Today we bid farewell to Paris, along with our epic family vacation in Europe. We woke up at 4 AM to hitch a ride to the airport, leaving us very sleep deprived (so if this final blog is a little lackluster….we know why). We hopped on our first flight, which was Paris à Madrid.

Initially Chuck and Barbs were in one column of seats and Hannah and Cedar were in the column of seats across the aisle. Some crotchety old Spanish-only-speaking man got upset when he realized his assigned seat was not next to his wife/partner/girlfriend/daughter (?), 30 years younger than he. Because of this, noble Chuck offered to switch spots, and ended up sitting on our side of the aisle.

There was some sort of ventilation issue on the plane, and before we took off the smell of B.O., onion, lime and cilantro filled our nostrils. We looked around, eyes watering from the smell, but NOBODY else noticed the stench!! Not even Barbs!! It would come and go, and each time we had to breathe through a filter (such as a shirt or a sleeve) in order to keep from gagging. We took off and the smell had seemed to go away for good, but we all know, as one door closes, another door opens. Well, out with the smell and in with the seat-kicking, loudly-gibbering     Swedish kids seated only one row behind us. 

Finally we landed. We were eager to get away from the kids who sounded like they were straight from the Sims video game with the volume turned up as loud as possible. However, as soon as we landed, the ventilation issue came back. For the second time, we seemed to be the only three passengers it fazed.

Our second flight went much smoother than the first for seating arrangements. We were once again kept entertained by the individual tv monitors at each seat for the 8-hour flight from Madrid to Boston.

Customs went surprisingly smooth, except for this picture Barbs took, (every one else in the family smiled coyly or did not smile at all.) She was so surprised by the fact that the camera machine adjusted its height to meet her height without any human assistance that this gem was captured. The agents did not even check our luggage for the items we bought abroad which was a giant weight off our shoulders. 

We dined this evening at a Bostonian seafood favorite. Cedar dined on scallops, Barbs and Hannah had lobster rolls, and Chuck enjoyed an entire Sea Bream fish. It was delicious. After dinner we went straight back to the hotel for bed (7:00 PM)

We are exhausted, but due to popular request we have comprised a list of “Things We Have Learned From Europe: Slovo Edition” to help wrap up this trip and this blog.

1.    Chuck looks great in a beret.

2.    Barbs and Chuck do NOT like to eat more than 1.5 meals a day, and that doesn’t go over well with Hannah and Cedar.

3.    Just because there is a patisserie on every corner does NOT mean you have to stop and ogle the macaroons, and then buy a couple every single time. (But it sure does make the whole experience more enjoyable if you do).

4.    The only way to do Versailles is to be NUMBER ONE. (Like us).

5.    Only rent apartments with AC, and only visit museums with AC. Marble pillars to the face will NOT keep you cool enough as you pass from room to room.

6.    Taking a selfie with something DOES make it important

7.    Flat tires are no big deal, and definitely not a cause for the profanity we saw from one Barbra Gerard.

8.    Unless you drive a manual car in your hometown, DO NOT rent one here. In fact. Scratch that. Never rent a car with a manual transmission.

9.    Perfecting the Eiffel Tower photos takes a lot of skill, a lot of patience, and LOTS of weird looks from locals.

10. Hedges do not always appear real.

11. If you are going to the coast of France, pack a bathing suit.

12. Cheap wine makes for better wine

13. 6 espressos per morning can be considered “normal” for some people. Actually no. Just Chuck.

14. Van Gogh easels are NOT WORTH IT

15. Fresh truffles will blow your mind

16.  Make sure to always read what section of the menu you are ordering from. Sometimes excitement can blur ‘dessert’ and make it look like ‘crepe’

17. Chuck hates shoe shopping. Still can’t understand that one.

18. Don’t hoard chocolate on an empty stomach.

19. If your family says they are leaving…..they mean it.

20. Rick Steves works in mysterious ways.

21. If your car tells you your trunk is open, then it is, or will be soon.

22. Coullier is GORGEOUS and an incredible place

23. Lotion is not conditioner

24. Talking in English but with the accent of the region does not make for “learning the language”, and in fact might confuse the locals

25. Barbs CAN relax if she just thinks hard enough about it

26. Cats DO exist, and they are frisky.

27. France has incredible food

28. (And even better macaroons)

29. No matter how much time we spend together, and how much grief we give each other, we still aren’t sick of each other; this foursome has the absolute BEST time together.

30. Our parents (Barbs and Chuck) are fantastic, hilarious, loving, generous and awesome people. Especially for letting us rag so much on them for the entirety of this blog. 

This marks the end of this crazy, crazy 3 weeks. We loved (almost) every second of it, and we definitely loved getting so much quality time as a fam. We think it’s pretty special that we can do this entire thing without getting sick of each other, and thanks to all of our readers for sharing our laughs with us. 

