And finally - the last day of Sarah's French trip - passing through Orléans on the way home for a night...

We stayed in Oréans on the way back to Belgium for one night and popped into the city for a quick evening look before going to sleep at our cheap (Euro 34 for all three of us combined) hotel. It's a good way to travel using these cheap hotels. They aren't luxury at all but they are clean enough - though small - and pretty perfect for a night's sleep along the way!
Orléans is of course most famous for the famous woman on the horse above - Joan of Arc.
The city is a strange one. It somehow misses the glory is seems like it is supposed to have. The cathedral above is of course a site to see! Most striking to me though was the below site. Look at the building on the left. It has a Jewish star on it! It's a synagogue! An unexpected synagogue right next to a church. Living in Europe, I have become used to not seeing Jewish symbols anywhere other than in Antwerp and at the occasional Jewish museum. And there, right smack next to the church was a big Jewish star. I could hardly believe it. You have to understand - though I am not a believer or any sort of practicing Jew or anything like that - coming from New York - there were churches and synagogues and mosques and every sort of denomination of all of the above all around - even in the small town I grew up in... Living here in Europe - I just see Catholic symbols - everywhere always. So to all of a sudden stumble across this synagogue - well, it made a big impression. Especially after having been inundated with so many churches for the previous two weeks! Jews have really been erased throughout Europe. Obliterated. We all know the history. So somehow this synagogue gave me a little comfort.

Our daughter in the hotel with her pet Coyote - sleepy after a long, nice trip through one part of France for two weeks!
Viva France! Thanks for the nice vacation!

Our next to last day on our vacation in France - a little visit to the Spanish border!

We wnet to the Spanish border and visited the cute village of Bossost and drove through other nearby towns.
It looked quite different building-wise to the French towns around the corner. I love how things just change all of a sudden at borders? You quickly know you are in another country just by looking around - even though it all looks basically the same... Above you can see the river valley and some back streets we walked through. In a field of thousands, 2 (not 1 but 2) four-leaf clovers popped into my daughter's site. Sh felt like the luckiest girl in the world in Spain!
We ate a lot of ice cream during this trip! After all - what is a vacation in the summer without ice cream!? We all agreed that the Spanish ice cream we had in the above photo was the best we had had the whole tome by far. Viva Spain!

Sarah's vacation in France - trip to the sea - Biarritz on 09 July 2008!

It was a fantastically sunny day so we went to the sea - to Biarritz on the bottom west coast of France near Spain. It was more than a two hour drive each way - which we did to and from all in one day. But it was very worth it! What a beautiful beach! Blue sea! Great sand! Very beautiful people to watch - many women with no tops - which required a bit of explaining to my daughter and a little bit of controlling of my husband's eyes! (just joking! I had to look a lot to - some very perfect breast all around - how can't you look!). The place is very crowded but we found a quieter beach away from the main crowds and had a sunny, lazy day. I really enjoyed it and my husband and daughter did as well - fighting with the large waves but being able to stand up in the water all the while - which removed the danger of the hard waves a bit. Many sea-towns - especially in Belgium I'm sorry to say - are so built up and ugly - that it was such a relief to see all these pretty buildings clean and tasteful surrounding the wonderful sand and sea. What a great day! My favorite I think. The most vacation-like one!Our daughter had a blast in the sea!
Beautiful bodies. Beautiful waves. Beautiful sand. Beautiful views. Beautiful sea. Beautiful day!

