France, Part 1

Mom and Dad took so many photos of our trip to France that I've decided to blog about it in installments! Here's Part 1: Getting There!

We got up on Friday morning and packed up the car and off we drove to Dover. They have big white cliffs there and a castle on the hill. But we drove straight to the ferry, and after waiting for awhile parked in our assigned line on the dock, drove straight onto the boat! That was pretty cool! We went up the lift [elevator] in the parking garage and through the interior to get to the deck to watch as we pulled out of the harbor. Boy, was it windy! I didn't like the wind very much, so we went back inside and ate our picnic lunch. I enjoyed bouncing around in the room I called the "Bouncy Castle" but was really just a soft play area. After a little over an hour, we got back into the car and drove off the ferry and we were in France! I practiced saying "France" and "Calais"--the town we arrived in.

We then drove a couple of hours and stopped in a town called Rouen. I learned how to say that immediately. We checked into our hotel and then walked through the old part of town. We saw where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake (MaMa and DaDa didn't explain that to me) and also a big church called a cathedral. I called it "Big New New Church." Someone called Monet painted it a bunch of times. DaDa took photos.

In the old town there was an enormous clock in a tower that we walked through, and some stores still open despite how late it was. In England the stores almost always close at 5:30 or 6. There was even a restaurant named after me! (See picture above.) We didn't eat there, but found a slightly nicer place and had dinner--my first French meal! I had fish filets and potatos, and what I declared to be "White Wine" [water in a wine glass]. I didn't like the fish very much, but I was pretty good at drinking out of the glass!


On the way back to the hotel, I got distracted by the Rugby World Cup on a large television screen set up outdoors in square by the restaurant we had just eaten in. [Yes, the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Time marches on....] I love all sorts of football, so I made it VERY clear that I wanted to watch the game. Mom and Dad can't figure out where this interest in football/soccer/rugby came from. After a few minutes though, they managed to drag me away and off we went back to the hotel, through the cobblestone streets--very rattly when you're strapped into a stroller!