We feel so blessed and fortunate to have gone on vacation-not only vacation, but Europe! Thank you Grandpa! When Eddie's grandfather passed away 2 years ago, he left us some money. When we prayed about what to do with it, we felt led to pay off some school loans and to travel. He loved to travel and continued to travel frequently until he died. In fact, he had a trip planned to China just before he passed! Go big or go home has a new meaning.
Also, we went to celebrate the end of three long, hard years of graduate school and me passing my nurse practitioner board exam which I did just 4 days before leaving. Good thing I passed, or else this vacation may not have been as sweet!
We weren't sure if we were crazy to bring Shep with us to Europe, or if it was the smartest thing ever at this age, so we just went for it. It ended up being perfect! He's small enough to be content in the baby carrier for most of the day which allowed us to be on the go. He's also not requiring solids so that didn't consume us (I've heard consistent feeding takes hours each day.) He could sleep with us at night so he didn't require special bedding. And I just can't imagine life without him these days, so of course, he would come! He did wonderfully on the plane rides and was his usual smiley self throughout the trip, even when his one tooth poked through.
We first flew to Barcelona and the day that we arrived was the Catalunya National Day. Catalonia is the separatist movement within Barcelona. They have a lot of pride in their state to say the least. Throughout the city, people wore their flag, chanted songs, and marched in parades. Most businesses were closed, but the city was alive!
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| We met up withe Angie, Franco, and Sophia every day. What a treat to reconnect with Ang! She was one of my first and dearest friends in Austin (but a Hoosier by blood!) And Sophia loved Shep. She even let him borrow her purple hoodie :) |
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| This lady worked next door to the bike rental shop. She was so sweet! She saw something special in Shepherd, some kind of anointing. We cried together :) |
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Biking around Barcelona
We toured the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It is a basilica created by the Artist/Architect Antoni Gaudi. It is a work in progress based on light and nature that reflects the glory of God. It was beautiful. |
Next, we flew to Nice, France. Nice is on the southeastern coast, famous for its extremely blue water. It did not disappoint. We loved the market where we stocked up on olives, peaches, and cheese. It was classic French with locals singing "Bonjour Monsieur" and "Merci Madame" as they exchanged money for food items. I was often tempted to break out in song from Beauty and the Beast but I successfully held it in the entire trip. Saved Eddie some embarrassment :)
We picked up the rental car; Eddie was so courageous getting out of the city and onto the autoroute! Next we drove to Avignon in the Provence region. We walked around the old Papal Palace and the rest of the city. We, of course, had the quintessential crepes.
Once it got dark, we headed to our AirBnB host's home a half hour outside of the city. We got lost because it was out in the middle of nowhere and we didn't have a GPS. We arrived and Babeth and Cristophe welcomed us warmly. We had our wine and went to bed. We woke up to a secret garden: quince trees, grape vines, figs, herbs, birds and turtles surrounded us! It was beautiful. Oh and Shep was obsessed with Cristophe's soul patch.
They suggested we go to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue for a Sunday market. We had no idea, but it was a huge market just ten minutes away! This was probably my favorite time of the whole trip. We sauntered through the market which fulfilled all my French expectations: cheese, olives, rose wine, herbs de Provence, lavender, salamis, tourists galore, sing-songy voices, and tons of fruits and vegetables. And a flea/antique market!
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| We bought all our favorites from the market: goat cheese, hazelnut salami, olive tampenade, and sun-dried tomato baguette and sat a bar and drank rose as we ate our "picnic." |
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| Fromage, olives, salami, peaches |
We spent so much time at the market that we didn't feel like we had enough time to explore the other small towns that we had on our agenda, so we headed north to the farm for our next destination. We arrived, but no one was expecting us as our reservation was made with the wife who has since become the ex-wife. It was no problem though and we were accommodated with a baby bed. I was hoping to have dinner there at the farm, made with everything grown there as the website advertised, however, it was Sunday and apparently Monsieur Pierre does not cook on Sundays. So we walked into the town, Suze la Rousse, through all the vineyards to find a bite to eat. Like Pierre, nobody else cooks on Sundays except the faithful pizza/snack shop. We vowed to come back in the morning before heading out of town to sample wines at the wine co-op, which we did.
