We invited Aprille and Bill Glover, Americans living in nearby Lavardin that we met in 2005, to join us for dinner one evening at the Chateau. We were honored when they invited us to their home in return. While we’ve eaten in a restaurant cave several times, this was our first time dining in a cave used as a home. As you can see, it’s small, but very cozy. The couch opens into their bed and behind the curtain is the toilet and shower. From their window, they have a view of the ruins of a 15th century chateau. They’ve lived there since 1999; Bill even wrote a book about their lives entitled Cave Life in France. Nearby, Aprille has a larger cave which houses her artist studio where she sculpts and makes multimedia projects. In addition, they have another cave for storage and share a 4th with friends as a wine cellar. It was fascinating to get a glimpse at this unusual lifestyle.
While it never snowed while we were at the Chateau, it was cold and the reflecting pond finally did freeze. Of course, we just had to walk on it and get some photos. However, leave it to Jimmy to decide to design a full photo shoot complete with oriental rug, antique table, candelabra and wine. We’re sure there’s never been photos like this taken there before!
My first time was with my mom’s boyfriend as is fitting for growing up in liberal California. Jimmy’s was with his sister as is normal in the South. My sister’s was with my mom and involved a tree, which was definitely a memorable first time. Most of us don’t forget our first time--our first time behind the wheel, that is.
Jimmy decided this vacation was a good opportunity to get 11-year-old Veronica behind the wheel for the first time. She’s unlikely to ever forget it. The car might be a clunker and totally forgettable, but the setting is definitely memorable. She didn’t have to learn how to use the choke, but did learn how to shift into 2nd and even 3rd (although I don’t want to know how she got the speed up for that here.) Although she looks so short she can barely see over the steering wheel, at 5’3” she had no problem reaching the pedals.
After just one night in Paris, it was time to venture down to the Loire Valley to hunker down at the Chateau for almost two weeks. Just like two years ago, we stayed by ourselves in the Petite Chateau (built in 1791) trying to stay warm with two space heaters and a giant fireplace. This year, instead of cookies for Santa, the girls left out creme caramel. Luckily Santa didn’t hold that against them and still brought them some pieces for their fairy set. A bag of Ocean Spray cranberries cost $5, but that didn’t stop us from having cranberry sauce with sweet potatoes and chicken for Christmas dinner.
It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that I’m happy that Inauguration Day is finally here. I think these Capitol Hell postcards I found in a Dutch restaurant and the descriptions on their backs sum up these last 8 years pretty well. First, there’s Dickula: Arguably the creepiest villain in film history, Dickula prepares to administer a fatal Colinoscopy.
For the first time that we can remember, having the girls along actually benefited us. We were easily faced with over an hour in line to get into the Musee d’Orsay, the last on my list to visit of the major Parisian museums featuring a large collection of Monets. Immediately after getting in line, we were approached by a guard who escorted us to the front of the line. We were quite happy to spend our time enjoying the museum instead of waiting in line. The setting was quite interesting--an old train station built in 1900 and converted into a museum in 1986. We skipped most of the sculptures and concentrated on the Monets, Van Goghs and Degas. The girls especially liked this colorful painting of a knight with nymphs.
One of the main reasons we stopped off overnight in Paris was to see the Christmas lights along the Champs-Elysees. Not surprisingly, it would have been more magical if it weren’t for all those blaring headlights. This year featured a small Christmas Market between the park and the shops. Rather than buying festive baubles, we bought Canadian fleece for cycling on those cold mornings to school. In a further re-enactment of two years earlier, we had dinner at Dragons Elysees, the overpriced Chinese restaurant with see-through floors covering a massive koi pond. The girls once again crawled under the table, but this time we didn’t photograph them.
About 10 years ago, we happened upon a CD store going out of business in Cary. CD’s were just $1 and we picked up a dozen. Out of that stack, only one really stood out and we’ve listened to it regularly ever since--Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. When Jimmy saw a poster for the show while in Brussels for business and realized it was playing when we’d be in town, he became determined that we should see it. We rushed out of the Atomium and made our way across town. We missed the first 15 minutes, but managed to get tickets for excellent seats. While I found this slow paced compared to “La Nouba” we saw in Orlando in 2002, the music was excellent and the temporary set in a giant tent was very impressive.
The first image I saw of the Atomium was on the back of the collectible Belgian two Euro coin. Of course, it’s much more impressive in person. This 334-foot tall collection of silver spheres represents the atoms of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times. It was built for temporary use at the International Exhibition of Brussels in 1958, but is now a Brussels landmark. The escalators up to the top were quite steep and the girls were a little nervous. We didn’t have time to eat lunch at the top sphere, but we did get to enjoy the panoramic view. We actually were in quite a rush and will have to go back to fully enjoy.
The girls were thrilled that the same carousel that they rode two years ago was once again at the Brussels’ Christmas market. In fact, much seemed the same as when we quickly visited the market in 2006, but it was definitely a lot more crowded this year. This time Ashlynn rode the ostrich with Zoe and Veronica rode the crane with Patrick. They still hadn’t added any animals big enough for adults, so we just got to watch. It was unseasonably warm, so they skipped ice skating.
We were shocked by the huge crowds in the Grand Place, Brussels’ giant main square (an UNESCO World Heritage site.) There was a light show playing all evening, combining the lights of the tree, tall light sticks placed around the square and lights projected onto the town hall (built in 1455.) Of course, we had to go by and see Manneken Pis and were happy to see that this time he was wearing one of his many costumes.
Unlike most of his colleagues, Jimmy doesn’t opt to stay in the Holiday Inn in an industrial park near the Brussels’ office when he visits several times a month. He prefers to head into downtown and stay at the affordable Mozart Hotel. It’s quite a colorful hotel that has featured posters of Barack Obama for the last year despite having no American connection, but then Mozart wasn’t Belgian either. As a semi-regular there, Jimmy couldn’t resist bringing us by to see this little courtyard where he relaxes when the weather’s nice.
After having a great time hosting Jane, Zoe, Patrick and Sophie, we decided to make a stop on our journey to the Chateau for Christmas and stay in Brussels with them for three nights. We actually only had one full day to explore with them, but we enjoyed getting to know Gene and seeing where they live. Our timing didn’t work out to make it to the beer museum, but we did get to see the aviation wing of the military museum and had some fantastic Turkish pizza and designer chocolates.
