Sister visit - March

As I looked over my past few blog posts, I realized that I have become a bit behind on posting about some events, one of which was a visit from Lyle's sister and her husband in March. We also had a visit from my sisters this past week, so I will try and catch up with both visits.

Susie and Gary arrived from Iowa in mid-March for a visit to both Paris and Rome. It was a fun time showing them the sights, exploring some new restaurants, and taking them on a couple of tours.

Going to a market in Paris can't be missed.....there is everything there from cheeses, fruits and vegetables, clothes, jewelry, flowers, fish,

and of course......PORK! Gary wasn't impressed?

The sun was out, even though a little brisk, so while Lyle was at work I took them on a boat cruise down the Seine.

And we couldn't miss Le Tour Eiffel, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame....






The weather turned from crisp and sunny to a cold, drizzly Sunday, but we hopped on a Metro and took a Paris Walks tour of Montmarte and Sacre Coeur church high up on a hill overlooking Paris....

Susie wanted to see one of the oldest churches in Paris, Saint Denis, built between 1137 and 1281. It's on the site of the tomb of St. Denis, the first bishop of Paris, who was beheaded in Montmarte in AD 250. It has been a burial place for the rulers of France, although many of the tombs were desecrated during the Revolution. The coldness of the place was not only from the weather, but seemed also like a graveyard, holding tombs of Henri II, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette...

They headed on a train to Normandy for a few days and stayed at our favorite Bed&Breakfast. I, unfortunately, had to cut my visit short with them because I wanted to see my mother in Florida, who was in the hospice with cancer. But Lyle was able to finish their trip with them in Rome, sans camera, so I don't have any pictures to post. They were able to see the ruins and Vatican, eat some lovely dinners outdoors, saw the sights, even though Lyle squeezed in work there too! They were even able to experience warm, sunny weather!

The Ile de Re

Another island? Yes, when the French celebrate their "Labor Day" the first weekend of May, we decided to take a road trip with friends Amy and Ken to the Ile de Re. Thinking that it would be warm (palm trees in the pictures) and sunny, we packed our bags into our rental car and headed southwest to the Atlantic coast, north of Bordeaux. Our first stop was in the town of Tours, where we observed one of thousands of "manifestations" going on throughout France(i.e. strikes) in the town square. Still, the fountain in front of the Hotel de Ville was beautiful....

We arrived to the island in the late afternoon, and looked for our hotel which looked so inviting in the brochures....pool, waterslides, woods, near the ocean..... Well, so much for dreaming. It was not 'QUITE' what we were expecting, and as Lyle said...a few steps above camping. Which is what it was, actually. It seems that this hotel is connected to a huge campground with "cabins"....

...I thought, oh no....we aren't going to stay in one of those are we? I was in charge of finding the hotel and I knew my expertise as a travel agent once again would be questioned! Luckily, we had rooms in the main hotel, but, well, they were a step above camping. Oh well...we weren't there for the luxurious rooms anyway.....nor for the pool.....

.....that did not have water in it yet. I guess we were a little ahead of the "season". Apparently, this island gets hopping in the summertime, crowded with French tourists who rent these "cabins", which are a far cry from what we Minnesotans are used to in the woods up north! Ah...but they come for the beaches....

....and the biking, which is what we decided to do the next day. The hotel conveniently did have bikes to rent so we headed out for our ride up the island! The day was perfect, the terrain flat, and we were determined.

The island is known for their bike trails and there were, yes, HUNDREDS, of people from ages 4 to 80 biking the trails through pine forests,

.....vineyards......

....beaches......

......saltmarshes where they harvest sea salt in the summer.....

.....and quaint harbors .....


After biking for a few hours, we decided to stop for lunch at a cute outdoor place and rested weary legs. I thought we had biked quite enough and was looking forward to the ride back....

But, I underestimated our dear friends. Now, Amy, may be small and petite, but she runs every day and has very strong legs....and determination. We were not going to turn around...we had a goal....the end of the island. We had already gone at least 10 miles.....ok...I can make it......


Well, we did make it to the lighthouse at the end, but then it hit me that we would have to bike back! My legs were already ready to fall off! We had put in 15 miles......and had to get back somehow. "Somehow" was a bike.


Ken and Amy went ahead, and my dear husband stayed with me, biking ahead once in awhile and stopping to wait for me, checking his iphone for email. The only way I could make it was to pedal for a few minutes and then coast...and repeat...and repeat. I kept telling him we had to stop at the next village and have something to drink for a break...but somehow we kept missing the villages. I finally had to opt for a picnic table in the middle of nowhere....

But we made it! All 30 miles of it, nearly the length of the island! It just took 7 hours!

That evening we treated ourselves to a dinner in the town on the other side of the island, and it reminded me of perhaps New England, except everyone still spoke French! Well, maybe there are not turrets in New England!

A beautiful evening ending a very fun weekend get-away. We were worn out, well, I was anyway, but invigorated with the exercise and country air. Tomorrow....a change of scenery visiting the Chenonceau chateau in the Loire Valley on the way home.

