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Yesterday we had our first music class for Makenna.  It is at a café that we normally go to for our “Moms and Babies” meet ups, which is a great place that has a play room full of toys and books and they also have classes for kids including painting and story time.

The class was a half hour and there were 4 other kids with us.  They started off singing a French song and then singing the song while holding hands and walking in a circle.  Then each child got to pick an instrument to play with for a little while.  The teacher then took out bells and had each child play their bell.  After they put the instruments away, the children had a chance to play the keyboard.  Makenna loved it and actually did really well playing with both hands!  Next was taking turns playing drums.  Lastly, the teacher took out a couple stuffed animals that made animal sounds.

Makenna really enjoyed the class and it’s a great way for her to start learning how to take turns and listen to instructions (and also hear and learn French!)

One thing we’ve really had to adjust to here is the “french breakfast”.  This was especially tough when we first arrived and were tired and hungry and had to eat breakfast in our temporary hotel.

Breakfast isn’t a big thing here, in fact, it’s nothing like in the U.S.  A typical breakfast here is a croissant, café (espresso) and a glass of orange juice.  A hotel breakfast may also include some cheeses, baguettes, cereal and yogurt.  Nicer hotels may have a “hot” breakfast.  Malted breakfast drinks also seem popular.

There are no breakfast restaurants here and the cafes will be open selling drinks but no food.

Protein lovers beware!

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Yesterday we went to visit Puy de Dôme which is a volcano just outside of Clermont-Ferrand.  It is about 4,800 ft high and can be reached by hiking up steep trails or taking a tram (we obviously chose the latter).

The tram ride itself was beautiful and of course the views from the top were amazing.  We even saw some people paragliding.

The photos I took definitely don’t do it justice, but hope you enjoy a glimpse of how beautiful our region of France is!

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One of the perks of living in France is Ryan has 3 weeks off in August!  He has a total of 42 vacation days this year which is AMAZING and we are really going to miss this when we move back to the U.S.  (Side note:  many businesses close for 3 weeks in August for vacation.  Most of the large stores and businesses will remain open, but you can walk through town and see a lot of places shut down.)  Mom and Dad P are here and we decided to take a trip to the Bordeaux area since we all love wine.

We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast which was in an apartment building, not a stand-alone house.  The building was pretty old and the B&B had a lot of character with original hardwood floors, fireplaces in the bedrooms and pretty wallpaper.  Mom and Dad P had a bedroom on the main floor and our bedroom was down a spiral staircase like our own private suite.

After we checked in, we went to get lunch in Place du Parlement.  Then we headed to Miroir D’eau (the water mirror) which is a huge slab of granite with many tiny fountains that either create shallow water or a mist.  Makenna loved playing in the water!  We walked around the city, had some ice cream, then went out for dinner.  When we got back to the B&B we put Makenna to bed and hung out in the living room enjoying some Bordeaux wine.

The next day we went to Saint Emilion which is a beautiful little city outside of Bordeaux, and is home to some very, very delicious wine.  We had a wine tasting at 10am at Chateau de Pressac which was a beautiful castle with amazing views.  This place was really neat because it is owned by a couple who actually live in the castle…many of the other chateaus are not actually occupied.  The wine tasting room had windows overlooking the valley which was really nice.  After our tasting we walked around the downtown area and about 90% of the shops were wine shops, with some craft and souvenir shops in between.  We ate lunch outside then headed to Chateau Saint Georges for another wine tasting.  This was another beautiful chateau that was inherited by the owner’s 7 children and they use it as their vacation home.  Our wine tasting here was interesting because it started outside in a garden where they had herbs, fruits and vegetables growing.  They had us taste and smell several things like mint, fennel, raspberries and tomatoes to educate us on flavors and smells that can be found in the wine.  Then we had 5 jars that we had to smell and guess what they were.  When we tasted the wine we had to guess what flavors were in each wine.

