Dire adieu-saying Goodbye

July 8, 2008

The worst part about leaving is saying Goodbye.

As you enter each town or village there is a sign with the name of the village on it, but when you leave there is also a sign with the name on it and a large red slash through letting you know you are no longer in that village. Even though we will no longer physically be in Bourron Marlotte, our hearts will never leave.

Our darling neighbors across the street. Famille Meynier, Virginie, Jean-Phillipe holding Elliott,
Clara and Louise.

We will miss you!! They were so kind and helpful to us.
Clara just loved Jesse and they made a cute connection.

Famille Nidriche-Many, many tears saying goodbye to this wonderful family.

We hope that our relationship will last forever.

How we loved our quaint little village. So many beautiful homes and things to see. I just couldn't take enough pictures of all the homes. I have posted pictures of these before, but I just couldn't resist my favorites again. These will be the ones I see in my dreams.

We let the children pick how they wanted to spend their last night in France. They all voted on the Bistro, the local restaurant right in Bourron Marlotte. The food is delicious and the people have always been so nice.

Sophie with her escargot. She put it in, chewed it gave it a "hmm good" and then spit it out.

The rest of us found it to be delicious.
Well, not quite all the rest of us.
Happy as a clam- oh, I mean snail.

The restaurant owner took the photo for us, and before she did she asked us several times if all the children were ours. We answered every time with a Oui-yes, and then she gives Mark the "Oh, la la".
Our mouths will forever water for the taste of the delicious French food we were so spoiled with.

I think that just means many return trips.

Guédelon Chantier Médiéval

As our time winds down here, Annie wanted to be able to send off one more letter to Ally, so on our way we stopped at the post for one last letter drop.

Our neighbors had told us of a 13th Century castle being built today as if it were being built back then, using all the techniques form the 13th Century. The kids really wanted to see this so we found ourselves at Guédelon.

This is a work in progress. It began in 1997 and is scheduled to take 25 years. The idea is to be able to see the building of a castle in it's different stages. All the supplies they need-sand, rock, wood etc. are found right there on the site.

The quarry is quite impressive, with it's massive, colorful rocks.

We watched the stone cutters take those enormous rocks and begin to turn them into window arches, door headers and many other parts for the castle.

We decided to take a tour so we could learn as much as possible about the castle and the idea behind it. There was a big crowd for the tour, but when the tour guide came out and called for all the french speakers everyone left but us- so we had our own private tour with Simon. He was a student who wanted to try to improve his English and thought this would be a good way to practice, he was terrific.

A little lesson in geometry.

This was one of our favorite parts, Simon explained the science behind the doors and the secret locks. The big brace he is standing behind actually slides back into the wall of the castle so it is hidden and can be pulled as an extra security.

Everything they were working on was so interesting. Here we watched a man making shingles from logs.

I found this to be a very brilliant contraption. It is the "rain gutter".

We just knew if Grandpa T was here he would have asked if he could have a whack at this arch the woodcutter was creating.

We later saw our guide Simon, apprenticing with the blacksmith.

We are hoping to come back in a few years and see the progress of the castle.
Check out the website at www.guedelon.fr/en
We took the Scenic route home and passed many other castles. We decided to take a peek inside this one.

Chateau de Ratilly. The path leading up to the castle was very impressive and very secluded.


Vive en France

The field adjacent to the chateau was irresistible.
Rooftops and old buildings on winding streets- I will miss this.

We saw many neat old castles, but look at this great house. I made Mark turn around so we could get some good photos. Isn't that just awesome.