Nico's parents, Ana Maria and Germán, came to visit us in mid-May as part of a European tour. They saw the sights of Barcelona, Budapest, Vienna, and a little communal Christian farm in the countryside of northwestern France, on a street that Google maps has dubbed, "unnamed road".
We took them to some of our favorite spots, and a couple places we'd never been before, then Ana Maria stayed another week to help with the boys while I went on a bit of a solo pilgrimage... see the next post for those details. :)
Day 1: Monday, May 14th
Welcome!
First things first: when they arrived we took them to dinner at Penn Ar Bed, the affordable seaside crêperie that was recommended to us when my family visited three weeks earlier. Standing in one spot, looking in opposite directions...
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| ...you have the restaurant behind Nico... |
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| ...and the beach behind Moisés. |
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| Just outside the restaurant, a path runs parallel to the beach. We walked along after dinner to watch the sun setting over the ocean. |
Day 2: Tuesday, May 15th
A day on the farm
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| We took it easy on their first full day. We spent our time on a farm tour, working a new lego set, reading books, and just being together again after six months apart. |
Day 3: Wednesday, May 16th
Locronan and Pointe du Raz
While I worked in the garden, Nico and the boys took Ana Maria and Germán to medieval Locronan (see Kishiah's visit for the interesting history of Locronan). Tourist season has hit, so all the stores and the church were open, none of which we'd ever been inside.
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Nico, Yanni, Moisés, and Germán
in front of the 15th century church. |
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Yanni, Ana Maria, Nico, and Moisés
take a break on a bench in Locronan. |
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When the harvest ended, I joined up with everyone and we drove to Pointe du Raz. Several people have recommended the hike there to us, but we hadn't yet seen it for ourselves.
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| Abuelito teaches Moisés about the lighthouses, los faros in Spanish, that they are seeing off the coast in this picture. Moisés soaked up all the details of what lighthouses are and how they used to work. |
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| Nico and Ana Maria totter along at Yanni pace. Behind them are a statue of Mary dedicated to men lost at sea and a modern military lighthouse, or phare in French. |
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| At the mid-point of the hike, you find yourself on the very tip of the peninsula, or presqu’île in French, literally meaning "nearly island". From the hiking path, the rugged, exposed rock appears to quickly disappear into the ocean, until you go off the path... |
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| ... to find that the landscape unfolds and continues up and down and over and around. Dry land ends in a rocky crag offering adventure and begging any willing explorers to scramble around the rough terrain. |
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| On a windy lookout of Pointe du Raz. |
Day 4: Thursday, May 17th
Point l'Abbé Market
The boys and I took los Abuelitos to the market in nearby Pont l'Abbé. Out of the hundreds of stands that pop up every Thursday morning, this is one of my favorites:
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| Bowl after open bowl of spices and looseleaf tea blends cover every inch of this table. You can smell the stand before you see it! And it smells so nice. When you order a spice, the owner pulls out a tiny scooper on a long stick and, remaining behind the table, he reaches over to shovel a bit of your request into a small bag to weigh on his scale. |
Day 5, etc: Friday, May 18th - Saturday, May 26th
On Friday Ana Maria and Germán toured Mont-Saint-Michel while Nico baked and I prepared for my first childless week in five years and eight months, to the day. After dropping me off at the bus station Friday evening, Nico and the boys visited with los Abuelitos for the weekend. Then as the workweek began, Germán made his way back to the states but Abuelita stayed for a week of fun with the boys so Nico could continue his apprenticeship while I was away.
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*Originally, Yanni called Nico's parents "Bita" and "Bito", short for "Abuelita" and "Abuelito". He doesn't really say that anymore since his speech has developed quite a bit, but the cute abbreviated names are hard for a sentimental mama to forget! :)
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