France Day 2: Stuck in the Mud

Madelyn woke up at 4:30 am this morning. I followed at 6am – bright eyed and ready to go. We put our hair in French braids (obviously!), grabbed a baguette, some camembert, a few croissants, some café au lait, and hit the road.

First stop, Etretat.  We wanted to see the famous white chalk cliffs and arches.  But it was FREEZING. Drizzling and really cold. So we did the fastest photo shoot ever, and ran back through the town to the car.

We jumped into the car, put it in reverse, and it wouldn’t move. The engine revved, but it was as if the transmission were in neutral. I thought maybe it was stuck on something, so we got out, looked under the car – nope – nothing. I got back in, and tried again. Totally stuck. I ran over to a meter reader, who was writing people parking tickets, and asked in broken French if he could help me.  He tried – and had same problem, and still no clue as to why. By now we had gathered a small crowd.  Someone said, “Avez-vous verifie le frein de main?” I answered, “I didn’t PUT ON the parking brake, so no need to check it!” (Gee, I must have accidentally learned French since yesterday when I told those cops I didn’t know any.)  Sure enough, I looked down, and the freaking parking brake was on.  Thanks a lot, Volkswagon. Now the town of Etretat will forever talk of that dumb blonde who couldn’t back up. In my defense, the parking brake didn’t put itself on yesterday! But did a few more times today. At least now we know.

Next we drove to Honfleur to see it’s beautiful Vieux Bassin (old harbor) and eat lunch. To get there, we had to drive over the Pont de Normandie, the longest cable stayed bridge in the world. Lovely, since I do not like bridges. M laughed as I white knuckled it the whole way.

Those skinny houses in Honfleur were built at a time when buildings were taxed based on their width, not height. Pretty crafty! We ate at a café underneath a skinny house, as by now the sun was out and it had warmed up significantly.

My original itinerary had us going straight from Honfleur to Mont Saint Michel, but on a whim, we decided to check out the D-Day beaches at Normandy since they were nearby and M had enjoyed all that WWII history yesterday.

We were so glad we made that choice. It was the highlight of our day. We went to Omaha beach, where there is a small museum that explains D-Day with photos and films. Then we walked through the cemetery, overlooking the beach where those brave souls came ashore.  More than 9,000 American soldiers are buried there. NINE THOUSAND. It was a very shocking and emotional experience.

All the towns around the area had giant photos of the destruction, placed right in front of what they had rebuilt.

Driving towards Mont Saint Michel, I thought a lot about both of my grandfathers, and told M stories of them from the war. Suddenly, I stopped mid sentence because we saw it from 7km away – Mont Saint Michel. I was so excited. I had wanted to see the Mont ever since I was Madelyn’s age and learned about it from my French pen pal Christelle.

We parked across the causeway, took the shuttle over, and dragged our luggage up the mountain, through cobblestone streets. M has asked me to note that, “it was terrible.”  However, there are only a handful of hotel rooms on Mont Saint Michel, so few people get to sleep on the island. It may have been terrible getting here (it was), but it was so worth it. Our hotel, Hotel Le Mouton Blanc, was ancient and perfect.

The island was developed in the 700s (!!) when the monastery was first built because the Archangel Michael appeared to Saint Aubert, and told him to build a church on the rocky island. Since then, pilgrims have come to this holy site to worship by walking from the mainland across the sand at low tide.  The tides come in very quickly here – sometimes a meter a minute. The water can rise 14 meters in just one tide cycle. So the crossing was often deadly. That didn’t stop people from trying it today though. And thank goodness for those people, because it was the funniest thing we saw all day. Every single person we watched as we walked the ramparts waltzed right out, and then promptly sunk and became stuck. M thought this was beyond hilarious, as you can see in this video we took:

We climbed up to the abbey on top of the Mont, which had to have been a few million stairs. I kept stopping and told M I had to stop to take "artsy photos"such as this one below. Really it was so I would't die.

We had dinner, which I partnered with a large bowl of cider – the local alcohol specialty. We had some caramel cookies with a silhouette of Mont Saint Michel pressed into them for dessert, then called it a night.

Tomorrow: More Brittany and our first Chateau.

Packing List for Europe

Hi Travelers!
Today I thought I would share with you my packing list for a summer trip to Europe. I suggest you copy this list into Word and save it on your desktop. You will find that you can adapt it for different trips. A camping, cruise or winter packing list would be very different from this one. Each time you make a new list by altering this basic list - save it with a name that identifies it, such as "Cruise Packing List." This method will make your life a LOT easier each time you travel, as you will use these lists over and over.