Sarah's vacation in France - second week - our day in the Pyrenees

Above you can see me and a sleeping bear in the mountains!!! Scary!!! In our second week in France we went into the mountains and explored the Midi-Pyrenees a bit. We were a few days ahead of the Tour De France and saw a lot of places those crazy cyclists would soon ride through. One place - a peak of 2115 meters struck me! I can't believe those bikers ride down tat mountain after reaching that peak. All I could imagine was death after death of falling biker - building up too much speed and falling off the cliffs! I don't know how often that happens but surely it must sometime. Those guys are daring! Amazing athletes!
Well there, we did see someone tumble down a cliff. It was really scary. My daughter and husband walked up what seemed like a small mountain. I watched from below. There was a family next to me watching their 4 kids go up. When the kids were ready to come down - one took a step and he just stumbled and started rolling - not in a smooth way - down this mountain. He hit hard and for a second it looked like that was it - this poor kid was going to roll hard and heavy down this mountain to his death right before his parents' eyes and in the view of all of us onlookers. Time stood still as I watched from below and my husband watched from above. Nobody could do anything! I heard the mother cry out in agony and fear. And then I couldn't see the boy anymore - he landed somewhere flat and luckily soft. It was really dramatic. I hope I never see that again. In the meantime, his other brothers and sisters froze and were then afraid to come down the mountain themselves. One older one moved down to his fallen brother and after a while we saw the two. They inched down together on their butts - totally fearful. The boy was okay in the end - hurt I am sure. What a day that poor family must have had! From below - it really didn't look like a high mountain hard to come down. My daughter went up alone at first and it all looked okay. Thankfully though - my husband followed after her and could help her down the mountain - because one wrong step and you could fall like the boy we saw did. Scary! Only people who know what the are doing should try these things! I'm so afraid of hurting by back by falling hard that I hardly hiked at all. I'm just too afraid to slip. I'm glad I trusted that fear inside in this case and didn't go up that 'little" mountain. My daughter said she felt sick coming down it.

It was beautiful!!
One of 20 bears that still exist in these mountains! Amazing to be able to watch these bears in action in a reserve for them. There is a lot of discussion about these bears and if they should be re-introduced as they are sadly dying off and nearly extinct in this region. Bring them back I say! They were here first! The land is theirs, not ours! But people say no! They don't want the danger. Nature versus man. Nature is amazing. I'm glad we got to be in the middle of all its glory.

We made it to the Col du Tourmalet! But not on bikes of course! It was amazing to see all the bikers making their way up the mountain! The Tour De France passed through a few days later.

Below, you can see a You Tube film of some of the route.

Tuesday 15 July 2008: a new day, closer to holidays! I need them!

Heidi says:

I was wondering on my bike this morning, about glamour and who has it in his or her life. I think nobody knows what glamour means. I think it's very shallow. When you're 20 years old, you think your life will become glamourous, as you read those women's magazines and they shout glamour and beauty. Of course, you're too poor to buy all the stuff that they tell will bring you glamour, and so you wait. Later, you start to wonder about the meaning of life, and you get scared of death and losing the people you love, and so there is no room in your head for glamour. You struggle on. There comes a time you get a baby. The baby wears you out and you're the furthest from glamour you can ever get. I am almost thirty. I am starting to get scared of aging. I have enough money to afford something nice every once in a while, which I do, but I still don't see or feel any glamour. Glamour is magazine language, and the people who supposedly had or have it, commit suicide at an early age or die too early of an overdose (suicide?) or die lonely. Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Heath Ledger, Marlène Dietrich... There are enough examples.

But then again. Maybe those two times my friend Wout made me walk on a catwalk were glamour? Maybe all the times we're on a dancefloor, shaking everything we've got is glamour? The long afternoons I've spent on my roof terrace when I was pregnant? The nice pictures Nico and I took on our holidays? The fun of dressing up to go to a swing party and to be asked to dance the lindy hop with a total stranger? Maybe...

Day six, seven - who knows anymore -- of Sarah's vacation in France...

