Loire Valley, France

For our first full day in France, we decided to take a day tour of some of the castles in France. We found one through Paris Vision that we thought would suffice nicely. A bunch of other tourists had the same idea, because the tour was packed.

When I had booked this tour, there had been four language options for this day: English, French, Spanish, or Japanese. For some reason, I had assumed that meant there would be four separate tours. Don’t ask me why. At some point while we were waiting, it occurred to me that there was probably one bus with audio guides in four different languages, which was fine with me. We waited outside with the rest of the tourist mob for the bus to appear. It finally does, and Hubby and I waited for a line to form to board the bus.

Except the line did not form. Instead, there was a massive surge of people toward the bus. I was totally caught off guard by not only the behavior of some of the group, but also by Paris Vision for not controlling it better. No attempt was made to have everyone line up. We were left to fend for ourselves. I was a little irked by that. I am also regretting having to spend an entire day with some of these people.

Hubby and I sighed and joined the mob, as there was no other choice. I got on the bus first, and Hubby had to literally push his way on behind me in order for us to stay together. It was a double decker bus, so we headed up to the top. That would prove later to be a mistake.

Everyone finally finished boarding, and we waited for audio guides to be passed around. However, there would be no audio guides. The audio guides were only handed out at the castles. The information on the bus was presented orally by the tour guides into a microphone, and they took turns speaking: two girls would switch off doing the French, English and Spanish portions, and there was a gentleman who ran the Japanese tour. Sometimes they did all four languages, sometimes they only did two or three. I started to think maybe this wasn’t the best way to go about seeing castles.

We got comfortable for the ride and watched the French countryside roll by. I watched the lady in front of me have a Heineken for breakfast. And then another Heineken for her mid-morning snack.

The first caslte on the tour was Chenonceau. Here are some pictures:

We both really enjoyed Chenonceau. The castle is picturesque, the information provided by the guide was decent, and the grounds were also very pretty. We didn’t have as long as we would have liked there, but I knew that would be the price we paid for taking a tour of this nature. For our free time, we had enough time to see either the remainder of the interior of the castle that hadn’t been covered in the tour, or the grounds. We chose the grounds, and had an enjoyable time.

Our next stop was Cheverny for lunch and also to see the Cheverny castle. I wasn’t expecting much from the lunch, as it was included in the price of the ticket, but it was actually really good. We ate at a restaurant right outside Cheverny (forget its name). Each table had a bottle of red and white wine, water, and lunch consisted of a salad, salmon over a bed of rice (it was really good), and some sweet breads for dessert.

After lunch, it was on to Cheverny, which we both could have skipped entirely. The architecture of the place, when you’re on a “castle” tour, is somewhat disappointing. It’s really more like a palace at best, and the interior didn’t have anything that we found to be particularly unique. The highlight of Cheverny was seeing the dogs in the dog pen on the grounds, along with the herb garden.

Here is a picture of Cheverny:

And here is one of the dogs:

We got back to the bus a little early, and couldn’t figure out why people were getting on and then getting right back off again. We got on, walked up to the second level, and…there’s the elusive summer we saw so little of on this trip! The upper levels of double decker busses apparently get quite hot when the air conditioning has been turned off for awhile! Having never been on a double decker bus, this was a new discovery for us. But we saw it as a trade off for the cool weather we had in London and sat down.

Our next and last stop was Chambord (on the way there we saw a double decker tour bus like ours that had gotten too close to the ditch on one of those narrow country roads and overturned, gulp). The lady in front of me was on her fourth or fifth Heineken by this point (and that’s not counting the two or three beers she had with lunch).

We got out and…another Wow moment. Chambord is the reality of what you imagine a castle to be. It was gorgeous. Hubby and I couldn’t wait to get going. But we were quickly disappointed to learn we would only have an hour here total. Only an hour? Chambord is large, with extensive grounds, and we really wanted to see as much as we could. But even with an hour, we knew—it was either going to be the interior or the grounds. So we did something that I considered slightly rude, and that I told myself I wouldn’t do: we stayed with the group to see the large circular staircase in the castle, and then we ditched the tour. I justified it by saying I would probably never be back here, and I should, as much as possible, make the most of it.

