february vacation

So in case you didn't know, after every 6 week school term there is a 2 week vacation. Which also means no work for me. Miette's birthday was the Saturday after the last day of school and my folks flew over from Cincinnati to spend most of those two weeks with us. So we've been busy showing them around La Rochelle as well as traveling in the region, with a couple overnight stays in Bordeaux and St. Emilion, and I haven't made the time to post anything till now, problem being that there is now tons of catching up to do. In a nutshell, we visited the big and beautiful old city of Bordeaux, rode the tramway, admired the architecture, visited an amazing cathedral and had fun in a hotel (where the kids had an actual bath! they are bath deprived as we have only a shower stall here) before heading over to nearby St. Emilion which is a ancient tiny perfect town built onto a rocky hill with a church carved out of the rock as well as 2 levels of underground passages and catacombs (many of which are now used to age wine). It is a highly regarded wine area - we stayed that evening in a B&B on one of the many vineyards. We met an interesting Dutch couple also staying there who buy and sell french specialty foods in the Netherlands and they gave us samples of different french saucissons and Pineau (an aperitif). Then after a long day of trying to wind our way back to La Rochelle on the pretty backroads of France, we ran into a city with a citadel thing (kind of a walled in city that is still populated) and other lovely little villages on the way, and eventually got back here in time for me to take advantage of the grandparents here to babysit so I could go out a celebrate a friend's birthday. I can't remember in which order everything else happened, but we spent a day on the Ile de Re, the kids went with gma and gpa to the traveling circus that was in town, I went with my dad to talk to the department of city planning in La Rochelle where I was a partial translator, and got quite an education about many city operations- from zoning laws to governing bodies to funding. And of course, the obligatory visit to the Ludotheque, Mediatheque, towers on the port, and a day's bike ride along the coast from the port in the center of town all the way out the a beach on the edge of the city. The day we took our bike ride, we also had my friend Nellie her friend Kate who stopped here for a day en route to Italy. It was so beautiful and warm that day we all ended up riding our bikes jacket free, and me in short sleeves. Well that is a bit more than a nutshell, and I should move on to more practical matters that need my attention now that we've returned to the work and school worlds. I am so grateful to be here with this sun and warmth, and feel for everyone posting and emailing about being cooped up at home, enduring the miserable weather in Chicago/ Cincinnati / Pittsburgh... It may be a long time before I get to have such a luxurious winter again and I know I am lucky. I am glad I got to share the sun and the time with my family and look forward to the many visits to come. I hope we will continue to be so lucky.