"We saw nothing, we ate everything."

These are the words with which my mother, Nicola Jane Findley, ended our day in Brugges.

What are the four things you MUST HAVE while in Belgium? Waffle, Fries, Beer, Chocolate, of course. Not necessarily in that order. As much of each thing as you desire. The more, the better. The greater variety, the better. Think excess. That's the way to go in Belgium.

So let me tell you what the day was like...

Course one: Belgian waffle, natch. Mine was of the whipped cream and chocolate sauce variety










Mom's was whipped cream and strawberries. We combined ours to make plates of deliciousness.










Success: in the form of Belgian beer and Belgian fries at the restaurant where we ate our lunch. I tried to have something balanced, as I ordered a salad with tuna but they basically piled enough fish on the plate to give me the world's highest mercury levels on the planet.

Alas, my friends, I have no pictures of the chocolates we ate, of the enormous plate of fries we ordered, of the other chocolates we inhaled. Forgive mem but their deliciousness was just too tempting and so the chocolates and fries were devoured hastily, lovingly, with no thought to photos for the kiddies.

Please take a moment to reflect on the wonder that is amazing food. Specifically of the dark chocolate and fried goodness kind.

The rest of Brugges was really good, too! Turns out that it's a beautiful town, even in the rain and, despite our misgivings after stepping off the train, we ended up having a lovely day there! I climbed the 366 steps to the top of the town's towery thing (I no longer remember what it's called) and felt all "little town, little quiet village" (name that song!) as I wandered through with M & D.

I definitely think that Saturday was a great day in Brugges to "see nothing and eat everything." This might become quite the motto for me.

Mom and Dad wrapping it up in Provence

For our last few days together in Provence, Mom and Dad and I kept it low-key chill. Ok, barring my insane nervousness about having the Towers watch me teach, everything was very chill post-weekend. On Sunday night, after an extremely lazy day (um, hi, I took a NAP. I cannot remember the last time I successfully napped) we set out in the evening for a vehicle 'stroll' through the Luberon region. Right through the mountains. Beautiful, natch, and we hit on Bonnieux and Lacoste, to name a few of the villages. Dad has the photos because I got reallllly lazy with my camera at this point but I can tell you: all very pretty. We happened upon a castle (of course, there's a billion here) with a wine degustation place inside it and, as tempted as I was to say "pop open that Chateauneuf du Pape!" we left it to go mange our picnic under a tree on the side of the road. And that rocked, too.

On Monday, as you all know, I played "Take Your Parents to Work Day" and it was wondefully spledidly successful. My kids were obsessed with my parents ("ooh la la! la reine anglaise! le roi americain!") and my parents were willing and great participants in class as we reviewed the thrilling subject matter of clothing. Yannick, my directrice, spoke with them (she lived in Chicago and in Hawaii!) and was so nice and welcoming. My parents also met Francoise, a woman with whom I'm friends and so it all rocked. To top off my amazing class that they witnessed, Mom later got to see my littlest kids, the kindergarteners, sing two songs! "The Rainbow Song" and "The Weather Song" (we sure are original with our titles). It was so cute.

And in the afternoon after I was done teaching? We went to Orange, a pretty large town that's not too far from Sorgues. What's the big deal about Orange? Well, Wikipedia tells me that it was once the capital of the northern part of Provence. It has the oldest and best preserved Roman theater in all of Western Europe and it is now a World Heritage Site. Very cool. Dad and I went in and felt all Gladiator-like as Dad got pictures and we trembled at the mightiness of it all.

Tuesday was my parents' last day in Avignon. They spent the day wandering around the city while I taught. But then I got off work early! So I went and ran errands and chilled and did some other wrapping-up-type stuff here in the city. I then went to Micaela's for dinner. Chez Micaela.

And oh man, what a dinner.

This is the part where I tell you what we ate!!
Or I might just put it for you in easy, picture form...
On the left... a zoom-in of: lima beans, grean beans, magret de canard (duck breast) and vegetarian pate!
On the right... the table. Witness the French-style taboule, the eighteen pounds of bread, the red wine (of course), and the radishes. Delish.









Here I am with the chef, herself:










The food was stunning and I have to say, I'm impressed - my parents rock at being social. It was 11 o'clock and I was falling asleep into my amazing mousse au chocolat and strawberry shortcake (sorry, no pictures... ate 'em too fast) and they were sharing stories with Micaela and Philip (the other dinner guest for the evening) back and forth. Fabulous.

Wednesday morning we set out for Paris, the three of us. I do believe M & D had a good time at Micaela's and I've got a picture right here...

Red Sky yeah buddy

I wish I weren't in the same room as my shoes right now.

Red Sky was brilliant tonight - it was great to have my parents/friends meet again, it was great to sit around and socialize, the musicians were great, the songs were great, everything was just... great.

Oh, and the bartender and I happen to be in <3 and that is cool.

"Killing Me Softly," as suggested to me by Sessily, is a HUGE hit and there shall be a repeat performance of it at sometime.
When Dad and I are back on the musical scene together you know it'll be "Old Love" sung like whoa from the mountaintops. I'm just sayin'

C'est fini!

My mother, the Professor of Education, watched me teach this morning.

I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my entire life.

