I'm still alive!

I am so sorry I haven't posted in so long. Coming home from France has been...well a bit bizarre. There have been some big changes and really just not too much time for extra things! I have started a new blog (this will still remain my personal blog and I swear I'll catch up on the rest of France soon!) here: aandbcreative.blogspot.com/ for my creative outlet ;) So...lots to decompress and I think I will be up to it soon!

Ah, the joys of travel!

Our road to Nice and Cinque Terre was a little bumpy at first...but the second honeymoon we ended up getting was more than worth it! The morning we were all packed and ready to leave on our trip (first Barcelona, Spain, then onto Nice, France then lastly Cinque Terre, Italy and back home again) my sweet dear husband offered to get us, and our host, some pain de chocolat and get a little cash for the road. My husband returned, white as a ghost and sweating already at six am. It seems that the bank had thought that our spending overseas seemed a bit unusual and the $300 + we had spent online on train tickets put our account and card on hold. So, when Alex went to get cash at the ATM a notice came up saying that they were "capturing" the card and it would soon be destroyed, it's vital to know that it is impossible to get your train tickets without the card you bought them with. Super. Naturally, the Brantome bank and our bank back home were both closed. When the Brantome bank opened we convinced them to take our card out of the ATM and hold it for us, quite literally, the bank manager was holding it in front of us gesturing with it. I can't tell you how strong the urge was to snatch it from his hands and run for the border...logic outweighed that instinct.

After hours on the phone with U.S. after hours help, to no avail, we decided to drive the hour + to Bordeaux and pray that they would let us board the train that we were just in time to catch.

Of course they wouldn't let us. So, we had lunch and a little tour of Bordeaux to make it slightly less depressing and went back to Brantome to re-group. Alex remembered that if we canceled our train tickets ahead of time they will reimburse you, thankfully we were able to do that for a portion of the money. We decided to leave the next morning, bright and early for Nice and just skip the Barcelona part. We left very, very, very early and were off. After a long, long, long, train ride we arrived to our hotel I had booked online at five am just before leaving, and despite the beginning of the adventure the hotel actually ended up being adorable and gorgeous!

Champs de Elysee, Le Arc de Triumph and me stuffing my face a little...

I got a bit of a late start to my last day in Paris, but I was still able to squeeze in a few things. You know, like Musee de Orsay, climbing Le Arc de Triumph, walking the Champs de Elysee, getting some treats from Laduree and relaxing in the Jardin de Tuileries. So, not a total waste of a day.

The Musee de Orsay was cool, there were so many different famous paintings and artists that one hears about and it's incredible to actually be able to see them in person. However, it's no Louvre, and the price of admission, plus the headset (twice because of a special exhibition) was more expensive than the Louvre and the fact that you can't take pictures there was a little annoying, but c'est pas grave. The best part about it in my opinion, was the special exhibition they had. It was called "Crime and Punishment" and it featured an actual guillotine that was used, decapitated heads from said guillotine that had been frozen in time with some combination of formaldehyde and a wax-like substance, crime scene photographs, and former torture devices. What, not your cup of tea? Well, it appealed to my morbid self that had one day thought I might be a crime scene profiler (sorry I couldn't take pictures!).

After the Musee de Orsay I decided that having chosen to save the Eiffel Tower for my next trip

I better climb at least one Parisian monument, so Le Arc de Triumph it was! As you can tell from the pictures, it was rather windy up there! It was amazing to see how

elegantly the town had been laid out, you can see nearly all of Paris and how intentional everything was.

When I was done admiring, and resting after the 283 steps up to the top, I headed down the

Champs de Elysee. There are so many beautiful shops and sights, I loved getting inspiration from all of the interesting window displays too! One of my favorite shops was the very famous Laduree. They have gorgeous macaroons and other confectionaries. I bought some macaroons and a cafe flavored eclair. It was INCREDIBLE, and I don't even like eclairs!

Before heading back to the metro and my temporary home, I took a little rest at the Jaridin de

Tuileries to let my intense sugar high burn off a little. There are several large pond/pools where you can sit around and contemplate your life. Quite wonderful and a great end to my first Parisian adventure!

Second window design for Les Bohemians

The second window I did for Les Bohemians (Kim's boutique) was inspired by the name of the shop and the image that it envokes. The thought was the window would have a free spirited, worldly, gypsy type feel to it. This window was a lot less time consuming than the tissue birds, but it was very rewarding in the fact that it was done with items that we shopped for and assembled on a budget and using items that had came from many different former uses.

