Our First Week

Our first week in France has been spent with lots of family time, food, and wine.  Our first full day included a mid-morning visit with Marc’s parents, lunch with Valerie’s parents (it was her Dad’s birthday), swimming and trampoline in the afternoon for the kids, and then dinner with Marc’s parents. 

 Marc's family!

 Marc's favorite, Flan.  This came after a delicious cheese souffle.

 Lola trying flan with Papa and Tonton (Uncle) Olivier.  Yum!

Teah too.

Honestly, the rest of the week was pretty similar.  Activities scheduled around meals with swimming and trampoline in between.  Plus a special birthday dinner for Marc's mom.

Our breakfast (bread, cheese, olive oil, yogurt, fruit, tea, coffee) - a bit different from home.
A typical French breakfast is usually bread with butter and jam or a croissant.

Fish tonight!  The girls were kinda freaked out that the heads were still on.

The view from our table at Marc's brother's house!  Pas mal (not bad).

 Mamie's (Grandma's) Birthday Cake -- Mille Feuilles (Thousand Leaves)

This was not your ordinary (gigantic) cut of meat.  This meat was bought from a specialty butcher who dry ages the meat for 90 days.  Apparently this dehydrates the meat in a way that increases the flavor and tenderness.  I certainly don't consider myself a connoisseur of meat but it was rather delicious served with a nice dry red wine.

A peach, banana, and grape crumble followed.  So yummy!

After only a few days of all this delicious food, my tummy was telling me to slow down.  Cheese three times a day, dessert and wine with lunch and dinner.  I know it sounds amazing but truly there’s only so much a gut can take.  The cheese, dessert, and wine would have to be tapered back a bit if I was going to survive a year in France.

Not too far from our house there is a sweet little park right on the lake.  We took the girls there one afternoon and within minutes they find the one girl speaking English. They hit it off and we returned 2 days later to go swimming with her. 

 

A little side note about the English girl.  Of all the children to meet this one just so happened to be the daughter of an old classmate of Marc’s.  They live in England now but he grew up in Thonon and he and his sister went to the same school as Marc and his brother.  We discover this after talking with the little girl’s mom and Grandma for a bit.  The Grandma asked what Marc’s last name is and right away she remembered him and his family.  What a crazy, small world we all live in.