2 Exhausted 2 WriteQuint-ennial Vacation 2006
"Sometimes
it's better to lose your map anyway
You may end up where you were going
Instead of where you thought you were"
– kendall brown
I printed 42-page itineraries for Gramma, the twins, and Alan and I so everyone would know where we were going and where we had been. The first page was headlined with the above quote. When I told people about the itineraries I was pouring so many hours and effort into, I said I knew God was laughing as I laid our plans. What I didn't know was that the angels watching me over God's shoulder as I laid our plans were laughing so hard they wet themselves.
April
28 - April 30, 2006 | May
1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May
6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May
10 -11, 2006 |
May 12, 2006 | May
13, 2006 | Mother's
Day, May 14, 2006 | May
15, 2006 | May
16 -17, 2006
European
Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe
2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive
So here's how it went down from April 28 to 30 (You don't have to read any of the words! You can just look at the pictures. There will be no test.) :
FRIDAY APRIL 28
"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign." - Robert Louis Stevenson
The
first thing we did after leaving the plane at Charles DeGaulle was collect
the Prussian-blue, diesel Picasso "mini-van" Alan rented for the
five of us and our luggage. I had seen European mini-vans on internet rental
pages. Does this look like a mini-van to you? By any stretch of the imagination?
On any continent?
Alan told us it was a mini-van. Gramma was/is the only one who believed/believes him.
It was the running joke (upon seeing a medium-sized car): "Oh, look! A mini-van!" If you look at the car windows in the picture on the left, you can see the church outside of which Monet is buried, reflected in the glass.
Our
first stop was to be grocery shopping in Paris. 
Hopelessly
lost we decided to go straight to our Formule 1 at 10 Rue Des Prés
in Saint-Marcel which is outside of Vernon which is outside of Giverny.
But we kinda ended up right outside of Malmaison so we made Josephine's mansion our first stop. We acted as though we meant to do that all along, but I don't think we fooled anyone.
(Historical info on Malmaison and my pix from the 1999 visit).
Kilory took most of the pictures on this page. At right are Alan and the dude that lost Malmaison in the divorce.
We
made our way to Saint-Marcel, had a one-hour nap and no more (they called
me the Wake-up Nazi the whole trip), then visited Monet's garden.
It was my second trip there and it's rained on and off both times.
Monet insisted on painting in just the right light, and this wasn't it. But it was still beautiful.
Paintings
of Monet's garden dominate his later work. In 1890 he purchased the Giverny
house that he had been renting for seven years. He began to develop its gardens,
introducing an ornamental lily pond and a Japanese-style bridge.
Back
in Saint Marcel, the Lion's Club was selling 10-tulip bouquets for 5€
to fight cancer. I gave them 5€ and I was given 20 pink tulips despite
my protests. They were closing down for the day.
I had planned to keep only as many as a plastic cup would hold and put remaining tulips on the windshields of nearby cars. It was quite the feat to secretly leave a tulip under the windshield wiper of 15 cars instead of only five.
SATURDAY APRIL 29
"People don't take trips . . . trips take people." - John Steinbeck
At
left is Nikki next to our mini-van outside a church amidst being
lost en route to Chartres. Nikki has grown, hasn't she? I mean, REALLY grown.
At right, a colza field with Chartres cathedral's spires on the horizon at left. It's not quite in full bloom here. A week later this field would have much less green, and much more bright, neon yellow.
Take
a look at the saints at left: isn't it cool how the artists gave them the
sense of ascension by putting them on their tip toes?
Chartres [SHArt] consists of an upper and a lower town connected by steep streets. The highest point of the city is crowned by the world-famous Cathedral of Notre Dame (12th and 13th century), noted for the beauty of its south spire, its statuary, its magnificent 13th-century stained-glass windows, and its Renaissance choir screen.
It is one of the foremost
examples of High Gothic architecture, and widely imitated for its innovations
in architecture, sculpture, and stained glass. There are more than 150 stained-glass
windows, most of which are original, dating from about 1210 to about 1260.
An
ancient settlement, Chartres was burned by the Normans in AD 858 and passed
to the French crown in 1286. In 1594 Henry IV was crowned king of France at
Chartres.
I now have proof that Kilory is my child (besides stretch marks on my stomach spelling out her name). Yes, she took this normal tourist flash photo of her Father, sister, and Gramma inside a too-big-for-a-flash cathedral. It's the norm.
