Monday, July 20, 2015
Saturday July 18
Took off early this morning for Apt. Met up with the whole family for lunch at Cafe Gregoire. The market filled the tiny twisty streets of the old town with booths in the squares and on each side of each little street. Clothing, food, arts and crafts, music. A fun time once we walked the mile there from our parking spot. These long lunches lead to afternoon naps and then long dinners. After naps and feeding the kids pasta at home, we drove to Roussillion for dinner. We ate on a rooftop terrace where the kids were penned in and couldn't do much damage. Then hiked up the tiny streets to the top of the castle. A lovely town whih is still well lived in, the castle walls having homes in them and people eating or toasting each other in their gardens. The view east out over Provence from the castle walls was unbelievably perfect. The heat haze lifted in time for a great view. We all drove home the 9-10 km distance over tiny pastoral roads that probably doubled the distance...one car wide, sliver of a moon rising, stars and the milky way guiding us. I will add pictures later when I have a better connection. The heat has been 95-100 daily since Jake's race and we are all wet rags that need to be wrung out each evening. Thank goodness for the pool, we spend a few hours a day in it with the 5 gkids and would be miserable without it. The old stone farmhouse we are living in (vrbo.com 555249) is great, but no air conditioning. We open it up at night to cool it off and then shut it down tight to keep it cool all day. By 7 pm, we are desperate for the cool evening to arrive!
Mason has kept busy drawing pictures of bicycles and keeping track of the tour de France Results, Gracie dances everywhere with her dolls, Cooper builds lego sets in his "down" time and Kale joins in on it all. Paige is a terror as she is active as can be and can't be trusted around the pool. Fun time for all.
Final days in Europe with kids
Friday July 17 Mark and I left the family to enjoy each other and the Richerts took off for Paris today. We drove north to the Cavene de Pont u Arc, The Ardeche Gorge is an area with natural stone bridges, lots of kayaking and, especially, the Chauvet Cave reproduction. A few months ago we read all about how this cave was discovered in 1994 but was too fragile to allow visitors. The French have built a massive reproduction cave and learning center all about the original homo sapiens who replaced the neanderthals and painted their images in this cave. No pictures possible, but it was impressive! Back to dinner out at Don Carmines on its first day of business, in Coussellet, lovely Italian meal and a quick visit to a nearby playground. More wine, of course, and then to sleep. Thursday July 16 Pont du Gard with Liesl's family We spent the day swimming in the Rhone river under the Pont du Gard, a three tiered Roman bridge carrying an aqueduct from the mountains to the south. The water was lovely, the cliff jumpers crazy, the lunch lovely and the kids wonderful. Came home to find Kim and Jake and their kids arriving. We had a lovely dinner at home which we made with the Richerts, Liesl's fam and Kim and Jake. Pasta, green salad, italian bread salad and, of course, more wine. Shauna introduced us to a pastis, mint simple sugar, and basil drinmk which captivate dliesl and I...a very easy way to slip into oblivion. It iw what all the old men around France drink. A sweet Jack Russel from next door joined us , played with the kids and attacked the blow up beach balls vigorously.
Wednesday July 15
Took off to have breakfast at Cafe de la Post, a lovely little town about 4 km from here as the crow flies. Much further by foot or by car. This is a tiny little cafe with lots of personality, every European newspaper known to man. French families everywhere eating their brioche and other pastries, and drinking their morning espressos. Off to the grocery store and back to the mas to pick up Liesl and Nate, Cooper and Grace, and head to Gordes for the evening sunshine on the cliffs and buildings
BAck to Goult for dinner with Liesl and family. The meals here are not as diverse as we like, but are always lovely. They always have menus enfant which are hamburgers, chicken nuggets or pasta, often with fries or salad. The kids have been very good and adapted to strange menus and bedrooms quite well. Our meals, for the most part, have been different versions of roast pork, salad nicoise, salad with chevre cheese toasted on croquettes etc. Lots and lots of wine. We have switched to rose from riesling without any effort ")
BAck to Goult for dinner with Liesl and family. The meals here are not as diverse as we like, but are always lovely. They always have menus enfant which are hamburgers, chicken nuggets or pasta, often with fries or salad. The kids have been very good and adapted to strange menus and bedrooms quite well. Our meals, for the most part, have been different versions of roast pork, salad nicoise, salad with chevre cheese toasted on croquettes etc. Lots and lots of wine. We have switched to rose from riesling without any effort ")
