Tour de France with the Blantons: Round 1

Around Christmas, my parents and three siblings compared their varied schedules and found a single week in the spring where they were all free to visit us in France.  From then on, we counted down the days to April 21st from both sides of the Atlantic.

Finally, winter ended and the arrival date approached!  Nico and I were approved to borrow the community car as we needed it during the weekend of their arrival and we made our way to the Quimper train station by 4:15pm on Saturday, April 21st to watch their train come in at 4:30pm.  The "arrivals" screen showed their train à l'heure so we quickly found the correct platform and joined a small group of other eager people, posed like prarie dogs facing left together, watching for the nose of the train to appear around a curve.

Soon enough, we heard a whistle!  We giddily waved as each car passed until, towards the end of the train, we saw three of the five familiar jet-lagged faces peering through a window with amused smiles as their hands waved back at us on auto pilot after 24 hours of sleepless travel.  What joy!  Those of us easily prone to tears had watery eyes as we hugged and gathered all the luggage.

The following photographs are a mixture from all of my family's cameras.

Day 1: Saturday, April 21st

My family's arrival at the train station!

Day 2: Sunday, April 22nd
Catholic mass and Medieval Locronan

Instead of driving into town for the mass on Sunday morning as usual, we
joined the Ark on a stroll to the small local chapel in the town of Saint-Joseph.
The chapel is only open one day per year in honor of Saint Joseph's day, and
was packed, with overflow benches just outside the door. On the left in this
photo, tables were set up where you could get a drink of Kir (sparkling wine
with black currant) or Cabernet d'Anjou after the mass. While the mass was
still being played out, a small crowd of pre-gamers had gathered, maybe
because the chapel was so packed they couldn't get in... or maybe not.

We ate at a local crêperie on the beach for lunch, highly recommended by
Christiane and Robert. As you can see in the reflection in the window... we're
really right on the beach. By the way, that's Lara Mack! She had a small window
of time where she could visit us, that happened to overlap with my family's visit.
We joyfully welcomed her for the 36 hours or so that she was able to join us. :)

On the way to the Quimper train station where we would part ways with Lara,
we stopped to walk around Locronan - our favorite nearby old medieval town.
(See Kishiah's visit for the interesting history of Locronan.)

Day 3: Monday, April 23rd
A day at Guenvez

My family hung out in the bakery for a little while and watched Nico pulled
pizzas out of the oven and slide all the bread in.

Lunch in the communal kitchen.

Nico and Sylvain (Benoit's brother) took my family
grocery shopping at Géant.  This is the USA section of
the international aisle.  Click on the photo to get a window
into France's understanding of United States cuisine.

Nico took my parents and siblings on a tour of the farm while

I packed up our family to join in on the France sightseeing tour.

Moisés and Yanni show the onions in the market garden beds.

Nico, Moi, Yan, and Josh pose in front of a silo, "to show how big it is".

Day 4: Tuesday, April 24th
Medieval Dinan

After rolling out of Guenvez a little later than we had hoped, our
first stop was the medieval town of Dinan. Here, some tourists
pause under an arcaded building to decide where to go next.

A section of Dinan's fortification wall still stands, including this governor's tower
from the 15th century. No longer necessary, the barricade provides a nice hike
through the modern city of Dinan with beautiful, sometimes nearly 360 degree views.

After Dinan, we drove to an AirBnB near Mont-Saint-Michel.  The house
was a duplex, with the owners living in one side and providing the other
side for travellers and vacationers.  They had several baby goats, chickens,
and a handful of rabbits which the boys loved!

We heard that Mont-Saint-Michel is beautifully lit up at night, so a handful
of us tried to go see it.  But it was late and we were tired, so we didn't want
to put in too much effort, as in, park the car and ride a 10 minute bus.
This was as close as we could get... hah.

Day 5: Wednesday, April 25th
Le Mont-Saint-Michel and Normandy Beaches

Le Mont-Saint-Michel

Le Mont-Saint-Michel at low tide.  Apparently the land is so flat, that the tide
advances and receeds at 18 feet per minute.  Before the bridge was built, it
was truly a pilgrimage to cross the sandy bottoms to the famed island.

Because of the pointed shape of the top of the island, many "crypts" were
built over the uneven surface, their roofs creating level ground on which to
construct the cathedral.  Marj and Moi hug two of the massive pillars
that bear the weight of the cathedral above.

A couple stragglers still chowin' down in the mess hall. 

Yep, this is what it looks like: a human-sized hampster
wheel.  While Mont-Saint-Michel was used as a prision
from 1791 to 1863, six prisoners would climb in and
walk two-abreast to power this wheel, lifting supplies up
to the abbey area from below.

Inside the church.

Moisés ponders in a side chapel.

On our way out, looking up at the cathedral from below.
There is a golden statue of Saint Michael on the point of the
spire. It is said that, early in the 8th century, Saint Aubert of
Avranches had visions of Saint Michael telling him to build
an oratory on what was formerly Mont-Tombe.  Saint Aubert
ignored the first two of these visions, and finally on the
third one, Saint Michael pressed his thumb into Saint
Aubert's forehead and left a mark.  So... he built the oratory.

