France - May, 2012

Jimmy testing his skills as a street performer in Paris

View from les Tours de Notre-Dame

France Miniature:  Model of Pont du Gard in Provence where we visited earlier this  year 

France Miniature: Chateau Chambord

France Miniature:  La Tour Eiffel

This photo was taken by Scottie in les Jardins des Tuileries.  Scottie thinks he is quite clever with his photography skills!

Elisabeth never misses a chance to practice her cursive - Jardins des Tuileries

Happy 12th birthday Scottie, chez Viollet

What a birthday cake!

One of many bright yellow fields of rapeseed in the countryside between Annecy and Paris.  Rapeseed is used in the production of vegetable oil and biodiesel fuel

View of the Matterhorn from Aguille du Midi - Chamonix

Fred Hitz, Scottie, Amy, Alex, Mary Buford Hitz - Chamonix

Chamonix

Freddie Hitz and Mary working on French homework

Happy Birthday Mary Buford

May Swim:  Not too cold (but still too cold for me!)

Hike: Dents de Lanfon - Annecy

High in the mountains of les Dents de Lanfon, we came across this plaque.  Annecy and its surrounding mountains was an important center for Les Maquisards  (The French Resistance ) during World War II. 

Canoe trip on the Ardeche River

Passing time

Alex, Elisabeth, and the thrill of canoeing

Cliffs of the Ardeche Region

Elisabeth, Jimmy, Mary

Jimmy and his friend Theo

Vinezac- a small Medieval town in the Ardeche region

I just liked this photo

The maestros after their concert

After the violin concert

Chocolate masterpieces for Mother's Day

Mary, Elisabeth, and our most frequented ice cream shop in Annecy

Walking home, one May evening - Annecy

Elisabeth and Isla Knatchbull, anxiously awaiting the tooth fairy

Winchester, preparing for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration

Paraphernalia was everywhere

Willa Knatchbull with her pal, Jimmy

London pub

Tower of London:  This photo was taken a minute before one of the guards slipped, fell,  lost his hat,  and completely disrupted the marching formation.  Millions of people see the British guards, but has anyone ever seen one fall?  The  kids feel quite lucky to have witnessed this seemingly rare event.

Mary, Elisabeth, Jimmy, Scott

Mary, Sabrina (Ferlic) Johnson, Elisabeth, Scottie, Jimmy, and Max (Ferlic) Johnson - London

What a thrill to see this play!

The road leading to Buckingham Palace

Mary and Elisabeth spent a VERY long time, watching the parade of hats for people who were invited to the Queen's garden tea.  Mary learned, from the police, that the  garden party was being held for heads of companies from around the world who had donated money to non-profit organizations.  

Harry Potter Studio: The Great Hall

Jimmy, Scottie, and one of their favorite characters

The model that was used to film all of the outside scenes of Hogwarts 

We recently discovered that we are fortunate to be in France, particularly during the 2011-2012 school year.  Because of the luck of the calendar, the schools ended up with 4 long weekends during the month of May.  I do not mean to perseverate on the vacation schedule here, but it is truly remarkable. 

Tuesday, May 1 (May Day), is a national holiday here, as well as Scottie’s birthday.  With no school on Tuesday because of the holiday, and no school on Wednesday (because it is Wednesday), we of course decided to take Monday off and went to Paris for 5 days to celebrate Scottie’s 12^th birthday.  We had an action packed long weekend, although I must admit, ended up at EuroDisney on May 1^st.  Yes, we were “one of those American families” who go all the way to Paris and end up at Disney Land.  Once I finally accepted that we were in fact at EuroDisney, we all really had a great time.   In Paris, among many other things, we climbed the towers of Notre Dame, which had somehow escaped us during previous visits.  We also discovered an attraction called “France Miniature,”  which is just that: a model of France that includes all the important physical and natural landmarks from the various regions of France, complete with a model TGV running through the countryside.   Very fun.

The 2012 Preseidential election took place in France on May 6^th.  The campaign season here lasts only a fraction of the time that it does in USA, and leads up to what is equivalent to a ”primary” election at the end of April. The result of the primary leaves two candidates in the race, who then campaign for two additional weeks when the final election takes place the first Sunday of May.  We were invited to an election party / family soccer game  “Sarkosyists” vs “Hollandists” which was quite a lively event.  Even with our marginal command of the French language, we held our own in the political discussions until . . .  someone asked Alex “Quand tu vas partir d’Annecy?” [when are you leaving Annecy?]  Alex who only caught “partir” (and in his mind he heard “party”) assumed he had been asked a political question, and instead of telling the man that we were leaving Annecy at the end of July he responded, “Je suis un democrat.”  The man walked away very confused.  There is constant television coverage of the election, but no exit polls are broadcasted.  There is a count down (similar to the ball dropping in Times Square on New Years Eve) and at 8pm, the results are announced.  Only the host of the party voted for Hollande, so when Hollande won, many of the guests asked us if they could move to America with us for the next five years.

We spent the second long weekend of the month (May 8^th, the end of World War II in Europe) with Mary Buford and Fred Hitz who visited us for a week.  They jumped into our semi-hectic life in Annecy without hesitation.  Mary Buford was kind enough to spend an entire afternoon at school with Mary and Elisabeth, which included biking with them to the lake for a picnic lunch.   She got a good feel of a French elementary school.  Freddy Hitz helped Mary with her French reading homework, and they both got more than their fill of violin and piano practice.  The weather cooperated and we all went on some great hikes, bike rides around Lake Annecy, up the Aguille du Midi in Chamonix. One night we visited an escargot farm and vineyard, owned by Mary’s school teacher.  We had wine a cheese tasting and learned about the cultivation of escargots – the quintessential French experience! We also had a wonderful dinner at Les Clos de Sens with the Hitzes and Bob and India Cutler Wardrop. 