Tuesday July 14 – Bastille Day!!! Woke up and took a walk, me a mile or so, mark 2-3 miles to the next little village. Nobody in the fields of mown hay and mustard…it’s Bastille Day! We had a filling breakfast in the hotel garden, lots of lavender, blue thistle, honeysuckle, and other flowers – very pretty. I see I need more of that blue thistle!!! 3 minute boiled eggs, muesli, yogurt, fresh fruit and amazingly tasty light croissants…no need for butter, it is already layered in. Off to Provence as soon as Mark showered! The drive south was about 4.5 hours. Mark got to play with all the new toys in his car. Hey look, Ma, no hands and it stays in its lane! Hey look, ma, cruise control keeps the right distance between me and the next car. Now all it needs to do is learn dermatology so he doesn’t have to go to work! Without joking, though, the safety features are great! Got to the mas near Gordes. Lovely stone farmhouse, cool inside if the windows are opened at night and closed to the heat during the day. Shauna and her family and Liesl and hers showed up an hour or so later and we all hit the pool. 95 degrees and humid was instantly relieved. To sleep off the drive, perchance to dream
Monday July 13, Woke up early and headed out on the town to try to find some yummy pastry breakfast, having missed breakfast yesterday in our early start to watch/support Jake. Oh my, we found various kuchens, strawberry topping, fruit and cheese filled, and chocolate with cream filling. We ate them all, oink. We avoided the schneeballs, though, deep fried batters in the shape and size of snowballs rolled in different toppings. Then we hopped in to the car and off to visit Colmar for lunch and afternoon walking before heading to Montagny les Beaune. Colmar was a picturesque village with numerous half timbered leaning buildings and portions of it on canals, reminiscent of both Venice and (I know) Ketchikan Alaska…it’s that waterfront! Had wonderful “pizza” type lunch on very thin crust (think crisp crepe) and some local Edelzwicker white wine…back in the car and heading further south to Beaune. Mark is having a great “toy” day playing with his new car and the cruise control. It is “driver assist” tuned. With the right settings, it keeps a set distance from the car ahead (slowing and speeding up as needed), lane assist keeps you in your lane unless you turn on a blinker – all that stuff we older folk need to keep us safe. He can add more!
Pulled in to Montagny les Beaune, 4 km from Beaune. Checked in to a lovely old farm house/vineyard recently renovated to be a charming hotel. Old vineyard implements abound and the owner tells us they were all in use by him 15 years ago, then it became difficult for him and his wife to keep up the vineyard, so now it is a lovely hotel with charming French gardens. Utterly charming. Then off to dinner in Beaune at Le Gourmandin on the town square. Service typically French (surly, not good), and the food was iffy. My Bouef Bourgignon was lovely, Mark’s Bernaise sauce was good, but his meat was awfully gristley and tough. The young burgundy wine, though, was worth two glasses each…oh my, back to bed and sleep.
Sunday July 12. The final “toy day.” Got up at 4:00 a.m. to head to Roth to watch Jake’s triathlon effort. The Roth Triathlon is the supreme triathlon in the world, voted most loved by professionals and amateurs the last four years, where all records are made. Unlike the Ironman franchise, this one – though the same distance- is family oriented and aimed at the challenge and experience rather than the hype. We got there in plenty of time, but hit a traffic jam that took about 45 minutes to travel 10 km. Parking for 15,000 cars; more than 250,000 spectators at this race. Most arrive on bicycles from nearby, a huge event! We caught the beginning of the swim from a bridge over the Donau canal. Fantastic loud music and the first wave took to the water with hot air balloons, cannon fire, music and cheers. Jake took off on the fifth wave. We were down on the banks of the canal by then and he heard my yell and waved at us before the cannon fired. He came out of the 2.5 mile swim in the amazing canal at about 65 minutes , made a 3 minute transition and passed us pumped up on his bike for the 110 (+?) mile bike ride. We caught him after walking a fast two miles after the start and then just before the “solar hill” phase near Hilpoltstein which takes him up a steep hill; he was pressed on each side by thousands of people ala Tour de France as he approached and went up the hill. We enjoyed the hour wait for him to reach that point in front of jolly German host Marcus’ house. He kept reappearing with trays of small German sandwiches, cheese and grapes and finished it off with gummi bears. He served his guests this and just added in his new “american friends” to the party. I do love travelling. We then caught Jake after he came off the hill and back through the town after which we had a small lunch and then hoofed it the 3-4 miles back to where we parked. Drove rapidly into downtown Roth to catch Jake at the second transition and the start of the marathon (26.2 miles for those who don’t know) We met up with Kim, Paige and Mason as Jake passed us on the start of the run. Then we went to find Kale, Val and Gery and a lunch in the shade, with lots of beer. Soon Nate, Liesl, Cooper and Grace showed up and we all got to watch Jake cross the finish in the small stadium with Kale and Mason joining him. Total time for all that work was 10 hours 17 minutes a personal PR by about 1:45. The day was about 95 degrees and very humid. He wanted to break 10 hours but even many of the pros were off by long times because of the extreme heat. Our feet were hot on the pavement, and got blisters just walking. Back to Rothenburg ob der Tauber but missed the exit to RodT though as we fiddled with car manuals and stuff, driving 60 km too far…oh well. Late dinner with Liesl’s family, then to sleep for a good start to France tomorrow.
