Travel day. We are in the Loire Valley, the final destination of our four weeks in France, just outside a tiny town called Civray de Touraine. This morning we packed up, checked out of our apartment airbnb in Vannes, and hit the road. Jeff was relieved to pull that car out of the tiny sublevel -2 parking garage for the last time. We drove and drove and drove. Google maps told us that our destination was only 3 hours away, but we ended up getting stuck in traffic outside of Nantes and then taking smaller roads to avoid endless expensive tolls and to see the scenery, so it took us much longer. We stopped a few times to break up the drive, get wiggles out, and obtain nourishment.
First we stopped for lunch in Angers: kebabs for me and Leslie, galettes and crepes for Jeff and the kids. A kebab shop was right across the street from a creperie. Perfect! Jeff said those were the best crepes he's ever had in his life. High praise indeed--go Angers! After lunch we hunted out a toilette public and took turns using it. All four of us girls piled into the one-room public toilet and took turns using it to speed up the process, because after each person the toilet room would close and rinse with an automatic 3-4 minute wash cycle. So we piled in together, averting our eyes when the adults were on the toilet. Mother-in-law bonding at its finest!
Next up in Angers (pronounced an-jay but I jokingly called it angers, with full-on English angry pronunciation) was a stroll through the cathedral, which happened to be right across from the little toilet. The cathedral had high soaring ceilings and I think it was neo-something in its design. The stained glass was mediocre, but the building was large and impressive. Amber and Rose were a bit stressful with their climbing, jumping, and jostling inside the cathedral, so next we walked to a nearby park at the bottom of the cathedral's hill. It was a great wooden playground and next to it was a splash pad fountain area with ten or so fountains of water spraying out of the ground. The kids were hot from playing on the playground, so they got soaked in the fountain. It was a very necessary fun long lunch stop. Following the examples of several young French children nearby, I stripped Amber down to her undies before turning her loose on the fountain. She had a blast and looked so cute with her white belly and saggy soaked cotton underwear. Jay and Rose went in the water with their clothes on and had just as much fun. Thankfully we were traveling with all of our bags so the kids were able to change in the car/on the side of the road before we continued our drive. Angers made us so happy today! hehe
We stopped for gas and then 30 minutes from our destination, we stopped in Tours (one of Jeff's mission areas) and went to his favorite bakery, where the pastries are supersized. We all chose a massive pastry for our dessert tonight, then drove the last 30 minutes to our Airbnb house between the tiny towns of Bléré and Civray-de-Touraine.
This house is excellent! It is three stories, two of which are open to us renters. It is charming and quirky and fun. There are FIVE small bedrooms, so each kid has their own room, Leslie has her own room, and Jeff and I have our room together. Jay's and Rose's bedrooms are upstairs in the fun slant-roofed attic. There's a bathroom between them plus a common area with beanbag chairs and a foosball table. The backyard is big with tons of trees and fun places for kids to play: 2 slides, 2 swings, a climbing tree, a willow tree, a trampoline, and a chest full of outdoor toys. The kids were SO excited when we arrived, they played outside all evening. THIS is the type of house we originally thought we'd want to rent for our entire month in France. I'm still glad we were able to stay in the apartments in Paris and Vannes, though, because being able to walk to the store and restaurants is super convenient. We can't walk to the store here, but there's a grocery store 2 miles away--a simple drive, even if I can't drive myself at all thanks to the manual transmission.
We had eggs and lardons with cherry tomatoes and salad for dinner, and our massive opulent decadent Tours pastries for dessert. I love how Amber always gets something with strawberries on top and Rose always tries something new and beautiful. Jay always chooses a pastry he's had before. (he tries new ones when Jeff orders for him or when we give him bites of ours). Their personalities are encapsulated in their pastry selection.
Today was not without its frustrations but we turned on Disney music for the last half of our drive and sang along merrily to stay awake. We laughed at Google's hilarious pronunciations of French street and city names. Jay read an entire book in the back seat during our drive.
It is about 10-15 degrees hotter here in Civray than on the coast in Vannes, but it's August after all, so we can't complain if the temperature is in the 80s. Vannes was just so ideal we were a tad spoiled--not sweating on our walks there was a welcome reprieve. Thankfully once the sun started going down tonight here in Civray, it cooled off nicely.
Angers:
This cathedral was tall and impressive.
Jeff with a cathedral-crown. My selfie skills are patchy.
Kids in fountains!
Look at all of those cute bare bellies and funny saggy undies.
Tours
At the Patisserie Vinci in Tours. Those are massive eclairs and religieuse and macaroons.
Pastry heaven!
Our Airbnb house:
The back porch
Backyard of bliss
View of the house from the backyard
Sweet freedom at last! The kids found apartment life very confining. They are country kids, used to having space to ROAM.
The front gate and driveway with our rental car parked. The main door was on a second-level porch. The ground floor was off limits and locked up.
Standing in the back porch doorway, looking in through the kitchen.
Dining area
Sitting area--no couches, just mattresses and pillows.
Main floor bathroom--bigger than our bathrooms at home!
Our tiny bedroom, with my cute packing cubes on the bed.
The kitchen, looking out to the back porch. We ate dinner outside most nights.
Jay's room--the doorways in the attic were about shoulder height for me. Fun and kid-sized.
Looking down the way into Rose's room.
Rose loved her attic bedroom--it had butterflies on the wall and an elegant bed.
Amber had the small child's bedroom on the main floor. It was full of TOYS and French books. Almost every night Jeff or I read her a bedtime story in French. I did not take a picture of Leslie's bedroom across the hall.
Eggs, mache salad (whatever that is--it was earthy and kind of bitter), lardons (bacon), and cherry tomatoes for dinner made for a pretty plate.
Massive religieuse for dessert--there was SO MUCH chocolate custard inside those big balls. Jay couldn't finish his--I was relieved because I didn't want him to get sick!
Yum.
Rose could climb the trees so she was level with the second-story porch. The girl is a monkey and loves tree-climbing.
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