Adrenaline was pumping through my body so much when I walked down the stairs from that little plane once it landed in Nantes. It was pumping so hard I thought I might actually jump out of my own skin. That was especially true once I spotted Louise, Gildas, Pauline, and Denis waiting on the other side of the glass. I waved, blew kisses, hopped around, and attempt to make introductions through the glass while Stephanie and I waited for our bags.
Once we had our bags and rounded the corner towards my friends, culture shock immediately set in. I wanted to run to them and hug them around their necks. In French culture it is bisous (kiss kiss on the cheek) that is the norm. For as many French lessons as I had allowed myself to practice prior to the trip, I was under prepared for actual conversation. Many blank stares were given, "quoi"s spoken, and interpretations from Stephanie who does not even know French.
We all sat awkwardly at an airport table trying to make small talk and make plans. I was still sweating and shaking from the coursing adrenaline- it was almost an out of body experiene. Stephanie took a picture and that started to break the ice. Finally we making the hour drive from Nantes to Rennes where Louise and Gildas live. We piled into the BMW, sang along to mostly American songs on the radio, and attempted naps. We made a stop for tea at Adeline and Anthony's flat before lugging our bags to our flat. Adeline and Anthony have a dog named Figi and enjoyed watching videos of Dharma and Bizi playing in the snow.
The English/French dicrionary first came out when talking about Whiskey. I made a major attempt to explain honey whiskey when Gildas pulled a whiskey bottle from their liquor cabinet. I flipped through the dictionary to find the word for honey (miel) and proceeded to fail in my explaination of honey whiskey. Next thing I know I have a small glass of whiskey in front of me along with a bottle of honey and a spoon. That experience and taste was far from similair to American style honey whiskey.
For the first day we took a trip to Mont St Michel. There were many steps, a famous omlette restaurant, a picnic in the rain, and many photo opts. That night Louise took Stephanie and me into Rennes where we met Marina at a popular coffee/tea shop. Marina and Louise had not seen each other since school ended, so there was a lot of catching up to do for all involved. After coffee and tea we walked to the parliment building and watched a holiday animation displayed on the front.
After the animation show we all went back to Louise's flat to partake in a galette/crepe dinner that Gildas had prepared. Ham, eggs, cheese, creme freche, and tuna were available for building the indivual galettes. Everything was tastey and my belly filled up long before it was time to finish eating. This was the case most of the trip. There was always so much food. When we had all finished dinner the girls played a couple games of Rumikub. Rumikub is played fondly by many of the French folk.
St Malo was ours for the adventuring on day two. J'adore St Malo. It is an old, walled in, pirate town. The streets are made of stone, seafood is inexpensive and delicious, the sea can be seen from walking in the walls of town, and on this particular trip Christmas tunes could be heard down each alley. The wind was extreme that day and there was mist in the air which made carrying umbrellas and taking photos memorable. For lunch we all ate mussels (moules), frites, and cider. Stephanie and I also shared a galette. Crepes were again enjoyed for dessert. During the meal we enjoyed conersation about how expensive mussles are in America and what a delicacy they can be. We also cheered and chinked glasses, shared vocabulary (fork/forchette, knife/couteau, tree/arbre, ), and took photos- per the usual.
Naps were a must when we arrived back to the flat after exploring St Malo for the day. We lounged for a short time, Stephanie braided my hair, and once the BMW was packed with everyone's bags we hit the road towards Chateaubriant. It was time for an old fashioned French family Christmas. It was astounding the greetings that we received just from Mum, Papa, Eugenie, and Melanie. I cannot think of any situation more surreal than being back in that house, bisous from the sisters, and walking upstairs, as if I remembered the place like the back of my hand, to stow luggage.
Although Christmas had passed, it was time for presents and celebrating. Stephanie and I opened our gifts first. We received scarves, tea sets, handmade bracelets, and other beautiful and thoughtful things. My nerves set in as I handed presents to each of the Belays. I was nervous that my French used in their cards to explain the gifts might be insuffiencent or just terrible, but all was well when I head Mum and Papa speak, "tu es tres gentil." It was a winderful time watching everyone read their cards and inspect their gifts. I will always remember Papa wearing his new KC Chiefs blanket like a cape, pointing to the couch, making snoring sounds, and indicating that it would stay there forever- as would the miniture Statue of Liberty forever stay on the buffet.
