Chemin de Bellemène

Frédéric had read about the Bellemène road and wanted to go see it. The "chemin de Bellemène" was paved in 1719, making it easier for farmers to access St Paul with their horses, oxen, and wagons.The path was used until the 1970s and is now a hiking path.

It looks a lot smoother than it is.

Great views of St Paul and the surrounding countryside

It was hot, hot, hot, and there is no shade, and the path has a 253-meter difference from bottom to top. So we actually only went about a third of the way up before we gave up and went to the St Paul market to find lunch.

Beach!

Finally, beach weather! The great thing about beaches in Reunion Island is trees. Who could ask for more than built-in shade at the beach?

 

Vanilla Plantation

One of the things we wanted to do this time was visit a vanilla plantation. We called to reserve our spots, and went down the mountain... in weather that was like this the entire time.

Fortunately, the owner was able to do most of the visit inside.

And the rain slackened just enough for a quick visit to the vanilla plants growing in the shade.

Reunion Island

After almost two years of pandemic, who doesn't need a Christmas at the beach?

We arrived in Reunion December 20th after an 11-hour night flight. We were exhausted, so went straight up the mountain to Frédéric's aunt and uncle's house, where this kind of weather greeted us... 

But the next day we made a stop at the beach, where we had nicer weather.

We found a snack bar for our rougail saucisse (Benjamin) and bouchons (pork dumplings) and samosas, before heading into town to see Frédéric's aunt Mélanie and uncle Maxime.

Benjamin with his Cot and his rougail saucisse

Noah with his bouchons

Neighborhood shrine near Tante Mélanie's house

Steps down to Tonton Maxime's house

 

You might be in France if...

 

... on the radio, you hear an ad for "free-range farm snails."

Good news

At Benjamin's parent-teacher conferences, I was elated to learn that his English is "authentic."

Visiting Dunkerque

When Benjamin wasn't swimming, we visited the town of Dunkerque. It was freezing, so our walks didn't last very long!

Swimming at Dunkerque

Thanks to his qualifications in November, Benjamin got to swim in his first regional competition this year, in Dunkerque, northern France. He qualified to swim in the 50-, 100-, and 200-meter backstroke, which pretty much always been his favorite / best stroke. 

And thanks to the pandemic, he ended up swimming without the benefit of a coach, because his regular coach was on vacation, and the replacement was a contact case for covid. 

Nonetheless, he beat all of his predicted times, and did a great job! 

 

Thanksgiving in France

 is one of the saddest things ever. But with the pandemic situation in America being what it was, our extended family canceled family Thanksgiving, so we stayed here. 

Thanksgiving in France means you can't really have Thanksgiving on Thursday, so we had it on Sunday instead. We made the best of it with our French-American friends, and had house church, too.

It's not Thanksgiving without games!

Disneyland Christmas

 As an early Christmas present from Frédéric's company, we had a family outing to Disneyland last night. It was pretty darn cold, but didn't rain on us, so it was worth it to enjoy the park with a limited number of other guests.