New York City 2008

We are enjoying 9 days in New York City - Diane, Rob and Charlotte are away on vacation.

We got her on a Friday afternoon and took the train plane and subway into the city. After settling Joel went out to Costco to buy supplies for our Saturday night "get together". Rachel and I walked around for a little while, had ff and orange juice at the coffee shop. When Hannah and Joel got home we had pizza delivered.

Saturday - we went down to the So. St. Seaport where I bought half price tix for Sunday's show "Gypsy" with Patty Lupone. We had hotdogs, saw 3 of the waterfall art installations, watched the "Lazer Yoga" (an extreme contortionist)....then came home. Later on a few friends came over and we had a nice visit.

Sunday - H/R and I went down to the "Hell's Kitchen" fleamarket and browsed around. Then we met Joel and went to see "Gypsy". Of course I loved it, everyone else was "so-so".

Monday - We went into Queens, visited Bookie. Went to her local pizza/italian restaurant for lunch. Then we drove out to see:
1. P.S. 186
2. The Farm
3. 74-15 Littleneck Pky.
4. 73-13 260th St.
5. Went to Lake Success

Tuesday - Down to Coney Island and Brighton Beach
1. Strolled thru the shards of glass to the water.
2. Rachel and I went on the terrifying "Cyclone"
3. Then H/R went on the Wonder Wheel and various other less terrifying rides.
4. Walked the boardwalk to Brighton Beach and had lunch at "Tatiyana's"....russian food. That was real nice because all the restaurants are outdoor cafes right on the boardwalk.

Wednesday
1. Went to the ABC studio set of "One Life to Live" and got to see a taping of the show. That was very interesting.
2. Had lunch down at the coffee shop.
3. Then I went to see "Hairspray" with George Wendt as Edna Turnblad (great show), and Joel took H/R on the "Shark" speedboat.

Thursday - caught up with some laundry and then we plan to go to the roof garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But first H/R joined me as we went downtown to Chinatown. We had lunch (next time go to Green Bo - a nice looking dumpling spot- at Canal make right onto Mott and turn left at next corner).....we had shrimp lo mein and broccoli. Then we picked up some duck and pork for dinner)....Off to the Met! Really enjoyed the Met and the roof garden. On the way home we saw street performers.

Friday - Took the train to Brooklyn and then walked to the city over the Brooklyn Bridge. Then we got kicked out of the Woolworth Building (closed except to employees since 9/11) but not before we could see how beautiful the lobby is. Had crispy pizza in the City Hall area....ick. In the evening Billy and Rita came over. We had champagne and strawberries on the roof.

Saturday - went to the "Garage" flea market on 25th street. Then walked to the Village, taxi to Little Italy....lunch at sidewalk cafe. Bought salamis and bread for sandwiches on plane tomorrow. I went home while Joel brought H/R to the boathouse, I then walked to meet them and they picked me up on the boat. Rowed around.

Sunday - packed and had lunch at the coffee shop then flew home.

Pictures to follow.

First day is not like the last.

This Is Hannah and Rachel on the last day of third grade. This week they started 4th grade and although it was a really good week, I think they liked the last day of 3rd grade the best.

Hannah has Mrs. Kostner and Rachel has Ms. Briggs. By Friday they decided they liked both of them. No real homework yet, that should start up after curriculum night next week.

If this year goes as fast as last year did we will be looking at 5th grade real soon!

If not for the corkscrew we would have nothing to survive on but food and water.....

Market Day in Dinan

This was the makings of our pot au feu.....also artichokes.

Wednesday

Hannah and Rachel inside the ruins of the 12th century Fort LaLatte on the north coast of Brittany.













Here we are in front of the castle "keep."










This is the view from the castle down the cliffs to the sea. It doesn't really show how very frightening it was. Not to mention you can't hear the crash of the waves on the rocks. It was so beautiful.










We stopped at the beach and enjoyed watching Hannah and Rachel run....it was a perfectly beautiful day. It is Thursday morning now and I am going off to the local market with our neighbor Shelly, who is a chef in New Zealand while Joel watches the kids. Will write more later.

Not Your Usual Day at the Beach

Here is one of the old German bunkers on the cliff over Omaha Beach where thousands of American and British soldiers lost their lives on June 6, 1944 - D-Day. I was surprised that they were still just sitting there...on a cliff over one of the most beautiful coastlines I have ever seen. One can only imagine what it was like that day.










We were happy in a very "unhappy" way to be here today.














This is a view up the coast in Normandy.

"He was a bold man that first ate an oyster"....Jonathan Swift

You do have to wonder about what would prompt the first person to eat an oyster, not to mention other foods like liver, raw egg yolks and of course, scorpions. I do love them and we certainly had a few today.





Hannah and Rachel in front of one of the "huitre" stands in Cancale. The last time we were here the oysters were so much cheaper but they are still as good as ever.







Here I am with Hannah and Rachel at the beach in Cancale at low tide. After a few minutes the jackets and especially the scarf came off...it was a nice sunny, warm day....the kind of day where it is warm but you can still sit in the sun.....I know I forgot how that can be in Arizona.






She sells sea shells by the sea shore.








Joel's oysters....haha.