When it is time to pack, print this list for EVERY person that is going on the trip - and hand each person a copy. It is their responsibility to pack everything on the list, and to fit it all into one suitcase (or you can highlight just the items they are to pack if certain things don't apply to them). Ask each person to check off each item as they pack it. That way, your kids can pack for themselves, and you can just check the list, instead of the suitcase.

Ok, here we go. Items highlighted on the list will be explained further below.

Carry On Bag:

Euros

American dollars

Accordion folder with all reservations

Passports

Medical insurance cards

ATM & credit cards (notify both of your whereabouts ahead of time)

Pens

Highlighters

Chewing gum

Books/Magazines

Airplane pillow

Sunglasses

Extra pair of contacts

iPhone

iPhone charger

iPad (pre-loaded with movies to watch)

iPad charger

Laptop

Laptop charger

DSLR Camera + bag

Prescription medications

Snacks

Any jewelry that has value

Clothing:

Light rain jacket

Panties – one for each day + 2

Bras – 2-3 per week

Socks

Swimsuits

Shorts

Tops

One light cardigan

Jeans

Day dresses

Pajamas – wear each 3 times

Belt

Shoes:

Tennis shoes

Walking sandals

One pair of ballet flats

Accessories:

Money belt

Light scarf

Eyeglasses

Extra sunglasses

Cross body purse

Ponytail holders

Electronics:

Extra memory cards

DSLR camera charger

Car charger for iPhone (only if you are renting a car)

Cable to listen to iPhone in car  (only if you are renting a car)

Toiletries:

Tissue packets

Mini curling iron

Band aids

Advil

Hanging toiletry bag

Sunscreen

Hair brush

Shampoo

Conditioner

Deodorant

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Floss

Nail clippers

Tweezers

Makeup

Face soap

Face moisturizer

Body moisturizer

Razors

Feminine hygiene products

Qtips

Lip balm

Misc:

Collapsible water bottles

Backpacks

Plug adaptor

Turkish towels

Ziploc bags – various sizes

Easy, right? Now, A bit more detail on the highlighted items:

Folder with all reservations: The easiest way to stay organized is to print EVERYTHING -- all flight, car, hotel, dinner reservations, directions, maps, etc. and put it into an accordion folder, with each day being assigned its own pocket. Label each pocket: Day one/Paris, Day Two/Normandy, etc. Tear out each section of a guidebook and put it in the right folder. So if you have a guidebook about France -- you aren't going to need the entire book. Just tear out the 15 pages on Paris and the 5 pages on Normandy -- staple them, and put them in their folder in your accordion binder. Then pop this folder into your carry on suitcase and everything will be at your finger tips for the entire trip. 

Highlighters:  I like to re-read my travel guidebook each night before I visit a new place, and highlight things I hadn't noticed before, and want to see the next day. Highlighters also come in handy for maps.

Day dresses:  In Europe, women must have shoulders and knees covered to enter a church. To make life much easier on us, I pre-select dresses that have short sleeves (instead of no-sleeves) and hit below the knee.  I also find it is easier to pack casual dresses instead of shorts outfits -- one item instead of 2!  They take up more space, are more comfortable, and look better!

Light scarf:  Picture those big square pashminas they sell for $10 in the mall. This scarf will be your savior in Europe. If you don't have covered knees, you can wrap it around your waist to enter a church. You can lay it down for an impromptu picnic. You can use it as a blanket on the plane. The uses are endless!

Hanging toiletry bag:  Bathrooms are TINY in Europe. Without counter space, you will want a bag with a hanger that you can easily hang on a hook or towel rack. 

Turkish towels:  You can buy these on eBay for about $20. They are very light and thin, but super absorbent and dry quickly. So if you want to hit the beach and don't have hotel towels, these are a life saver, and hardly take up any valuable suitcase space. 

Ziploc bags: Again -- endless uses! Use them to store all the treasures your kids pick up along the way (sea glass, if you are like us!), hold your receipts, transport wet bathing suits, wrap up unfinished snacks, etc. You will wish you had brought more!

I hope that helped!  Enjoy!

xoxo,

J & M

The One Souvenir We Always Buy

Ornament purchased in Palm Springs a few weeks ago.

Madelyn and I always look for the exact same souvenir, no matter where we are in the world, and no matter what time of year. We are perpetually on the hunt for unique, place-specific Christmas ornaments. 

Christmas ornaments make the perfect souvenirs, because every year when we pull them out of storage and lovingly unwrap them, we are reminded of the place and time when we purchased each one. It's like unwrapping lots of little time capsules that transport us back to each trip. The ornaments trigger memories and we talk about the things we did on our travels while we decorate the tree.

