Regionals in Dunkerque

Benjamin qualified for the regionals in Dunkerque in 50-, 100-, and 200-meter backstroke, so after Brienne's visit, we headed up north. 

 

 

We thought his times weren't quite what we hoped for, but it turned out there had been a snafu with his predicted times submitted, which were 25-meter pool times instead of 50-meter pool times. So in the end, he was mainly within his predicted times for a 50-meter pool. 

Friendly seagull at our window

Great view from the AirBNB

Dunkerque has beautiful houses near the seaside

The boys on the boardwalk

 

Septmonts

 Brienne and Micah were leaving for Paris today, so we let Micah sleep in as we squeezed in a quick visit to nearby Septmonts. 

Me and Brienne

Brienne and me, from the top of the donjon de Septmonts

Septmonts church

Typical French stone house

view from the top of the donjon de Septmonts

old graffiti

American cemetery and Meaux WWI Museum

The rain scuppered our original plan for the day, which was to spend some time in the American cemetery at Belleau and in the Belleau Wood.We stopped nonetheless at the cemetery for a quick visit. 

Then we decided to change our plans for something indoors, so the Musée de la Grande Guerre in Meaux was our pick.

It wasn't raining so much when we headed home, so we made a quick stop to the tour de Général Mangin in the Retz forest, close to home. This reconstruction of the observation tower from WWI reaches 25 meters high and provides a view of the entire area.

Brienne and Micah

 

25 years later...

I ended up here because I participated in a study abroad program in college. I met some amazing friends that year - 25 years ago now. In 2003, Frédéric and I went to visit one of those friends, Brienne, and her family in California. 

Here we are 18 years after that, and her son has graduated, so she brought him on a trip to France and we got to catch up again! 

Today we visited la Caverne du Dragon, the California plateau, the Vauclair Abbey, and the memorial church in Cerny-en-Laonnois. Benjamin acted as our chauffeur. 

Inside the Dragon's Lair, in memory of the soldiers who didn't make it home

Front lines of World War I

Statues in honor of the soldiers who came from French colonies in Africa

Benjamin, Micah, and me in Vauclair Abbey

Me with Brienne

Medicinal herb garden in the abbey grounds

The California plateau

Noah's last swim meet of the year

In Noah's final swim meet of this season, he came in third in 400-meter freestyle and fifth in overall points for the day out of 31 competitors, and improved his 100-meter medley by a whopping seven seconds. Not a bad day!

End of Year Club Meet

 When I look back on these posts later, I'll marvel at how much of our lives were spent around swimming pools. Today was the boys' end of year club meet. 

Benjamin

Noah, breaststroke

Noah (center), first among his teammates in the 100-meter freestyle

Benjamin, first (and only, shhh) in his age group in the 100-meter freestyle