We took a little hiatus from blogging ever since the Planel family went on the road for the summer!
We flew into Paris for Theoden's baptism at the same church we were married in, and then hit the autoroutes and went on a "Tour de France" visiting family and friends clockwise around France. Although this is the first time ever that we are traveling with a 7months old baby on a roadtrip, we completed "Mission Almost Impossible" super-courageously! Of course we were completely exhausted by the end of the trip with the constant flow of good food and wine/champagne till midnight every night with our lovely hosts after a day of driving and touring. I'm still trying to get used to 3-4hours never-ending dinner sessions a la French way. Sometimes I fear my head may defy gravity and just thump on the dinner table and embarrassingly stop dead all conversations...(it almost happened once).
All we wanted to at the end of the day is to collapse into bed but instead of getting a fitful sleep, the baby wakes up in the middle of the night crying for his pacifier
(we thought about tying the pacifier to his head with a rubber band before we decided we really do love our baby) and then at 6am sharp, he wakes up to be fed and to play with somebody(mostly Emmanuel ;p). Soon, the whole household awakes and Emmanuel trips off to the boulangerie for fresh croissants and bread and after downing some coffee, goodbye/thank you hugs, we are then "magically" squashed back into the 2-doors only Clio filled with baby stuff and off on the road again. Vrooom...vrooom....!!Okay, now comes the FUN part! ;p
Cities/Towns/Villages/Hamlets we visited:
1. Lyon
2. St. Etienne
3. Pont du Gard
4. Avignon
5. Isle sur-la-Sorgue
6. Abbey de Senanque
7. Gordes
8. Aix-en-Provence
9. Nice
10.Eze
11.Monaco
12.San Remo (Italy)
13.Corsica
14.Montpellier
15.Carcassonne
16.Castillon en Couseran(Pyrenees)
17.Toulouse
18.Rocamadur
19.Bordeaux
20.Poitiers
21.Saumur
22.Chateau d'Usse
23.Chateaux de Chenonceaux
23 stops in just 14days. Ambitious? Or plain crazy? Or...suicidal?
Initially we had planned even more places to stop by(greedy, greedy, GREEDY!) but after the initial couple of days on the road with babyboo in the heat of the scorching summer heat, we realized we will be on the path to hell if we stuck to it. We discovered the hard way that babies do get cranky if you stick them in a car for too long. So, 23 it is.
On to Beautiful France. Here's a quick glimpse of it...
Visiting the serene Abbey de la Senanque floating in a sea of lavender in bloom is the photography highlight of my trip. It's almost like a dream come true for me... 
I know this picture is not exactly what represents France per se BUT I do have to thank Angie for generously sharing her Singapore flown in Bah Zhang(steamed rice dumplings stuffed with meat and chestnuts wrapped in banana leaves) with Emmanuel and I for breakfast while we stayed in Nice with her and Bruno. I have not tasted one since I left Singapore! Next time anyone flying in to visit us from Singapore, Frozen Nonya Bah Zhangs, please! ;p
Summer at Pont du Gard is fun! There is THAT impressive structure of an aquaduct bridge in the background while you swim, waddle or canoe in the river working that tan. Or, like us, hide in one of the many cabanas eating summer ripe raspberries that are ginormous and actually sweet(for once!), and also feeding a naked baby while enjoying the magnificent backdrop. =)
Saumur is one of the many elaborate chateaus in the Loire Valley and we were lucky to be able to stay with friends from Japan, right in the town's centre and just a stone's throw away from the chateau. From the comfort of their living room, you can actually see the chateau! We had to get the obligatory postcard shot of the chateau behind the Loire river so we drove across the bridge to the other side, BUT, at the worst timing EVER.
There is some cycling event going on in the town and coinciding with our photography plan, we got stuck with 4,000 cyclists dressed up as Vikings, traditional Brittany maidens and even as spotted cows(promoting their own cheese) on the same one-way small road spanning the river as the organizors of the event clearly had the same idea as us.
