Finalment... Le Louvre

Aujourd'hui: Le Louvre with Mamie et Papie, Hélène et Cécile, et François, Michèle et Camcam.

Elle est lost in thought... "demain!!"

Camcam and petite cousine Cécile.

Dare I mention the old man hair?

A sofa chosen by Napoléon III himself.

Do they really watch the videos afterwards?

Forever looking to the Tour Eiffel.

This reminded me of the beginning of crew season:

Toussaint: La Loire

The Toussaint (All-Saints Day) = A week and a half off from school!

So after a few days at home, we left for the Loire. Camille and I shared a heavy-duty suitcase, black with an "I Love Pylos" sticker. Had we known that we would be wearing almost all of our clothes at once, for the whole trip, we wouldn't have bothered. It was cold. And wet.

The first day before arriving at the house we had rented, we ate a picnic lunch at Chambord.

There used to be 2,000 people living in the château.

It was built as a hunting lodge. The banners were lovingly stitched with images of animal carcasses dripping blood.

Another day we visited Chenonceau, a château built for the mistress of one of the kings.

And another day: Tours, an ancient city, now shopping megacenter of the Loire. We got lost looking for the car. We had to buy pains chocolats to keep up our energy.

Art in Blois...

Les Champigny (sans Marion).

Near the Blois château, a fawn playing music.

For some reason, a lot of people take pictures with the suits of armor. Look, I met a chevalier!

The emergency information signs in Blois.

Unreal-

One morning I went looking for mushrooms in the forest with maman et papà. It's a little late for ceps though. And some were filled with grubs...

Seaside: Part II

Ah, ze crêpe au chocolat banane...

Marion (and the oysters).

I don't actually know these people, but I had to take a picture.

Christian looking like a petit ange (which he isn't).

Honfleurs.

And more chocolat (Nutella actually).

Do you want to go to the seaside?

Saturday: Paris with Camille and Charlotte to see "La Dernière Séance," Marilyn Monroe's last photo shoot, at the Musée Maillot. Except there was a three-hour line, so we went to a café in St. Michèl then took the train home.

Home: Laura and Christian are here! The two adorable cousins from Columbia. We played tag and blind-man's bluff until dinner (cheese fondue); I performed a touching cover of "Gaston y a le Téléphon qui Son" after losing my piece of bread, and Camille an uncannily Piaf-ish "La Vie en Rose."

Sunday: To the sea! Three hours to Deauville (it would have been two, but we took a shortcut). We had lunch at a moule-frites restaurant/crèperie.

Too many crèpes.

Then we walked to the beach where families in Speedos dared to go swimming in October. Everything is so much more photogenic in France: the kids in their rainboots looking for shells, the old women with their dogs and baguettes...

I'm not finished! But the photos won't load, so I'll add more later.

Tayler and Thomas- I love you both! I'll talk to you sometime, but my host father has been sitting at the computer for a week trying to fix the virus, so I might try the mail...