More from Disneyland Paris.

Une Visit Avec Une Souris

A bit over a week ago we (the 5 of us + Susan’s parents) rode the train up to the Marne-la-vallée station, about 40km outside of Paris.  It’s a town that was supposedly mostly beet farms up until about 20 years ago, when the village’s most famous resident moved in- Mickey Mouse.

Neither our kids, nor Susan, nor her parents had ever been to any of the Kingdoms-of-Disney - so it was a first for everyone but me.

There’s not much that I have to say about it - if you’ve been there (especially with small kids) you know what it’s like - and if you haven’t - there isn’t much I can do to explain it.

It was a really good weekend- the weather was OK (a bit cool and rainy - but it never actually rained - so that was nice).  We had a great time.

Not something we’ll make a habit of - but was definitely worth it.  Especially when you discover that on www.disneylandparis.com when they ask you in what language you want to read the site- they are going to give you different prices. And if you say Ile-de-France (Paris area) you can pre-buy at even better prices - so you can get tickets for €30 intsead of  €60 at the gate.  That makes Disneyland Paris just barely more expensive than a day at Calaway Park or West Edmonton Mall.  Not too bad.

    

If you note from the pictures - the kids were pretty much grinning from ear to ear all day long.  There were a LOT of smiles.  Our kids loved it - and I was really reminded of how thankful I am that we have the opportunity to do things like this - as I know for most of the kids on this planet, a day like that would be so far out of their reach.

Just in the Neighbourhood

Chateau de Vizille

It’s not so often that we have guests from North America who drop by because they are just passing through, but last weekend my sister Marie stopped by on her way to Israel.





We had a great - but short- visit with her. The weather was beautiful (warmer here than in Jerusalem) and we took her to a few local sites -and had a chance to catch up a bit.








We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Chateau de Vizille, the Musée de la Revolution Française, rode les boulles (literally: bubbles - the round plastic gondola cars from the city up to the fort of la Bastille) la Musée des Troupes de la Montagne, hiked down the hill, went to the Musée archéologiqu de Saint Laurent, got fresh milk and cheese from the farm…and a bunch more.

inside les boulles

Good times.

view from la Bastille up top

pique-nique

some old dead guy

fresh milk from the farm

Now she’s in Jerusalem - and Susan’s parent arrived yesterday.

The best dog we never had

Last week there was some sad news around our house - our neighbours lost their dog.

They were on holidays down south - and (what we seem to have understood) is that they were out for a walk with friends and they came accross a big-horn sheep (??) and Zola took after it, and never came back.   Zola was a hunting dog by training.  The Ribo’s had her for 9 years, but Jean-Paul told me that they got her from someone else (who had to give her up becuase he had a mental breakdown …again, that’s what I got from the story) who had trained her.  He said she was such a funny dog to walk in the woods with, as she would run off into the bush, find some animal and chase it back to the trail and then look up at him.  It was if she was saying, “OK, I did my part, now you do yours” - but then she always seemed rather dissapointed when he didn’t shoot the animal, but merely walk past it.

Zola (named after the 20th century French literary figure Émile François Zola ) was a pretty good deal for us.  Our  kids had a dog to play with, but we didn’t have to feed her, or take care of her, or clean up after her, or worry about what to do when we’re gone.  We just played fetch with her (note: she liked to retrieve very large sticks - often about 1m long and very heavy), we bought a box of treats for the kids to give to her, and that was the end of our responsibility.


The day the kids found out she was gone, Micah suggested we buy Messieur and Madame Ribo a puppy right away - but we convinced him that perhaps we should just wait on that for a bit.

I suppose if there is a silver lining to losing a dog you never had - it’s that the Ribo’s felt terrible, as 2 of their grandkids were coming from Paris for a week of holidays and they told me “they don’t come for us, they love the dog.”  So - in an act that shows grandparenting transcends cultures and nations - they tried to buy their love, and got a pool and trampoline for the yard.  So that weekend our kids were in the pool, and have spent a good amount of time on the trampoline this week as the grandkids have now gone home.

So thanks Zola, you truly did bring us happiness both in your living and dying.

Entrepierres

We spent 4 days down in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, close to the ancient Roman city of Sisteron, in the northern region of Provence that’s the southern end of the Alpes. 

family hike: 10 kids between 4-13

 The area is an interesting combination of hot, dry climate,  southern type geography  but also with aspects of a higher elevation. It’s a part of France that has over 300 days of sunshine per year.  However - we can tell you when at least 4 of those days of non-sunshine are.  We had no rain on Wednesday when we got there - but then there were only parts of each of the following days that weren’t raining.

Entrepierres is a incredible 11th century tiny stone village that is nestled in between two mountains (hence Entre-Pierres “between the rocks”)  The little rental unit that we stayed in was originally the town parsonage, built right on to the side of the chapel.  It was great to be surrounded by stone buildings, beautiful rock outcroppings, and lot’s of things that don’t grow farther north in our stretch of the Alpes.  There are olive trees, orchards all over the country side, wild rosemary all over the hills and so much thyme that you can barely take a hike without stepping on some and releasing its fragrance into the warm dry air.  It’s also the region with lots of lavender production, goat herding, honey, vineyards that produce the sparkling Clarette-de-Die, and not far from the famous Nyons olives.  The winding road that heads from here starts out as a divided autoroute, but quickly becomes an incredibly windy, narrow road.

We went down to be able to spend some time with our friends the Pavey’s who are moving back to the US next month.  They go there annually as most of the village (4 buildings) is actually a retreat centre for French pastors and church workers, and missionaries in France or other Francophone countries.

It was a few days of really going nowhere in particular - just on some walks, some small hikes, and hanging out inside when it rained too hard to go out.

The kids are currently in the middle of  2 weeks of vacation - so it was nice to not have to come home and get the kids ready for school the next morning.  Just a mere five loads of laundry (yes - even washing machines are smaller here) and we were back to normal.

Joyeuses Pâques

It seems that large, tradition-filled celebrations are what often makes living away from home seem rather different.  Easter, like Christmas, was one of those times.  In some ways there is so much different - but in some ways it really helps to see what really is at the core, that remains the same.  Take away the family traditions, the commercialism, and the familiarity - and suddenly it gives you a chance to think about what the holiday is really about.

We had an Easter that in some ways had parallels to our Easter.  Being stripped of what we normally associate with the holiday - we were faced with a situation where we were able to just slow down, and appreciate the truth of this celebration.








We were able to spend a few days with some old friends who have a family summer home up in the Chartreuse mountains.

the 'cabin'

 It’s quite the place. I think there are seven more bedrooms than we have in our house. It’s a beautiful house, surrounded with nothing but alpine forests and flower-filled meadows.  There were lots of kids (I think I counted 15 at one point) - lots of great food, and a chance to meet some new friends and spend time with old ones.

They had to head back home as the Paris region was just finishing their spring vacances, but our region was just starting. 

That - and I had a class on managing databases for academic research class at 08.00 the next day (good times)