But she also purposely, deliberately, intentionally took many tipsy, wavy images of the cathedral exterior.
When
she passed a particular gift shop, she photographed an item that -- while
she had no intention to buy it -- was still her favorite item. See
handsome, suave, debonair item at right.
And while the suit of armor was indeed interesting, she photographed it because she liked the knight's red bloomers. I wonder where she gets IT from?
We
enjoyed the farmland on the way to Blois [BLWAH]. All sorts of interesting
things one doesn't see on American farmlands. Our favorite thing had to have
been this mill.
Once we reached our Formule 1 at 146 Ave De Châteaudun in Blois, Kilory's favorite thing became the building across the road. We call it the Blois Boat Building.
We
ate in a Blois restaurant across from a Renaissance-style château (13th-17th
century) in which Louis XII of France was born. I had the "Lawyer Salad."
It was either that or the "Laywer wipe cocktail" pictured here on
the menu. An avocat is a fatty, green fruit that makes delicious guacamole.
An advocat is a lawyer. Not-proofreading knows no borders... How sauce
translates as wipe, I don't know, and at the dinner table I wouldn't
want to ponder it. However, lawyer slathered with vinaigrette atop of bed
of lettuce was yummy, and this was my one and only time to try it.
SUNDAY APRIL 30
"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." – Robert Louis Stevenson
The
Royal Château at Amboise [(nasal)AH BWAH] is located in Amboise,
in the Loire Valley.
Built for defense purposes on a promontory overlooking the Loire River, the château began its life in the 12th century.
The château became
a favorite of French kings during the 15th and 16th centuries, some using
it to house their wife and children while they lived with their mistresses
in another château.
King Henri II and his wife, Catherine de Medici, raised their children in Château Amboise with Mary Stuart, the child Queen of Scotland who had been promised in marriage to the future French King François II.
Do not attempt to drive your "mini-van" into mid-town Amboise on market day. We tried it. It took us 30 minutes to go a city block. I kid you not.
Regarding
image at left: Isn't he just dreamy?
We're
not quite sure what kind of pink-blossomed trees these are. We do know that
they littered. A lot . As evidenced by this photo of the castle's base.
Imagine
if you will, our five-some at a sidewalk lunch table across from the château.
The sidewalk and the cobblestone street are on an incline. As we sit eating
our sandwiches, Alan spots a tomato. He elbows Kilory, "Quick grab the
tomato!" She races to do his bidding. "Get it! Get it!" shouts
he in Texan-accented English.
You can imagine any context to this as you will. I'll give you a moment...
...and then tell you that
said tomato was bounding down the middle of the cobblestone street as fast
as it could. People stopped and watched as a kid chased the runaway tomato
down the hill and brought it back to her loud, American father as her cringing
mother died of embarrassment. Whatever one does with a tomato one has snatched
up from bouncing down a street and all its spilth, it can't be good. 
I
took a picture of him with it, in case anyone doubts the story. I opened my
camera later, thinking the exposed film had been wound inside the spool. Some
photos were destroyed and this one practically ruined. So I Photoshopped it
artistically, as though its uncommon look were an artistic choice. Not even
a catastrophe will keep me from exposing the truth. He ate the tomato.
The
mansion at Clos Lucé, Amboise (pictured at left in a photo by Nikki).
It is located 500 meters from the Royal Château d'Amboise. They are
connected by an underground passageway.
In 1516, King François I invited Leonardo da Vinci to Amboise and provided him with the Clos-Lucé as a place to stay and to work. Da Vinci arrived with three samples of his painting, namely the Mona Lisa, Sainte Anne, and Saint Jean Baptiste. Da Vinci lived at the Clos-Lucé for the last three years of his life until his death on May 2, 1519. He was buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, outside the Château. Revolutionary mobs destroyed his and other lead-lined coffins to make ammunition.
We spent the night at Le Subdray, outside of Bourges [BOOr zhu].
April
28 - April 30, 2006 | May
1 - 3, 2006 | May 4 - 5, 2006 | May
6 - 7, 2006 | May 8 - 9, 2006
May
10 -11, 2006 |
May 12, 2006 | May
13, 2006 | Mother's
Day, May 14, 2006 | May
15, 2006 | May
16 -17, 2006
European
Hitchhikers We Picked Up '06 | Europe
2006 Archive | Newsletter Archive
We hope you enjoy your visit.
