National Lampoon's Family Vacation - Bonvouloir Style: Day 3

Day 3: Loire Valley


The next morning, we made our way to the Gare du Nord to pick up our car and be on our way to the Loire Valley. We were all excited to finally get out of Paris when we find out there are no more GPS. Just great. We decided to buy a good ole map of France and do it the old-school way. The guy was super nice though and gave us a brand new car. We even got to take the tape off of it! After that, we were on our way until TRAFFIC JAM; we made it about 4 km. And if any of you know my Dad, well we know he isn't all that patient, especially when it comes to traffic. So we got off the highway and tried to go through the city. Eventually we finally got out of Paris and the Parisian outskirts and were on our way to the French countryside. We took the scenic road through the Loire Valley so that we could see all the little towns. We stopped in Amboise, a quaint little town, where da Vinci resided for the last few years of his life. From there we passed through Tours and then were in search for a little wine vineyard. We didn’t find the one we were looking for per say but we did stumble upon another one where we did a free wine tasting. We bought a couple of bottles and moved on to Luynes, where we were staying for the night. The hotel was really nice and we ate dinner in the back room which was carved into the lime rock. It was really neat and the food was delicious. We walked around the town after dinner, but we were legit in a ghost town. There was no one walking around, no lights on, and just silence. We tried to walk up to the chateau but the gates were locked, so we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Amboise

Amboise

da Vinci's House

Amboise

Hotel Built into the Lime Rock

Chateau in the Loire Valley

Our Hotel in Luynes 

Our Hotel in Luynes

View of the Chateau du Luynes

Dinner in the Cave

Todd's First Glass of Wine

Mom and Dad at Dinner

London?

The Infamous Boobs Ahead Sign

National Lampoon's Family Vacation - Bonvouloir Style: Day 2

Day 2: Paris

Our Wednesday started off with a delicious breakfast from Breakfast in America. From there we moved on to the Louvre to actually go inside it this time. Seeing as it was closed the day before, everyone and their mother was there on Wednesday. We didn't have to wait too, too long and we got to see all of the major exhibits. After visiting the Louvre we walked down rue Saint-Honoré where all the designer stores are located before ending up on the Champs-Elysées. We window shopped all the way down the Champs and ended at the Arc du Triomphe. We were going to go to the top but the line was too long, so we moved on to find the Harley Davidson store. Unfortunately the Harley store is no longer in business. On the way back to the Arc, we stopped at a cafe for a snack. By the time we were done eating, there was no line to go to the top so we decided, why not. Of course, there was no elevator so we had to take the stairs, and man were there a lot of stairs. It was a pretty nice view once you got to the top though. We could see a storm rolling in so we headed to the hotel for a little breather. At 10:30pm we had a reservation to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower so we ate a quick dinner at a little chinese restaurant near there and then watched the sunset from the grass in front of it. We then got in line and made our way to the top. It is much prettier at night when everything is lit up.

Arc du Carrousel at the Louvre

Venus de Milo

Fireplace in the Louvre

Everyone and Their Mother

Arc du Triomphe

View of Sacré Coeur from the Top of the Arc du Triomphe

View of La Défense from the Top of the Arc du Triomphe

View of the Champs-Elysées from the Top of the Arc du Triomphe

Eiffel Tower from the Top of the Arc du Triomphe

Storm's a Rolling In

All the Stairs to the Top of the Arc du Triomphe

Sunset at the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower Lit Up

Military School from the Top of the Eiffel Tower

View of Trocadéro from the Top of the Eiffel Tower

Mom and Dad at the Top

National Lampoon's Family Vacation - Bonvouloir Style: Day 1

Day 1: Paris

Sacré Coeur

After coming home from Sweden, I repacked my bags and headed to the airport the next morning to pick up my parents and Todd. I arrived at the airport around 7:15 or so and the first thing my parents say to me when I get there is, "oh thank god you are here because we have been waiting for 40 min and everyone is miserable." Nice to see you too! Once we said our hellos we jumped on the RER and headed to our hotel to drop off our luggage. We were staying near Sacré Coeur so we decided to make that the first stop of the day. Because it was so early, there was no one there and it was so nice. Usually there are tons of people and it can get annoying. We made our way through Montmartre and down to Moulin Rouge and then stopped to have some breakfast/lunch. Afterwards we got back on the metro and headed over to the Bastille. From there we wandered down rue du Rivoli, passed through Victor Hugo's housing quarters, and walked by the Hôtel de Ville (state house) before reaching Notre Dame. 

Victor Hugo's Quarters

Hôtel de Ville

Inside Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Notre Dame from the Lock Bridge

From there we went to get Berthillon ice cream on the island behind Notre Dame. I had a scoop of cantaloupe and black current – very delicious. Todd fell asleep while we were waiting to get ice cream because he was so tired. It was pretty funny. From there we headed on to the Louvre. We couldn't go in because it was Tuesday and it just so happens that it is closed on Tuesdays. Everyone was pretty tired and kinda done with walking around so we took the metro back to our hotel, checked in, and went up to our room. We had a nice view of Sacré Coeur from our window, so I opened it up and rested my hand on the railing to find out that they had just painted it. I was then covered in black paint which didn't wash off with soap and water. I had to go down to reception and wait for the painter to come with paint thinner to get it off. After a little nap, we were up and ready to go again. We were in search of a place to eat dinner and after what felt like forever we agreed upon an Irish pub. I must say, the food was pretty delicious. Todd went back to the hotel to sleep while my parents and I walked through some of the art galleries of Montmartre and then sat down and enjoyed a glass of wine.

