Ellwyn's Disneyland

Day 2 of the Bike Brigade. We didn't ride bikes. We were too sore.

So, we get up again around 6:02am and eat breakfast. Much more under control this time around. We packed up all our things and put them in the car. At breakfast there was another family, yes, just 1, and they were speaking some language that none of us could pick out.

That's rare.

Pierre speaks French, obviously, English and Spanish. He also may know about some other languages as well.
Ila speaks French, English, Spanish and some Italian.
I speak Spanish, English, a little French, a very little Italian, even less Japanese with a sprinkling of German and Bulgarian.
Ellwyn speaks German, English and some Swedish.
Gayle speaks a combination of German, French, Spanish and English.

It was none of these.

What could it be? Were they conversing in secret code? They had children with them so surely they couldn't be under cover spies. Hmm. Then, they packed up their car and left. Ellwyn walked outside to see which country their car was from and he got shot at! No, just kidding. They were from Belgium, we think. Still not sure on that one.

So we head into town and park. We walk to the Hotel Dieu, which was an old hospice for sick and dying in the area. It was massive and beautiful. My favorite part was the light and sound show in the kitchen. If you want to more, just ask me.

In one of the rooms there was a tapestry that had a picture of a horse with one foot cut off. Pierre translated the placard that said it was a message for humility. Hmm...

We walked around Beaune and I bought a sweet poster that has a spectrum of each different wines color. We bought some more small souvernirs and left to go pottering throughout the country... also known as Ellwyn's Disneyland.

Also on this trip, I have been house shopping for my first Chateau, duly named Chateau Carla. We saw some possibilities but I think they were all a little small. I need room for my horses and plenty of wall space to hang all my pictures. We stumbled upon le Domain Parent, apparently distant cousins of Pierre's. Their house was closed for the day but he still managed to buy some very nice wine at the store down the street. I was napping in the car.

We headed out to another village and there was a massive Chateau. I really had to go to pee so we stopped and took a look around. There a huge tourbus had thrown up and American tourists were everywhere. I understand know why Europeans can't stand American tourists. Literally, the whole scale of sound changed. They were loud. And huge. And rude.

Ew.

But, as I walked around the estate I decided I liked it. This was the future Chateau Carla. It had a spacious stable and the house itself was massive. But it still needed some touches to make it more livable, like flowers and a family to love it. So, after I publish these blogs into a book and make my first million, I will buy it. God, I love dreaming!

We got out of dodge and made it almost all the way to Paris without traffic. Then, about 60km away from the city we got stuck. Majorly. It was a mess all the way in and took about 2 hours to get through. And the best part was that with Pierre, Ila and I all in the back seat we had plenty of room! Not. I was so twerked around, at one point I was laying across them with my legs draped somewhere else to stretch. It was miserable. If one of us were comfortable, the other two weren't.

We finally got to Paris and to Pierre's door. We pitched him out on the street and said our good byes. Then, we zipped through the heart of Paris back to Romain's apartment. We said tearful goodbyes to our parents. I will see my Mom again in Egypt, but I won't see my Dad again until Christmas in Hawaii! Sadly, they left us to head to the airport.

Ila and I ate dinner at an Italian restaurant around the corner. I had a really good pizza, she ordered fish pasta for some reason. It was bad. We got everything sorted out last night back into place and then we slept for a long time. Tomorrow I want to go for a run. That should provide some interesting material.