On to Amboise

This morning we took the train down to Amboise, in the Loire River valley. The town is of about 13000 folk, but we arrived on Monday, so almost every store was closed. We briefl tried to see about renting a car to tour chateaus, but after walking in the persistent drizzle, we opted for the minibus tour instead for Tuesday.Amboise is just plain adorable. If youever get a chance, then you need to stay there. We stayed at a B&B called Le Grange Chambres. The garage style door opens right on to the street and eery time we opened it, a car or ten were zooming by.

Amboise has a castle, or chateau, named after the town. I believe it was for Henry 1, mostly inthe possession of Catherine de'Medici, but she hardly ever came to town. It was, however, used as a lovely prison for a Arabian sheik of some sort with a large entourage.
The picture above is no the chateau. That is just the chapel, where some of daVinci's bones are buried (big controversy with Florence Italy over that), because he lived in Amboise the last 3 years of his life.
Here is the actual chateau with its extensive gardens. There is not much furniture in the place, but there are lots of great staircases and hundreds of bizarre ornamental carvings and gargoyles.

Mike was surprised to find an actual fire going in one of the fireplaces, so he needed a picture.

The amount of time spet carving these ornate and fairly peculiar figures is just too weird. ou can tell which chateaus were designed and overseen by women and which by men because of the nature of these types of carvings.

For dinner we found an Italian eatery open for business. Everthing had some prety unique French twists. Of course ordering was always an adventure, because we weren't always sure that we were translating the ingredients correctly. This bruschetta had chicken with pineapple and a sprinkling of yellow curry powder. We also had a very ig salad and a pizza. We took lots home to tote for lunch tomorrow.

Eiffel Tower Day

They may look funny, but this little shacks were our lifesavers all over Paris. It used to be that you had to pay for the public toilets, but now they are free. Thank goodness! Because, while they aren't plentiful, we could usually find one when we had no other choice.Ian and I were playing hide an go seek. He thought he was extremely clever, but a little camera with a flash can expose someone in the darkest little corner!
On our way to the Eiffel Tower, Mike spotted these interesting goth girl. Krista would die for the backpack! Goths are not plentiful in France, but they certainly are around - not Americans, but Parisians.
And here is an example of classic Paris parking. As the cars line up at night, it is hard to believe that they will ever be able to get out in the morning. Actually, there are many underground parking structures all over the city. Sometimes I wonder if there are any solid bits of land underneath Paris at all, or if it is all a huge catacomb of metro, train, parking and utilities!
Mike wanted an artistic look at the tower. The mornig lines were extremely long. It looks like afternoon, or after the first wave would have been better. We stayed the course and made it to the 2nd level. Then, in the line for the 3rd level elevator, we were smack int he middle of a group of elementary students from Spain. We chatted with them a little, but mostly we just sat back and watched their antics.


I did not recreate my photo of twenty year ago, when I lay down on the sidewalk to take Aunt Barbie's photo in this same spot. Mike didn't take that route either.

Versailles Day

Today we spent our time wandering the gardens and the halls of Versailles. Its an easy train ride outside Paris. We kind of skipped the house and went straight out to the gardens. We made it just before they started the weekend fountain presentation, where they turn all of the fountains on for show. We stood there and enjoyed them for awhile, but both of us were kind of bewildered. Then we realized that we were way to American - we were waiting for the music and colors and flashing lights! After we figured that out - and that there weren't going to be any, we were able t relax and just enjoy.We bought tickets for the handy tram and rode on down to Marie Antoinette's hamlet, where she escaped palace life and lived with her friends and her lover. And where she tried to pretend that she was a peasant. Its extremely picturesque.

We eventually wandered our back up to the actual palace. Versailles was built after the Louvre when the king wanted a country home. Ha! We enjoyed the hall of mirrors and wandered through a few on the rooms.


Later we wandered back through Paris and found the bar where they have the only known remaining French Revolution used guillotine. Back at Mike's favorite place - Saint Michel.

There are so many gargoyles on the walls of Notre Dame, but here is one little guy whom we enjoyed.
After Notre Dame, we visited the Concergerie, where during the French Revolution people were held until their executions.This is the great hall, where the masses were kept. The gothic arches are so cool, especially when lit like this. This actually used to be the palace of one of the French kings, but after the Louvre was built, he moved there instead.
Wealthy and highly political prisoners were kept in cells, including Marie Antoinette. Here is her lovely cell.
We wandered across the streets to Place Saint Michel. Mike dubbed it his favorite part of Paris (I wonder why). It was also the only place, so he said, that he actually recognized where we were durings our ramblings. Otherwise, he just let me navigate.

Next we just started wandering the streets of Paris and eventually found ourselves at the Pompadou Center. We didn't actually go in, but we did hang out on the slope and watch an Asian man playing the guitar sing American songs with a group of German teenagers.