Here is Chambord:

We walked around the back of the castle, and then down a little way by the canal. The views of the castle from these points were gorgeous. We walked back in front, and then over to the other side, and then…it was time to head back to the bus. I was really sad to leave. I could easily have spent half a day there.

We waited until the last minute before boarding the Oven-On-Wheels that wass our tour bus. Overall the tour was informative, although I thought the structure of it could stand some revision. I was also impressed by the guides that spoke three different languages so well, as I’m butchering the few words of French I remember. One other thing I found interesting is that English seems to be a default languages of sorts. There were people on the English tour who did not speak English natively, but who selected the language because of the four offered, that was the common ground.

Ultimately, however, both Hubby and I felt that if we could do it differently, we would have, and I personally would only recommend this tour as a last resort. Ideally the best way to see the Loire Valley is to take the time and stay in the Loire for several days, allowing enough time to see the castles you want to see. Hubby even commented that for the money (304 Euros) he would have rather hired a private driver, told the driver that we wanted to drive around the Loire and that we’d tell him when we saw a cool castle we wanted to stop at. I had to agree with the latter. I much would have preferred either method to the tour. That being said, I was glad to be able to see this part of France. It was absolutely beautiful. I was also able to sleep most of the way back, which was nice, because it made staying up to watch the Tower twinkle that much easier!

PARIS

Life is still really crazy but rather than completely abandon the blog indefinitely, I'm going to take the lazy way out and repost the second installment of our European trip report from 2007. After London we headed off for a week in Paris. I was both nervous and excited for this portion of the trip--nervous because I was going to have to rely on my rusty college French for the next week, and excited because, well, because it's Paris.

We arrived in Paris via the Eurostar from London. The train ride was uneventful, but I was a little disappointed to see a gray sky when we arrived. London had been frigid, and after a week, we were really hoping for some sunshine. But when I stepped off the train, I made my first pleasant discovery about Paris: Paris cloudy is warmer than London cloudy.

We took a cab from the train station to the apartment we had rented, and upon meeting our cab driver I realize that my rusty college French is going to become more problematic faster than I had hoped. The cab driver was of African descent, and spoke French as though he learned it as a second language as well. "This is going to be great," I thought. "Two people who don’t speak French well trying to communicate with each other in French." But we manage better than I thought we would, and arrive at the apartment after only a brief minute of confusion. (The street came up kind of fast so the driver passed it the first time around…and coming from the opposite direction, the building address numbers didn’t go in order so we had a little bit of difficulty locating the appropriate building. The apartment rental agency had given us explicit instructions, with pictures of the front of the building even, but of course I had left those in my suitcase, thinking that I had memorized the address and that was sufficient. Lesson learned: always, always have ALL of your travel documents/instructions on your person.)

We get upstairs to our apartment, and…WOW. I had found this apartment through Vacation In Paris, a well recommended agency on both Fodor's and Trip Advisor. The apartment was located in the 15th quarter, which is outside the main tourist center, but had a view to die for. Here are some pictures from our balcony:

Eiffel Tower Light Show

Panoramic Night View

Panoramic Day View

The Eiffel Tower actually looks closer in person than it does in the pictures—Hubby, a professional photographer, said there was a reason for this, which I’ve of course forgotten, but the point is we had a view of Paris that you can only dream of and think that you’ll never actually be lucky enough to have.

Our first day in Paris is very relaxed. We spent the evening gazing at our view, doing laundry (the apartment had a combo washer/dryer, which was nice, because it meant we only had to pack a week's worth of clothes for a 2 1/2 week European vacation) and getting some items at the local grocery store. The best butter and Yogurt I have ever had came from the grocery store a block from this apartment in Paris.

