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French Sabbatical
1. Setting It Up
2. The Preview
3. French Christmas
4. Univ. of Rouen
5. Parents Visit
6. 2 Weeks in Paris
7. Spring Sights
8. 1st Week- Périgord
9. 2nd Week- Périgord
10. Adv. in Brittany
11. 1st Week- Alps
12. 2nd Week- Alps
13. England & Home
14. They Visit Us
15. Other Visits

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology ("MAC")

7. Spring Sight-seeing

We continued to have many adventures. One hot Saturday in May, the Lechevallier’s took us to “Parc Asterix” north of Paris. This was a theme park based on a very popular French cartoon figure. We went on many rides including "Le Big Splatch," (boats dropped down a hill to splash with a huge explosion of water into a pond below) and "Le Grand Huit" (the largest roller-coaster in Europe with seven 360° loops; Merry and I didn't go on that one, the boys went twice). We ended with a raft ride where all got drenched!

We were at the Place de la Concorde in Paris the night Jacques Chirac won the election to become the new French President. The TV news later estimated there there were half a million people there so you can believe me when I tell you it was very crowded. Loud speakers were blaring at top volume, rock music was playing, lights were flashing, people were dancing to the deafening music. One French woman ran over to us and kissed me (hard!) on both cheeks. It was a mass of gyrating, screaming, dancing bodies.

In the middle of May, Merry and I went to the LDS Temple in Friedrichsdorf, Germany. We traveled with five French members in a large van and had 9 hours of rapid French to try and follow each direction. It was a workout but a lot of fun The temple was wonderful and we found Germany to be another truly beautiful country and an interesting adventure in itself.

Another time, we went to the village of Giverny, halfway between Le Havre and Paris. This was where Claude Monet, father of Impressionism, had lived. We toured his famous pink, brick house with its green shutters and his restored studio. Then we walked through his famous Japanese gardens with their profusion of flowers and saw the famous lily pads and Japanese bridges that he had painted so many times.

On the way back to Le Havre, we stopped to see the remains of the huge Château de Gaillard high up on the cliffs overlooking the town and the Seine. We also saw one of my favorites, the beautiful Château Gaillon (shown on the left), which had once been called the "Versailles of the Renaissance."

The civil unrest predicted for Le Havre took place while we were still driving home. There had been a racial killing by "skin-heads" a few days earlier and both they and the people of color were out to make their respective cases. We were warned to stay home, but Braden had been invited to come down to a radio station ("Actuel 97.3 FM") and talk about country music on the air. While he and the D.J. were talking between songs, the riot was going on. From time-to-time, they would look out their second-floor window. Braden saw some smashed windows and a car on fire not too far away. But, what a great opportunity for 15-year-old Braden. Several of our friends heard him on the radio. In fact, he did so well that the D.J. invited him back the next week to take charge of the one-hour "Nashville Sound" program, including selecting all the music and introducing and discussing each piece on the air.

At the end of May, we took the boys to Rambouillet, near Versailles for a youth conference in a wonderful, old manor house. A week later, they went on an all-night trip to the temple in Germany on a couchette (sleeper) bus, equipped with fold-out beds. We used the time to visit our other son, Steve, who was an LDS missionary in Northern France. On the way, we stopped at Dieppe to see the port with the old château and the WW II bunkers up on the cliffs.

Two more friends from Olympia came to see us in June. We had fun showing them the home of Monet at Giverny, the Chateau of Gaillon, and the marvels of Rouen (all of which we’ve already talked about).

What was new was our trip to the village of Etretat. Painted many times by Monet, Etretat was an area of dramatic chalk cliffs with a huge archway carved by the sea, and a needle sticking up out in the water. It was truly a wonderful experience being up in nature, surrounded by the remains of WWII bunkers, the crying seagulls, and the couples and families strolling all along the tops of the chalky cliffs.

Early the next morning, we took them to Paris. The Eiffel Tower had its magical effect on them, as it had on everyone else. Then we drove on to Place de la Concorde and the Obelisk, around the Madelaine to the Opéra, across the Seine to les Invalides, past the Louvre and the Conciergerie to Beaubourg, then Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, and on the metro to the Arc de Triomphe. After dinner we saw Montmartre and Sacré Coeur lit up in the night sky.

At the Musée d'Orsay, the next day, we spent several hours walking through the upper gallery seeing some of the most famous paintings in the world. There were dozens by Renoir, Van Gogh, and Claude Monet including his paintings of the Cathedral of Rouen and scenes of Giverny. We also saw one of his famous hay stack studies. I had always thought his hay stacks were flat and uninteresting in photos. But the real thing was full of light and color. (I've exaggerated the color here to give you an idea.)

Then it was on to the Musée Rodin to see the vast and varied body of work by this prolific sculptor. They ranged from couples embracing to busts of famous leaders, the Thinker, the Burgers of Calais, and the church door illustrating the Gates of Hell. One of my favorite sculptures was this one, called: "Young Woman in a Floral Hat."

Across the street from the Rodin Musum was Les Invalides with the tomb of Napoleon. (We talked about that earlier, too.)

Then we took another métro to show Annie the church of Sainte Chapelle on Isle de la Cité. Built in the 13th century as the cathedral for the kings of France, it was extremely impressive with its ornate Gothic ceilings and three walls of beautiful, stained-glass windows (as you see here). Annie that was the one who was most overwhelmed with seeing something she had heard about all her life.

It was awesome to think about how much we had seen in the last five days. What treasures!

On to the next French Sabbatical page

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