A hand-painted coconut shell showing the Bio-Luminescent Mosquito Bay in Vieques, Puerto Rico; a teepee from the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona; a hand-carved gourd from Roatan, Honduras; a blown glass tree from Venice, Italy; a wood carving from Sanibel Island, Florida; a painted glass orb from Paris, France

Christmas ornaments are surprisingly easy to find, even in the summer. Nearly every souvenir shop or museum store carries them.  However, since we like to support local artists, we always try to find hand-crafted pieces. Even in small towns, we usually succeed. The coconut shell and gourd above were both found at roadside stands, the others in hotel lobbies or museum shops.  Purchasing pieces made by locals makes them even more special to us, as we can then also reminisce about the people from whom we bought them.

A tin heart from Santa Fe, New Mexico; a hula girl from Kauai, Hawaii; an angel carved from conch shell from the Bahamas

Sometimes we find beautiful, locally made ornaments without the location included. In those cases, such as the pink tin heart above, we simply write the place on the back with Sharpie. If it's possible to do so without damaging an ornament, I also try to write the year someplace inconspicuous. 

Other times, it seems appropriate to just go with a mass-produced, souvenir shop item such as the kitschy hula girl above. We just knew she had to hang on our tree, even if she was made in China.

A terra-cotta bulb from Ensenada, Mexico; a ceramic bell from Sorrento, Italy; a terra-cotta bulb from Costa Maya, Mexico

Madelyn finds the hunt for the perfect ornament a fun part of traveling to each new place. And seeing them all again once each year really helps us remember and appreciate our trips.  One of her favorites is the orange bell above from a store called La Campanella (the bell store!) in Sorrento, Italy, which we just stumbled upon accidentally. Our name means "bell" in Italian, so she thought it was really cool to have a store "named after us," chock full of bells. She spent a long time picking out the perfect little bell (which actually wasn't an ornament, until I affixed some yarn).

I like collecting ornaments because they actually have a purpose, unlike so many other souvenirs. They  can also be displayed and enjoyed for a few weeks, without cluttering up the house the rest of the year. So when Madelyn wants that little Eiffel Tower statue or cable car keychain, I can say, "no - let's find an ornament instead," and she happily agrees.

We are already excited about what treasures for our tree we might uncover this summer in France!  

Happy hunting!

xoxo,

Jennifer and Madelyn

Our Tour De France

We’ve been to France before – a weekend in Paris before our Mediterranean Cruise in 2012, and Marseilles as a stop on that same cruise.  I loved it so much, that I wanted to see more.  When I was there, I actually FELT French.  I have French heritage – my mother’s side of the family is French.  But I never knew how French I really was at heart until I spent that weekend in Paris.

It wasn’t just the fresh croissants. Madelyn and I talked to our tour guides and a lot of locals. We learned that the French have 5 weeks of paid vacation and 35-hour workweeks – which they consider a non-negotiable right.  (What other nation has a cabinet member called the "Minister of Free Time"?)  The French believe that the economy should support social good, and they have built an enviable social security program to help the elderly, sick and poor. Those views often makes me feel like an outcast in the US. But in France, I fit right in!  And as proof that they just might be right -- their poverty rate is half of that in the US.  Which also means that their violent crime rate is way, way lower than ours.

(Political side note: I have loved the French since France had the balls to point out to one its closest friends, the United States of America, that President Bush and his administration were acting like a group of thugs. France refused to help the USA steal Iraq's oil. That doesn't make them anti-American. A true BFF will tell you, to your face, when you're acting like an ass and screwing things up for the rest of the world. And that's what France did. I had wanted to visit ever since then.)

But politics aside, there is a lot more to love.  French women have helped to teach the women of the world how to be sexier at 45 than at 25 for hundreds of years. The French serve water without ice, as I prefer it. They make more than 400 kinds of cheese. And the bread – aaahhh the smell of fresh bread wafts down just about every street. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and easy to grab just about anywhere for an impromptu picnic. Enter Pinterest with tons of images that look just like the village in Beauty and the Beast…and…. we NEEDED more France.

So we are going back.

Our Tour de France starts June 19, and runs through July 4. We will post as often as we can during the trip.

Stops will include: Amiens, Rouen, Etretat, Honfleur, Mont St. Michel, Dinard, Dinan, the chateaux of the Loire Valley, St. Cirq Lapopie, Albi, Conques, Carcassonne, Aix en Provence, Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes, Saint Tropez, Annecy, Colmar, Strasbourg, Versailles and Paris. It looks a litte something like this:

We would LOVE for you to follow along!

In the coming weeks, I will get a post up about how we plan a trip like this and share a good packing list for any type of trip.  M will tell everyone how she saves money and which souvenirs she is most looking forward to buying.

Until then, au revoir!