We had a great day today. The last and only other time we ever were here in Cancale was in 1996. I always wanted to go back and today we finally did. I just love showing Hannah and Rachel new places. They are very easy to travel with and usually pretty flexible. Rachel did in fact taste an oyster (she didn't like it), Hannah of course didn't try one....no surprises there.

French Laundry

Our place has a washer but no dryer so I did a load of wash - had to get the smell of the airplane off our clothes....and then hang them out to dry. I don't think I had ever touched a clothespin in my entire adult life....haha.

Joel and Hannah and Rachel are still sleeping (for 12 hours now and I think I'll let them). I myself got up early. It is a beautiful day and you can hear people walking up the street in front of the house, and some Sunday bicyclists just roared down the cobblestoned street. We are on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the house so I can look out and over the street pretty anonomously. It was pretty funny because an older gentleman was just now peering through the first floor apartment and didn't notice me noticing him being curious about what was in that flat....I could see the top of his bald head as he was being nosy.....

First Day

What an amazingly long day. Here is Hannah at the Admiral's club in Dallas. We had a three hour layover and she got to take a nap.















Well, after a ten hour flight from Dallas to Paris, we got our car and drove on over to Dinan, in Brittany. It was a 4.5 hour drive but we used our new GPS so it went very smoothly. We got to see Mont St. Michel in the distance (spectacular) and we will get back there in a few days. The drive was lovely but long after such a long flight but we did it!! Here I am with Hannah in Dinan and this is at 6 AM, Saturday morning after having been travelling for over 24 hours. We feel pretty good and I have not really had any sleep.















This is the view of the street from our bedroom window. Everything here is impossibly old. I love it. More pictures to follow...don't forget you can click on any picture to see it full size.....just hit your browser back button to return to the blog.


















This is the view from the living room window out to the street. The rental is really lovely. The owner left us a bottle of wine, some bread, cheese and pate and some coloring books and crayons for Hannah and Rachel. That made us feel very welcome. The road up to the rental is soooooo steep and the cobblestones are so old that walking is tricky (until we get used to it).

The town is on the River Rance and the port is gorgeous. The sky is so blue and the weather is gorgeous. We are going to go down to a local pizzaria for an early dinner then we will have to sleep, shower, unpack etc.

This town of Dinan is an old midieval town and we are going to have so much fun exploring.

I will let Joel tell those of you who might be interested about the fun time he had trying to manuever the car up this narrow street in order to drop off our luggage.......

After unpacking, we were going to just go to a little pizza place nearby but were tempted by the local mussels so that's what we had for dinner. It was nice - they were so tiny, I can't eat the bigger ones. We had that and fish soup - very "Bretagne"....We took a long walk around town to familiarize ourselves with the place. Then we all showered and went to bed around 10:00 even though it was still light out, after having been up for 31.5 hours. I didn't sleep at all in that timeframe, H/R slept about 3 hours total and Joel maybe 1 or 2.

"See" you tomorrow.

Paris Bon Marche

1. Some free museums

a. Museum of the Romantic Life

b. Paris Fashion Museum

c. Museum of the Middle Ages (Musee-moyenage.fr)

To "See" List in the Loire

1. Blois
a. Chateau de Cheverny - approx. 50 km, one hour drive, see website. Can see the hunting dogs get fed every day at 5 P.M.

2. Amboise

3. Orleans

4. Vineyards

5. Chateaux

6. Guedelon Castle - closed Wednesdays.

7. Mennetou -sur-Cher - old mideaval town, 30 minutes away - see link. This looks like a MUST.

8. Da Vinci's Chateau Clos Luce - 58 km towards Amboise, about one hour drive, see link.
32 euros for family pack admissions.

9. Azay-le-Rideau - built between 1518 and 1527 - take picture in same spot with H/R...see link

10. Sancerre wines - about one hour east. Sauvignon wines....see link.

11. Thursday Market - Selles sur Cher a 15 minute drive

12. Zoopark de Beauville - in St. Aignan

13. Mini chateaux park - see link

To "See" List near Dinan

1. St. Malo - walk the 2 km promenade along the walls of the city - great views of the bay, boats, town, etc.

2. Aquarium

3. River cruise to St. Malo

4. Cancale

5. Mt. St. Michel - take pictures from route D275

6. Walk to town of Lehon

7. Castle La Lotte......www.castlelalotte.com

Planning - Part 4

• 

I need to figure out how to add photos.

This was a test and it worked!

However, of course this is Hannah and Rachel, not on the coast of France, but in La Jolla in 2006.

Planning - Part 3

I am really looking forward to our next trip to France.

We land in Paris in the morning and we have to decide for sure if we are going to take a train to Rennes and rent a car there, or if it is best to just rent the care in Paris and drive to Dinan. I'm a little worried about all that driving after such a long flight, but Joel is sure all will be well.

The place in Dinan sounds and looks so interesting.

It will be fun to be able to just walk out the door and down a cobblestoned street to the town center and then down to the river Rance. From the port there you can take a boat to St. Malo....and from St. Malo there are many other charters out into the ocean. What a great day that will be!

Planning - Part 2

This is an oyster.

Not a French oyster, an American oyster......