We spent the following day at the beach in Arcachon which is about 45 minutes outside of Bordeaux.  We wanted to start the day by visiting Dune du Pilat which is the tallest sand dune in Europe, but apparently everyone else in Europe who was on their 3 week vacation decided to go there and after sitting in traffic for about an hour we turned around.  We stopped for lunch along the beach at a place known for really good mussels.  For my main dish I decided to try grilled sardines and they were delicious!  The service wasn’t great though and lunch wound up taking 3 hours (lunches in France can be long, but usually no more than 2 hours) and of course Makenna wasn’t too happy about that.  Then we went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon.  We saw some huge jellyfish washed up on the beach but luckily didn’t encounter any in the water.  Makenna had a great time playing in the water and sand.

Our last day in Bordeaux was spent enjoying more wine tastings.  The first tasting was at Chateau d’Agassac which was really neat because it looked just like a traditional castle and even had a little moat around it.  We tasted 2 different wines and the tour guide accidentally poured too many glasses so of course I didn’t want any wine to go to waste and I had another glass.  Then we tasted a jam that was made with one of their wines which was really good.  Lunch was at a small local café and was delicious!  I had duck skewers that had dried apricots which tasted great together, and each of our meals came with a dessert and a carafe of wine which was easily 3 glasses of wine per person…not bad!  In the afternoon we had a wine tasting at Chateau Giscours which was beautiful.  There was a Dutch family on the tour with us and Makenna made friends with a little 6 year old girl, it was so cute.

We drove back the following day which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive.  For lunch we stopped at an “aire” (a rest stop) which was a really nice one as some of them can be pretty bare with just bathrooms where you have to squat.  This aire was huge and must be well known as it was super crowded.  They had a restaurant, sandwich café, small grocery store, nice bathrooms, a playground, picnic tables etc.  Some people even looked like they were setting up camp for the day, where they had tented areas with chairs and coolers set up.  In typical French fashion, people stopped and sat down for a meal and relaxed instead of grabbing food and eating in the car.  Some were even having wine with their meal.

The only down side of our trip is Makenna was basically eaten alive by mosquitos at the B&B.  There was no air conditioning (apparently what I thought meant “air conditioned” doesn’t always mean that, and sometimes just means they have heat) so we had to keep our windows open and in France they don’t have screens on the windows.  Makenna had so many bug bites all over her body that at one point we actually thought it might be chicken pox or something else and when we got home we took her to the doctor.  Thankfully it was just bug bites and the doctor prescribed some anti-itch medicine.

We all really loved Bordeaux and I’m hoping we make it back to Arcachon before we move back to the U.S. so we can see the dune!

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Mom and Dad P are visiting right now for a couple weeks and we decided to take a trip to the region where Beaujolais is made because they always drink this wine for Thanksgiving.  Ryan planned a day trip for us to go to 2 wine tastings and have lunch overlooking the village.

Our “adventure” started with the drive there….which was almost 2 1/2 hours….and a good part of the drive being on tiny, windy roads in the middle of nowhere.  We were starting to feel sick from all the turns in the road and really thought the GPS took us way off track somehow when we weren’t seeing any signs of life while literally driving up and down a mountain.  We finally made it to a main road and found the village of Beaujeu.

When we thought we found the place we had a reservation at for the first wine tasting, we couldn’t figure out where the actual wine tasting took place.  One building looked like it might be a hotel, and then we found a man standing outside the other building that we thought was “the place”, but somehow I think our reservation was lost in translation and the man said they were preparing for a wedding.  He called someone and asked if he had time to do a wine tasting with us and told us to go up the hill to a modern looking villa.  We started to walk but it was up this very steep hill and we didn’t see what we thought would be a “wine tasting place” in sight, just a house.  Well that house wound up being the location we were looking for and the vineyards were along side it.  It was the home of the winemaker whose family owns the building where the wedding was being held.  I had to change Makenna so they brought me into their living room to change her on the sofa and then took us outside and around to the back of the house. I literally thought we were going to sit on the patio of their home and taste wines but the winemaker, Jean Luc, took us into his basement where he built a wine tasting room and a room for bottling and labeling wine.  It was an interesting situation for sure, but it turned out to be a really neat experience.

We tasted 3 different wines and Jean Luc talked and talked to us for 2 hours.  Ryan did so well speaking to him and understanding what he was saying, I was impressed with how well his French has improved in less than a year!  Jean Luc didn’t charge us anything for the wine tasting and gave us 4 wine glasses too!  We bought 4 bottles which were all around 8 euros.  I love how we can find good wine that’s very inexpensive here.

