A Reunion in France

I recognize the fact that I have skipped a lot of months, but at the rate that I am blogging these days, I have to just start where I am!  And so we fast forward to France in May of 2013...Jenny's wedding and a reunion with dear friends!

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The perfect excuse to have a reunion in Europe is the wedding of a dear friend and so, with Jenny to celebrate, we headed to Vienne, France via the Eurostar and the TGV.  At first I thought I would make the trip on my own, but since the wedding took place during the first weekend of half term, we decided to make it a family holiday.

 
--> We started our trip with a little anxiety, almost missing our train out of London (note to self and other travelers via Eurostar: get to the station very early on the first Friday of half term), but eventually we settled down and were on our way to Lille where transferred to a ‘double decker’ train to Lyon.  At Lyon we hopped into a rental car and headed to Vienne armed with our Tom Tom, which was purchased after our Italy trip last year and prevented the dissolution of our marriage on our French trip.  Despite the Tom Tom, we hadn’t bothered to look and see that our hotel actually wasn’t in Vienne, but some 25 minutes outside of it and we also had assumed that Vienne was a little village (wrong) so Jim’s plan for us to just drive around Vienne until we found our hotel didn’t really work out.  But after a few circles around, we finally did manage to find the right road and were on our way through the French countryside to a large estate which contained the hotel, a restaurant and various other rooms that could accommodate a function like a wedding.

Our room was actually a room with a loft which was accessible by a very child unfriendly ladder and was immediately put off limits to the girls (to much protest). 

 

 While we were settling in, Jess, Liza and Cindy straggled in after their flight from the US and a struggle to find a cab that was willing to drive them so far out of Vienne.  It was so great to see them after so many years and was the perfect start to a fun week together. As tired as they were, they managed to rally and  

-->we freshened up and headed out again to the next destination—the rehearsal dinner—which was held in a Chateau in a nearby village.

 
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We had to drive in two shifts because we couldn’t all fit into the car and when Jim dropped Jess, the girls and me off, fashionably late, the chateau was deserted and there were no signs of a wedding party anywhere.  After wandering around aimlessly in heels and consulting several maps that we couldn’t read (in French), we finally decided to go to a Pizzeria to feed the girls and wait it out.  The owner was friendly and helpful and introduced us to some sweet wine that we didn’t like and made the girls some delicious pasta, all while trying to help us figure out where the wedding party was taking place.  Eventually, an hour after it was supposed to begin, we were informed that Jenny, the bride, was still getting ready..and that's when we remembered that Jenny tended to do things at a relaxed pace.  

 Reunion 'selfie' with Jess, Liza and Cindy:

 New friends:

 On the steps of the chateau

 The roommates!

 It took a couple of more hours for the food to finally happen but when it did, it was good.  Evie and Millie, it turns out, are big fans of pate and venison (both delicious) and both Jim and Liza took big mouthfuls of butter thinking that it was cheese.  The cornichon was also a popular appetizer.

At the end of the night, we decided to take our chances and just stuffed Liza and Cindy into the trunk of the car, rather than making two trips.  Some things never change.

A day in the City

After a long hiatus, I have resolved to bring this blog back to life (pre-New Year's resolution).  So, at the end of a happy year and just before the beginning of a new one, we decided to explore The City.  A long time ago, before I had a job or children, I went on a walking tour of The City...but today, with Jim and the girls, I saw it with fresh eyes.

After getting rained on a little bit, we made our way to the Bank of England...which is massive and beautiful.  Something wonderful about London is the mix of old, beautiful architecture and modern, sleek architecture.  We channeled Mary Poppins and enjoyed checking out a statue of the Duke of Wellington and discussing whether or not the boots he was wearing were actually Wellington boots.

 We also were mightily impressed with the size of some of the doors on the Bank of England.

 We pointed out the shrapnel marks from WWII on the walls to the girls and then, forgetting how innocent they are, had to try and explain what a bomb is.   Then, what a war is.  I wish that they could stay so innocent and I'm glad that they don't know what horrible things people are doing to each other with bombs and wars all over the world right now...

 Before the sky fell out again, we made it to the Guild Hall Gallery, where we enjoyed looking at lots of paintings of the Great Fire and Covent Garden Market back in the olden days. But the highlight was the Roman Amphitheater underneath the gallery.  If you didn't know (I didn't know before I lived here), the Romans seized part of London in about 43 AD and turned it into a settlement called Londinium.  So there are Roman ruins all around certain parts of London and when they were excavating to build the Guild Hall Galleries in the 1980's they came across the remains of a Roman amphitheater. Again, the mix of modern and very, very old...with ancient walls and drainage systems and computer generated gladiators and spectators on the walls.

 We were lucky that the Guild Hall was open, too.  And deserted!  Guild hall was the scene of many a gruesome trial...most of which ended in violent deaths at the Tower of London.  But we didn't dwell on that. Instead we enjoyed romping around in the vast and empty hall and admiring the architecture.

 Following Guild Hall, we visited the London Museum, which is an amazing place!  The museum walks you through the history of London, from the pre-human days when hippos and elephants lived in London to the modern days.  Since we were already on a theme of death and destruction, it was only fitting that the girls learn about the Black Plague and the Fire of London too.  They also enjoyed looking at fancy period clothing and trying on old fashioned fireman hats. 

 The London Museum is attached to the Barbican, so there were also lots of funky art deco details.

 Next stop was Covent Garden, where we parted ways because Covent Garden has a TK Maxx (same as TJ Maxx, in case you were wondering) now and everyone knows TK Maxx and husbands and small children do not mix.  A different kind of culture!