On Thursday afternoon, Sam and I boarded a plane for a 10-hour direct flight from Salt Lake City to Paris where we are enjoying our 10-year wedding anniversary vacation. Our anniversary is in July, but we wanted to come to France before the hoards of tourists descend on this place.
We arrived in Paris on Friday morning, picked up our rental car, and drove 30 minutes to our first stop - the beautiful Chateau of Chantilly.
Here's a tour guide dressed in period costume talking to a group of school kids in the chateau library.
Next we drove 20 minutes to the small town of Senlis to spend the night. Wherever we drive, we pass by these gorgeous fields of yellow plants used to make rapeseed (canola) oil.
For our rental car, we were given two options: BMW or Audi. We chose the BMW. Here we are parked on the narrow street where our Senlis Airbnb is located.
We got out and pulled our luggage a short way down the cobblestone street to door number 5.
Door #5
Marie and Florent, the friendly young couple who own the Senlis Airbnb, let us check in early. We enjoyed their Viking-themed apartment.
We walked around the charming town for a while. I love small-town France. So pretty!
That evening we delighted our tastebuds with a delicious meal at Chez Nous.
Our healthy eating is being postponed for one week. How could we come to France and NOT partake of their fabulous desserts?
The next morning I went out for a long walk. Sam had a rough night with the jet lag, so she got some extra sleep while I wandered around the town. I walked through the military cemetery, up and down cobblestone streets, and entered every boulangerie (bakery) I could find to decide what I would purchase for breakfast that morning.
We went out to buy some yummy breakfast foods after Sam woke up. We also stopped at a couple of bookstores to buy some French books for our children. Sam is doing a great job teaching French to them, and you can often hear French words and phrases being used, and French songs being sung, in our home.
Here I am standing in the courtyard of the town cathedral, which is located across the street from the Airbnb we stayed in.
A cool door handle.
Following breakfast and book shopping, we drove two hours west to the city of Rouen. We dropped our luggage off at the hotel (too early to check in) and went to wander around the city center.
Here's a short video (which I cannot embed in the blog) of the tourist train driving down the street by Le Gros Horloge (The Great Clock): https://youtube.com/shorts/sx8GDfDqKDU?feature=share
We passed by this thing and I asked two random French kids (with permission from their parents) if they would like to be in the picture with me. They happily obliged.
We toured the Joan of Arc museum, which I found very interesting, and we visited the Joan of Arc church. We didn't stay for mass, which was about to start when we walked in.
Grandma is taking care of our children while we are in France. Sam took this picture of me and I sent it to Grandma, for Penny. Penny loves her Aunt Taylor, which means she loves the University of Utah. She frequently reminds me that the University of Utah is better than BYU. I do not hate the U of U anymore (I've matured a bit since I was 16), especially since their cancer center is helping to keep Sam alive and well, but Penny and I enjoy our friendly banter about the two universities.
Sam noticed this creative use of LEGO bricks. Of course we had to send a video back to Douglas showing the LEGO patching to him. Grandma said he loved the video.
I sent this video to the kids when we went back to the hotel to check in.
Today, Sunday, is a day of rest. We attended the local Rouen Ward this morning and now we are relaxing at the hotel while the skies and rain clear out a bit. We met a young man at church who is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He taught Sunday School in perfect French. He served his mission in French-speaking Quebec where he met his future wife, who was also serving her mission in Quebec. She is from France. They moved back to France after their missions, and married. We also met a sister missionary from Smithfield, Utah, and a brother from Tahiti named Tamatoa (I thought of the large crab from the movie Moana).
We are loving our time in France so far!
P.S. - Mother, do you see the tie I'm wearing in the last photo? 😁
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