Until the next epic family vacation (which apparently Hannah and I are not invited on, so if you would like a blog, please send requests to Barbs and/or Chuck petitioning for us to go on the next adventure. Contact info can be found under ‘CONTACT’ above)

--Hannah and Cedar

Today we hopped on the metro and tootled on over to the Rodin Museum. It was…… a really interesting exhibit, one that contrasts Maplethorpe’s photography of the human body with Rodin’s sculptures (which also depict the human body. The very naked human body). We really got an eyeful. For the second day in a row we saw a lot of gonads, but this time they were all very much intact. Also, bushes. Too much of that in one museum, or even in one day.

Department stores were invented here in France, so today we went to one of the original ones in the world. The one we visited was called Le Galerie La Fayette and it was absolutely NUTS. The architecture of the building alone was crazy enough, let alone the fact that you entered the store from floor -1 (if coming from the metro). -1 was the best floor because it was entirely comprised of shoes. Chuck’s face of horror juxtaposed the three of our faces of wonder and excitement. 

Right off the bat we stopped at the first section and found Barbs some shoes that didn’t make her look like a grandmother and a toddler, all at once. 

There were a select few pairs of shoes that we had decided were cool and hip, and although she kept veering out of our selections and going for the toddmother shoes, we kept forcing her to put them back and stick within the ones we had picked out. It took a lot of cohersion, and Cedar blocked a couple of tables filled with “comfort” shoes, but we ended up with a pair of shoes that Barbs loved so much, she even wore them out of the store. It was a miracle. 

The store was so insane and crowded that we practically ran around for an hour and a half just trying to get our bearings. We didn't stop and shop after the shoe floor, and we went up and down approximately 20 escalators by the end of it. An attempt for some long-missed Chinese food went sour when they hid us behind a wall and didn't give us any service. Little do they know how much Asian food this family can consume. Their loss. 

This entire trip, Barbs has always pointed out macaroons and wanted to buy them. We realized that she has an obsession. They’re all she thinks about, dreams about, and talks about. When she sees them she just HAS to buy a couple, especially when they are creatively displayed. We know that she loves them because whenever we see a store with the little guys, (which is on pretty much every corner), she is practically pulled by a magnetic field towards the display. She has to stop and if we look into her eyes we see macaroons in them. It’s that bad. That said, we have had our fair share of macaroons this trip. 

Well, this almost wraps up our EPIC family vacation. We are sad about it too. All of dinner was spent reminiscing about all of our adventures, and especially our misadventures. We have had a blast, and are SO SO grateful to our parents for taking us on the trip of a lifetime. Seems like we have one more blog post in us before we sign off for good. 

Tomorrow morning head to the airport at the actual crack of dawn (5:00 AM) to catch a flight to Madrid, then back to the states. 

Until then,

--Hannah and Cedar

Today began with a trip to the Louvre. We decided to take the metro, because Rick Steve's told us to take the metro. When we got off at our destination, Chuck witnessed a crime and it devastated the entire family. We've been joking about the pickpockets, or cats, here in Europe for awhile now without really seeing any action. Today that all changed. Chuck saw two "cats" reach their hand into an unsuspecting man's pocket and grab his wallet. Chuck was so stunned, he didn't know what to do so he ran up and told us. We were all shocked, and a little jealous we weren't there to witness a real cats sighting. In order to ease everyone's conscience, we reported the incident to a nearby police officer.

After the crime went down, we headed for the Louvre. As soon as we walked in (which we might add did not involve a single line due to our Museum Pass), we were immediately enveloped in heat. It felt like we stepped into an oven or a warming drawer. So many sweaty tourists in one place did not add up to a good experience.

Once again we plugged into the Rick Steve's audio tour and headed to find the Venus de Milo statue. It was breathtaking to see it in real life after seeing so many pictures. After this we moved on to catch a glimpse of Winged Victory, but sadly she was on a vacation today, so we must hold off judgment on that piece of history.

We passed more naked Roman and Greek statues, many of which were missing some prized body parts, before heading to the paintings. We were constantly battling the sweaty crowd and were not happy about it. We decided to suck it up for the possibility to get a selfie in front of the Mona Lisa. After shoving our way in, we got it and it was great. See photo to right.

After that, we booked it out of the oven (aka the Louvre) and trekked to the end of the property to catch a peak at Monet's Water Lilies exhibit at the Orangerie. Barbs promised it would be an in and out kind of thing, but we know how she operates, and we had to be on our A-game in order to actually make it a quick stop. 

Once we walked in, it was "Oh! But don't you want to read about it?!"  No mom. Especially since it was in French. We got her out of the reading room, and into the lilies. Amazingly enough, we pushed onward after only 10 minutes of staring at the circular room that encompasses us in the pastels that made up the famous painting. 