It was like eighteen hundred piano exams all rolled into one on top of the SAT, a job phone interview, AND approaching a girl and asking her to dance.

My mother's assessment of my teaching? She says, and I quote, "Emily, you're a natural!"

I just about died and went to heaven. Seriously. If I hadn't had to teach right after that, I think I would have burst into tears. Eight months of stress and confusion, frustration and nervousness... gone. My parents both thought I did a great job (thanks, Celine! (yeah, I used part of her lesson plan)) and they were both really impressed.

This means so much to me. I could get hit by a bus (as I almost am every single day) and I would die happy.

More on this later. I'm going to go to the gym to work off the cookies I had post-work and all the stress and nervousness that I've let built up.

Mom and Dad roadtrip, 3

So last night Mom and Dad went to l'Opera, a fancy shmancy restaurant here in Avignon and I'm going to admit it - I'm a lil' jealous. I mean, it's really great that I stayed in and organized/cleaned/packed up my life but dang, they had a really great meal at a restaurant that people I know have recommended. Ohhhhh well it's all good. I'm glad they had a nice (romantic?) birthday dinner for Mom and that I got a chance to start wrapping up my life here at 5 rue Saint Thomas d'Aquin.

Today we went to Cassis! Every time I've called home in the past month and asked my parents the question "So what do you want to DO in Provence?" my mother has responded with "Well, your dad just wants to go to the beach. Get him to the sea." And today... mission accomplished. We hit up both Cassis and Marseille, basking in the sun (ahemgettingsunburnedahem) and chilling, eating picnics and pastries, having a wonderful Saturday on the water.

In fact, I don't have too many pictures from today because we spent 3 hours lying on the beach in Cassis and then we went and pastry-ed ourselves in Marseille. Not too much picture-worthy but it was relaxing and a perfect way to pass our time together, I feel. Tonight I showed the 'rents Place Pie which was, as usual, hoppin with life and then I went to the Bal de Teinturiers (a street here in the 'non) that had free music, cheap beers, and a ton of dancing. And! The dancing! Was done in an emptied-out pool! Like in "It's a Wonderful Life." Raise your hand if you think that's cool!

So tomorrow I reveal to them the glories of Les Halles and we'll pick up and send ourselves somewhere else, somewhere new. Guaranteed to be a good time. M & D are coming with me on Monday to school which, although it shouldn't't, is kinda stressing me out (hi, whose mom is a professor of education? and, hello, teaching in front of my parents) but it's going to be good and Mom's offered to 'be used' during class time with the kids so that I feel no pressure and she can participate and the kids can hear her speak. It'll be good.

Mom and Dad roadtrips, 1 and 2

But first things first:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Here we have my ridiculously good-looking parents in a town called Roussillon, which we visited yesterday. I love 'em.

So far we've had 2 roadtrip days! I don't know why, but the Rain Gods are making their presence known here in Provence and it has poured, off and on, since my parents got here. Where's the Provencal weather everyone raves about? We're expecting sun, blue skies, beautiful fields, windows down in the car, and smooth travels. Instead it's been, mostly, rain rain rain rain, grey skies, thunder, lightning, puddles, and nastiness. What the bleep.

But hey, that's ok! Because we're still "profiter-ing" and it's been wonderful. Yesterday we headed east to some little towns, at my suggestion. The itinerary? L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Fontaine de Vaucluse, Roussillon, and Gordes. Roussillon was new to me and it is as gorgeous as everyone says it is. Et voila. It's nice, eh? That's ochre... reminds us all of Colorado, I think. It is amazing to think that, down the road from where I live (ahemcitywithapalaceahem) there are these colors! My eyes exploded and it was all very nice.

Today we went to La Camargue! National park hollah! Flamingos, bulls, rice patties, oh my. So here are some pics:


Looks boring? Definitely not!

Ok so maybe I fell asleep a little. But that was ok because this was followed by flamingo-watching. Flamingos. In southern France?

Yes, flamingos. Flamingi?

And we took a nap at the Mediterranean. Oh man.

They're here!

Hullo.
My parents are here!

I'm so excited about it that I can't sleep! Ok, well, it's 6:00 am and it's pouring with rain and the wind is crazy and so I'm just up and (almost) ready for the day. The plan is to pick up the rental car and do a tour of Provence over the next few days but OY rain is expected for the next few days so... what are we going to do? Me? I'm just happy to get in a car and go places, I hope that's cool with M & D. They're staying chez Micaela and I'm still with la vieille dame. We'll meet up for breakfast and start our day and who knows what'll happen?

But the part where we were reunited? At the train station? I felt like Micaela and I were one minute late and I'd told Dad I was going to meet them on the platform at the train station so they would have nothing to worry about. I ran out of Micaela's car, I ran into the station, and I started running to the TV screens to watch for their arrival but I heard Mom's voice. I looked up, saw her and Dad at the top of the stairs, and bolted straight for them. Eighteen minutes later, our hugging was done and we were downstairs with Micaela, riding to Avignon.

Basically, I am so so happy right now.

(if you could all make a plea to the weathergods to make this rain go away, I would really appreciate it. I mean, teaching "It's raining, it's pouring" to the kids at school is fun, but I don't need an example at the moment!