on the road.

Bonjour!

Sorry for the delay in posting but the WiFi (wee fee) in our past hotels have been really junky. 

So onto the good stuff.

*LONG POST*

We have the pleasure of touring France, Belgium and Amsterdam in a bus...for 16 days. Sounds fun eh? But it's not. 8 days down. There is only so much you can do in a bus that will keep you entertained. I unfortunately can't read in a car because it makes me sick, so long reading Jane Eyre. But our bus driver is a hoot. Peter of Holland is a funny man that just randomly gets on the microphone to tell us things and stops mid-sentence, plays music of his daughter singing (who is really good in fact) and has amazing driving skills weaving through the dinky streets of France...it is unbelievable what he can do without getting a scratch on the bus.

Once we left Paris we headed to Chartres, which is a little town located in Northern France. We got to just walk around the town for a couple of hours and it was a nice little town in the countryside. Chartres is known for its Cathedral Notre Dame de Chartres, one of the finest gothic style cathedrals. It was great because we got to have a tour by a man who has been doing tours of Chartres Cathedral for 60+ years. I loved how he explained the stained glass stories and sculptures that throughout the cathedral. After tour we got to walk around the town again just to take the atmosphere of being in France. 

The next day we headed to Amboise in the Loire Valley, where we stayed in what seemed like a concentration camp like apartments. It was gross because there were TONS of spiders in our room that a girl would freak out and make me kill them…awesome. Plus some were giants like this one.

The next day we had a bus tour of the Loire Valley from a wonderful lady who knew her stuff about everything in this valley. It was great to learn new history about France that we never learn in the US. After our tour we had the option of going to a Chateau that had rooms decorated different times they were occupied or Leonardo Da Vinci’s house he lived in that last few years he lived. Hands down Leonardo won. After seeing so many chateaus and extravagant things it was great to see something different. I have always been interested in Leonardo Da Vinci because he did so many things, he was a painter (painted my girl Mona Lisa which is in the Louvre), he was a sculptor, he was an inventor, and he was just an overall brilliant man. Throughout the house were many of his inventions, which was great to see them recreated. Plus in the gardens outside were many of his inventions that you were able to play and use them. It was interesting to see how many of his ideas were of items we have today.

On Saturday the 29^th we went to Chenonceau Chateau that was Huge! It also had beautiful gardens all throughout the estate. There was a labyrinth that we played tag in that was way fun! Hiding in the shrubbery and running in a circle, even an old couple joined in on the fun.

On Sunday we headed to Church in a little branch and we doubled or even tripled their member count. We got there for Sunday school and you could feel the spirit so strongly there, it was just a great experience to have. Most of these members are converts to the Church, so it was great to see their love of the gospel and how it has influenced their lives. The lesson was why and how do we follow Christ; there was even a man nice enough to translate the lesson for all 42 of us adults. Sacrament meeting was wonderful because we had another man translate the Sacrament Talks, the first was by a women who is a convert and the only member in her family, her husband is not a member but her talk was wonderful as well as her testimony. After, the Branch President spoke to his branch about how we or in this case they could make their branch big. He made a great point of how we can become better examples of Christ and invite others to come unto Him. After Church we headed to Saint Malo, a little town on the coast of France. We were able to walk along the beach and splash our feet in the Atlantic Ocean! It was a great little town we walked around the next day before our trip to Mont Saint Michel, the abbey that was the inspiration for Tangled.

It was a cloudy day when we went there, but it is a town that in practically on it’s own little island with an Abbey. After seeing all the magnificent stained glass and amazing architecture this was not as grand as I thought it was going to be. The town was fun to wander around the little streets and alleyways but overall it was fine.

 We were able to walk around the American cemetery and go to the Visitor’s center there. It was very wonderful experience viewing and pondering about all the deaths that happened in WWI and WWII. I am proud to be an American and thank all those who serve and protect our country.

Tuesday Oct. 2 we had a tour of the Normandy beaches by a wonderful man who knew everything…he was British. We first went to Longue and wandered about the battleground and looked at old German gun batteries. After we went to Omaha Beach, which was a sad but great experience to see where D-Day happened. I really wish I could have know more or at least reviewed more about WWII events because it would have made the experience more meaningful but it was a great adventure to think of those who fought for our country. Later we headed to Normandy, which our tour guide Michael told us we were on American soil, many were really happy to be “back in America.”

(Sorry for the cheesiness)

Today (Wednesday Oct 3) we went to the Tapestry in Bayeux. It is the oldest tapestry that is still intact. The story on the tapestry is about William the Conqueror in 1066. There was also a nice little audio tour to go with it, which made looking at it much better. After we were able to walk around the town and enjoy the small town…just like all the other little towns we walked around. Once we came to the bus it started to pour, which was no fun because we had to go Claude Monet’s gardens today. I really enjoyed Monet’s garden because we were able to see where his inspiration came from for many of his paintings such as Water Lilies. We were also able to walk around in his house which was filled with many of his paintings and Japanese artwork, not sure why but I will have to look that up. Fortunately the rain ending once our tour was over, but we had a 3-hour bus ride to our hotel in Abbeville and something was up with my stomach that I struggled the whole ride…not good. But my friend Ellen gave me some oils to rub on which seemed to work.

**Back-story to oils: whenever someone is like “oh, you should use some of my oils for that.” First I think, “Right rubbing some oil is going to help my sickness.” Then I always think of my grandma who had oils all the time. Every time you would enter her house or go near her within a radius of like 100 feet, you could always smell her oils that were not the best smelling. Ps I have the nose of a dog, so whenever anything smells weird I will be sure to point it out**

After we arrived at our hotel we were welcomed to an interesting dinner. For those who have seen the movie Errand of Angels, there was a dish we were give that was exactly like the first meal Sister Taylor has to eat at a member’s house. It was some mix of meat or I at least think it was meat. In the movie it was pig snout, something else and gelatin. Yeah it tasted like cat food. But later we were served chicken with frites! Love me some frites.

Sorry for the catch up game and lack of pictures. It takes FOREVER to post all the ones I want, let alone just one picture is way to long. The next post will be all of the pictures for this post.

Thanks for sticking with me.

XOxo lauren

^^^any of you think of Nacho Libre?^^^

(Big kiss, Big hug, little kiss, little hug)