Springtime in Paris

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Getaway to Strasbourg

Wondering how to celebrate YEAR NUMBER 4, and the fact that work calls Lyle to be in Milan on that special anniversary of our fairy-tale wedding day in Central Park, New York, we decided on a weekend to an area of France that we had not visited yet.....the Alsace region on the eastern border with Germany. Since it was too last-minute to rent a car and visit some champagne caves on the way, we took the TGV (fast 180 mph ) train on Saturday morning and arrived in Strasbourg two hours later.....

.....to a rainy and foggy day, which was a bit disappointing since the weather report had said SUNNY. So much for weather reports. After checking into our hotel, we headed out into the rain, buying a huge European Union umbrella as a useful and practical souvenir....

Strasbourg is a mixture of French and German.....the names of the streets are in the two languages. It is halfway between Paris and Prague and is referred to as the crossroads of Europe". It is a mix of old and new.....quaint tudor buildings from the 16th century in the old "Petite France" section are in contrast to newer, modern buildings built to reflect the city as one of the capitals of the European Union with its parliament buildings. A huge university of 40,000 students is there, founded in 1631 with German Lutheran roots. It's the largest university in France.

It reminded me of Brugge, in Belgium, because of the waterway that surrounds the city with it's bridges and boats that give tourists a view of their pretty city. We opted, however, to walk.

At the center of town is a masterpiece of stone sculpture, the Cathedrale Notre Dame. It was started in the 11th century and work continued until 1439. The tower is one of the highest bell-towers in Europe...and we could hear the bells ring every 15 minutes from anywhere in the city. We decided against climbing over 400 steps to the top, and stood in the rain instead to listen to them toll. It wasn't until the following day that we stepped inside after the church services were over to see the inside, along with the famous astronomical clock. Everyday at 12:30 pm crowds gather in front of this old clock, built in the 1500s, to watch a little show of mechanical figures that tell a differnt story of constellation figures travelling through the skies. The explanation was all given in French, and of course, I only caught about 10% of the story.

We picked the Maison Kammerzell for our anniversary dinner. This once was a rich merchant's mansion that has a facade of carved wood dating from the 15th century, right on the square opposite the cathedral. It had a typical Alsatian menu, with good Reisling and Gewurtztraminer wine (one of my favorite white wines).

The rain stopped in the evening and the walk home was magical.

Sunday turned out to be a much sunnier day. Thinking we had until 5:00 before we had to catch the train back to Paris, we thought we might rent a car and head down the "Route des Vins", a pretty road that meanders south of Strasbourg for over 100 miles, going through small villages specializing in the white wines of that region. But, after checking the tickets, I once again mistook the 24-hour clock and bought tickets for 15:00, thinking this was 5:00. Lyle looked at me and had to remind me that the 24-hour clock is NOT based on 10! What was I thinking???? I did NOT want to go back to Paris at 3 pm! So... we hiked over to the train station, changed our tickets and were able to see Strasbourg from the sunny side of the street this time.

My mouth was watering for some good sauerkraut and sausage, and we did find a place on the square with them on the menu.....along with some other interesting items:

Veal kidneys? Deer stew? Ham knuckle with sauerkraut? How about "veals head with French dressing"! Knockwurst seemed a safer bet!

So, we headed back to Paris and watched the countryside speeding by. It would be fun to return again and travel down the wine road to visit some of the vineyards and towns....maybe in the fall during the grape harvest. But then, there is also Burgundy, Bordeaux, etc. etc......

Saying good-bye

I am back in Paris after nearly three weeks in Florida, at my mom's bedside, until she died on April 3rd. I have debated on how to even write about that in a "Paris blog", but it is an event that is a definite part of my life, so I will say a few words.....then get back to the before and after in Paris in the next blog.

My son did make it.......and also was at her bedside for four days holding her hand, praying and singing to her (he wished he had brought his guitar). She couldn't open her eyes by then, but we could tell she was listening. My sisters Cindy and Wendy and I would take shifts being there, but Nathan and Wes often stayed the whole day.....

She was a strong lady.....held on through both visits of Cindy and Nathan from Minnesota, but slipped away quietly during the night, freed from the pain and suffering she had endured for the past 9 months.

Mom's wishes were to be cremated and buried in the National Cemetery in Sarasota, near where they have lived. This is a new cemetery that just opened in January, so it was rather sparse out there in the middle of the palm trees and fields, yet peaceful. We had a small service with friends and families that could make it (including Lyle from Paris), and their past0r, but we also plan on a memorial service this summer in Minnesota.

I will deeply miss our special times of morning coffee and a sweet roll, lunches, Saturday phonecalls, and the visits to Florida or at our house. It was always hard to have her and Wes live far away during the past 10 years or so, but we have so many wonderful memories of the visits there, as well as their places on the lake in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In the coming days and months, I will treasure those memories and rejoice that she is healed now.