Campanile Laval

Unfortunately the fairy tale turretts and cobble streets failed to live up to expectation and seemed to lack any ambiance. This was probably not helped by us arriving at lunchtime when but everything was shut - French siesta time. After wandering around the deserted streets ...

... different person to our host at Chablis. Invited to a 'degustation' I decided to mention at the outset that, as travellers, we bought only in small quantities. Undeterred, she kindly insisted that we sampled all five of her products. We left with a reasonably priced red and a half bottle of a special rose. The rose, proudly described as full of fruit was, in fact, rather too sweet to our taste but the red was delicious. 17.08.09 Sarlat-La--Caneda N4 53.747'E1 12.747'

... otherwise! In France > it is illegal to hitch on the actual motorway so we alternated > between the slip road and asking inside at the service station, but > sadly there were no takers. Finally around lunchtime the rain > stopped, but our luck didn't pick up. We read on the Internet that > someone managed to get a lift with Ewan McGreggor filming Black Hawk > Down, so if anyone knows of any film crews in the area, please send > them our way now!

... win. "Asher, you must move closer to the net.", he coaches. "Closer, Asher." ... "And don't move so much. You must stay, and wait. Don't move." ... "Good, closer.". .... and then... WHAM! He hits a shot that nearly shatters the windows with the noise ... smack in to my eye. "NNNNNooooooooOOOOOooooo!!!!" ... I fall to the ground. Nearly blinded for life. I am surprised my eyeball did not fall to the ground. ... hehe ...

... how many "For Sale" signs were on the houses. ... Also, we talked for quite a while about the differences between the European religious experience and that in the States. It seems that everybody we've spoken to about religion on this trip in both Spain and France has related how much a personal affair it is, spoken of to only very close family. Unlike the Evangelical movement in the Americas where personal conviction and faith is the key element ...

... tell me the car already had the ding in it. YES! I can't believe I didn't notice it until this week. Sheesh. We talk for a good hour or so, then head to the tennis courts. Franck and Sandrine head off to run some errands and visit some friends, Janice and I play tennis. I go up 3-0. She rallies for a 6-4 victory. Bah. Back home for some dinner. Back to the courts ...

... now Ella says non-stop "Viola!" ... .... Also, only the Styrsky kids say exclamations like, "What the ...?" .... and "Yeah baby!" ... and "Wowawoowa!". Love these kids of ours! Have you ever watched Iron Chef? They take the most bizarre ingredients and somehow form them in to a lavish feast. But every time I've watched the show, I've thought to myself, "Come on. Those judges have got to be lying. There is no way something ...

... its just too much. We are on cool-stuff-overload ... and my butt hurts from driving. So we decide instead to head towards home and check out Rennes, a city we've heard much about but haven't visited yet. Our trip to Rennes is so-so. Drab city, with a cool interior center ... We have lunch at a little gyro joint. Janice sees police arrest a man, and then a couple of minutes later sees a homeless man's dog nearly bite a little boy. Ok. Thats enough Rennes for us ...

... car. Won't open. Click the alarm/key thing. Nothing. What the heck. I bend down to look inside and don't see the kids' car seats. The driver inside confirms that this is the wrong car. Great. ... Two aisles over I find our car, same make, model, color. ... and then it starts to rain. And I get to put one item in the car at a time. PERFECT! ... Back home, I rest, ...Janice cooks and gets the kids in bed ...and now... I'm off to bed!

... Turns out they serve only one dish today ... paella,something none of us care for. So now, after five minutes of difficult attempts at conversation,we realize we don't want the food. That would be uncomfortable in English. Here, the awkwardness is magnified. We try to reduce the feeling by buying a baguette before we head out. She seemed happy enough. Back towards the river, I ask around and find a little grease pit of a place near a campsite ... order some jambon with ...