Bonjour from Paris!

We've arrived! 

Our flight was very smooth and we actually landed a little earlier than our newly scheduled time. I managed to sleep for a few hours but Ash didn't sleep at all. I'm pretty sure she didn't want to miss out on the mini bottles of wine they kept handing out. 

We touched down around 9:40 am and promptly failed our first french speaking test. We couldn't find the right words for "Where would be the most likely place for someone to be waiting for us?" Fortunately, Nathalie showed up a few minutes later with her son, Pierre, and we hopped on the train to Paris (about 45 mins).  

When we arrived at their house, her two oldest boys had put together a delicious lunch of oven roasted chicken, rice, pâté, bread and an assortment of amazing cheeses. Nathalie had also baked a cherry pie made with cherries from her garden. It was quite the feast, but in France, lunch is considered to be the most important meal of the day. 

We then left with Nathalie for Chateau de Thierville, to pick up her youngest son, Jean, from a week long scout camp. It was a long enough drive (2 hrs), and although we both tried to push through and not sleep at all during day, we both crashed almost immediately. The castle was beautiful from the outside. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to go in. The camp was set up near the chateau on its large property. The picture doesn't really do it justice. It's still lived in today by one of the camp leader's grandparents. 

 

The drive home was even longer as there was a lot of construction. We were back at their apartment in Paris by 8:30 pm, but they don't usually eat dinner until that time anyway. Naturally, Ash and I were starving. We had brought them a few boxes of Tim Hortons donuts and timbits from Pearson for dessert, and there wasn't a crumb left by the time they were done. I can't figure out what they see in Tim Hortons donuts over their own pastries, but they love them. 

We're both pretty exhausted as we try to adjust to the six hour time difference, so we're off to bed. 

Tomorrow, we're heading to the Louvre and some other touristy spots in that area. We're hoping to get into some more of those authentic french delicacies. Bring on the elastic waist sweatpants!