March Is A Very Long Month

There is a funny thing that happens among many Air Force personnel during the month of March. “Moustache March” is celebrated (or dreaded, depending on who you’re talking to) by foregoing shaving the upper lip. The reason? I’m really not sure.

This year Jeremy decided to take part in the foolishness tradition.  Here is the result:

Feel free to share your opinion. Some around here hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

 

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Spring is Here!

After a winter that was longer, greyer, and colder than we’ve been used to, we’re thrilled Spring is here! (At least for now…tomorrow or next week might be different!)

Flowers are blooming.

We’ve spent plenty of time outside

climbing trees,

and at the playground.

The ice cream shops are open once again.

We’ve done some spring cleaning. (Most of our neighbors wash their windows weekly – I think we’ve done them twice in the last year.)

The fields are ready for planting.

The cows have returned from their winter quarters.

Another season of adventures awaits!

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Souvenirs

Since the word souvenir means “to remember” in French, it is appropriate that we made a few purchases while in France. Thomas got a beret and a book; Andrew got three key chains (one cheap one and two that were grossly overpriced.) Jeremy didn’t get anything.

Here’s my loot:

The champagne is from Reims. The pastel goodies are Macarons, not from the famous La Duree but from another little patisserie. (I was so excited to see what all the buzz was about, and honestly I was a bit unimpressed.) The bottle is a carafe d’eau, for serving water, from the gift shop at the end of the Sewer Tour. Usually I don’t buy anything for myself and then I regret it – sort of reverse buyer’s remorse. This time I was pleased with my treasures.

Souvenirs are often a topic of debate whenever we travel. The boys just love to get stuff and the gift shop is definitely the highlight of any adventure. While that is understandable (maybe receiving gifts is their love language?) I don’t like when buying things becomes the focus. We certainly do not need more things. On the other hand, having a little something is a nice remembrance, and may make a trip to a not-so-exciting destination a little more bearable. So is buying a $1 key chain so terrible?

While our souvenir philosophy is a work in progress, here is our strategy presently: we give them a dollar (or Euro) limit and let them choose a few things, with guidance. I think it is valuable for them to have some money to manage. Sometimes the money is spent early on and then they regret their purchases. Painful, but I’d rather teach this lesson with a 5 euro toy now than with a $25,000 car someday. As they get older they’ve made better decisions (at least in my opinion) so maybe it is working.

Another idea we’ve considered is to buy the same “thing” wherever we go. For example, at any museum, choose a postcard. Sometimes we don’t buy souvenirs, especially when the offerings are just overpriced junk. In those instances we try to talk about it in advance so our intent is clear and the boys don’t have false hope and anticipation of a gift shop visit.

At any rate, our shipping weight limit for our return to the U.S.  is 14,500 pounds, so that limits our European acquisitions for the next 2 years.

 

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Reims Rhymes With France?

Monday morning we had planned to go to the Marche Aux Puces de St. Ouen, since searching for buried treasure (even at flea markets) is a pastime of Jeremy’s. However, the market didn’t open until 11 and we tend to be the up -and-at-’em type. We decided to hit the road but not before looking to see what notable stops were along the way. We decided to go through the Champagne region of France and make a stop in the city of Reims. According to Rick Steves, Reims rhymes with France.  I know I’m not fluent in French but personally I have my doubts. I’m not saying Rick is lying, I’m just saying I don’t get it.

We drove past this Roman gate (Porte Mars) on our way through town.

This is the Champagne region of France so I had aspirations of a tour in the Champagne caves. Sadly, we were off-season so there were limited tours and they did not fit into our schedule. We did buy some bubbly though.

The next stop was an unassuming building which was Eisenhower’s headquarters (in France) during World War II. It was also the location of the German surrender and there is a small museum commemorating the event.

This is exactly where General Jodl sat and waved the white flag (figuratively speaking, of course.)

The walls were still covered with maps. Imagine the challenge of planning a war without computers, GPS, and modern communication devices!

We visited another Cathedrale Notre-Dame, which looks like the cousin of the Parisian one. It is notable for being the site of the coronation of many French kings.

It is showing its age a bit – after all it is about 900 years old.

I loved seeing these modern stained glass windows designed by Marc Chagall in the 20th century. Gorgeous!

This building was quite chilly. Those vaulted ceilings are probably not energy efficient.

After seeing the sights we had lunch at a local cafe and then headed home!

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Arc de Triomphe

We hit our last stop in Paris with two tired and hungry boys. However, once arrived at our destination and emerged from the metro station beneath they were instantly energized. Who wouldn’t be at a sight like this:

The first challenge was crossing what is probably the world’s craziest roundabout. There is an underground walkway but somehow we didn’t see it right away and we walked nearly halfway around before finding it. (Sorry kids!)

One thing that is not obvious from photographs is that the Arc(h) is almost a historical document, covered with images of great battles and the names of those who fought for the French. The names are the generals; those underlined perished in battle.

We once again used the Museum Pass and headed to the top. We climbed a lot of stairs in our 2 days of sightseeing!

The view did not disappoint. I would have loved to stay on top until the Eiffel Tower was lit up, but cold, tired and hungry won out.

Here is the famous Champs d’Elysees. We didn’t buy anything. We only did some very long-distance window shopping.

There is an interior of the Arc(h) also. When I saw this scupture I thought of Napoleon – Dynamite, not Bonaparte. I think it is the slack-jawed look that makes me crave some tots.

Another bonus of our late-afternoon visit: We were able to observe part of the evening ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Apparently a different military group does the honors each day. The day’s participants were posing for a group photograph after the wreath-laying was complete.