Bertillon Ice Cream

Gothic Architectural Metro Sign

View from Our Hotel

Hey, I Just Met You, And This is Crazy, But Here's My Number, So Call Me, Maybe?

On Wednesday, I left work and immediately called my mom to tell her that I was free for two weeks. I would be headed to Sweden in the morning and then my parents and my brother would be visiting for a week. I got home and packed up all my stuff. Macka was moving back to Sweden so Jeff and I accompanied him home and helped him bring all of his luggage home, and man did he had a lot of luggage. On Thursday morning, we all got up at the crack of dawn and headed to the train station to take a bus to Beauvais to take another bus to the airport to take a plane to Sverige! We landed around noon and Macka's mom picked us up from the airport. She then bought us lunch and we headed to their house. Macka lives in Norrköping (pronounced Norshopping). Seeing as Jeff had been to Sweden earlier in the year, he already knew Macka's parents, but I meet them for the first time. They were so generous and accommodating and they spoke English. We also met his sister, Viktoria who just returned from being an au pair in Washington DC last year.

After Macka got all of his stuff situated, we all headed to the summer house on the Swedish archipelago. We stopped and got ice cream on the way to the summer house. It was such a cute place and they had the best ice cream. There was one that even had dry ice in it! The best part, if you're cold, they give you a blanket! Afterwards, we went to the grocery store and bought the most fantastic candy, kettle chips, and cider. All the main food groups! The summer house was the most adorable house ever. Not only do they own one summer house, but they also have two guest houses on their property along with two sailboats, a motor boat, and a fishing boat. It was pretty sweet. That night his parents made dinner for everyone and it was delicious. A real home cooked meal. We had some sort of mushrooms that are indigenous to Sweden and they were delicious. The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed out on the water. We took the bigger sailboat out and sailed to Harstena, an old fisherman's island. It was pretty windy and freezing so we were all bundled up. When we got to Harstena we pulled into one spot to anchor the boat and I jumped off with the main line. I didn't manage to jump out quite far enough and I ended up landing on some algae and sliped and fell face first into the water. Let me tell you, Swedish water is freezing! Jeff got off the boat to help me and he ended up doing the same thing, but he only got his feet wet. Me on the other hand, I was soaked from my waist down! After that, we pulled into a different spot and anchored the boat without any difficulties. Once everything was all set up, it started pouring so we made lunch on the boat and played some cards. At night though, it cleared up a little bit and we saw a beautiful sunset. Macka and I went skinny dipping later on, but Jeff didn't want to join us. The water so was cold that we only jumped in once and then immediately got out of the water. It literally took your breathe away!

Navigator Macka

Captain Jeff

Captain Nicole

Harstena

The next morning, both Jeff and I woke up from the sun thinking it was around 8:30 or so. Boy were we wrong. Turns out the sun rises in Sweden at 4am and it was only 4:30. It was hard to fall back asleep but we eventually did. A few hours later we got up and had breakfast. Macka gave both Jeff and I hard bread (a typical Swedish breakfast food) with ham and cheese from a tube and another one with caviar and cheese from a tube. Sounds gross right? Well, the ham and cheese one was delicious, but the caviar and cheese one, not so much. Jeff didn't like either. You should have seen his face when he tried it! Once we finished with that, we locked up the boat and headed into the old fisherman's village. It was about a 20 min hike from where our boat was anchored. We then met two of Macka's friends in town. They took the ferry over from the mainland. Hannah and Carl were both super nice. We were waiting for a couple of Macka's other friends to come over on their boat, but they got caught in fog and were delayed. While we waited, we walked around the village, which comprised of 40 houses, one small school, one restaurant, and one general store. Some of the people live there year round too; I don't know how they do it. As soon as we finished eating his other friends showed up, but we needed to head back to our boat and they wanted to eat so we never really got to hang out with them. Hannah and Carl came back with us to Macka's house though. The sail back was much smoother than the sail there. The sun made a few appearances and it was much warmer! Once we got back, we made dinner and then went in the sauna. Oh yeah, Macka has a whole sauna built into the basement of his house! We stayed in there for awhile before we all got too hot and then ran and jumped into the water. It was so cold, but the water wasn't really that salty so it didn't hurt your eyes. It was really weird. When we got out of the water, we headed straight for the sauna and then jumped in again a few more times.

We woke up on Sunday morning to pouring rain, so we packed up the car and headed back to the city. We stopped at a real candy store on the way home and got even more candy! It was so delicious. Typical Swedish candy is salty licorice, pretty gross, I know, but the store also had sweet and sour candies! Macka's parents had left earlier to go and pick up his brother from the airport because he was coming back from being in New Zealand for the past year, so we got to meet him when we got back to the apartment. Jeff and I felt a little weird because we were at their "family reunion" seeing as all three kids were in another country last year, but it was okay. They included us in everything which was really nice of them. That night, a few family friends and other family came over to welcome home everyone, so we got to meet some of the family. It was really nice because all of them spoke English so we could partake in the conversation. Unfortunately I had to leave early the next morning to go back to France. On Monday morning, I woke up and took the bus to the airport and 11 hours later, I got back to my room. It was quite a long day, but the trip was worth it. I had a great time in Sweden and I can't wait to go back.

Norrköping

Norrköping

PS - If you are wondering where the title came from, its Macka's favorite song and he sang it 24-7!