February Catch Up

We are back in blogging action and of course have too much to cover! November took us back to the US where it was so wonderful to catch up with family and friends for the holidays! It was so nice to be on home turf and seeing Kate was just what I needed. Dick had seen Kate during her fall break in October. It had been since early September for me ~ just too darn long! The holidays included a whirlwind trip to Atlanta to get our French visas and a trip for Dick and Walker to Philadelphia / NY to visit family there. So we covered a lot of ground in a few quick 6 weeks, and then we departed on January 11th for our return to France. Of course this included the world traveling 4 legged Zydeco in toe. We left Charlotte with a balmy 70 degrees to arrive in Lyon to 30 degrees. Thank goodness our faithful friend, Carlos, was there to meet us.

All the January weather fears that I had, proved unfounded. We have had a lot of lovely sunshine and several days that we opened doors and windows for the wonderful mid day southern sun. We had two nights of "blow the roof off" kind of wind. With the first round of window shaking wind, we none could sleep. The dog even hid under the bed!!! I think it was that hurricane Katrina trauma re-appearing.

Upon our return Walker went back to his Apex courses on line, and we noticed he really was not getting into the groove. We mentioned the possibility of his going down the hill to the local French high school and there he has been for 3 weeks. He is so happy, of course meeting lots and lots of friends. There are 7 exchange students in the school - California, Mexico, Norway, Germany, Pennsylvania, and ... Asheville, NC. Such a small small world!! This change to the French school was the proper "next step" for his year. His classes are of course in French, so his language skills are having to grow a bunch. He is back playing with his rugby team. We went to last week's match to see him play and watch his 2 teammates get injured. The gash in one boys head dictated a dousing of water poured onto his wound in the 35 degree weather. Back in the game he went. Amazing!


Our friends, Michael and Amy Helton came to France to visit us and the wine fair in Ampuis. We met them at the fair and they returned to St. Marcellin with us for a quick visit. They then moved south for a stay at a lovely farm house. We loved having them here and visiting with them in their neighborhood near Crest.

Such hard work!

What tongues!

Last week Dick came down with the flu and I swung over into full time nursing care. Poor guy, really felt tough BUT we had reservations to go to Paris! We had to hit the road. So we wrapped him up for the journey and made our way on the train to the BIG city.

We had a wonderful weekend full of action and adventure. Friday night we did a quick walk around the exterior of the Louvre which is magnificant to see at night. Then onward to an ever so quaint wine bar for dinner.



We did a new and fun thing for our lodging ~ rather than a hotel - we rented an apartment that belongs to a woman in Atlanta, Ga. It was a great neighborhood, quiet place, and much more spacious than any hotel room would be for we 3. It was wonderful to explore the neighborhood shops and Sunday food market.





On Saturday we rode the train to Chartres which is an hour outside of the city. It is a beautiful town with a gothic cathedral that is considered one of the most remarkable ones found any where. So we did a lot of history, art and architectural history study, and it was just incredible. Dick and I had visited here several times before, but it continues to be simply breathtaking with each and every visit.

Saturday afternoon we took a 30 minute cab ride way out in the countryside to visit a family friend, Jacquie. She is now 90 years old and incredible. She is a most lovely and charming French lady that in WWII ran the small hotel that the Army assigned my dad to while he was stationed in Paris for two years. We have visited with her through the years, and it was ever so special to spend a beautiful afternoon in her quaint little village (thatch roofed cottages and all!). We all loved hearing the incredible stories of her life during the war. What an education we received. Our return to the train station was arranged by Jacquie ... her doctor drove us to the train station!!! She told us during our visit, that the way she gets her medicines delivered way out to her little village, is the post woman brings the prescriptions from town as she delivers the mail. Hard to imagine eh?


Sunday it was off to the Louvre. Yes, it was us and 10 million other art eager individuals. Being the first Sunday of the month and no admission fee, the entire world was there!!! Walker did squeeze his way to the front of the crowd to see Mona Lisa. If only we could have a private tour. Even with the crowds it is such an amazing place.







During our quick weekend visit our main means of transport was the metro. Fast and efficient but ... I kept complaining that I was seeing nothing below ground!!! Dick finally got tired of that comment and he decided above ground it would be. So we grabbed 3 of the new "rent a bikes" placed throughout the city and off we went. Well, did I ever see Paris!!! And the traffic and the horns and the near death experiences ... yep, did it all!!! It was a beautiful afternoon though a bit nippy! Trying to preserve one's life makes you soon forget the weather. We rode and we rode and happily, I saw a lot!! The bikes did become like a piece of chewing gum on our shoes. You have to return them to a special lock up station. The first ten we stopped at were full! We finally did locate empty slots, dispensed with the bikes and made our train with about 3 minutes to spare. What an experience!

If you close your eyes they can't hit you!

We're now back on the hill resting up for our next travels. We leave for Rome Feb. 16th and hope you'll tune in for that report. Until then - hope all is well with each of you.