My family arrived on Friday from Michigan. My mom (81), my sister Anne and her 2 kids, Mathieu (9) and Gigi (6). Bruce and I drove down to Toulouse to meet them at the rental car pickup so that they wouldn't have to drive all the way up to our house (1 1/2 hours) after such a long flight. They were exhausted when they arrived and we had a nice relaxing day around the house on the first day, after we went to the boulangerie for loads of french bread and croissants, of course.
On Saturday we drove over to the Lot Valley to see some beautiful villages and we had lunch in St. Cirq Lapopie.
Gigi took the picture above of the shoes. They were sitting in the window of the restaurant we had lunch at.
Here is Mathieu at a café with his chocolat chaud. yummy.
Lovely view from the top of St. Cirq looking out over the Lot valley. We just love this area.
The 3 ladies. My sister Anne, my Mom and me.
On Monday my sister (who is an Art History Professor) wanted to go to see the Lascaux caves up in the Dordogne (very very close to Je Ne Regrette Rein). These caves have some of the oldest prehistoric cave paintings in the world and were discovered by a teenage boy in 1940. It was open for 40 years until this green mold started growing on the paintings so it was closed to the public. Then they went in to do some restoration and this white mold started to grow (which was actually the limestone coming through), they are now treating that. Because of the closure they decided to make a "replica" of the cave so that people could see what it looks like. It took them 10 years to build the replica. Unfortunately it's a replica and it was a bit disappointing. We did have some very interesting discussions on the way home about why they made the paintings. It's about a 3 hour drive from the house and it was a very long day. Actually I would have rather gone to see JNRR!
Yesterday we had a relaxing day and picked up a picnic lunch of saucisse sec, cantal cheese, bread, some clementines and olives and went over to the Abbey de luc duc which has a lovely park and tower to climb. It was nice and relaxing.Today we are heading into Villefranche to the Thursday morning market and tomorrow we'll spend the day in Toulouse. My family leaves on Saturday morning so they will stay in Toulouse Friday night. It was a great week!
10 comments:
Having just returned from a family funeral for the matriarch, I think that it absolutely wonderful that you have the youngsters and the head of the family all united with you two in France! I hope that you do lots of memorable activities together eat lots of delicious and beautiful food, and drink lots of great wine--from your own little cave!
Have fun!
How lovely to be able to share of your France life with loved ones.
I'll bet was frustrating to be so close to JNRR, but yet so far, especially after driving three hours for a replica!
Oops, a word missing in that first bit. YOu get my drift, I hope :-)
Always cool when you can share the other side of the pond with family and/or friends!
After three hours on the road, I think I'd want to see the real deal, too. ;-)
How wonderful to have your family visit! Good to hear you're doing well.
love the shot of the 3 ladies... your Mom looks so happy with her girls.
LF - it was great to have them here and the weather was good. Our last day (Friday) we went to Toulouse and it was 70 and sunny and warm and we had a lovely day. They left Sat. morning...it's very quiet here.
Michelle - yes it was great to have them come and see our life here in France. We were so close to JNNR....should have taken a left instead of a right to those silly caves!
RG - actually it was 3 hours home because we took the paege toll road...it was 4 1/2 on the way up, on windy roads. Me and my nephew were car sick! The caves were so disappointing, total scam. Would have loved to see JNRR.
Becky - loved having the come to our new life here in France. They got to meet some of our friends, see the beautiful countryside, eat great food, play ball with the dogs all day long (in fact the dogs keep going upstairs to see if Matheiu is up there).
Cindy - My mom is 81 and fit and healthy and loves to travel...a true inspiration (her mother lived to 106).
Somehow, I missed this post!! Glad you all had a great time! Love the pics... I love the countryside.
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