Church and a Drive West to St Germain
Sunday, November 1, 1991
After another nice Church service at the American Church we decided to drive west of St. Germain just to check out the area. We discovered numerous neat, small towns and spotted a sign saying “U.S. Marines”. In checking it out, there is really a town of US, France, and Marines, France. Surrounding them were beautiful chateaus overlooking valleys and lakes.
Over the Loire River and Back Home
Sunday, November 10, 1991
Our trip home took us through the back roads crossing the Loire River and passing thru quaint old towns and visiting pre Roman Empire theatres. We stopped in Ponce, France to visit the glass blowing, pottery and leather shops and even purchased a sugar and creamer at a reasonable price at the pottery mill.
The drive home was again beautiful.
Driving Back to Paris
Sunday, November 3, 1991
Drove back to Paris. Again, along back roads. We visited an old, old cathedral and abbey in the town of Verneuil Sur Aire, France, arriving home about 4PM. We attended the Living Word Church in Le Pecq that evening but decided it wasn’t the church for us.
Halloween, but Not in France
Wednesday, October 30, 1991
David leaves early A.M. for London returning late night.
Thursday, October 31, 1991
No Bible Study today as tomorrow is a holiday in France - “All Saints Day”. Today is Halloween but you wouldn’t know it here. The practice of Trick or Treating is not done here. There are no candy bags for sale, nor any costumes.
We have only seen one small specialty shop with a few decorations in the window. We had wondered how children would be able to trick or treat if it were a tradition here, as the access to apartment buildings and houses is only with a key thru common front doors, gates, etc.
Well, the car is packed. It’s 5PM. David was to leave the office at 1PM???. He didn’t make it. We’re driving to the Brittany area for this 3 day weekend. guess we’ll leave tomorrow as it’s getting dark.
Taking a Drive to Brussels Belgium
Saturday, October 19, 1991
Off we go - driving to Brussels, Belgium. We cross the border and exchange French Francs for Belgian Francs. This time it’s 1,000 Belgian Francs equal to about $30USD. The language is French but almost everyone speaks English also.
In wanting to satisfy our camping desire, we pack the car for a Saturday night stay at a campground at Mons, Belgium. Yes, I said Fall was here -cold, rainy. We drive thru several rain storms on the way. We arrive at Mons. The rain briefly stops and we set up our tent.
The campground is really nice, adjacent to a beautiful park with statues, ponds, ducks, and flowers. We stroll thru the beautiful garden and out of all the walking paths, we are led down one to find 3 beautiful white duck feathers on the ground. Someone is really watching out for us. Now David’s Pirate hat will be complete.
The rain would come and go as we cooked in between the raindrops and are holding our umbrellas while adding on another layer of clothes for warmth. We have found no camp fire facilities at any European campgrounds - this lending to only one positive note - your clothes don’t smell smokey.
Darkness came early and we retired to the warmth of our feather comforter. The rain continued all night. We were awakened by loud music from a building in the park about 1/2 mile away (student party). It actually vibrated the ground we slept on but was somewhat enjoyable.
Saturday, July 20, 1991
Drive in the France Countryside
Off to the Southwest down the A-10 route we drove toward the town of Saumur. This time its holiday time in France and the road is packed with campers and cars loaded to the brim with camping equipment. The wildflowers are still blooming on the sides of the road and the high today is to be about 70 degrees.
Lots of sunflower fields. The flowers all face one direction - that is the direction in which the sun shines on the them most of the day. The two-story McDonald along the way is packed with cars. They do a good business here. Returned home about 9pm to enjoy left overs and Saumur Brute (a champagne, but they can’t call it that because it doesn’t come from the “champagne” part of the country).