One rainy day we went to some thermal baths nearby - there are many in that region. We didn't get any photos - but it was great fun! One of the best moments that we all enjoyed. It wasn't cheap - but it was worth it. There were all these different pool areas in a grand building. One area had like a waterfall rush of water you could stand under and get pummeled by water. That was my favorite part for sure! Next to that there were heavily bubbled baths/whirlpools. My daughter's favorite was the music pool in which underwater you could hear relaxing music. She also love the mint tea they gave for free at the hammam area. It was terribly relaxing! Loved it. After that, we headed to a castle high up on a hill. We took some fun medieval torture photos there and watched a fire-throwing-knife-tossing performer.
I was busy looking at the fake Knights in the castle and noticed that one was wearing gloves from today - not from 600 or so years ago! I looked closer and closer at the gloves and was about to touch them when all of a sudden the fake Knight moved its head! It scared me and I gasped! My husband and daughter enjoyed that! It freaked me out! I had been had!!! I'm just glad I hadn't grabbed the fake Knight's private area!
The next day we went to Albi - a great, great place with an amazing cathedral that is totally worth the visit - just for it alone even. I have never seen a church like this in my life and boy have I seen a lot of churches. It was 100% facinating - architectually and historically. We went to Albi to see the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum but the cathedral was the real draw in the end! The cathedral is like a huge fortess you can see from all directions. It looks far more military than church-like from the outside. It's bombastic to say the least - in outer structure. Simple but HUGE - the pillars holding it all up look like fa elephant legs from afar. The place just seems endless. It looks like a place to fear. A prison. A grand train station in Europe. That's until you get to the door - which is overly decorated and in total contrast with the rest of the outer structure. The inside is overwhelming! Just totally over the top with every style from every era in every corner from top to bottom. It's really necessary to rent a headset and go through the whole church listening to ever detail described. I was in awe really. I had no doubt in my mind why people feared God and Hell. If there's anyplace I have ever been that forced that point - well it's surely this cathedral in Albi. It's just decadent and crazy really. It was here that I saw the crazy detailed painting of the Last Judgement. That painting alone could be responsible for millions and millions of people converting to and believing (being forced to believe) in God!
Above you can see me in awe of it all. Below a dark shot of the Last Judgement in the Albi Cathederal though the link above will bring you to a much clearer shot I found on the net.

Monday 14 July 2008: Heidi cleans and cleans and cleans...

Heidi says:

Cleaning day at the office. Seriously, the water was black when I threw it away...

In the evening I had some energy left to run 40 minutes, after eating french fries. My stomach didn't like it so much though. I ran 40 minutes with stomach aches. But it survived! Last Friday I ran 50 minutes. That is quite amazing as a couple of months ago I though I'd never be able to run!!!!

Day five and six - maybe seven of Sarah's vacation (04-05-06 July???)

Swimming and sun! Great parts of our trip! We don't see a lot of sun in Belgium so we really soaked up what we could in the south of France. A pool was a really nice added value where we stayed. We divided our days between relaxing by the pool and going here and there at a slow pace. The absolute best thing was not touching a computer for two whole weeks!!!! It was really fantastic and much easier to kick than I thought it would be - having not been without a computer for the last several years! But I loved it! It truly added to the relaxation factor - just not being connected to the world other than for the occasional text message. Unfortunately and not surprisingly - the minute I was back home I was of course back on the computer - and here I am again on this blog....
The above photo was taken on a bad-weather day. We went to a cave to see hand-prints from 24,000 years ago! It was pretty cool. All these strange guesses as to why there were so many hand prints all over the cave and caves in the area and why the hands all looked like half of the fingers or all of them were cut in alf - maybe mutilated? Maybe a secret language? Nobody knows and nobody will ever know. But it's so fun to guess and imagine and to see something from so very long ago from our cavemen relatives! I totally enjoy that sort of thing. And it was even better because it was just the three of us with a guide - a private tour because it wasn't busy. And tjhe nature around was beautiful too.
Later that day we went to a very, very old church that's foundations and details were from the Roman times and sometimes dated back to the year 1000!!!! It's just insane to see things that old still standing! To imagine how people built all this stuff way back then! That's where churches amaze me. How did the create these amazing structures so very long ago? It's just so easy to imagine people falling off scaffolds while painting high cealings and lugging huge and heavy boulders and slabs of all sorts of concrete-like stuff so high up - but so hard to imagine how that all took place. It just reminds you that 1000 years ago and before, there were people just like all of us with architecture (mostly for God) in mind. Hard workers. Dedicated to these massive projects that sometimes went on for not only decades but centuries. It's incredible to be in a place where for more than 1000 years people have come to pray. Many pilgrims on their way to Portugal pass through this church and have for 1000 years!!!!!! It's all a bit mind-blowing!
My daughter took the photo above. A common site all over France. The slab in the photo below dates back to Roman times! Crazy!!!