Night tour of the Seine

After Versailles Addy and I went to Notre Dame (not up though), saw Le Arc de Triumph, the Obelisk (big Egyptian pillar, in the square where they used to do the beheadings), the outside of the Louvre (I would actually go a few days later) and even a VideGrenier where I got a cool vintage painting and vintage Paris photo postcard booklet! By the end of this day Addy was perfectly cool, whereas after carrying around a painting (yes, in frame and yes, it was worth it!) and walking all day with little food I was a little exhausted and might have even snapped at a tourist family that were bickering in the street. Maybe.

We ended the day perfectly with a night boat tour of the Seine. It was so beautiful and we went at the perfect time where the sun set and we got to go right up to the Eiffel Tower and get pictures of it all alight. That was probably my second favorite Paris activity, however there are

SO many, and I barely even scratched the

surface that I am already looking forward to the next time I visit (hopefully with Alex next time too) when I can see even more!

Versailles...this photo montage works!

For some reason last time the Versailles photo montage was the same as the Louvre one, so this one should work and is actually different! (Also, excuse the song, it picked it and I was too annoyed to go through and try to change it, feel free to mute!)

My favorite place in Paris was Versailles. I could live there, and it's so big that I probably could actually hide somewhere and attempt to go unnoticed! Versailles is slightly out of Paris and has the Versailles palace, ponds, acres (or hecters) upon acres of gardens, different amazing buildings and apartments, Marie Antoinette's house, "mini Venice" with running gondolas and all! There is still more than this too. Addy (my friend from back home) and I spent over five hours there and I could have stayed for days to really see it all. In an attemp to be able to narrow down the hundreds (literally) of pictures I took there here is a montage:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Louvre

The Louvre was incredible. I did however, as always, have a few mishaps getting in. I may have even waited almost an hour for the audio tour headset to be available again then immediately accidentally exit the museum and walk all around the exterior and almost not be allowed to enter again all while wearing platform wedges (they were walking ones! But cobblestone is a little hard on the ankles in those puppies!) and almost burst into tears after walking in an hour long circle only to find myself at the exact same point again! But, maybe that didn't happen... After any little hiccup it was still incredible, I think I was there for six hours or so? By the time I got home (I was staying with close friend's of Kim and Johnelle's in their Paris flat at this point, they were wonderfully welcoming and I hope to host them someday when they visit!) I thought I'd just rest for a minute and ended up passing out for over an hour. I can't wait to go back again! I think I'll just make a little photo collage here because there was such an abundance of amazing sights!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Versailles...sigh...

My favorite place in Paris was Versailles. I could live there, and it's so big that I probably could actually hide somewhere and attempt to go unnoticed! Versailles is slightly out of Paris and has the Versailles palace, ponds, acres (or hecters) upon acres of gardens, different amazing buildings and apartments, Marie Antoinette's house, "mini Venice" with running gondolas and all! There is still more than this too. Addy (my friend from back home) and I spent over five hours there and I could have stayed for days to really see it all. In an attemp to be able to narrow down the hundreds (literally) of pictures I took there here is a montage:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

BBQ and Petanque

A few days before I left for Paris Kim and I were invited over to some friends of hers for a lovely BBQ. I ate pate for the first time, had some Peche (peach) apertif that I have been craving ever since, sausage, a spicy mustard that I'm going to have to find in the states, and ate so much I was nearly sick and couldn't even eat dinner that night! I honestly had never seen so many courses. (This is their dog "Rock" as in "and Roll", fabulous.)

I also got to play a popular French game called Petanque (I don't know how, nor do I care enough to look up how, but there should be accents on most of these French words. So, sorry.) for the first time. You have

teams and each round the two members of the teams each try to throw metal balls (you each get two) as close as possible to a small wooden ball. Whoever at the end of the game (which seemed to be whenever you felt like stopping) gets the most balls over all the rounds the closest to the small wooden ball wins!

The team with the ten-year-old clinched it at the end and won, he was amazing and for whatever reason he loved to say my name over and over again, but because it's kind-of hard to pronounce for him he kept saying, "Webekah, Wabekah, Webekah!" and whenever anyone else said it he would correct them, "Webekah! Wabekah!" I loved it and I'm already trying to scheme how I can somehow raise our children to have French accents...

