Wonderfully Lost, Again

Kathy and Mom shopped in Sarlat in the morning while I stayed in to write. After they'd made their purchases, they swung by the house to pick me up and we all went back to Sarlat for lunch at an outdoor brasserie. Again, our meal was not what we were expecting. Our "well-done" burgers were completely raw inside. We have a lot to learn about ordering food in France.

Before leaving Sarlat, we stopped at a Coiffier to make an appointment for Kathy to get her hair cut so she can say she flew to France to get her hair done.

Outside an ancient church, we came upon a quaint fountain. It was a hot day and I bent down to take a sip. Kathy and Mom both gasped and screamed, "No!" It was too late. It probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but it was very cold and quenched my thirst.

We decided to find the brocante in a nearby town that our neighbor, Margot, had told us about. of course...Ferme' (closed) So frustrating, but we took down the phone number to make an appointment. Oh, how I am going to like this place. We walked around outside looking at the massive rusty iron gates and huge chandeliers that surely must have been in a castle at one time.

Then once again, we chose to have one of our wonderfully lost adventures, this time aided by our sometimes friend, the GPS lady. We asked her to search for nearby attractions and she led us to a couple of beautiful old churches.

We happened upon a lovely castle, high upon a hill with cows and sheep roaming around it. It was a privately owned home, so we appreciated it from afar.

On the way home, we stopped at a gift shop in one of the small towns. The shopkeepers were so kind, offering to take our pictures though they didn't speak any English at all. Through hand gestures and smiles, we strangers from different lands figured it out together. Just another sweet moment with the lovely French people.

Further along, we began looking for a restaurant. We saw a sign for dinner in a chateau and drove down the tree lined driveway. After parking our car, we walked through a large iron gate to enter into a manicured garden. After looking at the limited menu and seeing nothing that Mom and I could eat and with prices at $84 euros per entree, we decided to pass. We felt bad because several of the staff came out to meet us. We chose to eat in St. Cyprien at a pizza place that we had been told about. Delicious!

Leaving Paris, La Merenda

Up at 5am to try to beat the hectic traffic out of Paris. Kurt and Chelsea helped us to the car with all our luggage. This was going to be a scary day.

First of all, Chelsea was leaving Paris by herself to go back to the states. Kurt rode in the cab with her but had to be dropped off at his terminal first. She would have to find where to print her ticket then find her gate. She is usually a very brave girl, but this had her worried a little, and her mama a lot!

Secondly, Kurt was leaving to fly to Barcelona by himself to go to a music festival. He didn't seem to mind, but I was worried for both of them.

And lastly, I had to drive us out of Paris and home to Baran. Kathy was in charge of the GPS which was not working properly. I tried to steady my nerves with little success. We found ourselves lost very quickly. We were scared, so we called Kurt and worried him. He could hear the fear in my voice and at one point, my very patient son said, "Mom, do not talk, just listen to me. Turn off your GPS, then turn it back on and set it for Baran." He had saved it to favorites for me. Once we did what he told us, we were easily on our way out of Paris.

Finally in Baran, we took a much needed nap then headed to LaMerenda for a great meal.

Dinner on the terrace at LaMerenda

After dinner, we went to a cemetery to look for Reneaus and to let them see how ornate the graves are.

Then I took Mom and Kathy to Redon Espic, a 14th century church that was built for sound. While our mother stayed outside up on the hill, Kathy and I went inside and immediatly heard the resonant sound of our footsteps. We discussed how great singing must sound so we sat down and sang, "Take the Name of Jesus with you". It was the song our grandmother sang to us as children when she rocked us to sleep. When I say that I cannot sing, I mean it. It's bad. My sister, Kathy inherited that same trait. BUT...it sounded wonderful in that church. Our mother was taking pictures outside and thought there must have been a choir inside singing. We made a plan to come back to sing there again. We will probably never sing pretty again until Heaven. Surely, God has built churches for people like us to sing in.