Day two and three, maybe four of Sarah's Vacation in France (01 -02 July)

When in France, do as the French - even if the bread is too hard and sometimes tastes like toilet paper and cuts the inside of your mouth... Oh the famous French baguette... I was so looking forward to having baguettes each day with cheese and my husband would have his with wine... It would be a delight! True vacation! Alas - honestly, mostly the baguettes were way too hard and pretty much tasteless I'm sad to report. Every now and then we found a good one - but that just didn't turn out to be what I had dreamed of and expected! And my poor husband - because of a tooth problem and antibiotics he was on for it - he couldn't touch wine! He had really looked forward to having a glass of wine with good bread and cheese - but it didn't happen that way at all!

In fact - the poor guy ended up spending most of a day in a dentist's office in Lourdes of all places as my daughter and I went to Jesus and Mary shop after Jesus and Mary shop looking for glow-in-the-dark Mary's and the like to pass our time while waiting for my husband.
Above is a shot of me and my daughter passing time in Lourdes I think while waiting for my husband to come from the dentist. Did you know that there is a pharmacy on almost every corner in that city! I guess that makes sense because so many sick people go there praying to get better. It's a sad place if you ask me. I guess one could also see it as a place of hope. The atheist in me just can't see it that way. It just seemed like a bunch of false hope mixed with disturbing commercialism. It seemed like such a desperate and sad place. Waiting in a long line to touch a wall and give a quick passing-by prayer - then shuffling off into the candle area where you can pay as much as Euro 300 for a huge candle for your huge prayer to come true. If you don't have that much, you can get a candle for Euro 2 or so and hope it has as much miracle power as the huge ones in the special huge candle place that sort of rubs in your face that maybe if you spend a little bit more on a bigger candle uncle Roger with his bad limp and lungs might just have a better chance to recover... It all struck me - a total non-believer - as quite sick! But who am I too say! And what right to I have to be critical really. I'm sure Lourdes means a whole lot to a minions of people. It just turned my stomach though. I felt like I was watching one car crash after another, which basically I was being an atheist in such a holy place. I'm the bad one in that scenario. But that's the thing! It's a tourist place. There is shop after shop after shop - streets and streets lined with shops that all have the same over-priced crap - probably made in some third-world place on the backs of people who pray for food in their mouths and real health issues every day... Who could never make it to Lourdes to get their miracle! And don't even get me started about all the people being wheeled around in wheelchairs and brought in to pray. And about the mass-made and marketed Lourdes water bottles that people buy and buy so they can go to the fountain there and fill these bottles (sometimes even cooler-sized ones!) with holy water! I mean even we bought some of these bottles! So many people like us there buying these bottles, fueling this strange industry there - and not believing but somehow "enjoying" the kitsch value of it all... You could almost feel guilty about that - if you were a believer. And my child - I'm not sure what she made of all of it. It made her uneasy that's for sure. It certainly was interesting and eye-opening to say the least - but quite disturbing at that...
Above you can see a photo I took with my phone and then with our new camera!!!!! I guess that is the first photo on Face The Day taken with our new camera! My daughter and I were waiting the whole day for my husband and he had the new camera we had bought in Toulouse the day before. My daughter and I did get to see a little of Lourdes while waiting - as I described above - but too little I think. Or maybe too much -- too many Jesus and Mary's - that is for sure!
Since my husband didn't get to see anything on our first day in Lourdes - other than a dentist's office and one of the hundreds of pharmacies (which is ironic, isn't it - so many sick people go to Lourdes to ask to be healed that the pharmacies bring in so much work and money - it's probably the best possible place on earth to have a pharmacy!!! I'm sure you could become very wealthy in a short time! Doctor in Lourdes too! And undertakers! Sick people making the long trip there to be healed in the waters and baths of Lourdes sometimes die on the way!) Anyway - I had better stop going on and on about it. I do not mean any disrespect to any believers out there. Truly, I don't. There was just something so unsettling about that place. The desperation of it all. And because France is so full of churches too and we visited so many and so one particularly that will always stay in my head - that had this horrifying, huge depiction of heaven and hell - a painting so vivid and so powerful that it made it ever so clear why so many people believed and were forced to be believers -- because if you didn't - boy would hell be a horrid experience for you and you'd be torn apart by scary monsters and the like! All these symbols and messages. Disturbed me to no end! Believe! Believe! And you will be healed (and if you aren't - it's probably your own fault anyway for some sin you did!). Feel guilt! Repent! God will take care of you! All too much for me to take in frankly....