We headed home and grabbed sandwiches on the way back. We were all hungry, so Barbs's Chuck's and Cedar's sandwiches were gone after a short period of time. Hannah's sandwich, on the other hand, was still only half eaten by the time we had finished. It had sesame seeds on the bun, something anyone else would either love, or ignore. Hannah however, was surgically picking each and every sesame seed off the bun, and moving it into a pile before she would take the next bite. We tried to ignore it, but it was hard to take your eyes off it.


We took a load off, and hung out for a little bit before heading to a nearby spot for dinner. Shout out to our Aunt Sara and fam for recommending it. We had the best service and our favorite waiter of the trip. The food was also something we all loved, but the dessert was even better. Homemade profiteroles with a hot chocolate sauce poured over the top, and a delectable vanilla ice cream in the center. Of course it was polished off in less than a minute, with only a few casualties from silverware hitting other people’s hands. 

Tomorrow we are going to the Rodin Museum, and then later going to check out a little neighborhood called Montmartre for some Pariasian shopping (finally). Sorry Chuckie.

Until then!

--Hannah and Cedar

Today we were woken up and told we had “10 minutes to be ready and get out the door”. Apparently we had misheard what time we needed to leave the night before. Versailles opened at 9:00 am, and we were going to take a 7:54 AM train there. We were rushed out the door with barely enough time to brush our teeth and put clothes on; thank goodness we got the clothes on. We only live 5 minutes from the station so we weren’t sure why we needed to arrive 30 minutes before the train departed. Lo and behold we arrived at the station with much time to spare (at 7:37) and were expecting to drink our coffee leisurely while we waited for the train. Boy were we surprised when we got to the station and saw that our train was moved up to 7:40 (we’re still not sure how that’s legal). We broke out into a cold panicky, sweat because we still had to buy tickets and the next train was not for another 30 minutes (something that would COMPLETELY throw us off of getting to Versailles 6 hours ahead of time). So there we were. It was 7:40 when we finished buying the tickets so we sprinted to the train. It closed immediately behind our backs, but we made it, and we felt like warriors. 

18. The number of people in front of us in line at Versailles at 8:20 AM, 35 minutes before it even opened. (It made sense why we were nearly alone on the train, and nobody was walking with us from the station to Versailles: they were all sleeping). We sarcastically looked at Barbs and Chuck, asking why we were possibly here so early.  As time ticked by, we began to understand just how ingenious they are. The line grew to hundreds of people by 8:45 AM. Our 18th spot in line became the thing we were most proud of, and we mocked the people who kept showing up, thinking they were smart for getting there a shoddy 15 minutes early.

We decided to use the Rick Steves audio tour from our phones rather than spring for the tour at Versailles, which really paid off. We ditched 5 people at security, and the other 12 people at the audio-tour line. We’ve never moved so fast. We got really giddy once we were inside the extravagant building, and began to realize just how smart we were getting there so early. WE WERE THE FIRST PEOPLE IN VERSAILLES TODAY. That's right. We were #1. 

Finally, a couple people caught up to us because Barbs got cocky and had to stop at a gift stand along the way to buy a Marie Antoinette folder. Yeah. Even with the setback we glided and danced through the rooms with ease, hardly needing to maneuver around anyone. We crushed Versailles, complete with an audio tour in the low time of 1 hour. Talk about proud Slovs. After touring the palace, we headed outside to the spacious gardens. We rented a golf cart and headed out for a 1-hour ride around the grounds. Another genius maneuver on our part.  Everyone who did not spring for the golf cart was jealous of us; we could tell by all of the dirty looks they shot our way as we coasted by the mere commoners on foot. (We got a little caught up in the era…) We would strongly suggest this for any families of 4 out there.  

Between discussing how awesome and cool we were for being so on top of things, we gasped and dropped our jaws at the amazing fortress. The rich colors and intricate murals on the wall spoke volumes for the opulence they lived in. We absolutely LOVED Versailles, especially Hannah and Cedar. We floated away from Versailles on each of our own personal cloud 9’s.

After leaving, we heeded Rick Steves’ advice and found a nice creperie restaurant for lunch in the town of Versailles. After polishing off the savory and desert crepes, Barbs thrust this one on us: “I’m going to need a really well-timed illness when I get back to kick start my diet”. We didn’t even know what to reply to this before she blurted out, “We are about to miss our train and we are going to have to wait”. (Barbs had not consulted a single train schedule for the return trip so we knew she was completely making this up. Why, you ask? We aren’t really sure.) 