After getting lost and then spending 2 hours with Jean Luc, we wound up going to lunch around 2pm.  We ate at a restaurant called La Terrasse which had a beautiful view overlooking the area.  Ryan was helping Mom and Dad P figure out what was on the menu and they ordered what they thought was veal.  Later on Ryan realized it was actually veal brain!!! I don’t think Dad P was too happy to hear that, but they said it wasn’t bad.  I’m glad I played it safe and ordered chicken!  For dessert, the waitress told us to go up to the counter and choose from their large selection of pastries, cakes and tarts.  Everything looked SO good, I had a hard time deciding.  After lunch it was too late to make it to our 2nd wine tasting so we took some pictures of the view and then headed home.

We really have an angel baby because Makenna only napped for about 30 minutes and didn’t eat as much as usual, not to mention she made it through a 2 hour wine tasting and 5 hours of driving!

It was a long day but as everything in France turns out to be, it was an adventure!  I don’t think I’ll ever forgot driving through those windy mountain roads to taste wine in someone’s basement!

We have been keeping pretty busy this summer between family visits and vacations, but there has also been a lot going on here in Clermont. One of the interesting/funny things was at the large park in the city, where we heard some techno music playing while on our way to the playground.  We then realized there was a DJ booth set up in the middle of the pond, and then thought maybe someone got married or there was some event being held in the park, but it was just for entertainment for whoever came into the park.  We thought it was so funny we were watching Makenna play in the playground while there was club music blaring.

Since Clermont is in the center of France and not close to any beaches, the beach was brought to the city for what they call the “Sand Show”.  For almost 2 months (and for FREE), they turned a large area into a place for sand, pools, beach chairs, fountains, trampolines and jungle gyms, a food truck and more.

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In the main square, Place de Jaude, they planted some beautiful areas of landscape art.  There is also some beautiful landscape art in the park where they are constantly changing, creating and maintaining flower beds and landscaping.

For Bastille Day, we went to Lac d’Aydat which is about 20 minutes away and has a small beach area.  There were pedal boat and paddle board rentals, barbecue areas and a playground.  It was nice to cool off after the hot weather we’ve been having (many days of 90 to 100 degrees!) and Makenna loved the water.

We also spent a weekend in Geneva, Switzerland visiting my best friend from college.  We walked around Old Geneva, the lake and what I call the “big squirt”.  On Sunday morning, we drove across the border to a town in France called Divonne-les-Bains where they have a great market.  There was a ton of local produce, cheese, sausage, baked goods etc.

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Makenna and I have enjoyed spending a lot of time at the park and the public pool.  One of the public pools has a splash park outside with all sorts of fountains and sprinklers for kids to play in (which I prefer over the pool sometimes since it’s not required to wear swim caps there).  Both public pools have a grassy area for relaxing and the other pool has a retractable roof so the pool is somewhat “outdoors” when the weather is nice.

I love living in a small city!  It’s so nice there are so many activities available to enjoy the summer, especially when everyone has 3 weeks of vacation in August!  Now if only the US would adopt this idea…

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Yesterday we took a day trip to Le Puy en Velay, which is a town about an hour and a half from us.  It’s known for it’s cathedral, lentils and lace-making.  They have a weekly market on Saturdays so we walked around and, of course, bought some lentils.  Then we stopped at La Table du Plot for lunch where we had an appetizer of lentils with pigs feet (for the record I probably wouldn’t order that again…but we had to try it).

After lunch we checked out some of the lace shops near the cathedral and watched a shop owner making lace outside.  Then we went to the cathedral where we had to walk up 60 steps to the entrance.  While taking some pictures, we noticed a man laying down on a slab of stone in the front of the church and had no idea what he was doing. After reading more about it, this is a stone slab where people can lay upon it in hopes to receive healing.

We then went to Saint Michel d’Aiguilhe, a small chapel built on a volcanic extrusion.  We had to climb 268 steps carved into the rock to get to the chapel so it was a good workout getting up there but definitely worth it!  The chapel was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but really interesting to see.  There was a walkway built around the chapel so you could walk around it and see views of the city from all directions. We  were able to see the Statue of Notre Dame as well.