And alas -- a very tranquil photo above of a Lourdes Mary we bought (yes - we too very much fell for all the commerce at Lourdes and fed the system that semi-sickened us) - floating in the pool later that day... Doesn't our new camera take lovely photos? That's another thing - there is something slightly sickening about having your camera break and immediaetly being able to buy a new one. Like a click of a finger! Bam - what you need you can get in a second! The guilty jew or maybe even catholic in me feels - well, sort of guilty and dirty for being able to just buy whatever I need like that with little thought! What a world we live in! You can have everything in a second! Well, maybe not everything - but almost -- here in the comfy Western world anyway... I bet the underage kids lead by some parish of converters in whatever poor country that probably makes the above plastic Lourdes Marys have never seen a camera!

See what a country of churches and in your face Catholicism can do to one's head????!!!!

Tuesday 15 July 2008: Sarah's back with lots of photos of her two week vacation in France! Day 1 AND THE LAST PHOTOS WITH SARAH'S BELOVED CAMERA...

Sarah says:
In the above photo you can see the garden of the house we stayed at in Montréjeau, which is in the Haute-Garonne part of south-middle France in the Midi-Pyrénées. The town itself is nothing to write home about. But the region and many of the surrounding towns and villages are really beautiful with special landmarks. The mountains are close and the sea was about two hours away on either side. The Spanish border was about a 30 minute drive from where we were.
My daughter and I really enjoyed having a pool in the backyard. The weather wasn't great all of the time, but some of the time it was perfect. We read many a newspaper at the table next to the pool, as well as played a few board games and had some meals and snacks there. Very relaxed and relaxing!

My daughter was especially pleased that the owners of the house had two dogs. Every day, my kid got up and ran outside to play with the two dogs and brush them. She took care of them and they took care of her. I never knew she liked dogs. It made me happy for her but also a little sad - poor kid has no brothers and sisters and she'll never have house pets other than guinea pigs I assure you... She has all these care-taking abilities in her and is lonely a lot I suspect. Those two dogs gave her unconditional love and attention for those two weeks we were there and she basked in it! I can't describe how happy she was with these dogs and how gentle she was. It was nice to see her in this scenario though a little eye-opening too... By the way - behind her and the dogs, you can see the house we stayed in - in the top floor apartment with two bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, toilet and kitchen. It wasn't high luxury or anything but it was certainly just fine for the three of us - especially thanks to the pool and the dogs ( for my daughter). And for 14 days, it only cost us about Euro 440 or so... Can't complain about that! It allowed us to take day trips all over the region. And the kitchen allowed us to make most of our own meals and pack picnics rather than eat out all the time, which in that region of France wouldn't even be possible because of eating times and opening hours and all that money we saved!!! I highly recommend this sort of set up and this sort of vacation - though the place we stayed wouldn't be for everyone of course and a car - a good car - is essential for all these day trips through mountains and valleys. And with that in mind, I must add that gas cost us an arm and a leg! We had to fill up so many times! And there are expensive tolls to pay throughout France. To get to the sea, two hours away, it cost us more than Euro 25 in tolls alone. But the roads are great - well-cared for and clearly marked. That was a surprise to us. We though it would be more like in Wallonia here in Belgium, which can be hell to drive through as one minute there is a sign and then nothing for miles! Very easy to lose your way! But not in France! Where we were, even on the smallest back roads, there were good markings and directions. Made life easy and relaxed as we didn't always have to be busy looking at maps and all...
There above you can see the first meal I made with salad and warm goat's cheese and honey for me and my husband and more kid-friendly stuff for the girl! I really enjoyed making meals during this vacation. It's different than at home. Time isn't really important. No real schedule. I found it really relaxing to be in the kitchen throwing whatever I could together. But taking all the time I needed to do so as my kid played with the dogs and swam...
VERY VERY VERY SAD THING ABOUT THE ABOVE AND BELOW PHOTOS IS THAT THOSE WERE ABOUT THE LAST TWO PHOTOS MY FAITHFUL CAMERA TOOK BEFORE IT TOTALLY BROKE (thanks to my dropping it on my desk on the 29th of May!) I knew it would eventually just give up! And that it did, on day three of our vacation in Toulouse, which I'll tell you more about soon! The above photo is of a big bug on a leaf - very trippy. And then the camera came back to life just a little for the final photo it ever took below... May that wonderful old camera of mine be remembered well and fondly for all its good and hard work over the last few years. I took almost every photo on here with that lovely camera! I honestly will miss it! It was so easy and durable for all those years until I let it fall so hard! It served me and Face The Day so well!

