As our final days of life in France were fast approaching, I planned one last long weekend trip. We had yet to spend very much time in the Loire Valley where all the chateaux and wines were. I spent days researching where we wanted to go and looking into hotels. I also spent days planning a HUGE surprise for Ken as this was the same weekend of our 12th anniversary. This was no small feat that I underwent. I booked a ride with a hot air balloon company (who spoke NO English whatsoever) to fly over the chateaux of the valley, I arranged for our babysitter to come to the hotel and stay with the kids, booked a room for her to spend the night, and kept it all secret from Ken (still can’t believe I accomplished that!). I thought this would be the great end to our stay here, the fantastic finish we were looking for.

Instead, in some ways, it ended up being a disappointing weekend. The chateaux were hard to find, the hotels rather dingy, and basically, nothing spectacular to write home about. In Germany, we took a trip along the Rhein river were all the castles are located and it was a fantastic trip. You could drive up along either side of the river and spot a castle every 5 minutes without ever getting out of your car. Here we had to hunt them down and still only found a handful.

The highlight of the trip for the kids was seeing the Usse chateau where the story of Sleeping Beauty was created and written.

The highlight of our trip for Ken and I was the Chenonceau cheateau. It was an impressive sight with an interesting background. Built over the river, it is quite unusual. It housed the King’s mistress until he died and his wife booted her out into another chateau. (Don’t you just feel so sorry for the mistress who lost one castle for another?)

The biggest disappointment came when our balloon ride was cancelled due to high winds. I had such high excitement and expectations for this trip only to end in sheer disappointment. It seems rather fitting for our final trip in France because I would sum up our entire year and a half here as the same way, high expectations only to end at disappointment.

I came into France with a lot of hope and excitement for life here. As the days went on the excitement faded. Ken and I often talked about the disappointment of France. It seemed like such a let down compared to life in Germany.

Ken says had we lived in France first or in a different area of Germany, things would have been entirely different and I have to agree with him. We moved from one of the most beautiful areas of Germany to one of the most uninteresting areas of France.  Plus, there were so many great places that we could travel to in less than a day from Villingen: Salzberg, Zurich, Venice, Cologne, Strasbourg, Paris, and on and on…

Living in Rennes, though, is a lot like living in any big city in America aside from the language barrier.  And much of the countryside reminds me a lot of being back in Indianapolis.  Plus, it’s not centrally located, so it can take a long time to get anywhere else.

Towards the end of our time here, I was often muttering “well, isn’t THAT the cherry on my “I hate France ice cream cone!” Things were really starting to bug me and I was looking forward to life back in the states again. But I can honestly say that deep down I do not really hate France. It is hard to hate something that has been such a big part of your life and has helped create new emotions, thoughts, and ideas in yourself. It has also given me opportunities I would not have had otherwise. I may have not fully enjoyed every moment here but if I were taken back to the day where we were given the choice to stay in Indy or go to France, even knowing how hard it would be, I would still go.

All the crap that France could dish out was worth it for the vacation to the UK as that will go down in my book as one of the best trips of my life.  And how could I possibly hate a place that has given my kids such a wonderful opportunity for learning. They know of the major works of art as well as the major historic sites here and have become fluent in a second language at such an early age. If we had not lived here, I am sure THAT would never have happened.

On our very last weekend, Carissa was invited to stay the night at her friend Colleen’s house. Well, not her house as much as her grandparent’s vacation house out on a farm in a rural area just an hour south of us. All the cousins were staying there and they asked for Carissa to join them. The rest of us were invited down on Saturday to pick her up and stay for bread and pizza making in a wood fired oven. Before we left, I was dreading the trip. The last place I wanted to be two days before the movers arrived and with a mile long list of things to do, was sitting on a farm trying to talk French all afternoon. As it turns out though, it was the best thing for me. It was the fantastic finish to life in France that I had hoped for the previous weekend.

The house was centuries old, the family as friendly as could be, and the area so unique. Watching the grandmother mold the bread was fascinating and hard to describe. Standing in that old kitchen with stone walls, I felt that I was thrown back in time. We walked around the grounds, looking at the old barns and watching the fire going in the stone fireplace. I watched in wonder as the oven was cleaned and the bread thrown in. We were asked to bring pizza toppings and my contribution was ham, cheese, and pineapple. I was greeted with a big ol “EEWWWWW” from the teens there but when we explained to them that this was a good American pizza, they lowered their eyebrows and gave it a go. The pizza was thrown into the stone oven and was introduced to the table as “Sandi’s pizza”. To my surprise (and to theirs as well) they all liked the pizza. As hard as it was for them to fathom pineapple on pizza, it was even harder for me to fathom them not knowing about it. It’s not like it isn’t on every pizza menu we have seen here.

We all watched as a variety of things went into the oven, everything from bread, pizza, chicken, and desserts. And as we sat there enjoying the company, good wine, and fantastic food, I began thinking about the French way of life.

For example, I was told by many French people that Bell-ille was the best place to vacation. When we went there on a trip with the Betz family, we found nothing to do and within two hours on the island, we had seen all we needed to see. After we got back, Ken was told that it was the place where all the Parisians went for vacation because there was nothing to do but sit and relax. Now they tell us!! The last two weeks of August in France are nightmares because everyone is on vacation. Major stores close down and life in general comes to a stand still. It is just how things are done here and the way of life.

I find it funny that on my last weekend in France, I find myself sitting in one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had here. Nothing was planned, it just happened upon us the day before, and there were no feelings of disappointment. So the lesson I learned is that it seems in France, the way to life here is to sit back and enjoy whatever comes your way. Just let life happen TO you and it will be much more enjoyable. I only question why I had to learn this little secret at the very end.

And so, because of my new wisdom and “guide to life in France”, I let Ken talk me into going into downtown Paris on our very last night here. My original plan was to avoid downtown, stay at the hotel, bathe the kids, and repack suitcases.

Instead, we took the train in and went down to Champs-Elysees for some shopping and dinner. We then worked our way to the Eiffel Tower for our last time to se it as a family. We purchased some cheesy knick-knacks and had a good time strolling along. We did not get back to the hotel until well after 11pm. As I laid there trying to sleep on my last night in Europe for a while (maybe a long while), I was shocked to realize that if you sit back, relax, and go with the flow, even with kids, …. Paris ain’t so bad after all.

I think I’m going to miss France.

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