and I kayaked off a little bit ahead and she revealed to me that the night before, Alec had asked her to marry him! I couldn't believe that after a day packed in the van, all 9 of us, he would want to spend a lifetime in our family, but that is how happy he is with Elana. Elana and I talked about how exciting it was, and they had started looking at wedding sites already.

We survived the ride on the river, and Eric and I got out with the kids and Elana and Alec carried on for a few more miles. Charlotte enjoyed being paddled down the river while she ate cookies and crackers and rambled on to Alec.

Safely getting to the edge

Princess Charlotte in her boat chariot

After a mediocre lunch, my parents, Eric, the kids, and I went to Chateau Milandes, the former home of Josephine Baker. The chateau is as she left it, and is filled with costumes and memorabilia of her life. The chateau also details the sad end of her life, where she died without a penny. That part was heartbreaking.

Outside the chateau is a birds of prey show, which we went to observe. Charlotte allowed a falcon to land on her arm, and I tried to play it cool, but failed- I am so afraid of birds!

Charlotte with the falcon and me leaning as far away as possible

Chateau Milandes

That night we had a final dinner all 9 of us at our rental house. We had a perfect light meal on the patio with more wine (always, more wine). The following day, Elana and Alec planned to depart for Burgundy to meet with friends. 

On our final full day in the Dordogne, we visited our final castle, Chateau de Beynac. 

Elana and Alec through the window

Benjamin on the chateau latrine

The 9 of us, with the valley behind us

The chateau was at the top of another hilly medieval town. This one had some slippery stones in the streets, and walking was a little precarious. At the bottom of the town we ate lunch at a local cafe, and then parted ways, with Elana and Alec headed west, and the rest of us went to tour the cliffside town of La Roque-Gageac.

A tiny house tucked in the corner of the street, with roses climbing over it

La Roque-Gageac

The town is so steeply built into the cliffside that years ago, a piece of it broke off and tumbled down. Presumably what is left is more secure, because we walked around. We had delicious ice cream to refresh ourselves as well.

Then we went back to our house to swim in the pool, and I went on a short run- 1 mile straight uphill and 1 mile back downhill.

Cows on my run

A dog guarding a vineyard on my run

For dinner that night we went back to the restaurant where we ate on our first night in town and ate outside. The boys ate duck again, and loved it. We took a sunset walk down to the park by the river, and then said goodbye to the little town of Daglan.

On the swings in Daglan

The rest of our trip continues in Paris (or, well, getting to Paris), and I will write it in another post. I am now FOUR MONTHS late in posting about this, and in the meantime, I haven't written about many of our other summer and fall adventures. So, to be continued...