Road Trip

We arrived in Paris at 8:30 am, had Champagne, brunch, a stroll through the train station and then, a 5 hour road trip to Combourg. Now, grant it, this is no small feat. On Wednesday night, I slept about 5 hours, then, got on a plane that had a total flight time (point A-C) of 12.5 hours, lost 7 hours by traveling through time (I have super powers), then had a 5 hour drive. So, figuratively speaking.....I have been awake for approximately 38 hours. Fortunately, there is this MIRACLE little pill called "No Jet Lag"....and honestly, it is my new bff! The drive to Combourg was wonderful and the land here in France is something unimaginable, crisp and tres magnifique!

Meet Stephane, my French brother.

The history: Stephane came to the United States 18 years ago as an exchange student. My family fell in love with him and we have kept in touch with him all of these years, well, my Mom has kept her thumb on him all of these years. Thank goodness. Anyhow, Stephane is our personal tour guide for the next few weeks, our translator, companion, friend. We feel so blessed to have him all to ourselves for 2 weeks. I am especially thrilled, since it has been 18 years since I have seen him.

After our 5 hour drive to Combourg, we have arrived at FinFiFon (which means something like a remote cottage) Isn't this place SO cute?...anyhow, this is my cousin's home in Combourg. Wendy (my cousin) and her in laws had this place converted from a barn into this really incredible cottage in the country. It is impressive, honestly. To build a home, remotely from the United States, out of a barn, furnish it and decorate it while learning to speak French is fascinating to me. My cuz is really cool! We are going to be here for a week, traveling around the area to see many other parts of Northern France.

Below is the town of Combourg. It was a very cute and quaint town, with some wonderful people. Every Monday in Combourg, there is an outdoor French market with food, clothing, bedding, specialities of the area and so on. It was fun to see the French clothing styles vs. what we are used to wearing in the USA. I had the BEST rice pudding (Riz Au Lait) with caramel that I have ever tasted in my life, made by a local dairy farmer. We had "vin blanc" (white wine) and "biere" (beer) in town, and the fromage (the cheeses) OH, the cheeses. I ate my weight in cheese, haha!