At dusk, I took them to L'Oratoire. Home at dark for decaf cafe's and once again, Ever After. I will never tire of that movie.

Our Days in Ole Paree

We rose at 5am for the long journey into the city. Kurt had timed it so we would arrive just when all Parisians were sitting down, leisurely enjoying their two-hour dejuner' (lunch). We thought it would make for a smoother drive through Paris. Wrong. We'd never experienced anything like it. In Pairs, instead of stop signs, there are roundabouts at every turn. It was confusing enough when there was only one lane in a roundabout, dangerous when there were two, but it was sheer pandemonium in Paris. There were no marked lanes, and the road was wide enough for eight cars, so the Parisians crammed in about ten cars, six motorcycles, five taxis, four vespas, three cyclists, two pedestrians, and a city bus, all going in opposite directions. None of them considered the others while crossing, merging, turning, edging their cars right up to the other cars. Kurt, who is always calm, cool and collected said, "Once we get this car into the parking garage, it will not be moved until we leave Paris on Friday." Wonderful, I would be driving it then. Coming out of the parking garage, we realized that out hotel was right next to the Arc de Triomphe. Location, location, location.

Kathy had booked the hotel late one night and had mistakenly paid an outrageous amount for just one night, thinking it was for two. "Oh, well.", we thought, "It will be nice to stay in a swanky hotel in Paris.", so we booked it for another night, as well. YOLO, right?

Kurt and I checked into the hotel and were surprised how small our rooms were. They were nice enough, but certainly not what we were expecting. I guess, we really were paying for just the location, location, location. It was really nice to be right in the middle of things. Kurt, Chelsea and I had a couple of hours before Mom and Kathy arrived, so we enjoyed our French-style delicous two-hour lunch while sitting in a sidewalk restaurant, doing our own people watching.

After they arrived, we decided that the first place we wanted to see was Montmartre', a place where the artists set up their booths, paint and sell their works. Kathy and I love paintings and rain was forecasted for the next day. It was a long, and I mean long, walk, all uphill. Mom said we were trying to kill her. It almost killed all of us. Up hills and steps, we reached The Place du Tertre' and saw the little town square filled with artists. Worth every single solitary step! Kathy and I looked at every booth and made our selections.

With armloads of paintings, we toured Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church at the second highest point in Paris. There were no cameras or talking allowed in the church. The nuns were singing, and it was so beautiful, it gave me chills.

You'd think that the trek down would have been easier, but we were weighed down with our packages and were all tired from the day of traveling. It was threatening rain the entire way down and we worried about our paintings getting wet in the oncoming downpour, but we made it into the hotel just as it started. We unloaded our haul into the rooms and walked across the street to enjoy an Italian feast of pizza, spaghetti, ravioli with truffles and Kurt had a fishy pasta dish.

Blurry shot while running across the street to our hotel but I love it!

The next morning, we planned to get to the Eiffel tower an hour before it opened, because we had heard about the long lines. We took a taxi van since there were five of us. When we arrived, we were disappointed to see that our one hour early should have been two or three. The line already weaved back and forth, so we chose to walk around it and enjoy it from below. It is truly an beautiful piece of work.

Feeling brave, we chose to find the Louvre on foot. Another long walk worth every step. Inside, we enjoyed room after room of beautiful sculptures, culminating in viewing the Venus de Milo. Then, it was on to the paintings. In 2008, my favorite part of the Louvre had been the Histoire du Louvre, a room filled with paintings made hundreds of years ago, of art viewing visitors, in period clothing, doing just what we were doing, appreciating the creative works of artists before them.

We took our time walking the Champs Elysees, with our eyes on the Arc de Triomphe all the way back to our hotel. For dinner, it was Tex-Mex at a restaurant called Indiana, then to bed, dreading what was to come in the morning...

Street art

Can you guess why we chose this restaurant?

Because our mother wanted to.