Saturday July 11 We woke up early at Legoland , had breakfast and drove to Rothenburg ob der Tauber while Liesl and Family had their special toy day at the park, finding the “king” in their room – wallpaper behind the bed…hide and seek. Mark got to “play” with his new toy on the drive to RodT - got it up to 120mph sans hands. Didn’t feel like we were going that fast. The German autobahns are so well built. Mark was quite discouraged later in the day, though, when he met an Audi team specialist who told him 120 kilometer per hour should be the limit until he reached at least 2000 km on the odometer….he is so sad. Had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants – we have been here many times and it is our favorite medieval German city. We then slept for a few hours before having dinner at one of our other favorite restaurants. Walked home to hear “Hallo’s” from the window above. Liesl and Nate were here! Nate is really getting into this travel stuff, he has “ja ja” and Hallo down and is taking lots of pictures! Imagine that. We watched the kids (we slept) while L/DN did the Nightwatchman’s Tour and went out to dinner together. Then off to sleep, knowing we would be arising very early to head to Roth to watch Jake and meet up with his family.
Friday July 10 MARK’S TOY DAY…!!! Mark was up at 4 and down working out to pass time until the car picked us up from Audi. At 8:30 we were in the car with an Audi driver on our way to pick up the new car. Mark has a mistress now, must figure out her name. She is quite beautiful, an Audi S7 in Moonlight Blue metallic….very subtle and sexy. It was the envy of the Audi Forum where people pick up 300 new Audis daily, many to overseas buyers. Mason and Kale joined us in the pick up tour while Jake biked for an hour or so, then L/N and her family and Jake, Mason and Kale joined us for a tour of the Audi factory, three car lines being built there and we watched them build an A-3; 500 a day, one completed every 88 seconds. All the boys enjoyed the tour. Cooper and Kale were especially entranced by the robots, budding scientists/engineers. Grace was afraid the robots would come out of their cages and get her, too many evil cartoons in the past. The entire family got free food, drinks and treats for the whole day…we were treated well there! Jake and boys headed back to Nurnburg, L/N to Legloand and us to the Audi museum.
Monday July 13, Woke up early and headed out on the town to try to find some yummy pastry breakfast, having missed breakfast yesterday in our early start to watch/support Jake. Oh my, we found various kuchens, strawberry topping, fruit and cheese filled, and chocolate with cream filling. We ate them all, oink. We avoided the schneeballs, though, deep fried batters in the shape and size of snowballs rolled in different toppings. Then we hopped in to the car and off to visit Colmar for lunch and afternoon walking before heading to Montagny les Beaune. Colmar was a picturesque village with numerous half timbered leaning buildings and portions of it on canals, reminiscent of both Venice and (I know) Ketchikan Alaska…it’s that waterfront! Had wonderful “pizza” type lunch on very thin crust (think crisp crepe) and some local Edelzwicker white wine…back in the car and heading further south to Beaune. Mark is having a great “toy” day playing with his new car and the cruise control. It is “driver assist” tuned. With the right settings, it keeps a set distance from the car ahead (slowing and speeding up as needed), lane assist keeps you in your lane unless you turn on a blinker – all that stuff we older folk need to keep us safe. He can add more!
Pulled in to Montagny les Beaune, 4 km from Beaune. Checked in to a lovely old farm house/vineyard recently renovated to be a charming hotel. Old vineyard implements abound and the owner tells us they were all in use by him 15 years ago, then it became difficult for him and his wife to keep up the vineyard, so now it is a lovely hotel with charming French gardens. Utterly charming. Then off to dinner in Beaune at Le Gourmandin on the town square. Service typically French (surly, not good), and the food was iffy. My Bouef Bourgignon was lovely, Mark’s Bernaise sauce was good, but his meat was awfully gristley and tough. The young burgundy wine, though, was worth two glasses each…oh my, back to bed and sleep.