There is a light show on the hour every hour once it gets dark outside, and we didn't go to bed before watching this at least once from our apartment. Here is the video:

Here is a link to the apartment we rented, in case anyone is interested:

http://www.vacationinparis.com/apts/id_154.htm

R.I.P.

Hubby's maternal grandmother died this week. She was the quintessential grandmother--she doted on her family and grandchildren, and was the centerpoint of the family as a whole. She had a two year battle with cancer, and toward the end it was really hard for Hubby to see how much pain she was in. The wake is Sunday and the funeral Monday--will get back to the blog when life calms back down.

We Should Bottle This Stuff And Sell It

I have never been a fan of static electricity. It makes your clothes stick in places they shouldn't, makes your hair stick up where it should be lying down, causes your husband's socks to disappear into your flannel pajamas and your cats' fur to adhere to every surface of the house except the dust rag.

It can cause pain, especially if you grew up with a brother who liked to slide along the carpet in stocking feet and then shock you with the electric current he had managed to work up, or if you married someone who likes to slide along the carpet in stocking feet and then shock you (or the cats) with the electric current he manages to work up.

Despite this, static electricity has never been anything more than an annoyance. I mean, it's not like you can blow out entire electronic devices with one ill-timed slide and shock maneuver, right?

Hubby and I were playing Guitar Hero recently when some friends stopped by. Now, some people have video game addictions. I am not one of them, but I do enjoy myself a little Guitar Hero from time to time. It's just the right mix of mindless and enjoyable. It's not so hard that it requires more brain power than I have at the end of the day, but it's not so easy that it can't hold my interest. It is more expensive than your average video game, but really, can you put a price on hours of mindless entertainment? That's right. I think not.

Anyway, the day that these friends stopped by happened to be one of those static electricity days. You know, when, despite your best efforts to not generate static electricity, you still manage to shock everything you touch? One of them wanted to try his luck at Guitar Hero, so I handed him my Guitar. I say handed because it was still about 10 degrees outside and I refused to get out from under my electric blanket, so he had to get up from where he was sitting and walk a couple of steps to get the guitar. That's the kind of host I am, for those of you thinking about visiting, by the way.

When he grabbed the guitar it produced the loudest shock of static electricity I have ever heard. But it didn't just produce sound. It produced damage. That one little bolt of static electricity completely fried the guitar controller?!???!

Static Electricity: 1, Guitar Hero: 0. Proof once again that you just can't make this stuff up. And that Guitar Hero was overpriced to begin with.

California Dreamin'

I've been doing a lot of that lately considering we just hit sub zero temperatures in MARCH. March is supposed to be the time when the birds start to come back and you can begin to feel the hint of spring in the air. It is not the time to have to dig the ice scraper back out from the pile of stuff its become buried under in the back of the car to chip away at the 1 inch layer of ice on your windshield at 8AM in the morning because there's no way your defroster is going to melt through that in the 25 minutes its going to take you to get to work.

But I digress. I really meant to tell you about our recent trip to CA. My boss was nice enough to send myself and the middle school youth minister to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress at the end of February. When I moved to Minnesota, I always dreamed about being able to take a business trip back home, but never thought it would actually happen. The Congress was a four day seminar on Catholic Religious Education. It was awesome. Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics, was the keynote speaker on Saturday, and Thursday I was able to get to hear Mark Hart of Lifeteen speak twice. Plus on Friday Matt Maher played at lunch...just awesome. It was the first time since I've started this new job that I actually was someplace where I could get fed spiritually--that doesn't even happen at church much anymore, because I now attend church at the place I work and rather than being able to worship I'm constantly worried about worshipping right because I know people are watching...

