How many Americans does it take to change a French light bulb?

Really!  It's not a joke. Our apartment has 5 different type of light fixtures.  All requiring a different light bulb.  Some twist in, some plug in, some plug in and then twist.

We have a series of lights that run the length of our hallway.  They are on a motion sensor, so they are on a lot.  Finally, after 15 months of living here, two of them blew out.  I wasn't sure what kind of bulb they were, so we attempted to take one out so that I would know what type to buy.

Out came the trusty ladder.  Up went my knight in shining armor to remove the dead bulb.  He couldn't figure it out.  He could pivot the fixture, but couldn't get to the bulb.  I suggested he try to pull the entire fixture down front he ceiling….he tried that, but didn't think that was the answer.  I asked if I could try.

Up the ladder I went.  I was a little more forceful with the light fixture and managed to pull it out of the ceiling….getting both of my thumbs snapped by metal springs in the process.  OUCH!  Wouldn't you know it, just as that happened my Face Time ringer went off….hello G Connie, we are in the middle of a big project, but we'll take your call anyway because we love you.

Back to the light bulb.  It was one of the "plug in" kind.  David was freaked out that I was going to get electrocuted, so he made me wait until he turned off the breaker to unplug it.  Now, we had an entire light fixture at our kitchen table.  We still couldn't figure out how the heck to get the actual light bulb OUT!

Finally, we noticed that there was a black ring inside the fixture that looked like it was holding the bulb in place.  VOILA!  That was the ticket.  The ring, while difficult to remove, was the key to changing the light bulb.  Yes, my husband is an engineer and I am pretty handy around the house, but it was not an easy task.  As it happens, one of my American friends just stopped over for coffee….she and her husband went through the EXACT same thing last night.  She even had the bulb in her purse when she stopped by!

back together….finally

On Saturday, David and I decided to take the 2 hour drive to Veckring, France.  We were on a quest to visit the largest fortress of the Maginot line, The Hackenberg.  If you aren't a history buff, skip the next couple of paragraphs…

When David's brother and his family were here in June they had talked about visiting the "Maginot Line".  I had no idea what that was.  Why would they want to go see "a line"?  Well, it turns out that it isn't a line, per se, but a series of underground bunkers that were intended to protect France from German invasion.

Unfortunately, the Germans bypassed these military bunkers, traveled through Belguim (who remained neutral) and captured Paris.  The French soldiers spent less time in the fortress (December 1939 until July 1940) than the Germans. (July 1940 until November 1944…overtaken by the American forces on November 19th)

I have to admit it was an amazing tour.  It was like a huge underground city, more than 6.2 miles of structures.  We were able to see how the 135mm howitzer of Block 9 worked (from the inside) and then saw the Turret for the bomb-launchers (outside).  Our final piece of the tour was seeing the outside of Block 8 where the Americans used a 155m self-propelled gun against the rear to overthrow the German army.

135mm Howitzer of Block 9 (inside)

Twin Turrets for the bomb launchers of Block 9 (outside)

Block 8…damage from American troops

Definitely worth a visit if you come to visit us.  Michael, sorry that you didn't have time to visit it!! 

Last bit of excitement for our weekend happened as we were on our way to Church yesterday morning.   We are usually dashing out the door so that we aren't late. (That would make you laugh if you lived here…you aren't "late" unless you've missed more than half of the service) We both are always carrying our Bible, a drink and the often needed umbrella.  David opened the door and I was on his heels.  I heard him let out a shriek and nearly barreled into his back.

This is what was waiting for us….you can't see the enormous web that this spider had been working on overnight, but that's him in the middle of the photo.  Spiders CREEP me out!!  If I had run through his web and he was on my body, let me just say there would've been drinks, Bibles and umbrellas flying and this Kentucky girl would've been screeching down the sidewalk.

Thanks to my Prince Charming (who was also freaked out) for knocking down the web and allowing us to get to church on time.

That's all from our end for this week.  Wishing you all a "spider free" day.  

What was lost is now found

What is a Saturday morning like for you?  Because David's alarm clock goes off well before 6am during the week, my Satrudays usually start much earlier than I would like them to. (Remember, I am an empty nester now…..yes, I've had my share of early Saturday wake ups to hustle to a sporting event)

This past Saturday was a "haircut" day for David.  Mercifully, that meant I was able to just lay in bed and browse through FaceBook and Instagram until he came back home.  It was a gorgeous day and so after he went for his short run (5 miles), he and I headed to the park for a walk.  We logged 4 miles and then decided to go on a bike ride so that we could continue enjoying the nice weather.