Sunday July 12. The final “toy day.” Got up at 4:00 a.m. to head to Roth to watch Jake’s triathlon effort. The Roth Triathlon is the supreme triathlon in the world, voted most loved by professionals and amateurs the last four years, where all records are made. Unlike the Ironman franchise, this one – though the same distance- is family oriented and aimed at the challenge and experience rather than the hype. We got there in plenty of time, but hit a traffic jam that took about 45 minutes to travel 10 km. Parking for 15,000 cars; more than 250,000 spectators at this race. Most arrive on bicycles from nearby, a huge event! We caught the beginning of the swim from a bridge over the Donau canal. Fantastic loud music and the first wave took to the water with hot air balloons, cannon fire, music and cheers. Jake took off on the fifth wave. We were down on the banks of the canal by then and he heard my yell and waved at us before the cannon fired. He came out of the 2.5 mile swim in the amazing canal at about 65 minutes , made a 3 minute transition and passed us pumped up on his bike for the 110 (+?) mile bike ride. We caught him after walking a fast two miles after the start and then just before the “solar hill” phase near Hilpoltstein which takes him up a steep hill; he was pressed on each side by thousands of people ala Tour de France as he approached and went up the hill. We enjoyed the hour wait for him to reach that point in front of jolly German host Marcus’ house. He kept reappearing with trays of small German sandwiches, cheese and grapes and finished it off with gummi bears. He served his guests this and just added in his new “american friends” to the party. I do love travelling. We then caught Jake after he came off the hill and back through the town after which we had a small lunch and then hoofed it the 3-4 miles back to where we parked. Drove rapidly into downtown Roth to catch Jake at the second transition and the start of the marathon (26.2 miles for those who don’t know) We met up with Kim, Paige and Mason as Jake passed us on the start of the run. Then we went to find Kale, Val and Gery and a lunch in the shade, with lots of beer. Soon Nate, Liesl, Cooper and Grace showed up and we all got to watch Jake cross the finish in the small stadium with Kale and Mason joining him. Total time for all that work was 10 hours 17 minutes a personal PR by about 1:45. The day was about 95 degrees and very humid. He wanted to break 10 hours but even many of the pros were off by long times because of the extreme heat. Our feet were hot on the pavement, and got blisters just walking. Back to Rothenburg ob der Tauber but missed the exit to RodT though as we fiddled with car manuals and stuff, driving 60 km too far…oh well. Late dinner with Liesl’s family, then to sleep for a good start to France tomorrow.
Saturday July 11 We woke up early at Legoland , had breakfast and drove to Rothenburg ob der Tauber while Liesl and Family had their special toy day at the park, finding the “king” in their room – wallpaper behind the bed…hide and seek. Mark got to “play” with his new toy on the drive to RodT - got it up to 120mph sans hands. Didn’t feel like we were going that fast. The German autobahns are so well built. Mark was quite discouraged later in the day, though, when he met an Audi team specialist who told him 120 kilometer per hour should be the limit until he reached at least 2000 km on the odometer….he is so sad. Had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants – we have been here many times and it is our favorite medieval German city. We then slept for a few hours before having dinner at one of our other favorite restaurants. Walked home to hear “Hallo’s” from the window above. Liesl and Nate were here! Nate is really getting into this travel stuff, he has “ja ja” and Hallo down and is taking lots of pictures! Imagine that. We watched the kids (we slept) while L/DN did the Nightwatchman’s Tour and went out to dinner together. Then off to sleep, knowing we would be arising very early to head to Roth to watch Jake and meet up with his family.
Friday July 10 MARK’S TOY DAY…!!! Mark was up at 4 and down working out to pass time until the car picked us up from Audi. At 8:30 we were in the car with an Audi driver on our way to pick up the new car. Mark has a mistress now, must figure out her name. She is quite beautiful, an Audi S7 in Moonlight Blue metallic….very subtle and sexy. It was the envy of the Audi Forum where people pick up 300 new Audis daily, many to overseas buyers. Mason and Kale joined us in the pick up tour while Jake biked for an hour or so, then L/N and her family and Jake, Mason and Kale joined us for a tour of the Audi factory, three car lines being built there and we watched them build an A-3; 500 a day, one completed every 88 seconds. All the boys enjoyed the tour. Cooper and Kale were especially entranced by the robots, budding scientists/engineers. Grace was afraid the robots would come out of their cages and get her, too many evil cartoons in the past. The entire family got free food, drinks and treats for the whole day…we were treated well there! Jake and boys headed back to Nurnburg, L/N to Legloand and us to the Audi museum.
Monday, July 6, 2015
My bags are packed, la la la, I'm ready to go, I'm standing here outside your door...oh, wait a minute, you're coming with me!!! At least most of my fam is!
Tomorrow night, Mark and I get on an airplane with Liesl, Nate, Cooper and Grace to head to Europe...Kim and Jake touched down there today and are currently enjoying Legoland with Mason, Kale and Paige - or maybe sleeping before enjoying it tomorrow...You know that time change may be difficult with three little ones! Unfortunately, Ian, Candace and their three could not join us as her brother is getting married while we are gone - next time maybe!
We land and acclimate on Thursday with Cooper and Grace while Liesl and Nate visit Dachau. Maybe we will take them to a Bierhalle while we wait. Then, on Friday, Mark picks up his Audi s7 mistress, as he calls the new car, and we head off on adventures. We will try to keep you posted!
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