I made it! (Paris)

(Partially written while in Paris three weeks ago)

I was slightly terrified about taking my three trains from my beloved Brantome out to big city Paris! After having a little potty folly (I still think I might have done it wrong! I went to a pay bathroom at the train station and when I went in there was no toilet...just a hole...and a wet metal ring suspended from the wall that you had to lower...it was very weird and I basically just ended up standing. Okay, enough about toilets!) I thought that might be a sign of things to come. However, after Kim so patiently waited for my first train to take off safely, and with me on it, I got to the airport (not the best way to get to Paris, however that was where I was meeting Alex in a week, so had to make sure my departure was from there) bought my RER ticket, met an American who had no idea where to go (I could relate), helped him find the correct RER, then metro train (thank Kim for the fact that she gave me a really good metro map, and it was in French so I looked less like a tourist which got extra points for me!) and the direction of his hostel. I then miraculously was able to find my own flat where I was staying and later on meeting my friend from Oregon.

After I met with my AirBnB host and checked in, I walked up to Sacre Coeur, which was just a few blocks away and explored the Montmartre area a bit and spent some time people watching (which could be done endlessly most anywhere in Paris!) and got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower!

My friend arrived that evening and we went to a cute pizza bistro and enjoyed the scenes of joy for the Cup fans who were watching the French play that night. Perfect timing and something not to be missed.

Caves et Musee de Brantome...

Many apologies for not blogging for so long, but Paris, Nice, Italy and my love were all worth a little more focus. I am back in Brantome and Alex is back in Berkeley now, so I will be a better blogger again. I've got lots of catch up to do, but thankfully I had a few drafts so I won't have to start totally from scratch...

Before I left for Paris, Kim and I took a rainy day as an opportunity to explore the caves and abbey of Brantome that are just down the street from her house. The church that is attached to the abbey is one of old stone with stained glass

windows and benches that have been prayed on for hundreds of years. One of

the most interesting facts about the church is that there is a holy relic with a piece of bone said to be from a child slain by Harrod's hand! The abbey is now used mostly for the city offices. There is also a library, and a belltower that we really wanted to see, but of course they are open every day except for Tuesday!

The caves, like all caves in my opinion, were very interesting. What I feel makes them even more so is the fact that they aren't just caves in some remote location used only for tours. These caves can be seen from most anywhere in Brantome and there are shops, restaurants and even homes that have been built into parts of them.

My favorite part of the day however was not the caves, it was in the art gallery where bizarrely enough there is an animatronic replica of a local artist from the late 1800's I believe. When the "attraction" would buzz on the artist's hand would fly rapidly across the page he's drawing on whilst he whispered in French, "Oui"..."Non"...It was the best kind-of tacky there is! The story behind the artist was that later in his career he began to have an interest in the occult and

participated in seances where he met several spirits who would tell him what to draw when he was in one of his trances. I feel like I could believe it too, the before work of the artist were mostly basic landscapes and scenery whereas the "possesed" ones were these beautiful etheral people, women with yellowish glows and flowers in their hair. They didn't have postcards of those paintings, but I did sneak a picture of the animatronic artist himself! (Sorry it's so dark.)

Wordless Wednesday: Weird stuff I've seen in Europe...

Sorry, But I'm off to Paris!

I have a few blog entries to catch up on, but I have to leave to Paris in the morning! So, not sure that I'll be able to blog for the week I'm there, but I will catch up when I get back. AND I'm coming back with my baby! I'm so excited, I miss my love and I can't wait to show him all of the amazing sights, and discover new ones, together!! Woo-hoo! I am so thankful for all that I am able to do right now, and my incredible host Kim, her fantastic daughter Johnelle, and the big guy ;) THANK YOU WORLD FOR THIS!!

Wordless Wednesday: Brantome Cemetery

ISO "Le Big Mac"

Today a friend of Kim's was nice enough to offer to take me back to Emmouse (the GW/ Salvation Army type place) to pick up my bag I had forgotten, and it was all still there! Yea!

On the way back he wanted to stop to get some coffee at the French McDonald's. I saw this as my opportunity to confirm whether the ever so famous scene in Pulp Fiction where John Travolta talks about the "little differences" in Europe was true. One of the "little differences" was that they call The Big Mac "Le Big Mac". I didn't see that or a "Royal with Cheese" either. But I did see a "Le Double Cheese" which was still amusing for me.