Normandy Beaches

On the way to Paris we stopped at Pointe du Hoc, one of the American
landing points on D-Day. We were stunned to see the "moonscape"
still remaining from "10 kilotons of bombs - with nearly the
explosive power of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima - but
dropped over seven weeks"¹ in pre-D-Day bombing efforts.

The cliffs of Point du Hoc.  Troops had to wade through the ocean
from their boats and haul their wet bodies up ropes and ladders,
backpacks and all, with the constant threat of gunfire from above.

As time heals all wounds, Omaha Beach is fronted by fancy vacation
homes up to the left, tucked into a large hill that runs parallel to the beach.
After walking around the bomb scars at Pointe du Hoc and watching a short
film in the small museum there, which shared some of the grave truths of
the famous military event, it was hard for us to imagine it had become a
vacation destination. We all felt the weight of the history of the landscape.

Day 6: Thursday, April 26th
Paris

In the morning, Ben, Marj, and Josh went to Musée
d'Orsay while the rest of us took it slow to recover from
the late night travel into Paris.  Here is a famous historical
painting of Ben when he's a little older.

We strolled along the Seine on the way to the Louvre.

The courtyard of the Louvre!  Inside the grand glass pyramid it is hot,
as you might expect something built like a greenhouse to be.
(Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

On our way home from the Louvre, we stumbled upon Pont des Arts,
one of two famous bridges where lovers prove their amour by attaching
a padlock to the bridge and tossing the key in the river.  *Sigh*, we are
actually posing.  Though we love each other, we did not choose to
purchase a lock from the advantageous vendor in the middle of the bridge.

We also stumbled upon Thomas
Jefferson strutting the streets of Paris!

Our day ended at the Eiffel Tower.  Here is my family of origin at the top...

...and my family of posterity at the bottom.

Day 7: Friday, April 27th
Versailles

We spent all of Friday at Versailles, palace to King Louis XIV, a power-hungry control freak who pacified nobles with grandeur and arrogantly proclaimed, "L'etat, c'est moi!" (The state, that's me!). Halfway through his reign, around the year 1700, Louis XIV had put so much of his time and energy and the public's funds into Versailles and himself, that he had elevated France to the culture and power hub of Europe. Our guidebook told us that at that time, "throughout Europe, when you said 'the king,' you were referring to the French king - Louis XIV."²

Breakfast in the café of Hôtel Beaugency in Paris.

The somewhat sickening splendor of Versailles still draws people from all
over the world... the line in this photo flows all the way to the golden gate,
then curves to the columned building on the left. Etched across the top of
both roman-style buildings are the proud words, "A TOUTES LES
GLOIRES DE LA FRANCE", that is to say, "to all the glory of France".

That is a cat in a backpack.
King Louis XIV couldn't have imagined this himself.

Spending freely from public funds, Louis XIV transformed his father's
hunting lodge - a place that held his own favorite childhood memories - into
the elaborate palace of Versailles, as a get-away from the hustle and bustle of
Paris.  Every inch of the gigantic palace is intricately decorated, such as the
fireplace pictured above in the Hercules Drawing Room.

Papa and Moisés listening to the free, and very well done, audio tour.

This is a baby in a backpack. :) The timing of Yanni's nap allowed me to peacefully read every plaque and hear every second of the audio tour.

The self-proclaimed "Sun King", Louis the XIV ate his dinners at the white
table while members of the high court would sit on the red cushions and watch
him, commenting on his every movement.  He had a strict schedule to the day,
requiring people to be present for his waking up and going to bed ceremonies,
in addition to this dinnertime ritual.

This room is dedicated to the French Revolution and beyond, which made us
question why the palace of Versailles was not destroyed in the revolution.  The
National Convention - the first goverment after the revolution - decided to
claim the palace as property of the Republic to use as a public space, turning
Versailles into a museum in 1794.  Over the last 200+ years, though the
government has changed hands and the role of Versailles within each new
reign has shifted to and fro, the expansive palace has basically kept it's
status as a public space and museum.

Our first view of the extensive gardens surrounding the palace.

Louis XIV had the Seine River re-routed to water his lavish gardens and fuel
the 50+ fountains scattered throughout the grounds. Here, Yanni and Marj
watch a fountain show. The spurts of water are timed to correspond with
classical music blasting from hidden speakers all around - something only
possible in modern times, yet still certainly within the spirit of Louis XIV.

Marie Antoinette was intrigued with peasant life, though
perhaps not interested in either starving or doing the actual
work herself, and had an ideallic, fully-functioning village
built in the woods near Versailles. She and Louis XVI
retreated into their extensive fantasy worlds 60 years after
Louis XIV, and far away from the ever-more-discontented,
near-revolution public. As the kingdom of France crumb-
led at the end of the 18th century, the ruling class continued
to invest in more toys and luxuries with public funds.

When political life followed Louis XIV to Versailles, he built another lavish
retreat to get away from his first one, only a short walk from Versailles.
Referred to as the Grand Trianon, it is much smaller than Versailles: comprised
of "only" two ornate wings, connected with the colonnade pictured above.

A great way to end a big day on our feet... and our week-long trip together!
The next morning, we would all part ways.

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¹ Steves, Rick. (2017). France 2017. (p. 285). California: Avalon Travel.
² Steves, Rick. (2017). France 2017. (p. 178). California: Avalon Travel.