Getting stuck turned out to be kinda fun cos all the cyclists were very friendly(Bonjour! Wave! Smile! Wave!) and were all sympathetic seeing us stuck(one said encouragingly "Good luck! You might be here till next week!") and I felt like I became part of their event too(Possible post event conversation topic: "Did you see that poor car stuck on the road with cyclists all around it? I hope they emptied their bladder beforehand...).
Corsica & Friends! Headcount: 4 families and 6 boys under one roof! LOVE this island, LOVE the saucisson and wild boar pate thingee Richard & Mary-Noel made themselves, LOVE the sparkling Calvi Muscat wine, LOVE the hill-perched house with swinging hammock and sunrise view, LOVE all the friends and their silliness/laughter/fun, LOVE the seaside trips you can take on a whim, LOVE the laidback vibe of our stay, LOVE the aquamarine sea and warm waters, love the decadence of our stay there, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!
The "boys" aka men in this picture went to school together and fought hard in Dungeons and Dragons together like brothers. We should have more school pal reunions like this more often!
Did I mention hill-perched villages already? Well, seems like France is bursting with them! This is Gordes in Provence and Emmanuel is ready to sacrifice his son to appease the Sun God and spare us the unbearable heat! Oh wait - we are not in Mexico! What in the world is he doing!?
Seeing this t-shirt suddenly reminded us that oh yah! The Olympics has started! In our whirlwind tour, we barely had time to focus on worldly issues other than slowing down before the radars and stuff like dat. Love this t-shirt! =)
Honorary mention: For the 2nd time in history, tiny Singapore won a Silver medal! Whoohoo!
Rocamadour rocks! This carved-into-the-cliff village and cathedral worshiping the dead body believed to be of a saint was one of the hardest to reach place we visited simply because it is so deep in the heart of France and remote. I'm glad we made the pilgrimage here although we didn't physically climb up the steep 216 steps while saying a prayer each time like the pilgrims did in the past(we took the elevator. Two elevators, in fact. Shhh!!!).
Nice(pronounced as "niece") is NICE! Vieux Nice(Old Nice) totally charmed me off my socks with its colorful pink and orange hued narrow alleys and blue/green wood shuttered windows, ice cream parlors with a smogasbord offering of flavours from lavender, tomato-basil, beer, avocado, rosemary, jasmine, black olive(yucks!), thyme, calisson, etc. I love the Lavender flavour, super-yums! 
The view from the old Chateau offers you an eagle's eye view of the beach and the sun-worshippers of the Cote d'zur. We were bowled over by the view here completely and with a pang of regret, we had to leave for our next destination and wished we had more time to spend in Cote d'Zur... Oh well, next time!
Our son is a natural born charmer. In Singapore, we call this "Auntie-Killer", i.e., charm the skirts off all women, especially the older generation. He went around France flashing his killer toothless smile and melted hearts across the country. I learnt that "mignon" as in filet mignon, means "cute" in French and after hearing it being said to my son ever so often, I conclude that the French women love him.
However, I think he is having a hard time trying to convince the younger girls of his charm. His little cousin, Oksana, seems to be ignoring him, perhaps for invading her crib space? Or for his unruly behaviour of flashing his tummy in front of the lady? We will never know, will we?
I don't know if I can write about all the 23 places we visited and all the friends and relatives we stopped by along the way cos if I do, I might be able to write a Lonely Planet soon! Also, my little King has just fallen ill and perhaps I should thank my lucky stars that he only fell ill AFTER the road trip? Having a sick baby is no fun for the mama especially when he can't tell you what is wrong or where hurts him and you can only guess and hope it is right.
As for the rest of the pics, you folks shall just have to wait till my King Theoden recovers and I finally get my good night's worth of rest(sleep deprivation is the worst kind of torture anyone can hand down to me).