After lunch we headed back to the apartment to rest up our full bellies in order to prepare for dinner. We planned to eat at a steak and frites restaurant recommended by our truffle hunting companions. We walked up 5 minutes before it opened and there was a huge line to get in the doors. We shoved and pushed our way through throngs of people to get to the doors once it opened. Then we proceeded to have one of our most amazing meals. There was one and one only thing to decide: medium or rare? It was AMAZING. As we left, we looked back at the restaurant, only to see a line that stretched around the corner to get seated at the restaurant. Again our timing put us on top of the world. 

It  was one of our best days yet and we can’t wait to see the Louvre tomorrow.

Until then!

--Hannah and Cedar

By popular demand from our readers, we have included some food pics below!

Today Hannah and Cedar were given the gift of sleeping in for the second time this “vacation”. Meanwhile, Barbs and Chuck went to Musee d’Orsay, one more thing on Barbs’ super long and extravagant “must do” list. We (H + C) were given some money to go grab breakfast, and headed to a café right around the corner. Quickly, we learned it is hard to stretch a euro in Paris, and (after eating) we left eager for lunch (which was soon to come). “Soon”, as in 10 minutes later when we hooked back up with Barbs and Chuck.

We found ourselves at a sidewalk café. Hannah was distraught over leaving her sunglasses in the room, but no matter, it soon started to pour down rain on us. We took cover, and finished out our meals indoors.

Recharged and ready to go (or extra recharged in Hannah and Cedar’s case), we walked to Quai Branly, a museum that has a special “Tiki Pop” exhibit going on for a couple of weeks. If you know Chuck, you know he is the ultimate tiki collector. Why, you ask? We don’t know. For anyone who didn’t know that: a few years ago Chuck had an obsession with purchasing anything tiki from Ebay; mugs, platters, salt and pepper shakers, stir rods, bowls, plates, etc. It got a little out of hand, and well, we will just leave it by saying there are HUNDREDS of boxed up tikis in storage, and we don’t talk about this dark period of his life very often. 

Anyway. This exhibit had him really giddy and he couldn’t wait to get in. We promptly learned that him seeing the very tikis that he owns, behind glass and with a sign next to them, validated every purchase he has ever made; scary for the three of us who had to live with hundreds of tikis around the house. Here’s a tidbit from the exhibit:

He would go around saying, “Well let’s see. We have that one, we have that one, I don’t think we have that one…”, and then would snap a photo of what he was missing from the collection. Sometimes he would admit to having 3 or 4 of the exact same tiki, and smile, like he was so proud of himself for it.

Chuck was like a kid in a candy store, and he couldn’t believe the exhibit wasn’t more crowded. He found the line for another exhibit (no, the tiki exhibit did not have a line), and wanted to go over to them and tell them that they “must be mistaken, the tiki exhibit was actually across the museum”. He found a room that was laid out to feel like a tiki bar from the 1960’s, complete with blowfish hanging from the ceiling. He took one look in the room and looked back at us with  an awestruck look in his eyes, and the biggest grin we have ever seen on his face. He even came away from it all with his very own tiki notebook from the gift shop. It was a good day to be Chuck. 

After we were done following Chuck around the tiki museum, we headed for the Arc de Triomphe. We were amazed at the site, and we even got the best selfie yet. So that was a bonus. On the way, we passed one of the most famous restaurants in Paris by Joel Robuchon, a 2-michelen star restaurant with a prefixed menu for the low, low price of 175 euros per person.

After the Arc, we walked down the Champs Elysees, which had some of the most fabulous shopping in the world, aka we just looked from the windows. After our feet gave out, we took the metro back to the apartment for a brief respite before dinner. 

We headed out for, what we expected to be, a quiet dinner at a nearby restaurant. We were seated by a rude man and Barbs thought he was joking. He wasn't, but we gave him the benefit of the doubt. We were seated next to these elderly women who have lived in Paris for over 13 years. We got to talking with them and 10 minutes later, after we still had not been given the time of day at our table, they told us that the restaurant around the corner was indeed much better We made the choice to get up and leave the first restaurant at the ladies' suggestion, and never looked back. We ended up with one of our greatest meals of the trip, thanks 
to those fine parisian women. Hats off to them. 

PS: This just came out of Chuck's mouth: "Babs, we need to download the self-guided audio tour!". That's when you know we've been museum-ing too long. 

Tomorrow we are going to Versailles. For all that Barbs has planned, we might be dead tomorrow evening and unable to post. Let’s all hope that doesn’t happen.

Until then!

--Hannah and Cedar

Today we had to say goodbye to our rent car (as we dropped it off to head to Paris via train). We thought we ought to dedicate a section of today’s blog to said car.