And so ended our second day of touring Paris. We headed back to our hotel (which was technically within the city of Paris, but was a stone’s throw from the “suburbs”), ate some not-so-French food (Quick Burger was giving away Star Wars toys in their kids’ meals so anything authentic paled in comparison), and slept well after an exhausting (but wonderful) couple of days.

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Musee Nationale de la Marine

If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m a big fan of the Museum Pass. Besides saving money and time (jump to the front of the queue with a Museum Pass!) it also doubles as a lavatory pass. Got someone who needs a restroom? No problem! Just find a place nearby covered by the Museum Pass and head on inside.

That is what initially got us inside the Marine Museum, but once inside we had a nice hour-long visit and we saw much more than the W.C.

In this case Marine indicates things of the sea, but not sea creatures. There were models, paintings, and artifacts, like this boat. It may look like just a figurehead but the white poles in the background are oars. This entire ship, made for Napoleon, was in the museum.

This figurehead was HUGE. Notice the human head in the lower left corner for a sense of scale.

This was the first museum that we used the audioguides, because they were free. They might have been free other places, but I never had used one and didn’t realize just how great they are! Both boys loved finding something they were interested in, punching in the number, and listening to a complete description – in English!

As a nice follow-up to the Army Museum, there were models of various modern naval military ships.

And as a follow-up to the Louvre there were plenty of paintings of ocean scenes, ships, and battles.

A brief history of undersea exploration was included. This is one of the first diving suits. I’d never thought about the technological challenges of exploring the oceans. It was comparable to space exploration.

When we were finished we got back on the Metro, on our way to our last stop of the day: the Arc de Triomphe.

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The Eiffel Tower

Now we return to our regularly scheduled blog posts…

After emerging above ground and enjoying deep breaths of fresh air, we continued to walk along the Seine until we arrived at the world famous icon, the Eiffel Tower. We did not go up in the tower – the lines were long, the air was cold, and the elevator was not included in our Museum Pass. Besides, some members of the family were interested in doing other things:

Yes, he’s sitting on a park bench in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, completely engrossed in a graphic novel about the D-Day invasion that he got at the Army Museum bookstore. His brother, on the other hand…

talked me into getting him this giant Eiffel Tower lollipop. What can I say, I’m a sucker for the clever design, even at made-for-tourist prices. We were on the hunt for cotton candy (we could smell it but we just couldn’t find it) but settled for this treat.  Andrew was thrilled that it tasted like cotton candy so it was a win all around!

I’m sure you’ve noticed that the quality of photography in recent posts has been markedly improved. That’s because I’m shooting with my new lens – a 1.4 50mm! (Don’t ask me what that means. I just went with recommendations from other bloggers.) However, this lens is not so great for capturing the scenery. I’m sure there’s a technical term for that – field of view? range?  I could NOT get a picture of the entire tower while we were at the tower. Jeremy joked, “You’ll have to walk about a quarter mile to get the whole thing.”

And he’s right! This is the view from near the Trocadero.

We can now claim “been there” but not quite “done that.” On our next trip to Pairs I hope the weather will be warmer and that we’ll see the view from the top!

 

 

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Centerparcs Vossemeren

We now break from our regularly scheduled review of our trip to Paris to bring you a report of what we did this weekend…

We spent the weekend in Belgium at a place called Centerparcs. (I’m stuck on what to call it exactly – “resort” conjures up images of palm trees and cocktails with umbrellas in it which this did not have; “campground” isn’t correct because there were no tents or RVs; “hotel” doesn’t give the full picture.) The occasion was a retreat for the chapel leadership and their families. It was a great combination of learning, fellowship, and recreation. Centerparcs is a holiday destination (as the Europeans might call it) with loads of activities, almost like an all-inclusive.

Once we saw the exterior of the villas (their term, not mine) I understood why all the photos on the website were of the interior. Admittedly, the cinder-block construction would hardly be called charming. I’d also venture to say that the first weekend in March is not peak season for beauty of the natural landscape. However, the parc was nearly full – approximately 3,000 people were staying there!

But the interior was quite nice! Our villa had 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen (less an oven), a living room, a patio (sometimes visited by mallards, peacocks and sheep), a fireplace and even heated floors.

Right across from our villa was a soccer field, a playground, and a petting zoo.

It had chickens, pigs, goats, a cow, a donkey, geese, ducks and a tractor. It was like Old McDonald’s farm, including a rooster waking us in the morning.

There were many playgrounds throughout the property, in addition to tennis courts, a lake for boating, a zipline, bike trails…are you getting the idea?

In the main building they had a bowling alley, a game room, shops and several restaurants. We ate at the Pannekoeken Huis (pancake house) and one of the teens taught us to play tabletop basketball while waiting for our food. On my first turn I spun the coin, grabbed it with my thumbs and tossed it toward the makeshift basket. It went over my opponent’s head and hit this glass at the next table…and broke it! Oops.

We spent most of Saturday afternoon at Aqua Mondo, a huge indoor water park. There was a big pool, a kiddy pool, several waterslides, a lazy river, several jacuzzis, an outdoor pool, and a wave pool. I didn’t bring the camera for obvious reasons. My fingers were all raisiny by the time we were done.

Our second favorite activity was Discovery Bay. It is an indoor pirate-themed playground. It has places to climb, slide, and play in the water. This raft was great fun – the boys had to pull themselves across with a rope.

This suspension bridge was quite high, so I opted to stay on the ground to take photos. A high ropes activity was happening at the same time.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Centerparcs! They have locations throughout Europe so we look forward to visiting another “parc” - maybe in France or England next time.

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