Remember me complaining about how painful long bike rides are?  No MORE!  I purchased each of us "biking apparel" while I was home and I am happy to report that those little pads are like floating on air…not really, but they are darn close!

We rode across the border and spent the afternoon in a park that sits along the Rhine river.  At some point during our 2+ hours there, we happened upon a conversation about how large my ears are.  Haven't noticed?  Well, they apparently are HUGE…yes, I have been told by more than a couple of people that they are, so it must be so.

I happened to see a large leaf laying on the ground.  I took out my diamond hoop earring so that David could use it to measure my ear.  Then, I used it to measure HIS ear.  The result?  My ear, that is attached to my much smaller head, is the exact same size as his.  Bummer, the leaf analysis confirmed my "large ear" diagnosis.

It was time to head home and get ready for dinner.  After I showered and was drying my hair I noticed that I only had one of my earrings in my overly large ears.  Oh no!  After the Leaf Analysis I had forgotten to put my earring back in!  RATS!

David had just settled in to watch France play in the FIBA World Cup (Basketball) and was not optimistic about our odds on finding the earring in a HUGE grassy park. We only had about 55 minutes of daylight left.  He was a great sport and drove me over anyway.  I threw up a Nehemiah prayer on the way over.  David was giving me a 30% chance of finding it.

We found a parking spot and headed up the knoll to the park.  As we stood at the top, I looked over where we had been sitting,  Miracurously, I could still make out the indentation of our blanket!  We walked over to the spot.  I literally stopped walking, looked down and saw my earring!!  PRAISE JESUS!  Yes, I said it aloud.  I am serious, we spent no more than 5 seconds looking in a large grassy park for my lost earring.  God is so good!  Just when it seems like all is lost, He provides.  So thankful that while I was once lost, I am now found too!

view of the park from the knoll.

Our "spot" in the park

a very blurry view of my earring…PTL

Sunday was an event with our Americans in Alsace friends.  It was a celebration in a village called Ribeauvillé.  The Pfifferdaj is an annual parade that takes place the first Sunday in September.  The Minstrels Festival is the oldest in Alsace and celebrates  the links between the lords of Ribeaupierre and the minstrels they protected.  The theme brings to life different images of Mediaeval history: peasant life, castle life, domestic or fabulous animals, buildings, travel, discovery, work, trades, beliefs, fortunes and misfortunes. 

We had great fun watching the nearly 30 floats that passed by us as we enjoyed our lunch.  I'm including several of my favorite shots from the nearly 250 photos I took that afternoon.  We did find it amusing that we heard several Rock songs from the 80's.  Who knew that we would hear a Queen song in a medieval village in the middle of France's wine region?  

The Noone's and the Carrasco's (minus Rosa who is taking the photo)

David "rocking out" to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody

One of the many bands….yes, the streets were this crowded

So hot and sunny that the Noone's needed to buy headgear.

One more photo, don't look if you can't "bare" to be mooned.  I promise, I wasn't expecting this shot, "butt", it's the French way.

Yes, these fellows were part of the parade.  We were at the beginning, so I have no idea if they continued to flash the bystanders along the parade route. And I have no idea what they wrote on their backsides.

Little by little

According to my car's odometer, I travelled well over 4,000 miles in the month that I was back in "the states".  I would use the word "home" there, but it makes my dear hubby feel sad.  He likes me to consider wherever it is that he lays his head as my "home", so I guess I will oblige him.

My month in the states had me traveling back to "my old Kentucky homeland" several times, to Cincinnati to visit my dear in-laws, to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina for a vacation and two trips each to West Lafayette (Purdue University) and Bloomington (Indiana University). 

I think that I managed to only cook about 10 meals within that 30 day timespan.  Consequently, my midsection may have expanded just a bit.  David can never understand why, in the name of "fellowship",  there are so many meals out.  I try to explain to him that I have to eat, and the people I want to visit have to eat, so why not kill two birds with one stone? (Here are a few of the many people I enjoyed a meal with)

Finally it was time to head back to France.  I received an email from US AIR that I would be upgraded to first class on my first flight (Indy to Charlotte).  That is one of the nice perks about flying so much that you are a Silver level frequent flyer.  You don't have to pay for the upgrade and not only do you have a nicer seat, but you get to check TWO free bags to your final destination.  That meant that all of the items that were in the "wait until December" pile were now coming with me.  I had packed and re-packed my original bag about 5 times maximizing my 50 pounds of allowable baggage.  Now I would be traveling with a 50 lb bag, a 40 lb bag and my carry on.

I had been diligently checking my Charlotte to Frankfurt, Germany seat assignment about every 12 hours.  God had managed to keep the seat next to mine open and I would have the luxury of spreading out over two seats for my 9 hour flight.  As many of you are my Facebook friends, you already know that I had a tiny person sitting across the aisle from me.