Scottie’s school essentially closed down the second week in May because all classes go on trips to various cities in Europe including Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Geneva, and Munich.  We were really impressed that the school organizes these trips every year. The trips appeared to be very well run and the kids had a great time.  Scottie went to Geneva for a day, then on to Chamonix where they spent a few days snowshoeing on the glacier, rock climbing, and mountain biking.  The trip was probably the most memorable part of his school year.

May 16-20 marked the celebration of Ascension, and an other 5 day weekend for us!  We were invited to go on a canoeing / camping trip to the Ardeche region of France which is near the Rhone Valley.  The Ardeche river area is referred to by some as, “the Grand Canyon of France.”  While this analogy is a bit of a stretch, the river does run through a gorge surrounded by enormous cliffs, arches, and caves that date back to the prehistoric era.  There are also numerous small medieval towns sprinkled along the banks of the River with intact fortified chateaux that we explored.  The canoeing was great fun, and provided a bit more white water excitement than I personally was prepared for!  Fortunately there was only one tipped boat the entire trip.  That boat just happened to be manned by Elisabeth and poor Stephane, the nice man who had his collarbone broken by Elisabeth earlier this winter. As usual, when we apologized profusely Stephane replied with “Non, non, non – C’est pas grave” as he swam / dragged Elisabeth and the kayak to the shore.  Fortunately his collarbone had already healed!

We downloaded a Yale history class entitled “The History of France 1871-Present “ that Martha Sullivan recommended.  We really enjoy the lectures and in fact have become a bit addicted.  I highly recommend searching i-tunes for “Yale history classes” and downloading the class (it is FREE).  The professor is named John Merriman and his lectures are incredibly entertaining end interesting. Alex emailed Pfofessor Merriman to tell him how much he enjoyed listening to the lectures.  Coincidentally John Merriman was in France and lives in the Ardeche region in a small town called Balazuc, which was just 10 minutes from where we stayed during our canoe trip, so we went to his town and met him.  He is a very friendly and engaging person.  Unfortunately, when he asked Mary if she spoke French, wouldn’t you know, Mary replies, “no.”   Alex cringed and thankfully held back from mimicking Jack McGrail, “Speak French, Goddammit!”

Jimmy and Elisabeth had their final violin recital at the end of May.  We were fortunate this year to find a lovely violin teacher named Marie-Laure who was passionate about her music and really stuck with the kids, especially at the beginning when their French language skills were non-existent. Marie-Laure took an interest in both Jimmy and Elisabeth, she strayed from the strict “Suzuki” method and both kids made much progress this year.  Jimmy and Elisabeth were very pleased. The teacher had Mary accompany Elisabeth for one piece in the recital, which was quite a challenge, but the two were a hit together and thrilled with themselves.

May ended with a final long weekend for Pentecost.  We went to England and stayed with Alex’s cousin Isabella Knatchbull and her family who live in the countryside near Winchester. The Knatchbulls have five children approximately the same age as ours.  The Bocock children were so happy to be in a house with a yard and with fellow English speakers.  We visited Isabella’s parents, David and Diana Norman (who I had never met).  David Norman’s reputation as a fierce competitor precedes him, although I did not give the stories that I heard much credit. . . .UNTIL, we arrived at the Norman’s house and saw lines of bamboo poles set up in the yard.  Scottie asked what the poles were for and David replied “Why, those are for the slalom course / relay race that we will have a bit later” in a sort of “what else would the poles be for?” tone.  I still didn’t pay much attention to this until an hour later,   when I found myself sprinting through the course, trying my best my to outrun all the other guests!  Not what we had expected for an afternoon English tea with the grandparents!   Had I known, I would have definitely brought better footwear.

The weekend we were in England was the weekend just before Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebration, so the entire country was decorated for the celebration.  Thus we got a sense of the festivities without any of the crowds.  The weather was perfect. We were busy in London!  We went to the typical sights, saw Churchill’s War rooms, women in fancy hats enter Buckingham Palace for a tea party with the Queen, rode on the upper level of the London bus, tried to talk to the guards, quizzed the London police about Will and Kate . . . .We really enjoyed being tourists!  

We also visited Suzanne Ferlic Johnson, my friend from high school who now lives in London with her family.  Thanks to Suzanne’s recommendation, we saw the play,  “Lion With and the Wardrobe” in Kensington Gardens.  Admittedly, our family is very green when it comes to theater and we are easily thrilled even by small local plays like the Harwich Junior Theater on Cape Cod.  Thus, to see this production in London was a real treat for all of us, and the kids have great memories of this.  It really was fabulous and we all give it a double thumbs up. The final thrill for the kids was when we went to the studios just outside of London where the Harry Potter movies were filmed.  This attraction is relatively new, and in fact is very well done.  We had a glimpse of the life that the actors lead during the ten years that the movies were filmed.  We saw the sets and props from the movies, learned how the scenes with the flying broomsticks were filmed, how the exact models were built and transformed into images of “real” castles.  It was a great addition to our trip.   Fortunately the tour is a self guided tour, because as you can imagine, there are EXTREME Harry Potter fans of all ages there, many of whom can barely curb their enthusiasm. 

So, that was May for us.  Very busy, and interesting.  In the midst of the adventures and friends, the kids continue with their normal school, homework, music classes, and dryland training for skiing.  Our neighbor Monique continues to diligently help with homework 1-2 times a week, and kindly leaves an open door for the kids to run up to her apartment with questions. Alex and I continue to get a real pleasure  watching the kids feel more comfortable and confident speaking French and interacting with their friends and teachers with much more ease. . . . basically seeing them act more like they do at home.  The year has been fascinating in this way.  What a change from when we arrived in August.