Umbria (Italia) with my family

Last June, my parents decided to rent a house un Italy so that we could all meet for a week. Unfortunatly, Marie-Alix had to stay home (having just started a new job, she could not take leave), so I with Sybille, leaving her behind. After a short flight from Bordeaux to Rome (much more pleasant than our flight from LAX to Paris), and a long wait in an hot room for the rental car, I had the opportunity to demonstrate my driving skills .... Italian driving was as crazy as ever ! (speed limit ? right of way ? don't know what you're talking about).....

The house my parents had rented was lovely, with a gorgeous view of the hills across the valley direct from the swimming pool. With a mean high temperature of 40°C (105°F), we spent quite some time in the water. Sybille was a little afraid at first but soon enjoyed the pool.

Umbria is a region of Italy located south of Toscana and north of Roma. It's full of medieval town, including Assisi and Peruggia. The towns were truly lovely, as was the countryside.

Peruggia :

 Assisi (home town of St Francis of Assisi)

On the last day, we went to a place were the Romans built dams and water gates so that three hours a day, spectacular waterfalls can be seen.

One week in Andalucia !

Last april, we took a week of vacation in Spain. From home, the french/spanish border is a mere two hour drive ! We decided to go south, all the way to Grenada, visiting Toledo, Cordoba and Segovia on the way. The weather was not always nice, but we still got to see lots of stuff !

Toledo is an ancient, fortified city, which was once home to kings. We were there on palm sunday (week before easter) and got to see a traditionnal procession.

(one of the cathedral)

Cordoba is one of the three large cities of Andalucia (with Sevilla and Grenada), with a dominant arabic history. The building now called a "cathedral" really is a mosquee dating back to the 11th century.

The rest of the city is beautiful, with small streets twisting around, traditionnal houses, flowers hanging from railings, and so on...

Grenada is probably the most visited city in the region. Because we took that week of leave at the last minute, we could not get tickets to visit the famous "alhambra" (entries are limited to a few thousand people each day).

 

We could still visit the rest of the town, with its massive but elegant cathedral, and the nice view and the alhambra (meaning "red" in arabic, which is not obvious from the picture because of the lack of sunshine).

We also made quick trips to smaller towns, castles, ruins, and so on :

On the way back to France, we stopped at a lovely hotel housed inside an old covent. Except for a disoriented, hence very irritated Sybille, that was one of the most confortable nights we ever had...

(the windows on the second floor are the hotel rooms)

Then we drove to Segovia, whose ancient fortified city is sitting atop a cliff. A gain, we took our time walking the streets, looking at the old buildings.

New stories to come !

After 6 month of almost complete silence, we're back. But instead of telling our US adventures to our family and french friends, we'll now talk to our american friends about life in France ! That way, we hope to stay in touch as much as we can, waiting very impatiently for an opportunity to go back and visit you guys in the USA.

Quick summary of the last 6 month.

We left Edwards AFB at 0400 on friday, 16th of december, 2011. As we passed the western shore of Edwards dry lake bed, we shed a tear (well, ok, more than one). That was one, if not the best year of our short lives closing behind us. But it was time to move on. After a lenghty flight back home (11 hours of Sybille crying and yelling), we finally made it back to France where guess what, a strike was going on !
We spent a couple days with my family in Versailles, trying to reset our internal clocks while Sybille was decided to sleep at day and requested us to play with her at night.... We drove to Poitier to spend a week and Christmas with Marie-Alix's family. From there, we went to Gap (in the Alps) for a week with my family.

 The castle of Versailles :

 View from my parent's house in the Alps (after a day of snow, at sunset)

A couple more thousand miles, going through Toulon, Aix en Provence, Istres and Poitiers again (to visit friends essentially) and we finally arrived to my new station : le bassin d'Arcachon (I actually work at Cazaux but nobody knows this town, not even google maps).

The market at Aix en Provence : cheese and salami ! (among other food)

 

 

Cassis, near Marseille (some of the guys went there on their french trip last october !)

Cazaux (the nice part) :

We found a decent house to rent in february, which is quite large by french standards (about 1000 sqft with three bedrooms). God, do we miss the US !

Our new home (before the movers came) :

Since then, I've been not so busy at work (with my flight tests being delayed all the time), Sybille has adapted to her new environnement, including her nanny, and Marie-Alix has been looking for a job. She finally found one three weeks ago and she is now away from home from 0720 to 1910 with 3 hours of total commute time. It's only a temp job (for three month), and she says she defintly won't sign up for another job that far away !
In april, we took a week of leave and went to Spain : Toledo, Segovia, Cordoba and Granada were on the menu. Except for a brisk weather, we had a really good time. I'll try to write about this trip, with pictures !

A little more about Sybille : while there's not that much to say about Marie-Alix and myself (especially about my job, you didn't think I would told you about it, you american spies ! ;-)), Sybille has made so much progress we can hardly believe it. We look back at the pictures of her when we took her home on april, 27th of last year, she was so small and fragile, and now she's this ball of energy moving, running, touching stuff, interacting, almost talking (in her own language). She started standing up in late january but took her time to walk, which she started doing just a month ago. She's now very fast and doesn't fall too much anymore. She loves water. Bath time is her favorite time of the day, and she sometimes go directly to the bathroom as fast as she can, saying "bain, bain" on the way (french for "bath", you'll have guessed). She also likes music and animal noises a lot. She even dances when we turn the music on. And then she "talks" a lot. Sure, she still calls me "mama" (instead of "papa"), but she often goes on talking for minutes ! Neither in french or in american, but it does sound like words. Maybe someone will make a dictionnary some day....

(January)

(June)

Sybille (10 month) with my grandfather, turning 99 in three days !

We now enjoy life in the south of France were climate is a lot cooler and humid than in Edwards. We do miss the US a lot, which results in us having burgers at least once a week, and me listening to country music all the time (thank you 1FM for your free online radio ! - as there is no country aired on french radios). We also miss you guys a lot. But we have some hope of going to Fort Whalton beach in october ! And that would be awesome !!!!

The ocean beach, 10 minutes from home !

where you can find the highest and largest sand dune in Europe : (so much fun !)

Time for me to stop talking. There will be more stories and pictures to come !

François, aka G-arf