The rest of our trip

We've finally dug ourselves far enough out of the pile of laundry and other post-vacation chores to finish writing about our trip.

After dropping Ruth and David off at the airport in Toulouse, we headed to the Cite de L'Espace - the air and space museum. At this extraordinary museum and park we were able to go inside a replica of Mir space station (as well as see a 3D IMAX film about life on Mir). The kids tried out communicating by sattelite, charging a battery using solar panels, playing on a space themed playground, and finding their way through a maze shaped like the galaxy. Abe especially liked Infinity Way, which depicts graphically the view as you move away from earth by factors of 10 (i.e., 10 meters away from the earth, 100 meters away, 1000 meters away and so on). There was so much to do, we ended up spending the whole day there. We arrived back to Castelnau in time for a quick dinner, and then went over to Yves and Nicole's house (the managers) for a drink and some hors d'oeuvres. I tasted Floc de Gascogne which is Armagnac and grape juice from the same estate mixed togther, with a much more pleasing result than Armagnac straight. They served several appetizers each with a duck element to it. Jonah loved the fritons (little crispy bits of duck with salt and pepper). Yves and Nicole told us lots more about the history of the place and showed us photos of what it looked like before restoration.

Friday morning we said goodbye to the Marquis' house and headed for St-Lys, a town just outside of Toulouse where the Laurent family lives (Audrey, their oldest daughter was Ella and Jonah's wonderful babysitter last summer. The kids got to know her mother, Lydia, and her 5 year old brother, Lucas, as they visited for several weeks during the summer). It would be hard to describe just how kind and generous they were to us during our visit. Lydia welcomed us with lots of kisses, heeps of gifts, and a delicious lunch. The warmth continued throughout the weekend and was only enhanced by Serge (Audrey's father) and Valentin (her 12 year old brother). Friday afternoon was our first exposure to the French tradition of the aperitif. About a half an hour before lunch and again before dinner, Lydia or Serge would announce that it was aperitif time and offer us any one of dozens of choices of drinks. Although this put Abe's relatively new-found drinking abilities to the test, we loved the civility and relaxation that came with sitting around with a drink and some crackers or nuts to extend the meal time. We tried Ricard (a French, licorice flavored pastis; a local favorite) as well as several other aperitifs. What we especially liked about aperitif time was that it was always followed by an incredible gourmet meal. We ate everything from capon, to leg of lamb, to coquille St Jacques, to foie gras, to cavier. We walked in the yard (with a grove of dozens of fruit trees of all varieties), Abe and Valentin played chess, mille bornes, and 3D Connect Four. Ella and Jonah had a great time playing with Lucas, and I had a chance to talk more with Lydia - which was a challenge for my French skills, but so great to get to know her better.

The first evening, Serge and Lydia's (80+ year-old) neighbors came over for a drink. Yves found in me a good listener (it was hard enough for me to listen, let alone add many comments of my own), and seemed happy to share with me his stories and opinions about the world (the opinions, I must say, got somewhat more offensive the more Ricard he drank...). Saturday morning we went for a tour of the village of St. Lys, a beautiful town with all the conveniences of much bigger towns, but all of the charm of a small village. We were impressed by the round covered market place in the center of town, and the beautiful church with painted columns, striking stained-glass, and a brick-constructed steeple. After lunch we went over to Yves farm next door to see the chicks. He (and now his son) raise farm chickens, so we saw everything from the tiny babies to the almost full grown. For Reveillon (New Years Eve), we had an incredible dinner and then the kids played while the adults watched a variety show on TV. The show featured a lot of magic acts that primarily involved people changing from one outfit to another in the blink of an eye, a woman who did acrobatics while hanging from her hair, a couple of singing acts, some comedy, and one act of nearly nude women dancing like tin soldiers. Not exactly Dick Clark, but entertaining none the less. A few minutes after toasting in the new year, we were all tired and headed off to bed.

Sunday morning we slept in and had a relaxing day at home. The relaxation was complete as the kids were completely entertained by Valentin (as they had been all weekend). I can't describe the weekend without describing how amazing Valentin is - I have never known a teenage boy like him. He is extremely sweet, he helps out a ton around the house (I'm going to have to get Lydia's advice on that!), and he took complete pleasure in playing with and entertaining the kids. The kids both adored him (and learned to play Playstation too). Sunday afternoon, despite the rain, we went for a little walk in the neighborhood (you have not seen adorable until you have seen Ella and Lucas walking hand in hand in the rain). When we got home it was time for the gallette de rois. This cake is eaten on the first Sunday of the new year for Epiphany. The cake is yummy, with an almond filling, but the best thing about it is that there is a small porcelain figurine (formally a bean - a "feve") hidden inside and whoever finds it gets the crown and is king or queen for the day. Through a little Lydia magic, Ella found the first feve and was thrilled to get the crown (although somewhat disallusioned to learn that being queen did not give her to right to tell everyone what to do). I got the other feve (we had two cakes), but was happy to give my crown to Lucas. So E & L went off to play king and queen for a while. In the evening, the kids were just about to go to bed when we discovered Harry Potter on TV. Lucas was going to watch it, so Ella and Jonah wanted to as well. I thought it might be scary, but on the contrary, they were mesmerized. Jonah has asked to watch it repeatedly since.

We were all sorry to say goodbye to Lydia, Serge, Valentin, and Lucas. Jonah had developed several inside jokes with Serge and Lydia (e.g., one of which was saying "clementine" which doesn't sound that funny, but it was pretty cute). Ella had had such a good time playing with Valentin and Lucas (and petting the cat), and we had all enjoyed our visit immensely.

Getting home was a great adventure. We headed for Toulouse train station with plenty of time to spare, but by the time we had put gas in the car, and figured out where to drop it off, we just barely had time to run to our train and get on. As the train pulled out of the station, we realized we were in completely the wrong car of the train, and walked down the length of the train to our correct seats at the other end. It wasn't easy to walk on the fast moving train, and would have been even harder to maneuver our luggage. So we left the luggage where it was and at each stop Abe hopped off the train, ran down to the other end, grabbed a bag and ran back to our car. At one point, the train pulled away and Abe had not returned. I was just beginning to work out a plan for how I would get the kids and the rest of the luggage home without Abe (and wondering if he would be able to get the next train and find his way home) when finally he appeared (he had hopped back on the train at the last second about half way down the length of it). We had not had a chance to pick up anything to eat, but fortunately, Lydia had given us 2 bags of cookies on our way out that morning, which (along with some left over gelt) held us over through lunch time. A few hours passed uneventfully just to Limoges. Both kids had fallen asleep and we were almost home. Then, an announcement was made that because of a suspect object, all passengers in car 16 had to get off the train with their luggage. We breathed a sigh of relief that we were in car 17 and didn't have to wake the kids and get off. As the delay continued, I suddenly thought it might not be a bad idea for Abe to go check on our bags (in the luggage area just outside the car - between cars 16 and 17 to be exact). Thank goodness he did. Apparently, out luggage tag had torn half way off, and unable to read our name and address, the train conductor had declared it a suspicious object. The conductor verified that it belonged to us, told us not to worry and under the nasty looks of the car 16 passengers, Abe came back to his seat. The rest of the way home, train officials occasionally stopped by to get some information from us (for their "report"), but they assured us it was just a formality and not to worry about it. After 6 1/2 hours on the train, we were glad to arrive home to Paris. Harley's cousins (to whom we had lent our appartment during our trip) had left the place even cleaner than when they arrived. Tuesday morning we all went back to work and school.