We were pretty tired after that climb so we headed home and had to stop at McDonald’s on the way after I saw a sign that they had McFlurries with Speculoos cookies.  Let me tell you, this was delicioussss!  And while I was in McDonald’s I noticed they were selling cans of Heineken…ahhh you just gotta love Europe!

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Last night we went on our first date night in Clermont Ferrand!  We’ve only gone out 2 other times sans bébé over the 7 months we’ve been here, but last night was the first time it was just Ryan and I.

After leaving Makenna with her Grammy, we headed to La Gourmandine for dinner which is one of the many small restaurants in the center of town.  Since the French eat a late dinner, we were the first ones at the restaurant for our 7:30 reservation.  We started our meal with an aperitif called a Kir which is white wine with black currant liqueur.  We each chose from the menu which included an appetizer, entree and dessert.  The food was delicious!  Then we stopped at an Irish pub for a drink.

On our way home we stopped at an outdoor concert, the Warmup Festival, which was a couple blocks down the street from our apartment.  I had to go to the bathroom when we got there and was expecting a nasty port-o-potty but was pleasantly surprised with actual bathroom stalls that were pretty clean.  My standards for bathrooms here have been lowered since many of them either don’t have a seat on the toilet, don’t have toilet paper or soap, are really small/dirty etc.  We then headed for the beer tent and immediately felt a little out of place since most of the people there were a little younger and more “hippie-ish”, but it was a lot of fun!  There were a list of bands playing throughout the night but the band that was playing when we were there was actually singing in English.  They finished their set and then 2 DJs started playing music on another stage while the next band was getting ready to come on.

We are really loving summer in France so far!

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My mom is visiting for 3 weeks so last week we took a trip to Barcelona.  It was about a 6 hour drive and the views were beautiful!  Driving on the highways here are nothing like driving on the long, boring highways in the US.  Unfortunately, the rest stops are not always the greatest and I found out the hard way that sometimes the bathrooms literally only have a hole in the floor and you have to squat!

We arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon so we decided to have a relaxing day at the pool after the long drive.  The hotel pool was on the rooftop and had ocean views which was really neat.  The water was pretty chilly but Makenna loved it anyway, and she really enjoyed her pool float!  After some time at the pool, we took a walk to see the nearby beach and then headed to the hotel’s outdoor lounge.  We sat outside and had some drinks and carpaccio until the hotel restaurant opened at 8.  We usually don’t go out to dinner here since restaurants open late and it’s hard with a baby, but Makenna did well and was happy chewing on some bread.  My first course was a vichyssoise soup with octopus.  That was my first time eating octopus and I liked it!

The next day we started our day with breakfast at the hotel and were pleasantly surprised at the selection they had.  There were meats, cheeses, fruit, eggs, pastries, saucisson (dried sausage), a chocolate fountain, champagne, espresso etc.  Of course Ryan and I had to have a few mimosas before we left!  We took a hop-on hop-off bus to the Sagrada Familia and spent quite awhile admiring the architecture and stained glass and then walked to a cafe for a coffee break.  Then we walked to see Casa Mila (another building along with Sagrada Familia and others that were designed by Gaudi) and headed to Santa Gula for lunch.  This restaurant was recommended to us and we loved the tapas there!  After lunch we got back on the tour bus and went to Park Guell which I was very excited about after seeing pictures online.  The park is so big that we only had time to see a portion of it but it was beautiful and had really great views overlooking the city.  We even got to listen to a guy playing the saxophone in one area.  I was hoping to see some statues made with mosaic tiles that I saw pictures of but we couldn’t find them….I guess we just need to plan another trip there!

We spent the following day checking out the Las Ramblas area which is a popular street full of shops, souvenirs, street performers etc.  When we rode past it the day before on the tour bus it was overflowing with people, so we decided to get there earlier in the day when it wouldn’t be as crowded.  We only saw 1 street performer which was a guy dressed like some kind of creature so we weren’t impressed; I guess we were there too early!  I spotted a Starbucks and had to stop for coffee…I really love my café in France, but I still miss my Starbucks!  Next we went to the La Boqueria market which was AWESOME.  There were booths with fresh smoothies and juices, candy, candied nuts, fruit, meats, empanadas, fish, oils, and more.  There were even some mini cafes set up where people could sit at the bar and eat.  We stopped at a wine store next to the market and got a few bottles of Spanish wine including Tempranillo (which was necessary since we failed to bring wine home from Italy!).  Next we checked out El Corte Inglès which is a big department store that sells pretty much everything you can think of.  We finished our day with some time at the pool and  a little shopping at the nearby mall.

