french blanket fort

I'd love to say I met the neighbors, their wonderful French children and we are just having a happy time making blanket sheet forts in our (still fairly empty) dining room...

but instead, France got another point against us! It's just a little French winter laundering. We had intentions to buy a washer/dryer in one (that's the norm here) and thought we did the correct phrase Googling before heading to the appliance store BUT guess not. We have a brand spanking new, sparkly white washer installed in the kitchen though. No dryer included. Better add 'drying racks' to the top of the GET THIS STUFF list!

city of lights' lights

Huge department stores pride themselves in decorating for the holidays. We'd heard about the impressive window displays outside of Au Printemps and Galleries Lafayette so we decided to take a look for ourselves on Sunday night... along with almost all of Paris it seemed!

Because of the advertising, we are almost positive that Prada was the sponsor for Printemps and Swatch for Galleries Lafayette displays. We weren't sure the exact themes but they were still fun to look at!

They built small wooden walkways in front of the windows for the children to be able to get up close...

Mrs. Claus didn't want to make his suit this year, so père Noël is sporting Prada for the season...

After fighting the crowds outside, we entered Galleries Lafayette to see the largest Christmas tree in Paris under their dome.

And on our way back to the metro, we found a street more our taste. Empty!

tu me manque larmor

I miss you, Larmor
I try to be pretty careful pinpointing where we live because well, let's be honest, there can be some strange people surfing the internet... and I've watched one too many suspenseful movies. But now that we've moved, WELCOME to our new old home! After moving and going through photos, I probably didn't take enough of the apartment and city of Larmor-Plage (yeah, that's where we lived!), but I think I have enough to spark our memories when we are 90 years old sitting around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and trying to clean out photo boxes from the attic! I talked a little about it but one of the greatest things was watching the tide go in and out a few times a day. During low tide one day, we walked to the edge and I snapped this shot of our little street.

There were four apartments in our building - ours was the middle one, with the blue striped awning. I remember it was really cold the day I took this - that's why only one of the window shades are open!

It seems like the most popular question was "Is it really small?" We thought it was just right! I was actually really impressed with the size. Here's a sneak peak of the living area... and the view. I'd take that again today! I didn't want to bore you with pictures of the rest; it's your standard bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

Before we hopped in the car for Paris, we asked for a picture in front of the building. Can't really see the building, but you can't complain when someone else is doing the snapping.

And then our neighbors saw us leaving so their kids were waving in their pajamas (Wednesday is a no school day) from their balcony and the parents were running down to say goodbye. We ended up staying for a  coffee with them. And they wanted to take our picture a few times. I'm glad they got this one...

Our view, everyday... we were really spoiled rotten. We are really liking Paris, but it will be impossible not to miss sitting on the big patio, sipping coffee, smelling salty sea air and listening to waves crash. Larmor-Plage, you were pretty great!

12 days 'til Christmas

Who needs anything more than an air mattress, a good book, Christmas music and...

...the Griswold Mark & Val family Christmas tree!

Last Saturday we set out to chop down the best looking Christmas tree in Paris! Kidding; instead, we set out to find the closest marché selling them. Since we only had the tree up in Houston last year for seven days, twelve sounded like a lifetime and Christmas only comes once a year so we opted for a big one! It was all wrapped up, but we pinned it the winner. We scouted some lights and decorations and started for home, uphill both ways, in blistery cold winds...

Actually, it was pretty nice outside but that didn't make the walk any shorter... for Mark! Ahh, city livin'!

And we also learned that France likes their trees to be as wide as they are tall. I'm not very tall, but this is definitely the biggest tree we've ever had! I'm not complaining, especially when I open the door and smell it! Now if some flakes would fall outside my window, we'd really be in the spirit! Last weekend, we also spent some time walking through a Christmas market and taking in the sights and sounds of the season. Tomorrow, the agenda includes looking at Christmas lights after Michigan basketball, of course. We've heard there are some pretty great lights on some of the more popular streets in Paris. We don't know what to expect but we are trying to take advantage of being here during all the festivities! Who knows if we will be here to see it next year!

Our furniture arrived on Tuesday and I have one... final... box... to unpack. Of course since we aren't expecting guests anytime soon, the "I don't know where to put this" stuff is piled in there, but it's coming together. We will just shut the door and worry about that after the new year!  Au revoir for now!







au revoir la mer

hello pretty Parisian apartment buildings and bustling streets...

