Onward to Le Val Richer

The kids were out of school for holidays (again) so on Saturday we loaded up the car and headed to Normandie to the family estate. I went back in August and took an extensive amount of pictures which were moronically deleted by yours truly. *Note: I will work on getting those posted next week, I promise.* It was only a little over two hours to get there and the weather was expected to be normal, which means rainy and cloudy.

I was excited to go as it wasn't my first time, so it would be more relaxing as I knew the ropes already. The first part of the week was laid back with a rather empty house, with only their maternal cousins, Matteo and Angela. If you remember from my trip to Greece, I spoke about them extensively. Mid-week a huge load of people came through and added a completely different element to the place. Lots more noise and less things to do.

Considering that I was there for almost a full week, I will have to spare you my daily itinerary and only give you the highlights - and photos, of course!

I won't tell you the full story of the estate. Basically it goes back to long ago, it's really vast, and I feel as thought I was walking in the 18th century (so much so that I bought the Jane Austen biography on my arrival back to Paris). This was the room I stayed in for the first night. It is called Le Confidente.

My boots find a home wherever I take them. They are single-handedly my favorite article of clothing. Every city I visit, these boots carry me.

On our first night I took a long walk with Verena after dinner. The lighting was perfect, but dusk has always been my favorite time of day. The grass was a little wet and we meandered through the hills and paths beyond the main house. I practiced taking some photos and gave her some lessons on the manual focus.

The main house

We found the kids playing on the tennis court at the end of our walk. Angela doesn't speak English and Matteo speaks just a little. She always asks her mother "...has Connie learned French yet?" before she sees me because there is only so much you can do together when the communication lines, um, don't exist. I answered her question by speaking to her in French. If she didn't give me the desired response I would follow up with "Tu comprend?" to which she would reply with a giggly "OUI!"

After the first night I moved rooms into La Belle au Bois. It's a large room with two double windows that give a view of the front yard.

The main hallway in the Maurice wing of the house. I was standing in the middle from the doorway of La Belle au Bois.

Most days followed the same routine. Breakfast was between 8:00 and 10:00 and always consisted of coffee, Nesquick, Ovaltine, French toasted bread, butter, and confiture. We had until noon when the lunch bell rang. It was four courses - entree, main meal, salad and cheese, then dessert. At 4:00, the gouter bell would ring. Snack time! It was the same as breakfast. Then at 7:00, the dinner bell would ring. Four courses again. Not your ordinary food. Everything about it was original as if you were living back when the house ran like it was intended. I will say that I ate rabbit, lamb, celery root, spinach and salmon lasagna, and even authentic French fries. Believe me, I have about twenty recipes to practice and cannot wait to master them!

In between meals, we played soccer, tennis, ping pong, volleyball, or basketball. I helped Verena with her cartwheels and handstands, and then the other kids wanted to join in on the fun. We spent so much time just goofing around in the front yard. One of the most fun times was when the kids tried to make grass mustaches. Angela couldn't keep a straight face and would constantly laugh and make her grass fly off before I could snap the photo.

Balthazar showing his mocked enthusiasm.

The suave Barthelemy.

Verena playing the piano in the Piano Room, of course.

Sometimes when I was a little bored, I would either read or take photos. Verena was always willing to be my model when I wanted the practice. Bless her. Although I think she's just wanting some good pics for Facebook. And when I didn't feel like doing either of those things I would watch episodes of Friends with Balthazar. I introduced him to a website where he could watch all of them. It probably wasn't the best idea. For the entire week, all of our conversations would somehow relate to a scene from Friends.

One morning after breakfast, I took off outside to capture what Normandie looks like in the never ending fog. It's absolutely gorgeous! I wanted to capture exactly how large and dreamlike this estate really is. I would disappoint you and myself if I tried only to do it with words, because it wouldn't suffice. Even pictures can't do it. It's about the coolness of the air, the smell of farm country, and the sounds of water, bugs, cows...and of course the meal bell at the main house.

To the left is the farm house from the middle ages. It might not look like a feat of engineering or that it has held up well, but I know of some houses that fall apart after ten years, so there is something to say for the people that could stack bricks like this.

This is when I was coming towards the back of the house which leads down to the main entrance.

This was a mini-photoshoot that I did with Verena using the Middle Aged church as a backdrop. It is now used as the bike storage, but the trees only allowed a little bit of light in which made it great to take photos. I'm only posting two.

Verena has "poney" lessons every Saturday in Neuilly. It's basically just equestrian lessons. Her mother wanted to go horseback riding with her over the weekend, but there were no openings. I volunteered to go and said that I had experience with horses, some and not alot. We got a call saying that we could come at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday we got in the car and took a fifteen minute drive to the stables. The family member that drove us said that it was one of the nicest and most well-known facilities in all of France. When we drove down the dirt roads, I could hardly believe my eyes. It was the most beautiful scenery and I will fully admit that my photography is a gross injustice to it. We had a quick lesson on the anatomy of a horse, then we were able to brush and care for some Shetland ponies before our official lesson began. That meant that I had to bridle Penelope. I faked my knowledge of how to apply the saddle and bit. I didn't think it would be too reassuring to the management that their biggest horse was being handled by an absolute amateur despite the fact that she was wearing authentic cowboy boots. (Yes, I finally wore my boots to ride a horse!)

When I think of Normandie, this is what I think of - black and white cows and really green hills with fog.

I won't elaborate too much on the Day of Inadequacy, also known as the day I rode horses in Normandie. Basically when I said that I had been horseback riding before, I meant that I have gone riding through fields on horses. Well not the case for this day. They gave me Penelope, the largest horse. When I say large, I mean that this horse's tail started above my head. I had to mount the horse by standing on a chair first. When we rode to the arena I almost passed out. I saw bit beams and cones and a maze on the ground. Yes, I had my first equestrian lesson. Not hard enough? Well it was also in French. Just imagine it. I had no training in the technique of riding a horse. The woman was constantly, repeatedly correcting me on how to do the proper English riding. I wasn't holding the reigns tight enough. I wasn't kicking her hard enough in the sides. My mind was jello and so were my aching thighs. I said "ALLEZ!" while kicking that dang slow Penelope more than I care to admit. I must say that I didn't do too horribly bad for my first lesson. Verena was proud of me. We had a competition at the end. It was timed and points were given. I completed the task of galloping with the horse through cones, a maze, in between a narrow set of beams, dismounting, guiding the horse, then remounting. I came in fifth (out of 8) in 2:14 minutes. Verena came in second at 1:38 seconds. Yes, there were eight people, but they were all between the ages of 8 and 13. I'm still proud of myself.

Penelope, the mutant-sized big horse that I rode.

Verena and her horse Diabolo.

Not much else happened in the week. I tutored Verena for four hours a day in English, Geography, History, Science, and Spanish, I played tennis and ping pong extensively and found out that I am quite decent (one semester of college tennis can really help a person), I ate some really good food, I finished two books, and I am hoping I've got some pictures that will be on the walls of my house someday. A successful week and relaxing week, no complaints. We packed our things up on Thursday and went home on the train. We were all exhausted and had a snack outside of the Relay store in the station. Balthazar seemed the most tired, which is ironic considering he sat and watched Friends for a week straight. I snapped some pictures of him while he was asleep. I am sure he wouldn't appreciate it, but it's all for the sake of entertainment. Hopefully you can get a grasp for the length of his legs. It is no trick of the camera!