But I digress again. Anyway, Congress was awesome, and we were able to be in CA for a week, so we were able to spend some quality time with friends and family. Did I mention this trip also happened to coincide with that unfortunate milestone birthday so many of us are celebrating this year? It was perfect timing. The first day we got there, we were able to hang out with my parents most of the day. My uncle joined us later that afternoon, and then we went out to dinner that night. Then Hubby and I went to the OC to check into the hotel my parents and uncle generously got for us (something about a concern that it wouldn't be appropriate for a high school youth minister to arrive at a religious convention with a severe case of road rage after having dealt with the southern CA traffic for the past two hours). The hotel was awesome--it had a huge koi pond in the center, and we got to see this little guy each morning at breakfast:



The next day was the first day of the conference, and I was able to meet Zack, a friend from high school, for lunch and get caught up. That night Hubby took me to a tea room in Orange for my birthday, and we joined my parents, brother and uncle at local Cheesecake Factory that night for dessert. My uncle got me a sympathy card for my birthday. A sympathy card. Those of you who know how old I am will understand the humor in this.

The next day Hubby and I had some time to ourselves after I was done at Congress, and we went out to dinner and then to see He's Just Not That Into You. It was cute. The following day it was more Congress and then a b-day celebration with extended family and friends at a local El Torito. Hubby and my mom did a great job of planning it, and it was really nice to see everyone. The next morning was the last day of Congress, and then Hubby and I had dinner with my family and longtime family friends. The next day was my b-day gift from Hubby: a day at Glen Ivy with a good friend. I love Glen Ivy. For those of you who have never been, it's an outdoor spa with different mineral baths and pools that are supposed to help you relax and with your skin. They have services there too, so of course we got massages. It was awesome, and over way too soon. We hung out again with my parents that night, and I met up with a girl that I haven't seen since we got married for coffee later. She was in high school when I was a youth ministry volunteer, and it was really awesome to see her as a grown 20-something-year-old woman. The next day, our final full day in CA, Hubby wanted to drive up to the mountains to get some pictures. I'm not really sure why we chose to go someplace with snow when we were in CA to escape snow, but it was fun. Here are some pictures:






That night we met some friends for dinner, and then caught the red eye back. It was a great trip, and over way too soon, but we were glad to be able to see everyone.

It's Been Awhile...

Wow. More than a month and no blog post. It feels like I was just updating this blog yesterday. Where has the time gone?

Here's an update on what's been going on for those of you who still stop by. February, like the previous four months at work, was crazy. We had our weekend retreat and another day retreat in addition to all the other regular youth ministry activities. So preparing for those while trying not to lose control of everything else was hectic.

Work has been frustrating. We have a large faith formation program, and the students preparing for Confirmation are required to do a reflective paper on their service projects, have an interview and write a letter to the pastor. This is all supposed to be done by the end of this month. Hardly any of them have bothered to do this yet despite multiple mailings with reminders and repeated announcements during class sessions and parent meetings. Sometimes I spend more time babysitting teens and their parents than I do ministering to youth and today it has just been getting to me. It's not even so much the fact that they haven't bothered to take care of this yet as it is the reason behind it--they don't care. And not just the teens--the parents as well. Why would you sign your teen up for faith formation if you don't even go to church on a regular basis (or, for many of them, at all)? What kind of message is that sending? We have this amazing God and they're too wrapped up in hockey and all their other commitments to even notice. It makes me sad sometimes, and I don't know what to do about it.

We did just get back from a great week in California though. I did have to work for part of it, but we were able to spend some quality time with friends and family. The next post will have the details and hopefully some pictures, so stay tuned.

#6

I have been tagged by my friend, Laura, to do a photo meme.

Here are the rules:

1. Open your photos, choose the 6th folder and then the 6th photo in that folder.

2. Post the photo with a description about it and tag 6 friends to do the same.

So here's our #6:


This was taken in our backyard. In the midwest, squirrels are considered pests/rodents, but being from CA where the only wildlife you see in your backyard are cockroaches, I love them. We have a feeder out back and it is so much fun to watch them run around.

Thanks, Laura, for the meme. I'll get to the other one hopefully this week. :) I'm supposed to tag 6 people, but I'm not going to. If you're interested in the topic, consider yourself tagged!