Dear Car,

We would like to give you a proper goodbye. We will miss your manual-ness causing us to slide backwards on hills and almost hitting the cars behind us. We will miss the way that when you tell us that the trunk is open, you really mean it. Because someone’s suitcase might just come rolling out of the back when you least expect it. But most of all, we will miss your shitty tires. This morning we also said goodbye to another dear friend, the back-right tire (BRT). He perished this morning when we tried to reverse up a hill, cutting a corner too close. There seemed to be a sharp boulder in our way, causing the tire to explode and emit white smoke while the air leaked out. And yes, we realize that you must not like Hannah since it was her luggage you threw out onto the highway, and it was the tire closest to her seat in the car that you allowed to burst. But we forgive you for your faults, because you forgave Hannah and Cedar for stalling you a couple of times yesterday.

*we would like to dedicate a moment of silence to the BRT*

Thank you. 

This incident occurred right as we were about to load up the car to head to the train station in order to catch our train to Paris. Cedar and Hannah walked up right in the nick of time to witness the entire scene. (Picture: a car going around a bend, only to not come out on the other side :( ). Afraid of Chuck freaking out, we carefully broke the news to him that “the tire was flat, but it’s going to be okay”. He seemed to be handling it pretty well, but not even a second later Barbs arrived at the scene with the most horrified look on her face. She hit her hand on her forehead and said, “Oh! F#*@ me!!!!!!” (Yeah, we were definitely weirded out too).

We quickly rushed Barbs out of the way, hoping that her extreme (and inappropriate) comment and lack of calmness in this situation had not affected Chuck, our only hope to getting this tire fixed in a speedy manner. Chuck got to work on the tire and we (Hannah and Cedar) offered to help. “Yeah! Figure out where to put the jack if you can”, he said. Uhh….riiight…Sure. The “jack”. Figure out where it goes. Nooo problem. After fumbling around for a few minutes he realized we wouldn’t be of any help in that department and gave us the more menial task of unscrewing the bolts.

During the fixing of the flat, Barbs remained anything BUT calm. She was running in circles and talking so fast we couldn’t’ even understand her. We tried to preoccupy her by giving her the job of calling roadside assistance (which we had paid for through Avis). For some reason she kept showing up on the scene, task still incomplete, and claiming she couldn’t find the Avis phone number answer. Once, after Chuck asked Hannah to take a look at something, Barbs took it upon herself to DIVE underneath the car, causing her entire outfit to get covered in dirt. We are still unsure of what she was trying to do under there. Picture can be seen to the right.

Half an hour later, we were back on track with our punk, skinny little tire, but heading in the direction of the train station nonetheless. (Roadside assistance’s number was never located). We caught the train to Paris and headed to our apartment. It was a high-speed train that got us to Paris in less than 3 hours; a drive that would have taken over 8 hours. Chalk up another cool experience for us provided by Barbs. Something we learned later on: the phone number for roadside assistance (that Barb’s “couldn’t find”) was on the top of paper they had given us. Hmm. Ya win some, ya lose some ;)

We were all feeling really tired and beaten down from the morning’s events but Barbs said, “cmon guys! We have to go out and see Paris! Let’s go make our MAGIC!” Well magic we indeed made. First stop was the Eiffel Tower which is a 5 minute walk from our apartment. We stood in front of the tower for a solid 20 minutes taking dumb photos and laughing our asses off the whole time. I’m sure everyone thought we were REALLY simple minded (See Day 8).

Then we checked out a local area and shopped around for a little bit. Finally, we decided to take the plunge and go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Cedar begged the family to walk up to the top, but Chuck’s knee and other members’ protestations caused us to take the elevator. Hannah and Chuck were both freaking out at the top due to their fear of heights, but we did all in fact make it back to the ground safely. Imagine that. 

Tomorrow we have no idea what Barbs has cooked up for us, but I’m sure it will be adventurous, wonderful, and tiring.

Until then!

--Hannah and Cedar

Today the four of us all started out really happy. Barbs and Chuck went to their much-anticipated cave painting/light show in Le Baux de Provence, and Cedar and Hannah got to SLEEP IN! Both were priceless luxuries that put us all in good moods. Around 2 pm we headed out of town to see Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct from many years past.

The good moods were quickly put to rest when we pulled into Pont du Gard. As soon as we got there Barbs said, “Ya know, the best view is actually from the water”. Confused, we (Hannah and Cedar) looked at each other, because we hadn’t even been privy to the knowledge that there WAS water, let alone that there was water for us to swim or tube in. 

Once again Barbs had left out some key details of the day that left us unprepared and, at this point, unable to remedy the situation. (If you guys haven’t picked up on this already, we love water, so upon arrival and after hearing that if we had packed our bathing suits, we could’ve taken a dip, our hearts and souls were crushed). You might think we are being harsh here, but this is coming from the fact that Barbs strategically did not pack any sort of bathing suit for a 3-week vacation on the coast of France. In a little worse moods than we had been 20 minutes ago, we toured the aqueduct and hiked up a bit for a better view. It was fun and interesting to see the architecture of it, but we didn’t linger for long. 

