Sweet Getaway to St. Gille

Michelle and I headed out to the coast of France to a little town, or two- St gilles croix de vie and st hilaire de riez where some dear friends of Tom and Marcia Kuyper live. Maybe you've heard that driving in Paris and other cities around France can be, hmmm, what's the word- crazy- they created the roundabout i believe... We made it from Paris to Nantes and then got into trouble and took a couple hours to get from Nantes(more than twice the time it should have) to our destination but we made it. And then we met and continued to meet some of the most amazing people on the whole planet.

We ate like the prodigal son upon his homecoming and were surprised all weekend. Here are a few of the photos- we took so many photos. Food, people, the coast, the little town. What a sweet, sweet time we had.

My new friend- Mael, the son of Ed and patricia

Dominique's classroom- all 8th graders- Romane is on the left, 2nd row.
Patricia(and her parents), Mael and El Presidente- the head of the basketball team when Tom played here.
All of the Kuypers Friends, now our friends too- Jack, Odette, Mael, Patricia, Romane, Christophe and Patricia...
Little potatoes....
Duck a la Orange.... Canard
Shrimp- Crevette
Getting ready to eat Crab and Shrimp- the "starter" to a French meal
Dominique and Sylvi with all of us...

Random Photos

The funnest LITTLE car... I want to bring it home and replace the Volvo.

Nora and I were out looking for a market and we saw this building being evacuated... it captured her attention for quite a while as we watched firemen get their gear on and prepare to go in.

Benjamin and I on the metro riding home from the Eiffel Tower

This is right behind the Notre Dame.

Food Take 4 and a couple other things

We found a McDonalds- funny things about it- 1. You can order a beer or a bottle of wine...2. You can place and pay for your order on a computer then go pick it up at a special counter. 3. The fries still taste the same.

The helmet is for my brother shawn who likes the Celtics....

Someone tell Caleb about the VW van- It's one of those camping ones- I'm sure i can swing a good deal on it if he wants me to bring it home for him. ...

Food take 3

There seems to mixed public opinion out there in regards to the food photos we are posting. Some want more and feel like they are sharing in the eating of it as they look at the photos and others are seemingly calling for more photos of snails and flowers.... Our vote? More food photos.

Jason is eating a hot dog, fried, with cheese and ketchup inside, the kids are eating crepes from the Latin Quarter. The strawberries are delicious as well as funny since we have been calling them- Fram Bo Zee's (framboise in french) We sound like americans! Then there is the pastry that is at the top of the list so far.

Nora loves Hippos

The local "big" store- the Monoprix is kind of fun- grocery, clothes, supplies etc... Nora and I were walking through it this week and saw this little hippo backpack. She has something like 37 stuffed animal hippos at home and knew she wanted this one. In fact today when I was out walking with her and asked her who she missed she said Mr. Pottomus- her stuffed hippo at home. She also said family and her friends- not to worry.

Arc De Triumph

After the Notre Dame and the Deportation Memorial, we hopped on the metro to see the Arc de Triumph.
This is a bridge we crossed leaving the Notre Dame and heading into the Latin Quarter. Locks of Love. Each padlock had two names written on it.

The Deportation Memorial

This is a memorial for the 200,000 French who were deported to concentration camps when under Nazi occupation. A sobering experience. "Forgive, but never forget." These are the words to be read as you exit.