Well, I also had the opportunity to sit two rows behind a newborn and right in front of a 3 year old toddler.  I was surrounded!!!  Actually, the kids were not too bad.  The father of the toddler behind me was the worst…he almost knocked a drink all over me during dinner as he was adjusting himself to feed his son.


I managed to sleep for about 40 minutes total and arrived in Frankfurt at 7:00 am European time.  That would be 1:00 AM in Indiana.  They parked us at a "remote gate", which means we had to disembark and load onto shuttle buses to arrive at the actual terminal.  Once inside the terminal I had to pass through customs.  There was no line and no waiting, which is always a blessing.  Then I headed to baggage claim along with my fellow passengers who were ending their flying journeys in Frankfurt.

We were in baggage claim for about 25 minutes and still hadn't seen any of our luggage.  Finally, a German voice came over the intercom.  About 30 people groaned and started leaving.  Then a French voice, another 20 people groaned and left.  Mercifully, an English announcement told me that I was in terminal one and that my luggage was in terminal two.  Now I knew what all of the groans were for.  Terminal two was located several sets of escalators and a tramway from where I was currently waiting.  

Onward I went.  If you've done any air travel, then you know that you just can't walk into baggage claim from the outside.  I had to wait for an airport employee to escort me through to baggage claim to pick up my 90 lbs of luggage.  Now, because I was in terminal two, I had to drag those two bags back to terminal one to catch my bus for Strasbourg.  Let me tell you, it's not easy getting two heavy bags onto/off of an escalator (let alone 3 separate escalators) and then manhandling them onto/off of a crowded tram.  I was a hot mess by the time I reached terminal one.

Now I just had to wait for the bus to start loading.  I was second in line with my two bags and had cooled off enough in the 60 degree air to not scare anyone who might be standing near me.  The bus driver appeared and all heck broke loose.  Suddenly I had 5 Muslim women who somehow had snaked their way in front of me and were throwing their bags into the bus hold.  One even started asking a person three people behind me to hand her their bag so that she could get it on the bus.  I finally managed to give her an evil eye and get my two bags into the luggage hold.  I am not exaggerating when I tell you that my bags were the last two to fit on my side of the bus. 

Now, it was time for ME to board.  I was about 6 people deep in the line.   Again, I went from the front of a seemingly easy boarding location to people smashing in from the side and pulling 4-5 people along to the front with them.  WHAT THE HECK??  Do Europeans not understand what a line means?  WAIT YOUR STINKIN TURN!!  While I did not throw my arm out to prevent people from boarding in front of me, I certainly wanted to. (And yes, I may have done that during a day-after-Thanksgiving shopping trip to Target…don't judge.)

Finally, I was let on the bus.  I snagged a window seat toward the front and settled into my seat for the 2 1/2 hour ride to Strasbourg.  Well, the seat next to me stayed empty for all of 2 minutes.  Suddenly a man plopped his 4(ish) year old daughter in the seat next to me.  WHAT?  Yep, two parents and three kids under 4 meant that the oldest had to sit with a complete stranger.

She was fascinated with my phone….that's her mom over her right shoulder

We hadn't even left the airport before the poor little girl was asleep in her seat…well, sort of her seat, sort of my seat.  What is a mother to do??  Of course I pulled her over onto my lap and covered her up with my sweater.  The mom did thank me profusely for my efforts and I was able to spend the ride praying over a precious little muslim girl whose name I didn't even know.

My bus ride was over and my leg was quite asleep.  Time to fight my way back to my luggage and pull it off the bus.  I drug the bags with me around the corner to the train station and hailed a taxi to take me to my apartment.  I was in the home stretch!  My bed was calling my name.  I just had to get into the apartment.  The taxi dropped me off and I managed to drag my 90 lbs of baggage inside the front door and up the 10 steps to the elevator.  

OH MY GOLLY!!!!  The elevator was broken.  Yes, you might have heard me groan last Friday.  I live on the 5th floor of our building.  That's more than 100 steps to my apartment.  I get winded walking up those steps just carrying my own body….how the heck am I going to get 3 bags up those steps without dying???

There is a Patch the Pirate song titled "Little by Little" that my kids used to listen to.  The words were very applicable to my situation.  Here is the chorus…

Little by little, inch by inch,

by the yard it's hard,

by the inch what a cinch!

Never stare up the stairs,

just step up the steps.

