I realized over the holidays exactly how long it’s been since I’ve blogged: a close family member didn’t know that we have cats. Therefore, as one does at the New Year, I have resolved. In addition to the yearly standards of eating less and exercising more, I resolve to pass a DELF, to floss, and to blog. I have a list of things we did and saw in 2013 and even stretching back to 2012. You may see some of those topics come up, but for the most part I’m going to try to keep up with what’s going on now.
Short updates on what has happened since August.
In August, we spent a long weekend in Brussels and adopted 2 adorable kittens. Brussels was great. Our bed and breakfast included bikes and we explored everywhere. Tourist hotspots included Manneken pis, the brewer’s museum, mini-Europe, and the Atomium. Other interesting spots were Cantillon Brewery – home of Gueze beer; the Parlamentarium – a museum about the EU; The Museum of the national bank of Belgium; and a DiVinci exhibit in the old stock exchange building.
The kittens are huge, but still full of mischief. Andy named them Bert and Ernie back when a language barrier led us to believe that they were both boys. At Bert’s third vet visit, we learned that she is a she. We were attached to the names and Ernie had already learned his, so they stayed Bert and Ernie. I have a post about them that I started when they first arrived. Watch for that soon.
In September, we visited our Czech friends at their new home near Munich. We spent one day down at Neuschwanstein Castle on the Austrian border and another exploring the city center. Just spending the weekend in Dietersheim (area – 31.21 km2 / pop. 2,137) made me appreciate Grenoble so much more. We also went to Houston to celebrate a friend’s marriage. We used Friday to explore the Johnson space center before stopping in for barbeque at the groom’s family home. Several friends were in town for the event and it was really great to see everyone. At the end of the month, I started working.
October was pretty quiet. I settled into having a job and ran day camp, which I actually much prefer to weekly lessons. I think Andy travelled some for work. The “Return from the Pastures” Festival in Annecy was the only remarkable thing we did. It was a day festival that showcased traditional Savoyard (a region in France) processes like log splitting, flour sifting, and cider making. There were traditional foods – meat, cheese, and potatoes; and traditional dancing in traditional costumes. The highlight of the day was the parade, during which, the animals were run through the streets reminiscent of when they used to be brought down from the summer pastures. There were no cages and very few leashes. They just herded the animals through the crowds. It was raining, but we stayed long enough to see the cows. “Les vaches et on y va,” was a common refrain.
The first week of November found us in England mixing business and pleasure. There was a conference in Manchester, so we took the opportunity to visit some friends from Grenoble who had moved home. We spent the first weekend in the English countryside, walking the moors and warming up beside fireplaces in the pubs. I wandered Manchester for a few days while Andy learned about oil chemicals. We spend the second part of the week playing tourists in London and Windsor.
In London, we walked a lot and hit some of the most important spots: St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London (home to the crown jewels), the Tower Bridge (the one everyone thinks is the London Bridge), Trafalgar Square, and Picadilly Circus. Our day in Windsor, I wandered Eton College until I found out it’s a boys high school. Feeling slightly creepy, I crossed the bridge and window shopped in Windsor until Andy joined me to visit the palace. Later that evening, Andy brought me and a customer to his favorite Indian place. It was excellent, definitely a higher-end experience than our Chicago favorite, hidden under the el tracks. The next day we visited the Tower of London. After that, as our Christmas present to ourselves, we saw Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre and went to a lovely dinner. On our last day in England, we spent the morning at the British Museum, which is worth a post or two all on its own. Andy’s cousin who is currently stationed in England met up with us there and we spent the rest of the day wandering around. Sunday dinner is quite a big deal and it took several tries before we found a pub for lunch.
A few weeks later, we hosted our second Thanksgiving. Turkeys are hard to get and not cheap, so Andy made turkey breast in a borrowed slow cooker. We had all the traditional foods and it was a nice gathering. The actual weekend of Thanksgiving, we took the American holiday and did a mini-tour of southern France. We visited Avignon – home of the French popes; Arles – the once upon a time stomping ground of Vincent van Gogh; Antibes – on the Riviera, Picasso’s workshop there has been turned into a museum; Boit – where we spent an hour watching glass being blown; and Grasse – the perfume capital, also where I ate my first frog legs. It was a really nice little road trip and I can definitely see why the French Riviera and the Cote d’Azur are so popular.
December came really quickly and unforeseen circumstances had me back in the States for most of the month. Andy joined me on the 18th and the 12 days of Christmas flew by. Though we’d originally blamed it on too much beer and kilbasa, Andy was sick for the first time since I’ve known him, making for a pretty miserable trip home. He’s taken a while to recover and had to miss New Year’s Eve. A visiting friend and I spent the evening at a low-key house party.
The friend has gone and we’ve both gone back to work. It’s been warm (50ish); Andy is back to riding his bike to work and I am climbing the Bastille regularly with a new friend. We have plans to go skiing this weekend, but, because of the weather, we’ll have to venture further and higher than anywhere we have been in the past. We’re settling in to a healthier and less hectic January. The rest of the month should be pretty quiet.
Our Petite Adventure 