Our wanderings next took us by the Louvre. Again, we didn't go inside, but we did enjoy the gardens and the fountains and the pyramids. Earlier in the day, when we told Ian that we were going to the Louvre, he said that we shouldn't go. When Mike asked him why, he said that it was too stinky. "What do you mean?" mike asked. "Well," said Ian, "The loo is stinky!" That's what you get when words sound so similar!
Dinner that night was crepes at a very nice creperie on the Rue Daguerre. My crepe was square, while Mike's was octagonal.

Paris Day 1

So - home we are and now Ican start reporting on our trip to Paris. "Our" or "we" will always mean Mike and I, unless I specify otherwise.

So - I was severly jet lagged when we arrived - no real sleep on the planes and a headache. So I dropped off to sleep from about 11 until 4. Mike took off with Cozette and Ian and explored the neighborhood.

We are sleeping on a futon in the apartment that Mike's cousin Laura is renting for a month. She was doing some presentations and some research on immigration to South Africa, her personal historic specialty.

Cozette is there to help her with Ian, her 5 year old son, while dad has to stay at home. We are in the 14th arrondisement, down near the Port d'Orleans. Right next to a Metro stop, so we can very conveniently get around the city.

Once I finally woke up and felt alive, I went with Coz to the bank and to get bread from the boulangerie. Dinner was cozy at the apartment and then Mike and I went exploring the neighborhood. We are near the Rue Daguerre, which is very busy shopping street.


The next morning, Mike and I got moving slowly and then headed out to Notre Dame for our first outing. Mass was going on, so we tried to be quiet. BUT - you know how there are little chapels lining each side of large cathedrals? Well, the chapel named for Saint Germaine was filled with extra chairs and other oddements. So, we decided that Saint Germain is the patron saint of sotrage. So, whenever we saw a pile of storage, we called it a homage to Saint Germain.

Are you jealous yet?

Jus tthought I would let the family know that Mike and I are in Paris and we have left the children behind with a friend. We are staying in an apartment on the Avenue de Maine in the south part of Paris. We feel very local with going to the Boulangerie for frech croissants for breakfast and other such things.
We talked to Krista today - the phone to the US is actually free ( I don't know why, but I'll take it!). We went to Versailles today - plan on Eiffel, Louvre and something else tomorrow. We are taking the train to the Loire on Monday and then I think next Wednesday we are going to EuroDisney. Occassionally we wish we had the children along, but mostly we are just enjoying getting lost in Paris. We don't have a chord to download pictures, so those will have to wait until we return home!

Feel free to call and check in on the kids!

Hiding in Boulder

I was kind of surprised when Mike asked if I wanted to go to Boulder for the weekend, but since it was conference, I of course jumped at the chance to get out of Dodge so that we didn't have to tange with the inconsiderate conference crowd.

I got some great advise from my friend Tom who lives in Boulder, but he was out of town for the weekend, so we couldn't catch up. We did, however, go to this fantastic breakfast place that he recommended - Lucille's - Cajun style food for breakfast!

We wandered up and down the Pearl Street shopping area and just generally admired how adorable Boulder is - quaint at heart, with a great preserved downtown core, but all grown up with every chain store you can desire in a different part of town. I remember going to visit a great aunt of Mom's when we took our cross-country trek, but had no idea where she might have lived. If I could have only seen into the future, I might have cultivated the realtionship much more - maybe I could have ended up living there instead of SLC. Seroiusly - if you haven't been to Boulder, its pretty fantastic.

I didn't realize until the day before we left that this was also a college tour. We went to a tour at CU - Boulder. The Buffs, as they are called. I liked it; I am not sure where Tyler is going to actually apply. I think Mike wants to take him to Oregon this summer to look at campuses there, too.

Easter-ific

This year for Easter we had an impromptu celebration down at the Robison's house. With this little group of kids we still hid all of the eggs that I kept in the bucket from last year - something like 250! Boy was there an explosion of candy. I was shocked that the weather was so good - but I as glad that I didn't plan the party this year. Plus, we had spread manure on our lawn recently and it still reeked to high heaven. Nobody would have wanted to be there!


The Wednesday after Easter, Tyler and Mike took off for Boston to look at colleges - MIT, Harvard, NorthEastern and Boston College, I believe. They really didn't take any pictures - except for Tyler with his sunburnt nose from a day of skiing, so here is a picture of the adorable chocolate penguins they bought me - just before I bit the heads off and ate them!

ZOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM

For Mike's birthday - and for Christmas - I bought him a Mustang experience at Larry Miller Sportspark. He got to drive a mustang on the offiial track for twelve laps, playing follow the leader with a professional driver. He said he was taking some corners at like 80 mph. Then he rode along with a driver for three really fast laps - at pro-racing speeds. I think his happy expression was worth the 5 month wait!

Indonesian exports

So - way back when, I finally went over to Jospehne's house and met her and Elder Subandriyo's wife Stefie (probably not spelling that right). I ate yummy kroepoek and nasi and fried bananas.