Little by little inch by inch

Praise God, I did it without dying. I dragged one bag up, one step at a time and then went back down for the next one.  I got everything into our apartment and headed straight for the bed.  David came home 5 hours later.  I hadn't unpacked any of my bags, but at least I had napped and taken a shower.  

When I told my friend, Lisa, about my journey home she laughed and said that God was calling me to serve in the nursery at church.  Wouldn't you know it?  They needed a teacher for the 6-8 year olds this past Sunday.  David kept elbowing me to volunteer, but hey, I can't speak enough French yet!!

Wishing you a week where you can enjoy the "little by little" moments that you will encounter. Don't worry, you'll come out on the other end eventually.  God bless!!

It's the French way

Today is my father-in-law's birthday, because he has said that he loves reading my blog (he's just being nice), I am writing this entry strictly as a birthday present to him.  Happy Birthday Stan, I love you very much and am so blessed to have you in my life.

We have added the phrase "it's the French way" to our everyday vocabulary.  Everyday, because it seems we experience something that has no "American" explanation, so it is simply "the French way".

We know a wonderful couple at church who have suffered injuries that have required ongoing physical therapy treatments. Nothing French about that, right?  Well, this week they are in the south of France for a week receiving SPA TREATMENTS.  That wouldn't be terribly unusual, except that they are there on a "second honeymoon" because it is paid for by their health insurance.  Yep, hot rock massages, mineral rich hot pool therapies and mud therapies all paid for.  Talk about an "all-inclusive" vacation!!  It's the French way.

Many of you have had the privilege of giving birth to a child or two.  You have also had the pleasure of seeing your body after this miraculous event.  Having been stretched and expanded for 9 months, it isn't a pretty sight.  The French healthcare system (over generous as it can be) offers mothers of 2 or more children a free tummy tuck.  Yes, it is paid for by the French government.  It's the French way.

Moving on from French healthcare, lets consider vacation time.  In France, each employee receives 5 weeks of vacation.  Have I mentioned that the French work week is only 35 hours?  We know of someone who went to his doctor because he was feeling "tired".  After all physical factors were ruled out, the doctor asked about his last vacation….he had taken a 2 week vacation last year….BOOM, here is a DOCTOR'S PRESCRIPTION for a 3 WEEK vacation.  It's the French way.

David and I have been married for 23 years.  He once took a vacation from December 21 until January 6th.  That has been his record.  Here in France, it is perfectly normal for employees to take a 4 week vacation.  Yes, I said 4 weeks…..the entire month of July or August.  It's not only people.  There will be many restaurants, bakeries and even businesses that will close for vacation.  Not just a day or a weekend, but for several weeks at a time.  Can you imagine?  It's the French way.

How about sports?  Do you like to participate?  If you have kids, are they athletes?  I can remember every year that my kids would have to get a physical to participate in athletics.  It had to be dated AFTER May 1, and had to be on-file with the school before their first day of practice.  Just one physical good for the entire school year and it wasn't required until they reached 6th grade.  That seems normal to me.

Kids (and adults) here need to see a doctor for EACH sport that they'd like to participate in and age isn't a factor.  If your son/daughter wants to swim, play tennis, be on a soccer team and play softball/baseball, then you have to make 4 separate doctor appointments, paying for a "different" physical each time.

If you are an adult?  You don't get off any easier.  David just had to leave work last week to get his "physical" so that he could play on the company basketball team.  Now, as an adult, you may also have to get a "license" to participate in activities.  Have you ever heard of a GOLF LICENSE?  Not a PGA tour card or a club membership card, but an actual license that allows you to play golf.  If you don't have one, you will not be permitted on a French golf course.  They are actually surprised that they are the only country that requires one.  David has his basketball license, but he has refused to get a golf license.  It's the French way.

I could go on, but you get the idea.  You take the good with the bad (and inconvenient).  I would definitely sign up for the spa week and tummy tuck, but some of the other "differences" I can certainly pass up.  Who knows, by the time we relocate back to the states Obamacare might offer some of these same perks…..

Speaking of inconveniences, I will go to make what I hope is my final attempt to pick up my slow cooker today.  Say a prayer for me (and the clerk) that they have one to pick up and that the store is not closed for vacation!!

Weekend in Lake Como…George, where are you?

Have you ever seen the cartoon Popeye?  If so, then you have heard Wimpy say "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today".  He always walks away with a hamburger and somehow, Tuesday never comes.

I've been on the OTHER end of that scenario since June.  I wanted to buy a slow cooker. Yes, I have several at home in the states, but the wiring is different here and they won't work, so I forced David to go shopping with me on a rainy Saturday.  We found a store in a town about 15 minutes north of us that carried them and were on our way.  We found the last "mijoteuse" on the shelf, paid and headed home.

