I Survived the Mona Lisa Mosh Pit

This post could also be titled "When in Paris Do As The Non-Parisians Do".

Either one would work and if printed on a T-shirt would sell like Eifel Tower souvenirs in this fine French city - crazy.

I think I know what Mona Lisa is smiling at after I witnessed (and admittedly was part of) the nutty spectacle of amateur paparazzi going after the easy target. She must be amused because it was pretty funny and actually pretty fun. Now I know that going to one of the world's most famous museums and viewing serious and priceless art is not normally "fun" in a ha ha funny way, but there definitely was an air or giddiness as we joined the scrum to get a view of Leonardo da Vinci's work. Yes it felt more like a rock concert than an art museum, but this was an centuries old icon we were seeing, one we had seen thousands of times over and in countless ways (including bad candy bar commercials), but never in real life. We were all already familiar with her, yet suddenly here she was, in the open with only a thick piece of glass, and wooden barrier, a rope, 3 meters of space filled with throngs of other adoring and curious fans. Replacing the lighter over the head from rock concerts of the past were cell phone cameras, digital SLRs and mini camcorders of people from around the world. If Coke is the most internationally recognizable product and logo, then Mona Lisa has to be a close second.

The Louvre has many amazing pieces of art to view and to see with the time and weight that one wishes. The Mona Lisa isn't one of them, but if you put the right hat on, going to see her sure is fun.

Family - Far and Wide

Ahhh - there is something to be said for family in far away places that meet you with open arms and where the hugs are held just a little bit longer.

We have been lucky since leaving Iceland to first spend time with Grandpa B and Granny Bird, a great dinner with Bruce and Mona (Grandpa B's cousin),

soon followed by Michael, Jackie and Josh in France (some connection Karen has tried to explain but I really need the family tree for reference), sister Chris (no - not a nun) and HW from Germany who drove days and many kilometers to meet us in Portugal, and Paddy (again need the family tree), Raquel, and Tiego who taught us the finer details about Portuguese cuisine. Our adventures become that much richer when we are able to share it with family directly as we travel (and indirectly through this blog). Looking forward to seeing the nephews in Trier and catching up with the Hofmann and Vaverka clans in Austria. After Austria it will be longer spell before we see friends and family again so we are being thankful for it now. Always great to get emails and comments on the blog for those of you on some other part of the world.

Being with family and friends seems to make events that much more memorable as well. Perhaps it is because we can fill in details for each other when our memory fails us, but I think there is more to it than that. Those extra connections made during the experience seem to heighten our awareness of them. Little tidbits of history or background help make things more solid. Sometimes it is the smiles and the laughter that set the event stronger in our minds. Whatever the case, it is great when we can connect with family and happy we have each other when we just have the four of us.

Lots of stuff...

1. Puy Du Fou: We went to a theme park called Puy Du Fou. We saw 5 shows. One of them was called birds of Prey. They trained birds to catch food out of the air. they brought birds very very high up in a hot air balloon and then the birds came down and landed on some trainers arms. There were two bald eagles and one Golden Eagle that were in the balloon. They even had vultures and four types of owls.
There was another one called Gladiators.The Gladiators were very nasty people. They were like soldiers from the queen, except in the olden days there were emperors not kings and queens. The gladiators were nasty to the people they had captured. The gladiators captured random people. They made them fight against stronger and better at fighting people. They made huge stadiums just for show and they made some so big they battled ships in them. The gladiators fed the people they captured just enough to survive. They would have parades come through the stadium with other captured people from different countries all chained up. The gladiators would also put the people in cages and then stick their swords in the holes.
We watched the newest show about the French conquest over Spain.they were doing really crazy tricks on horses. They would make the horse gallop at top speed and then the rider would hang upside down and pick up a scarf. One person rode standing up on two horses hike they were galloping at top speed. They even did jousting and it looked like they hit the other rider. On one they were going top speed and the rider threw a spear that hit exactly the centre of a target.

2. Fishes and Dishes - a day in Spain.
We went on a hike to a beach. Some of the rocks and shells looked like dishes. Speaking of dishes, we had a huge lunch, and a yummy one too. We went to a restaurant in village from medieval times. On the lunch we saw lots and lots of crabbies. Back to the beach...at the beach we saw a dead jelly fish and we checked out some huge caves we saw from a telescope on the highway. Daddy almost got trapped because the tide came in so fast. We caught a fish that was about two inches long. It would suck on the ground so it was hard to pick up off the rock. It was very very colorful with brown spots on it and red fins. We were hiking back up to our campsite....it was very muddy and we were attacked by some goats. They were actually coming just to check us out, they were shy.lol. Once we were back at the campsite, we had some crazy weather, first it tinkled, then it got sunny and then it poured. We ran for shelter, so did mom and dad.

Written by everyone's friends- Mattias and Emilia

On Eating France

We are in Spain now and the French must be happy about that. Like many before us, we soon were determined to devour France and even had the appetite to do it. Our objectives were innocent enough to begin with - enjoy the scenery, visit the odd church, try some French language.., but we soon followed the lead of Michael, Jackie, and Josh and when in France do as the French do (in this case do as the Brits living in France do).

Mattias and Emila were to corner and conquer the Pan au Chocolat market while Karen and I focused on the sea food, particularly the mussels. Who can say "non" to all of the good food? Gallettes and crepes became part of regular take even when back into camping mode. Great cheeses and nice wine were staple food items and sooo easy on the budget.

One often hears that the French take their food very seriously and we would have to concur. The dent we made into the food supply should have them worried and though they may be happy about us leaving, we will be back soon as we swing back through France on our way to the Weisskircher enclave near Trier. We will be back and we will be bringing our appetites with us again. The Spanish are trying their best to fix that, but when it comes to food - my money is on the French. Of course, we have only been in Spain a couple of days, and are happy to prove ourselves wrong.

Lots To Do!

Better (okay) news for the monkey club: good climbing trees in France and England but no time to climb!!! We were at the beach today and we found lug worms - we had to dig for them. Then my dad and Michael caught a whopper of a Wrasse (ugly fish) at a different beach, Trestel beach. That type of fish is a female for the first eight years and some of them turn male WEIRD.

We made two booby traps and don't know if anyone fell into them.

We are staying with my third cousin, Joshua and he is a lot of fun. We bounce on his trampoline a lot and play footie together.

Sails up!

In England we went out for dinner and "it feels like Hawaii in England"! See photo below.

A few days ago we went sailing on the ocean. It was rocky and Mattias got sea sick! Some of the waves were from the floor to the roof. I was attached to the boat with a rope and a clip. It was windy..

We are in France now and today we went to the beach. I walked around all day in bare foot. I liked that. At the first beach we found some crabs and made a very sturdy sand castle. It looked more like a hump of sand. The second beach we dug a huge hole that could hold a bobcat in it. In it we made a bed, two chairs, a counter and stairs.

We are staying with some people (relatives of Mom's) but we are camping in their yard. A few minutes ago we watched a really good movie called Honey I Shrunk The Kids.