Because we were in pissy moods, it prompted Barbs and Chuck to say that they would like to do their next vacation without us. This did not help the mood situation. Also, we think they would regret not having us along because 1) we keep them on their toes and 2) they would have too many conversations that go a little like this one we witnessed today (when they thought we were listening to our iPods):

Barbs: “Hey Chuck, look at that hedge.”
Chuck: “Yeah.”
Barbs: “It doesn’t even look real!”
Chuck: “Exactly!!”

“Exactly”. Exactly…?? Exactly what??! And they think they can get by without us..

Moods were adjusted a little later, and then we headed to Châteauneuf-du-Pape for a wine tasting. We were a little creeped out when we walked into what appeared to be the Volturi’s den from Twilight, but it turned out to be a really cool experience. It was a very private setting and we got to sample 7 different wines (both red, white and rose). Interestingly enough, the nicer the wine, the more we hated it. I guess college trained us well.

Afterwards we drove back home, but made a quick stop in an abandoned parking lot for manual-transmission lessons. Cedar went first and Hannah made sure to evacuate the car. Then Hannah went. There were a few stalls, some jerkiness, and a whole lot of whiplash, but in the end we made it out alive. 

To round out our day, we went back to dinner at the same place we dined at the first night. We knew it was going to be an interesting meal when we ordered the first carafe of free water and the waiter made a face to show his disapproval. We were sitting outside, so the local St. Remy flies were out to party, which proved to be a huge problem for Cedar. We (Hannah and Cedar) ordered the exact same thing from the previous meal at this restaurant; Barbra copied Hannah’s order while Chuck copied Cedar’s. Don’t think this also did not merit a negative judgmental reaction from the waiter. He was no happier when we ordered the second carafe, or even the third, but it’s not our fault because he kept delivering carafes that were only 1/3 filled. 

Back to Cedar’s night. She had to cut her breast of duck, so both her hands were occupied. Each time a fly came near her she would blow out an angered puff of air in the direction of the fly, meriting responses not only from the rest of the family, but from the rest of the restaurant. We looked like side show at the circus. Then, when it was time to leave, Cedar exited from her booth and ‘tried’ to slide past the table next to ours’ bucket of ice water for their wine. She must have cut it too close to their table because next thing we all knew, the couple next to us was catching their bucket before it fell onto the ground, saving their bottle of wine. Cedar ran out of the restaurant, too embarrassed to apologize, leaving the rest of the family to catch the glares from the rest of the cliental. 

We made it back home safely, and are heading to bed early because we are waking up at the crack of dawn (8:00 am)  to catch the train to Paris.

Until then!

--Hannah and Cedar

How the morning began:
Hannah, thinking the espresso machine had been running for awhile, : "Chuck, how many espressos have you had?" He looks sheepishly down at the ground and replies, "well... 6", and then qualifies each one by saying "one for each member of the family and one for Cowboy Bob and one for Sioux" (our 2 dogs). Yeah. With that our daily adventure began. 

We were on our way to a morning market in Arles, France; a little town only 45 minutes from our apartment. We (Hannah and Cedar) thought the plan was to attend the market and look at some flea market items along with local produce. That's because last night Barbs had told us that the plan was to attend the market and look at some flea market items along with local produce. After doing said shopping for an hour and a half, we thought we were about to head back to the apartment. Lo and behold, Barbs sprung on us that she wanted to view the Van Gough easels displayed in Arles. (Van Gough painted several paintings in this small town based on the scenery, so the location where he painted each piece of art is designated in multiple spots).The issue here, is that this is not an atypical event, as each day so far on the trip, an extra outing has been thrown on us, right as our feet are puttering out.

After walking all over Arles, which we will admit was a super cool town, for over 2 hours, we had only found 2 out of the 22 easels. Worn out Chuck, Cedar and Hannah, and a disappointed Barbs headed back to St. Remy for lunch.

We (Cedar and Hannah) had picked out some fresh produce at the market, and were eager to make a delectable salad for lunch. While hand cleaning each piece of lettuce, chopping the tomatoes and carrots, shearing the chicken, and slicing the cheese (all from the market) Barbs asked, "can I have some salad to go with my focaccia?"  Completely annoyed with the question (due to being surprised by the easel outing) we replied, "uhhh, I guess. I mean if there is any left.." 

After sitting down to devour 3 helpings of the delicious salad (including Barbs' portion) we realized we had, not only enough for Barbs, but enough for us to eat the salad for a couple of days. Maybe even weeks. Sorry Mom, we let our hunger get the better of us. 

