'Rat'atouille & Bibendum

View from the bridge near our apartment

The bridge near our apartment

These old gentlemen gather daily in the park to play "Pétanque," a traditional French ball game. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pétanque)

I like this part from the "Glossary of Special Terms" section of the Wikipedia page:

• to fanny (mettre fanny in French)

To win a game without the opposing team scoring any points; a shutout game. When a player loses 13 to 0, he is said to fanny ("il est fanny", he's fanny, or "il a fait fanny", he made fanny) and must kiss the bottom of a girl named Fanny. Virtually everywhere in Provence where pétanque is played, you will find a picture, woodcarving, or pottery figure of a bare-bottomed lass named Fanny. Often, the team that made "fanny" has to buy a round of drinks for the winning team ("Fanny paie à boire!", "the fanny pays for the drinks!").

 The Vichy Pétanque Club is located a few blocks from us, along the river.

I could retire in Vichy and hang out with other old dudes drinking the magic water, eating croissants, playing Pétanque, and strolling along the river with Sam.

Speaking of strolling along the river

Douglas and I have become shopping buddies, frequenting the grocery store almost on a daily basis.

"Hey Dad, I think we have a visitor!"

"I will flush him out."

"Okay, he's flushed out.  Now what?"  It's not every day that you see a large rat on the playground.  And he wasn't too afraid of people, unfortunately.

The romantic walkway along the river.

The lamps change color every few minutes.

We took the 30-minute train ride through the city.  Douglas didn't want to cooperate for the photo.  He's getting tired of having a camera pointed at him.

So now I have to be quick with the button before he can turn away from the camera.

Doogles thought it was hilarious that the ducks were eating his bread.

The Michelin Tire Company started out in Clermont-Ferrand, which is located 45 minutes from Vichy.  We visited the Michelin Museum this week.

Douglas enjoyed the little train.

 He also enjoyed the video game, of course.

 The French refer to the Michelin Man as "Bibendum".

 He did not enjoy the photo.  He covered his mouth so he wouldn't have to smile.

Another crepe (galette) for me.  Sam did a baked potato this time.  At one point during dinner Sam turned to Douglas and said, "You're being such a silly boy."  Douglas replied, "I'm being an awesome boy."  He constantly makes us laugh.

Competition for Mr. Darcy's Pemberley

On Saturday we visited a few chateaux (plural of chateau) in the Loire Valley, approximately three hours north of Vichy.  We began the day at Chateau de Villandry which, as gardens are concerned, was my favorite. 

The day was very cloudy, and even a little rainy at times, but the Lord seemed to part the clouds whenever I needed to get some nice photos.  There was no sunshine when we were driving from place to place.

I'm pretty sure this portion wasn't around in the 16th century when the chateau was built.

We call this the "Superman" pose.  Douglas does this whenever he falls.  He usually stays in this position until someone picks him up, or until he realizes that we are not going to pick him up.

"Painting" setting on the camera

Chateau de Chambord - the largest (and least impressive, in my opinion) of the three we visited.  In fairness to this chateau, I should mention that the grounds were recently flooded due to the large amount of rain received throughout the region.  They are currently doing major renovation on the chateau itself and the surrounding grounds, which makes for some less-than-appealing photos.

Chateau de Chenonceau - another favorite of mine.

The Gallery

Douglas enjoyed the squeaky floors more than anything else.

I took Douglas back to this room to get this picture.  There were approximately 15 people in the room at the time.  They all moved out of the way and smiled as they watched Doogles' hair radiate in the sunshine.

 Douglas' first photo.  He took this photo by himself while sitting in his stroller.

Nothing sexier than a man posing next to a stroller.

"Painting" setting

Sunday morning we attended the LDS church meetings in Tours before driving back to Vichy.  This is the building where the Tours Branch meets.

Douglas and I played in the play room during the second and third hours of the block of meetings.  Actually, Douglas spent a full hour (no kidding) pounding balls through these holes.  I have included a three-minute segment of this ball-pounding excitement.