In no time at all, the rest of the family had arrived and we were all seated around the table. There is no possble way to remember each dish that we were served for dinner and the accompanying bottle of wine or champagne. I cannot even remember how many courses there were at dinner that night. I simply remember eating and eating and eating. I also remember drinking more wine than ever before and provoking many laughs. There was a good amount of singing and dancing around the table that night too. The singing started with the cousins and then Stephanie and I were strongly encouraged to stand up and sing an American song for all to hear. After many embarrasing moments in attempting to choose a song, there we were, in front of all of my French family singing Home by Phillip Phillips. Somewhere out there exists a video, but fortunately, I know not where.
Through the remainder of our time in Chateaubriant, many such dinner parties transpired. Bread, wine, cheese, wine, chocolate, wine... The pattern seems clear to me. One of the best events was eating a pile, a literal pile, of crepe with Nutella and homemade honey after a walk through the forest with the cousins. Chateaubriant is something of a country town. The clear vast skies were advantageous for our walk and the creek and woods made for a beautiful backrop for our continuous photo opts. The adventure through the forest reminded me of adventures with my own cousins through the creek at grandma and grandpa's house. Singing, walking, posing for pictures, climbing, being silly- all things that make for lasting memories whether in Independence or Chateaubriant.
Funny thing about New Year's Eve- last year after having been in New York City to ring in the new year I decided to ring in 2013 by sitting at home in my pyjamas. Instead of being at home and in my pyjamas to ring in 2013 I was at a party in France disguised as The Queen of Hearts. Stephanie was clad in a red beret and was a fine looking Le Petit Chapeau Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood). Louise was impecibly dressed as an Incredible and Gildas was a poorly costumed John Lennon. The celebration consisted of many exciting and memorable things: alcohol; food-escargot, chips and dip, shrimp with eyes and tails, crab legs, bread, and the list is forever long; games of song and action; dancing; fireworks, costumes; a questionably gendered bunny. Oh and more alcohol (with ice cream) and food. There were so many courses that tea and coffee eventually came at 3am. I will give the French a few things, one of which is that they know how to party.
Saying goodbyes was not as heartbreaking this trip as I know for certain that I will see everyone again. Louise and Gildas were gracious enough to drop us as the Rennes train station; Pauline and Denis were patient enough to pick us up at the Paris train station. Facebook saved our asses as we could not locate Pauline and Denis and did not have a phone. Thank you Facebook.
From the train station we dropped our bags at the hotel and walked to a cafe for lunch where Simon, Pauline's friend, met us. Simon lives near Paris and was kind enough to give up his entire day to be our personal, patient, tour guide. We saw what seemed like everything: la tour eiffel, l'arc de triomphe, les invalides, le louvre, montmartre, le moulin rouge, notre dame, le centre pompidou, sacre coeur, les champs-élysées, et al.
After saying farewell to Pauline, Denis, and Simon we went to the hotel to form a plan while I soaked my blistered feet. Our plan was to find Le Petit Chatelet, but not before stumbling upon an awesome used book store which we perused for a good long while. I was most excited to find the following books en français: Ramona the Pest, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, and The Polar Express. Once we were able to pull away from the bookstore we again checked the map and successfully located the restaurant across the avenue from Notre Dame. Speaking only en français to our waitor, successfully placing our orders en français, and understanding some conversations en français quickly sprang to the top of My Proudest Moments list. I was beyond estatic to have had such luck in French conversation.
Prior to departure from Paris we toured the Palace of Versailles where I was utterly mesmerized by the splendor and shine that The Hall of Mirrors offered. Steph seemed to greatly enjoy strolling through the gardens. Two last Must Do's before leaving- purchase rings from Pylones and stock up on Chocolate. Finding Pylones might be one of the biggest achievements of my life. With avenues changing names mid-block and directions en français we had some struggles with arrival. Once we walked through the front door and heaved a sigh of relief we marched directly to the ring counter and began choosing rings of varied size, shape, color, and inner fillings. A great amount of Euros were spent that night in the Pylones store and now the women of both my French family and my American family are connected by jewelry. More Euros were spent on the way back to our hotel as we made multiple stops for chocolate and candy.
To skip ahead a bit and summarize- there were issues getting to our last hotel, more issues checking my luggage at CDG airport, iPad with 3% battery life for a seven hour flight, watched episodes of Sherlock on the flight, handsome man with an accent and runny nose next to me on the airport shuttle to Grand Central Station, Thai food delivery, chatty girl on flight to Kansas City, and visits from family and friends once I was once again at home.
My desire of all things French has not been quenced it has simply grown to be more adoring.
Merci à tous qui a rendu ce voyage possible. Merci à ceux qui ont été patient, aimable et hospitalier. J'aime ma famille français et je suis très heureux de les accueillir un jour dans le missouri. Merci pour l'amour et les souvenirs. A plus.
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