We are MOVING! We've known for a while but exactly where changed so many times in the last few months that we were waiting until it was a little more set in stone before saying anything. Well, it's definitely official... we arrived back in Larmor-Plage last night from a thankful Thanksgiving with family in the USA - starting off with a Hawkeye win against Michigan!!! - the movers come tomorrow and we pick up our Paris apartment keys on Wednesday!

I guess sunrise and seaside pictures won't be a regular anymore, instead saved for vacations. It's a bit daunting but exciting to know we will be re-learning how to accomplish everyday tasks that finally have become second nature here. I won't lie, waking up this morning, I feel a little melancholy knowing that we are leaving. It's been an experience I never thought I wanted or thought I'd have but I feel so lucky for it now!

Posts may be few and far between (like lately) until mid-January because of the move and lack of internet. But I promise to start back up after the new year!

ocean links

There is a nearby golf course on. the. ocean. We both wanted to play but always assumed it was 1) obnoxiously expensive and 2) WAY too windy making my 'I haven't touched my clubs in over a year' experience even worse than it would already be. Turns out, it isn't that expensive and it was so calm on Sunday, you could have water skied out there! So, it was a no-brainer and we hit the links.

The sky matched the water - you couldn't even tell where ocean water ended to meet the skyline.

There was a twosome behind us on a cart that we tried to let play through. They didn't want to. They thought we spoke German. It was rather confusing. I guess we should have known... the French are never in a hurry!

It just looks like clouds but I promise half of that blue is WATER! 

Well, we are back on the horse. Hopefully we can play again before it gets chilly!

happenings

...around here

Mark felt the love last weekend - Sour Patch Kids from my mom and MtnDew from me... spoiled.

We bought the last of the summer berries at the Sunday market.

Our package from my mom included an obnoxious amount of coffee and we didn't hesitate a second to brew some. Because we were staying up late to watch the Hawks on Saturday - a 2:30pm game is a 9:30pm kickoff here - 
we brewed an afternoon pot and played UNO. Aren't we so cool?

After staying inside on a cool Saturday, we broke out the bikes on Sunday afternoon
and discovered a potential picnic spot!

The MtnDew was accompanied by some other baking ingredients. We discovered a company in France run by some Americans that provide goodies from the great ol' U.S.A. Baking powder was first in the cart and banana bread was on the menu! We are sharing this goodness on Saturday with neighbors.

There is no travel on our calendar for once! This calls for celebration! Bon-weekend!

auf wiedersehen

On Monday we walked through the city and did a little site seeing. We stopped at the market where a few from the group visited a famous horse butcher and snacked on some horse sausage. I just couldn't do it! That's like a pet! Then we climbed to the top of the old Saint Peter's to take in the view. Another climb to add to our lengthy list! It was just a bit too hazy to see the Alps, especially through a camera lens.

Above is a picture of Munich Frauenkirche, the tallest landmark in downtown Munich. We visited the church but the tower was closed due to some reconstruction.

Later in the afternoon, we found our way back to the festival and stopped in Lowenbrau. The weather was perfect so we didn't mind sitting outside.

We were trying not to repeat any tents, but since we were the only ones of the group who had already visited the famous Hofbräu-Festzelt we agreed to go back. Before finding a table in the garden, we strolled through Augustiner Bräu.

...but it was pretty full!

We got lucky again, maybe because it was a Monday night, and were able to spend our last night inside a tent, standing on table benches and chanting with the crowd! 

Auf Wiedersehen Oktoberfest! You showed us a pretty great time!

Tag zwei

After having a hard time getting two people into a tent or garden on Saturday night, we decided to go straight to the festival and check out the difficulty of day two. After it looked like we would have luck, we walked through the carnival and took in the sites! We found a seat around noon at Hofbräu-Festzelt.

Later, we walked through more of the carnival and indulged in a pretzel and sausage before making our way to Hippodrom. I swear we did more than just drink... hardly, but we did! We decided to take a picture of our beer at each place we visited so we wouldn't forget which tents we'd been to. Good idea - that German language is tricky. There is no way I could have remembered all the names!

Even though all the tables were reserved inside, we were able to get in to walk around. It was the first tent we saw and it was so fun! We knew we had to find a way to get inside somehow during the trip!

Mark had friends coming from college. We met up with all of them and found a big, empty table in the garden of Armbrustschützen.

We got lucky late in the evening. An unreserved table inside opened up. Music, dancing, chanting and PROST!