Bonjour!

 

Hi Everyone,

For those of you that don't know, we're in France! Specifically La Roche, Alba la Romaine in the Ardeche in the south of France. One of Whitney's best friends from childhood, Miranda, settled here after college and has been chatting about a visit for years. So when we thought about our first family trip out of the country, it seemed wise to be with friends the boys already knew and loved (Miranda and her husband, David, have spent several weeks with us over the past couple of years and we zoom with them regularly). We knew that if we were going to spend the time and money to come so far, we'd wanna dig in and stay for a while. So we rented out our Asheville house to fund out travels. Miranda and David put us in touch with their neighbors who wouldn't be living in their home this summer and voila! Our trip to France came together. 

Our first flight was a breeze thanks to built in screens streaming cartoons. So much for all the activities we carefully planned and packed!

Ollie slept a couple of hours, but the rest of us couldn’t manage it. 

Both boys passed out in the Dublin airport and Fisher stayed asleep through the next flight and the 6 hour wait for the train (yay!). Ollie, however, woke up when we boarded the flight to France and screamed for 2 hours (boo!). We were that family. It was a special kind of torment being unable to comfort Ollie and knowing it was pure torture for the hundred or so passengers around us. Needless to say, we were grateful that both boys slept through the 6 hour wait at the Lyon train station. It was a much needed break. 

And such a beautiful train station! They recreated the environment of a Forrest to make a perfect habitat for an endangered species of bird. It was magical. We didn't even mind that our train was delayed 2 hours.

Unfortunately, I brought along a stowaway- strep. I got progressively sicker as we traveled and by the time
we arrived in Alba, I could barely open my eyes (whatever happened to strep only affecting your throat?!) It took several days to get to a doctor in this tiny town because Miranda's usual doctor was on vacation. Once I tested positive and started antibiotics, things turned around quickly! Just in time for Allen to get sick… but we got him to the doc right away so he only suffered for a day or so. Then as he was getting better I got sick again! Just 36 hours after finishing my first round of antibiotics. And Ollie got it 2 hours after I did. Then Fisher 2 days after that! It's been quite the whirlwind which has certainly cast a shadow over our first couple weeks here, and meant the kids missed a lot of school between the antibiotics and their side effects. But we're all well now and finally settling in.

Miranda and Dave have been amazing helping us get settled: taking us to doctors, translating, helping us get medicines, etc. We'd have been totally lost without them! Here they are making us lunch in their incredible greenhouse of a kitchen.

The house we're staying in was built in the 17th century at the base of the giant basalt rock pillar for which "La Roche" is named. On top of it once stood a prison/dungeon! And our place was the home of "le seigneur" (the lord). This site has been in continual habitation for over 2k years- first as capital of a Gallic tribe, then as a Roman city. Although they've found archeological remains of paleolithic hunter-gatherers in cave a couple of doors down from us, so it may have been in use for many thousands of years! The world's oldest cave paintings- made 36k years ago!- are just down the road. But more on that later....

We have an incredible patio with a view of the town castle. We eat there when we can, but the midges and mosquitos here are relentless. But we've definitely spent many happy hours playing there.

The village is straight out of Hogwarts. It's most recent iteration was built in the middle ages from re-purposed rocks from the Roman ruins nearby. Black stone walls scrape the sky as you wander through alleyways and tunnels much too small for a car.  All the houses are carved out of the stone as well, which means the doorways are all made for hobbits, but I've gotten used to just ducking my head everywhere I go. 

There are fruit trees heavy with fruit lining the walkways. Climbing jasmine, roses, and woodbine along all the walls. Their main export was silk, so mulberry trees are everywhere you walk, and the walls have tiny chimneys in them which were used to keep the worms warm in winter. We can walk to a butcher, a baker, and probably a candlestick maker, though that last one hasn't come up yet. 

There's a path through the forest to the base of the old castle's outer fort that the locals call "Le Chemain du Dragon" because it's inhabited by Dragons (who have invisibility powers, so it's hard to find them). Although they do become visible after death because we found this skull hanging at the entrance to their lair.  

 

Another fun piece of history is this town's chapter as an artist's community after WW2. A group of French artists got together and decided to buy and renovate the crumbling homes here and raise their children together. We saw a recent exhibit of their work at a nearby castle. You might recognize one of them:

Walking out the door is an adventure. All of our neighbors are lovely. One of our neighbors, Tomas, is perhaps one of the nicest people I've met. He and I went running together. I didn't realize that he'd recently finished a marathon! I held my own for 8K, which is longer than I have run in a long time, it seemed like he was barely winded. 

 

I love talking in French, it's so fun. I butcher the language. I say everything wrong, but it's awesome. People understand and respond accordingly! When I took Fisher and Oliver to school I spent a good 15 minutes letting a 4 year old correct my pronunciation. Haha!

More soon!