R & R in the Loire...

After a great weekend in Paris, it was time to head to the Loire Valley for 12 days of relaxing at the Chateau du Plessis-Fortia. Unlike our previous two visits when we had the place full with friends, we were the only guests. In fact, I think we were the first to brave the winter in this drafty place in many years (thank goodness for 2 electric heaters that moved with us from room-to-room). We stayed in the ground floor of the Petite Chateau, which is the "new" gray wing built in 1791. We only ventured across the Grand Chateau to head to the dungeon to do laundry and to raid the supplies in the other kitchen.

Bad Parents in Paris - Part 3

Good parents would have taken the girls in a taxi back to the hotel after a long day in Paris. Instead, we finished up the night by making the girls walk around in the cold looking for somewhere to have dessert in the Latin Quarter. On the way, they had this Marilyn Monroe moment (with panties, of course).

Bad Parents in Paris - Part 2

Yes, this photo does feature Veronica under the table at a nice restaurant in Paris. While most parents would have discouraged their daughter from crawling around on the floor in a fancy dress, we saw it as a photo op.

Bad Parents in Paris - Part I

Being the bad parents that we are, we didn't stop the girls from wandering all over the the fish restaurant to take photos and shoot videos with their new digital cameras (thanks Buddy & Memmie!) Luckily it wasn't too crowded on a Sunday night, so they were limited on the number of people they could irritate.

Chinese Food in Paris?

Thanks to the Sparanos for their recommendation, we didn't need to spend our usual time searching all over the city for the perfect restaurant. While eating Chinese food in Paris did seem a bit silly, it was the fish at Dragons Elysees that attracted us. Not just fish to eat, but fish to watch from tanks all over the floor of the restaurant. In case you're curious, we didn't eat the fish in the tanks; luckily they were there just for entertainment purposes. This photo features Ashlynn feeding some of the koi from our table (the water was actually blue instead of this nasty yellow, but the exposure on this photo was hard to correct).

A Night Out on the Town...

We figured it was a pretty rare event for us to be in Paris at Christmastime and that it was only fitting that we'd do a nice dinner out. Of course, this did create a bit of extra work since we had to fit in fancy clothes (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the girls' new dresses!) in our backpacks and had to bring a roller bag just to carry the overflow of shoes. So, here we are at the Gare Lyon Novotel (our new favorite chain since it caters to families -- Ashlynn even started learning how to dive in the indoor pool) all dressed up for our big night out.

Happy New Year!

Thought I'd take a moment to interrupt my regularly scheduled entries on our France trip to wish you a Happy New Year. We celebrated New Year's Eve in typical Dutch-style, by creating massive air and noise pollution while blowing crap up. All our fireworks were small, but those around us were the professional style we typically saw at city-sponsored shows in the US. This photo shows Veronica in her favorite viewing spot (you can see a burst of color behind her on the right).

Thanks for humoring me by reading my blog. As you know, I never run out of things to say and enjoy the opportunity to pretend to be an important travel writer (as proven by the site meter with over 2,000 hits of which only half are probably my dad's). Don't forget, I take requests, so please let me know if there's anything you'd like to see me include.

Best wishes for a great 2007!