We took a very scenic route back, on this very hot day, which was beautiful as always. The valley here looks so much the Willamette Valley, of course, until you see that castle (excuse me Chateau) off

in the distance. We stopped by a lake and waded around which was quite lovely as well. I think we'll go again when I get back from Paris (going next weekend) and actually have a bathing suit.

Well, I think I'm going to go on a little bike ride to the cemetery now!

Still on my mind...

Today when I was at the market I saw a couple (English I believe) that had two boys that appeared to be the result of international adoption (of course you never know, but genetically speaking I really don't know how these two could have biologically produced their beautiful boys but who knows?), I am in another country now though, I shouldn't assume. It's quite possible that they were adopted domestically in their home country, okay I've been diplomatic...moving on. I've been in a small village, and a few others now, and the races don't vary dramatically (granted being in Paris will be quite different!). It's almost like being in Corvallis again where you know (GENERALIZATION, forgive me) if you see people of certain races that they are students, adoptees, or something else exotic and exciting, "hp"?

I felt that my adoption aspirations, which means kids in general for us, had cooled since being on this grand adventure, but seeing that beautiful family as well as having down time that allowed to read a few of my Eithiopian adoption blogs (families being united after long waits, families being made in a court of law "official" and family firsts) just put me right back there. I'm happy to wait and happy to explore and educate myself in the process (which I think is the only intelligent option when having kids in general, not even adopting!) but I can happily say that I can't wait for our lives to be at that point and for us to start the adoption process when we're ready. It's just another grand adventure that awaits.

Wordless Wednesday (a little late): A lunch out in Brantome.

My first French windows...

Yesterday I finished my first window installation at Kim's shop, The Bohemians. When I was researching the windows that I would be doing while I was in France I tried to come up with one window that would be pretty much ready to go right when I got to France. The birds are made out of tissue paper so they packed very well. I used double stick tape, then adhesive spray glue and finally a glue stick to put them all up and here they are!

Market day in the village!

Today was the market day in Brantome (my "home" village), it's very much like a Farmer's Market in the US but it also has clothes and other wares, every kind of food you could imagine, flowers, sausage, everything! I bought a bag of nectarines and this beautiful little item from the Patisserie or Boulangerie, I always mix them up. One is for pastries and one for bread but this one has both, so it's a patisserie and boulangerie?

After the market I walked over to the riverfront and wrote in my journal for a bit, cheesy I know, but it was quite lovely! I'm finding myself stuck between this thinking of "being in the moment" and "enjoying the moment", just reading and relaxing and taking everything in, and then the feeling

that I should be documenting all of this. Will I forget the weird white, big as my arm, sausage that I saw at the market?

Or the black spandex, liquid leggings I saw on a woman today who was at least 60? I don't want to forget these little details and yet I also don't want to be spending so much time writing, or on the computer that I miss these things in the first place.

When I stopped philosophyzing and headed back to the house Kim and her friend made Brochette (like shish kabobs) and sausage with fresh vegetables and meat from the market over the barbecue. It was amazing, but then again every meal that Kim makes is incredible (I swear she made soup out of a box one night, that was better than I would have done from scratch!) and vastly

improved from what I had been eating for the majority back home. Perhaps if mon amour starts working mornings (fingers crossed!) then I'll start cooking for us all more...that and not working three jobs in one day so I'm actually home at dinner time, that would help as well!

We were invited to a BBQ at a friends house on Monday (when the shop is closed) and we may possibly be going swimming

at a lake too! I can try out my new bathing suit and, sigh, have to confess, my romper *cringes apologetically* for the first time. Very excited!

I have been thinking that I want to start doing a fun French (ugh, not only am I not able to speak French, but I kid you not, I have actually started forgetting English words! And I fear my spelling (which, honestly I just spelled wrong) are suffering greatly as well!) fact each entry! Today: I learned that it is not proper, or thought of as appropriate, for a woman to drink from a bottle in public. Mostly, I was told, this is from the perspective of older people. And a straw is more polite if you were going to a park or something.

Another thing that I found amusing, which is not actually French, was an RV that was driving by (English I presume) that had a bone china teacup and saucer on its little table through the window! Very different from the view I feel you would see inside an RV in the US, but maybe I'm wrong? There are actually a lot of RV's in town now because it's tourist season and they have a campground right next to the park, it's so beautiful! French and English mostly, but German and Dutch commonly as well.

I also got to see the French garbage truck and collectors this morning, cleaner and more attractive than in the US, both the truck and the men...