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| The farm: Lo Rastelie |
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| Everywhere! |
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| Lavender |
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| This is how we kept his hands busy so that we could eat. |
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| Figs! |
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| Vineyards |
Next, we kept going north to Beaune outside of Dijon. But first we stopped in Lyon. It was a bit of a drab day and we just walked around and ate. I think the weather dampened my mood. I believe you are allowed one or two not so awesome days on a trip so that the really good ones are exceptional. So Lyon was my "meh" city on my not so awesome day. We loved the peace and beauty of the French countryside and Lyon, being France's third largest city, was a bit overwhelming to me. Also, I was really wanting to have classic French cuisine at a sit down restaurant and Lyon's reputation for great food at an affordable price drew me in (turns out restaurants are crazy expensive in France!) Unfortunately, we arrived hungry at 2 pm and most restaurants close at 2 and re-open at 7. We found one that was open and just said "We'll have whatever the chef is making for the day." It was Italian: pasta and sausage. Boo. Delicious, but boo. I pouted for a little while. Pralines baked into brioche helped later. So did an afternoon coffee. Somebody is driven by food :)
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| in the Lyon town square |
We continued on to Beaune, but as we followed the directions, we came to realize that we were not staying directly in Beaune, but in a village about 15 minutes outside the city. This was wonderful as it was so beautiful and quaint. We were now in the Burgundy region where wine is famous. Actually, I'm not sure there is a region in all of France where wine is NOT famous. We found our AirBnB hosts which we would like to adopt as our French grandparents. We had a little apartment off of their home with a huge bed and heavy comforter. It was cold and we had to turn the heat on! Carole and Jean-Marc advised us on what to do in the region. We went and saw the castle, although it was closed. We had a typical French lunch in a small town (salads, I had grilled steak and green beans, Eddie had a skewer of chicken and baked potato and French apple pie.) We drove around the vineyards, but didn't feel the need to do a tasting. We went into Beaune and toured the old hospital which was functional for 500 years; it just closed its doors 40 years ago and became a museum.
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| Our typical dinner. We bought cheese, sausage, and something sweet: here French macaroons, and wine. We would try to be at our residence by 8ish so that Shep could go to bed and we could just rest and have a relaxed "dinner." This was nice to have a somewhat forced restful evening each night with Shep getting to bed at a decent time and us not overdoing it by not attempting to squeeze in another activity or town. |
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| The Rochepot Chateau |
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| The hospital. Typical Burgundy tiles on the roof |
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| hospital beds |
Finally, we drove to Paris the next day. We made a pit stop at a cheese making village but didn't have time to tour the factory so we just bought some of the cheese and stuffed it into our baggage. whew, stinky!!
We arrived in Paris and our cortisol levels shot through the roof! It was so stressful driving in the city! Again, Eddie was amazing and so courageous to drive. We successfully rid ourselves of the car, took the metro across town to our AirBnB residence, dropped off our luggage, and headed back into the city to see the Tower. We heard it was best at twilight and we made it just in time to see the city transition into the famed City of Lights. It really is sooo cool. We went home and had our "dinner." The next day, we had a short list of 10 things to see while in Paris so we got right to it. We ventured into the Moroccan part of town, which unfortunately was NOT having their big market, but did have some very traditional Moroccan couscous, tagine, cornbread, and Harira soup. Next, we took the Metro to the Arc d'Triumph and walked down the Champs Elysees, to the Place de la Concorde, through the Tuileries Gardens, past the Museum d' Orsay and palace, past the Louvre, over the Padlocks of Love bridge (Pont des Arts), across the Pont Neuf, into and around the Notre Dame basilica, to the Luxembourg Gardens with some shopping and coffee stops in between. We scoped out a river cruise, but opted to head back to our neighborhood (19th, Villette Gardens) to eat along the canal. We were exhausted and hungry so just picked a bar with a menu. We couldn't read it so we just pointed to a couple of different things. We finally had traditional French cuisine! It came so unexpectedly and perfectly! We had salad with avocados and smoked salmon. I had chicken with caramelized onions and mushrooms, zucchini and potatoes. Eddie had pork with some sort of sweet and savory sauce. Delish! A perfect end to a great vacation! The next morning, we stocked up with pastries from the corner patisserie and headed to the airport. The flight back was uneventful thankfully.
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| Eddie speaking French |
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| Jesus coming out of the tomb |
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| Notre Dame |
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| Coffee and pastries: "Just like in Europe." |
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| I'm in heaven- I had the rhubarb and apple crumble |
Now it is good to be home. Salt Lake transitioned from summer to fall while we were gone but the garden is still booming. Willie is happy and healthy. My APRN license is underway. Eddie is in full swing at his new job and liking it. Shep is a bit clingy and definitely not sleeping through the night, but that is to be expected and we'll be working on that. I love his toothy smile and snuggles and am so thankful to have time at home with him before starting a job. It feels amazing to be home without the pressure of school or exam hanging over my head!
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| I was so inspired by the French tarts, that I needed to make one ASAP with peaches from the farmers market and currants from a tree along our river trail. |