Unfortunately, when I opened it up, it was damaged.  RATS!  You can imagine David's reaction when I told him we'd need to go back and exchange it.  Now, you can't RETURN most things in France.  No money back in your pocket….even if it's DAMAGED.  We were essentially given a "rain check" for the same item.  Our "receipt" had on it the item we paid for, including the purchase price and we have 6  months to "redeem" it.

A big hassle, sure, but I want the darn thing.  Well, I've been back to the store that is a 30 minute (without traffic) roundtrip trek 3 times now.  Each time, there is no stinkin' MIJOTEUSE on the shelf and each time I ask a sales person to go and check in inventory.  Each time, I've gotten the same response, "we will have them in stock on TUESDAY".  Now you understand the Wimpy reference.  I will keep you posted on my progress….if the raincheck expires before they finally get one in stock, I am CERTAIN that you will hear me roar from across the pond.

After my last attempt at securing my slow cooker on Friday, I stopped at the HUGE grocery store off the same exit.  It's called "Cora".  Cora makes a super Walmart look like a gas station grocery store.  As I wandered through the housewares section, there was a display for cast iron skillets that caught my eye.  I have an induction cook surface, so I can only use metallic skillets.  These said that they would work on an induction surface.  

They were very expensive, so I decided against the purchase and pushed my cart along.  As I was leaving the display, an elderly French man spoke to me.  I had assumed that I had perhaps "cut him off" with my cart and quickly apologized.  He made another comment to me (in French) that I did not understand and so I used one of my best French phrases on him…. "Je suis désolé, je ne comprends pas" (I'm sorry, I do not understand).  He then asked me what language I spoke and I replied English.

He then proceeded to tell me in English that "this is the best pan to use to correct my husband".  We had a good laugh and he made sure to tell me that his wife never had to use a cast iron skillet on him.  I walked away smiling and wondering how on earth this little man knew David :)

We had friends who were here in our area on a biking tour through the Alsace wine country.  I'm certainly NEVER going to consider daily biking as a vacation, but that's what they called it.  I felt so bad for them.  The entire week was frigid and it rained every day.  We were able to drive south and meet them for a yummy dinner in a fabulous restaurant in Equisheim.  Of course, it was pouring rain when we left.

Mark and Nancy 

We headed south to Lake Como early Saturday morning.  It's about 450km from our apartment to the Northern part of Italy. The lake was beautiful.  The forecast wasn't so nice.  The crappy weather we had experienced in France all week was following us.  We ventured from our hotel in Griante across the lake to Bellagio and spent the day exploring the village in the rain.

View from our hotel room.  Nice pool and Bellagio across the lake.

David can always manage to find a set of stairs to drag me up.

Sunday was a sunny day.  Our first one in about 10 days.  We lounged by the pool until mid afternoon and then headed to the neighboring villages to explore.

Our hotel.  Who knew that with a name like this EVERY Brit in Italy would be at your hotel?

Each village along the lake is filled with restaurants, a church, a tobacco shop, hotels and then the residential housing.  If the churches didn't look different, I'm not sure that you would know when you left one village and entered another.

Monday morning we had arranged to rent a boat for 4 hours and tour the lake.  We were one of only a handful of boats to be seen.  If only we'd had waterskis!  The lake was like glass.

We passed the villa that belongs to Richard Branson, the Virgin Airlines CEO











and of course had to go past George Clooney's Villa Orleandra in Laglio.  We couldn't stay in front of George's villa.  He apparently was able to get a temporary law passed to prevent boaters and/or swimmers from stopping in front of his property.  I guess he doesn't want anyone to crash his upcoming wedding.

I see those 2nd story bedroom windows open.  I know you are home George.

There are so many lovely homes along the lake….I picked out this estate to visit next time….it's called Villa La Cassinella.  It is one of the few lakefront properties that can be rented.  It's only 90,000 Swiss Francs for the week.  ($101,000 in US dollars).

Ok, so maybe we could afford this one instead…

Monday afternoon we began the long trip home.  Again, the tunnel traffic was causing a long delay, so we took the detour through Gottard Pass, Switzerland.  The views are stunning and I had to promise my husband a return trip so that he could hike through the countryside.

One last traffic back up was caused by loose animals on the autobahn.  Trust me, if your Navigation System is giving you this information, you slow down.

We finally arrived home and were able to grab a quick shower and watch some Bastille Day fireworks from our apartment window.

Not a bad weekend here in Europe.  I promise to stay out of trouble for the next two weeks and then I'm headed HOME!  Can't wait.  Hope to see as many of you as possible while I'm stateside.  Alternatively, YOU could visit US in September.