Our last day in Barcelona was spent at our favorite place- the beach!  It was Father’s Day and Ryan got a nice gift of seeing some topless ladies at the beach (you’re welcome hunny)…although the majority of them were not something you’d want to see.  Makenna enjoyed playing in the water even though it was a little cold.  The only downside was there were people walking around trying to sell drinks, beach blankets and massages.  Which reminds me…there were signs in the Las Ramblas area with a picture depicting you will basically get the plague if you buy drinks from a street vendor.  For lunch we went to Can Manel near the beach and got paella- YUM!  Then we walked along the marina and checked out the yachts while drinking sangria.  After putting Makenna to bed that night, we ordered dinner to be delivered by Uber Eats.  Apparently the Uber taxi service was banned in Barcelona so they now operate Uber Eats where they pick up food from local restaurants and deliver it to you.  The menu changes each day and the food comes from a few select restaurants.  The food was great and it was so quick and easy to get our food!  Then Ryan and I went out for drinks (delicious mojitos) for our first date night in probably at least 9 months!  Thanks mom!

We heard and read so much about pickpockets in Barcelona but we never had a problem nor did we see anything shady.  I think if you’re smart about how you handle your belongings and you avoid the metro and certain areas at night it’s not too bad.

This was another great vacation and I’m so thankful we’re living in France and have the opportunity to travel to these places!

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I am wayyy behind on my blog posts!  In the beginning of May I went with some of the  other expat ladies to Vichy for a spa weekend.  We took the train which was fun in itself for me as it was only the 2nd time I’ve been on a train and we got to sit on these little couches and chat which was nice.  Vichy is only about 40 minutes away and the train ride took about the same time as it would by car.

The main idea behind taking this spa trip was for our friend Tracy to have a relaxing weekend before she is due with her 4th baby!  When we arrived in Vichy we went to a cafe for lunch and Tracy had a fancy mocktail while a few of us enjoyed flavored iced teas since you don’t see iced tea on many French menus.  We then checked into our hotel which had a spa and “Vichy Institute” for skin treatments etc.  We all booked different spa treatments and in between our appointments we relaxed in the pool filled with Vichy thermal water, the sauna and the hammam.  There was also a selection of herbal teas that we took full advantage of!

I decided to get a full body massage while I was there and that was definitely a different experience than what I had in the US.  The massage started off nice and relaxing and the next thing I knew she was karate chopping me, or at least that’s what it felt like!  Then, I had to turn and lay on my back which was normal until she took off the sheet and my whole torso was exposed.  She proceeded to massage above, below and in between my boobs.  That was a little awkward!  Overall it was nice and relaxing.

That night we went to dinner at a nice restaurant on the lake called La Rotande.  The menu was amazing and very different.  One of the things I love about being in France is trying foods that I normally wouldn’t/couldn’t eat back home.  I also find it hilarious that restaurants are 100% dog friendly and that in this pretty fancy restaurant someone brought in their dog the size of a bear, that laid by their feet the entire meal.  For my appetizer I ordered some kind of escargot dish that had green sauce…I can’t even remember what exactly I ate, nor did I really know what the description was in French but it was delicious!  My main course was pork cooked 4 different ways which again was very interesting.  We all had dessert and then the waiter came over with a cart full of candies, cookies and chocolates.  We couldn’t believe that on top of our dessert we were being served more sugary goodies!  There’s no limit as to how many candies you can choose, but I somewhat contained my inner fat kid and chose 3 things.  It was one of the best meals I’ve had in France so far and of course took about 3 hours like all French dinners.  I must admit, we’ve adjusted pretty well to the later dinner time and the amount of time it takes to eat out at a restaurant!

We spent the night in the hotel and took the train back the next morning.

I had a great time with the ladies and it was wonderful to have break from baby duty! But of course I couldn’t wait to get back to my loves 🙂