gabriella & jd (and alex! and vincent!)

view of Hautvillers, France Three day vacation in the Champagne region of France, a two hour drive from Paris.  We visited Epernay in 2009 and loved it, more than the larger city of Reims in 2011, so we decided to stay in a small town outside of Epernay called Hautvillers.  Dom Perignon (the monk who discovered how to make champagne) is buried in the church in the town.  We found an amazing bed and breakfast we highly recommend, Le Clos Des Armoiries.  We drove through many small towns, a ton of vineyards, military cemeteries, the forest and mountains of Reims, and of course ate and drank as much as we could.  We literally started tasting champagne at Mercier at 10:30 a.m. on Friday and kept going all day! No headaches the next day either.  That's some good stuff. Thursday Leaving Paris, lunch at Auberge de l'Omois in Baulne-en-Brie where we were the only patrons, and the chef told us which neighbor supplied which ingredient for the meal.  It...

pictures We went to watch the parade and military plane fly-over from the other side of the Champs-Elysees. This year the parade was smaller than last year and the public was not allowed to view the military vehicles after the parade, due to security etc., but it was still a fun time.  Nothing beats the fly-over and all those military planes. more pictures list of type of airplanes that flew over:

pictures Monday July 6th Alex left for 2 weeks of camp outside of Dijon.  He took the train from Gare de Paris Bercy with the group.  We have seen some pictures and heard from the counselors that Alex is having a great time and there will be more pictures when they return. pictures The first week Alex was gone, JD had to go to Romania, so Vincent and I enjoyed some leisurely days of going to the park.  We even saw his friend Sandro.  Saturday we walked into town and had a nice lunch at a bistro in the 17th. pictures Monday we went across town to the Canal St. Martin, then walked into the Marais.  We had lunch at a much written about taqueria restaurant called "Candelaria", which was good and legitimately spicy. The guac was good, the chips too dark and thick, the green pepper taco the best, followed by the cactus taco and then chorizo.

pictures End of June - before the heatwave.  School, drinks outside, Vincent celebrating his June birthday at school. pictures Some time in the park before it got too hot.  A cat in the apartment across the courtyard on the second floor cooling on the ledge. Last day of school and the heatwave End of CE2 (third grade) for Alex, petite section (preschool) for Vincent.  We've had a terrible heatwave here for the past week, the hottest we've ever experienced while living in France.  It was 102°F on July 1st and in the 90's the rest of the time. But we survived and it is supposed to be cooling off soon. Lots of underwear time for the boys and cool baths each night. pictures Saturday, finishing up errands before Alex goes away to camp on Monday.  Lunch outside at a new bistro, Alex went to a soccer birthday party, and got a haircut for camp.  Packing for camp and Alex's favorite dinner, salmon with broccoli and rice. potato chip flavors in France a...