France Pt. 5 -- French Fairytales

The last stop on our journey was outside of Paris, in the suburb of Montesson, to visit the Rodes family.  Nathalie was an exchange student who lived with the Newmans for several summers when Jonathan was young; her family has remained very close to the Newmans (they came to our wedding, as well as Andrew and Meghan's!) so we were very excited to see the Rodes and their three adorable children!

 When we arrived, we went with Nathalie and the children to the château at St-Germain-en-Laye, where there is a beautiful overlook towards the city of Paris.  Capucine, Arthur, and Tiphaine enjoyed playing in the gardens.

Back at the Rodes' house, we had a delicious quiche dinner and played games with the children until bedtime! Tiphaine especially latched onto Jonathan, calling him "mon bébé".

The next day, we went to the Château de Breteuil, a well-preserved castle full of both history and fairytales! One of the owners of the château worked with a writer named Perrault, who compiled well-known French fairytales into one volume called les Contes de Perrault.  Around the castle and the gardens, you can find scenes from these stories, such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss in Boots!

 We had a nice walk around the gardens...

We also took a tour to learn about the history of the château itself, and we listened to a storyteller recounting three of Perrault's tales (a great opportunity for me to practice my French comprehension skills!)

Of course, the children had a great time just playing on the playground in the gardens!

 For dinner, we drove to "Hippopotamus", a nice and kid-friendly restaurant.  I enjoyed helping the children make some origami birds and balloons while we waited for our food.

All too soon, it was time to say "au revoir" to the Rodes family...the hardest goodbye yet...We had such a good stay with them!

After an early morning at the airport, we made our way back to the U.S., including a 7 hour layover at the Reykjavik airport.  It is sad to see this trip to come to an end, but I am so thankful that Jonathan and I were able to have such a great adventure together-- an incredible end to a wonderful summer!