Homeward Bound

We managed to get up and get the bungalow cleaned and the car packed by 9:30 a.m. as scheduled. Then it turned out that they only did the most cursory of inspections anyway. We spent the morning in yet another cute little town on the island, St. Trojan Les Bains, which featured a pleasant stroll along the seafront, a playground, and a giant trampoline thing which Phil gamely decided to give a try. You go up high enough to so somersaults and backflips in mid-air. It looked like fun. It was, naturally, deconseille pour les femmes enceintes.

This has been a very nice vacation but I do feel that I'm missing out on a lot of things we could be doing-- long bike rides, walks in the forest-- if I were in more robust condition. Then again, Robbie and I are about on the same level, so that works out well.

I had the best cup of coffee I’d had all week in St. Trojan-- these filter concoctions just don’t do the trick once you’ve been spoiled-- and then we had a quick lunch and hit the road. It was a fairly long drive to Amboise, but it turned out to be a lovely little town on the Loire, with a splendid chateau which we admired from the outside, and a merry-go-round which Robbie tested out and proclaimed satisfactory. There was a campground on an island in the middle of the river, just 1 km from the train station, so it might be a nice place to come back to someday as a weekend getaway that wouldn’t require a car. Although there are tons of chateaux, not to mention zoos and aquariums, around to visit if you do have one. The hotel was half-timbered and dated from the 15th century; perfectly pleasant but Robbie continues to be a noisy sleeper-- he'll be silent for hours and then suddenly go off like a pig who's just snuffled a truffle. Or shout "Youpi!" in his sleep.

The bed was comfy though.

July 14th: Quick breakfast at the hotel and then back on the road, Phil driving hell for leather to get back to Paris in time to return the car by 1, which wouldn’t be a problem unless we hit traffic and since it was Bastille Day, we weren’t sure what to expect. In the event, we sailed into Paris at 11 a.m. and we were literally a mile from the apartment when Robbie threw up. No rental car escapes the initiation, it seems, but at least leather seats are easier to wipe off than cloth. I was navigating from the front seat at this point so was a little slow to activate the bucket-under-the-chin Emergency Response System. All very sad. Anyway, we made it home, the car made it back, and really it didn’t seem to smell much. We spent over 80 euros on tolls and 150 on gas-- honestly Americans have no idea. Next time we will try to take the train most of the way, but with me pregnant and us having to bring beach towels, toilet paper, etc ... well, we didn't.

It was nice to get back-- our apartment is quite pleasant in summer; it has an airy, spacious feel although there is some construction going on above us. The fridge was particularly spacious since it was completely empty save for a few pots of jam and ketchup, and being Bastille Day, nothing was open. This morning we went off to to replace the bib and bathing trunks that unaccountably disappeared during our trip, and that’s pretty much it for Summer Vacation 2008.