A few hours later we embarked on our much anticipated truffle hunt at Les Pastras. It was an extraordinary experience, one we described as one of the best things we have ever done. After a drive where Hannah and Cedar were mocked by Barbs and Chuck for how they slept in the car (described as "hilarious"), we drove up to the house and were greeted by the lead TH (truffle hunter). Once we pulled in the driveway of his house, we were further directed by his wife, Lisa, where to park. After the gracious welcome, we were excited to realize that we would be taking the tour with some fellow Americans, a refreshing change from yesterday's need to rely on a "nice" French person who would translate for us (something that doesn't exist if you recall from Day 9). 

After getting to know each other, the TE (truffle expert) joined us, alongside the truffle-hunting dogs (THD). We had expected grand, tall-standing, muscular, impressive dogs such as Great Danes. Much to our surprise, in ran 2 small terrier-looking dogs. They were so cute it was hard to believe that these 2 dogs were behind such a lucrative operation. Then we began the hunting, guided by Johann (TH). We watched, amazed, as the dogs led us to each truffle, every time rewarded with a dog cookie.  

After finding 118 grams worth of truffles, the dogs were taken for their cheese reward, and we were taken on a tour of the rest of the farm. It was a lot of fun to see all the olives, pomegranates, truffle tree saplings, bee colonies (for honey), apple trees, figs, plums, wild herbs of Provence and more in their natural growing habitat. 

Then we were led to their "summer kitchen" next to the pool and were given a sampling of dishes with the freshly picked truffles and local champagne. We visited with our fellow tourmates and Lisa, all bonding over being from America and raving over each dish that was more amazing than the previous.

Ultimately the hunt is our favorite thing on this trip so far, even pushing aside swimming in the Mediterranean to a still credible second place. 

For dinner we were escorted (by Johann) to a crepe place in a nearby town. Hannah was super excited about the idea of crepes for dinner, but decided to go for a dessert crepe instead; one, which Cedar couldn't seem to find on the menu. When she ordered it the waiter laughed a little, but we weren't sure why.

Then when Barbs went to wash her hands she overheard the waiter telling the chef our food order. They both let out a guffaw when he came around to Hannah's order, which further perplexed us.

We were finally clued into the joke when the plate was set down in front of Hannah. It was a completely chocolate mousse with a creme anglaise, no crepe to be found. It turned out that Hannah was so excited, she completely bypassed the dessert crepes and jumped to the 'dessert' column. 

No wonder it couldn't be found on the menu. The crepes we ordered (ham, mushroom and a freshly cracked egg on top) were fantastic, and so was the dessert we didn't mean to order. The three of us devoured the dessert, but Hannah was so disappointed in herself she couldn't muster more than a bite. 

The whole evening ordeal took so long, that we finally had to face driving in the dark in Europe. We conquered it, but it was no slam-dunk with the manual engine, dark skies, and two-way roads that barely fit one car.

Anyways, we made it alive, and tomorrow we might tour a winery, visit an art cave, or explore a beach; really wherever the wind takes us that isn’t shopping. Chuck is shopped out. See photo above for further evidence.

Until tomorrow,

--Hannah and Cedar

We woke up at the crack of dawn (7:30 am), and headed to a tour at a local French chocolatier in Aix-en-Provence. We had just learned yesterday that the tour was being conducted entirely in French, but thought we should go through with it anyway. Hannah was hopeful that she had picked up enough French in the past few days to understand, while Barbs was confident that there would be a nice French person who was willing to translate for us. Neither of these events occurred. Perhaps they didn’t want to translate for the simple-minded Americans, (see Day 8 post).

After we arrived at the factory, we waited for the remainder of our 15-person group to arrive. Meanwhile there was a plate of chocolate truffles near the check in table, which we assumed were there for us to sample. Of course we decided to stand over the plate for a solid 5 minutes and try almost every variety of chocolate, which elicited a few dirty looks from the tour guide. Without fail, 90% of the chocolates were handed to Barbs with one bite taken out of them because they either had nuts, fruit, or marzipan (which even Barbs would eat). We finally decided to cut our losses, and waited for the tour to begin.

It began with an intro video in French, which luckily had English subtitles. Unluckily however, that was the last English spoken for the next 2 hours. We were pacified by the attractive and practical outfits we were handed in order to enter the kitchen itself. The tour was super cool, and from the hand gestures we interpreted, and the laughter among the French, we assumed it was very interesting and funny as well. On top of that, we got other samples of things that were being made right in front of us, most of which were directed to Barbs also.

Something we learned from the chocolate tour is that Barbs does indeed have a French doppelganger. Now, to be fair, she was a much dumpier version of our lovely Barbs, but nevertheless she was a dead ringer for our mother at one’s first glance, and from the side. Now, a couple of times throughout the tour, this really tripped us up as we thought, “why is barbs over there?” “why is she speaking to that man in French?” “when did she learn to speak French so well?” “when did she change clothes?”. Once, Cedar went to whisper in Barbs’ ear, only to realize after she had spoken a few words into an ear that actually belonged to fake Barbs instead! This was getting out of hand.

When the tour concluded, we were led to a room where there were drinks and a giant box of chocolates (retail value of 263 Euros). Of course, we made our way to the box, and gorged on the chocolates and truffles for a good 10 minutes. Hannah and Cedar were happy to find some chocolates that consisted of only chocolate, meanwhile forwarding the nutty, fruity, liqoury chocolates with one bite taken out of each piece to Barbs and Chuck. Once we got bored with our feast, we stuck as many chocolates as we could into Barb’s satchel, carried extras in our hands, and left the property. We could say we got our money's worth.

As karma would have it, Cedar got really nauseous on the car ride to lunch, Hannah found herself right behind Cedar, and Chuck felt a little ill later on in the day. It is safe to say the contraband chocolates haven’t been touched since we hand-carried them home.

We enjoyed an Aix-en-Provence lunch, and browsed a few stores before heading back to our home in St. Remy. After a brief rest at the casa, we headed back out for a night artisan market where we picked up some trinkets and perused the many oddities that we found.

For dinner we chose a place close to our apartment. It was a decent meal and we were satisfied, so we headed home for the night to watch USA play fútbol on the BBC network with British commentators. WE BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN…!

As a side note, we would love to thank our loyal fans for all their support for this blog. In particular we would like to give a shout out to our number one daily commenters: Ann Slovacek, and Donna Christenson. Donna: YES we did find sunscreen and we are OK! Also, that was eggplant last night! Thank you both for your undying support and love for this family and this blog!

Tomorrow we are heading into Arles, France for a morning market, and then we will be going on a truffle hunt with dogs later that night.

Until then,

--Hannah and Cedar

Today we woke up and enjoyed another hotel breakfast at our Carcassonne digs. Then we packed up the car to head towards St. Remy, which is in the Provence region. We were excited for what was in store in St. Remy, but honestly, we would have been excited no matter where we were headed because it meant chunking up the deuces to Carcassonne, land of all things medieval.

After packing up, Chuck, Barbs and Hannah were all waiting in the car (anxious to leave). Hannah went back in to the room, only to find Cedar lying underneath the covers of her bed, messing around on her computer. “Let’s go! We are leaving!!” Cedar didn’t move. Then a few minutes later, Chuck came in the room to grab one last thing and said “Come on, we’re leaving!! If you don’t come RIGHT now we are leaving you!” Cedar replied, “okay byeeee”. After Chuck left Cedar started grabbing her things and headed outside to jump in the car. But…there was no car. 

Finally, after pacing around for 5 minutes, searching the parking lot, going back into the room and saying “uh, hellooo?” to emptiness, Cedar thought she saw the car drive by, a good 60 feet away, heading in the opposite direction. Her thoughts were confirmed when she saw a flash of Chuck’s pink shirt and his distinct laughter
 as they passed right by Cedar, not even looking her direction. They left her just like they said they would. Imagine that.

She finally caught up with them, up the hill at the hotel checkout. They all had their cameras out and were laughing. Cedar didn’t find it so funny. With that, they were on the road, and Cedar stayed in the car for the entirety of the 3-hour drive.

When Barbs wakes up early (so every day), she likes to listen to podcasts written by Rick Steves, author of the travel book we are following on this trip. While on the road, Barbs informs us of everything she learned about our destination of the day. Hannah was listening to her iPod and not really paying attention to the DRSC (Daily Rick Steves Conversation). Coming into the conversation late, she tuned into the group and asked,

“Did Rick Steves tell you that?”

Barbs replied with “Rick Steves doesn’t talk to me. He talks through me”.

“Oh, so you’re the prophet of Rick Steves??”

(We took her silence as agreement.)

We did gain some valuable information from our DRSC today, however. Throughout this trip we have been having a really good time, which typically results in many laughs. We thought the French were jealous of us. Turns out, according to the self-declared Rick Steves prophet, (Barbs), the French believe Americans are simple minded because they laugh too much. Now every time we laugh about something, we slowly come to a silent stop, remembering how “simple minded” we are.

Another thing about our boy Rick Steves: he doesn’t seem to be the biggest “foodie”. Because of this we consult the fancy and world-renowned Yelp for dinner recommendations instead. Again, it led us right to the holy grail of French food. We had an amazing meal, complete with our first escargot of the trip (consumed too quickly for a photo op). Pictures are below.

Tomorrow morning we are heading to a chocolate tour in the nearby town of Aix-en-Provence, then back to St. Remy for an artisan market at night. 

Until then,

--Hannah and Cedar