Friday 11 July 2008: Heidi is having a pessimistic day

Heidi says: a forced smile...

Heidi says: maybe my fruitsalad is the saviour of the day?

Thursday 10 July 2008: autumn in in the air and that is not amusing...

Heidi says:

Summer is giving us a pre of how autumn feels... Since yesterday, it has been raining non-stop. Still, that didn't stop me from running 38 minutes in the rain yesterday evening! It was my best one so far! It's not very attractive to run in the rain, but once you're in it, it feels magnificent. You have more breath, no hayfever and you are refreshed the whole time (so you're less red in the face). When I started to run about two months ago (or is it more?), I set my goal on 30 minutes. I think my new goal is 1 hour. Yikes! (like Jeff would say)

Wednesday 9 July 2008: If Heidi could make a wish...

Heidi says:
If I could make a wish, I'd wish that my grandmother would live again.

Tuesday 8 July 2008: Grey day

Monday 7 July 2008: a monday morning is a monday morning...

Heidi says:

When a baby is born, one of the first things it should be thaught, is that monday mornings are tough and you have to learn to live with them. Not that I have to complain. It's all going smoothly today and I feel happy and in balance. Maybe that is because I dyed my hair again in the weekend and it's very dark and it suits me and so I feel more balanced? haha, bullshit! Or maybe not? Who will tell?

Sunday 7 July 2008: Hit me on the mulle 'cause I forgot my camera on a very special occasion...

Heidi says:
Oh damn it, I forgot my camera on the day my duaghter went on a train for the first time. How stupid! She had so much fun and so much to look at. My sweet little Yma is growing up, bit by bit!

Saturday 5 July 2008: what a nice party Farmfest was!

Heidi says:
That was one cool party, Farmfest 2008! I'll be back next year!

Friday 4 July 2008: By six this evening...

Heidi says:

... I will look as fresh and clean as this orchid! I am having a facial and it will do me good! Look at that face! And I didn't even use my flash :)

Thursday 3 July 2008: the best news in a long time: Ingrid Betancourt is free!!!!!

Heidi says:
It's hard to believe, but it's true: Ingrid Betancourt is finally free! I wonder what will go through her head in the next week. She was a prisoner in the colombian jungle for six years and now, all of a sudden, she is back with her family. Will she still love her husband? Will she recognize her children? Will she be able to go back to a normal live? I cross my fingers for her, but I think she'll do well, as she survived these six years in this colombian jungle-prison. She must be very strong...

Something completely different: I ran 30 minutes yesterday and 34 minuts the day before! I am so proud of myself. Ok, I haven't done a marathon, but being able to run for more than half an hour means so much to me! Of course, it doesn't stop here. I need to go on... I will keep you posted!

wednesday 2 July 2008: Heidi feels alive and kicking!

Heidi says:

It's true!
I feel happy, alive and vivid! every morning I wake up and feel so tired that I can't open my eyes for minutes, but once it happens, I am awake for a long day! It's great! Finally...

I didn't talk about this yet, but the woman who usually takes care of my little girl, is sick this week, and so we needed a solution. I am taking Yma on my bike on the way to work this week, and drop her at another woman's house who takes care of little ones, and I am enjoying that so much! It gives me such a good feeling to bike with Yma behind me on the bike. I can't explain. It just feels so nice. I bike and talk to her, and she obviously enjoys it as much as me, and I just imagine that all the people who see us pass, are jealous of us because we look so cosy together on the bike... You know what I mean? :)

Tuesday 1 July 2008: the first of July, it feels like summer!!!

Heidi says: yeah! yeah! yeah!

Monday 30 June 2008: my first day alone: what a day!

Heidi says:

Believe it or not, I am feeling good and alive! I brought Yma to the woman who takes care of her this week, by bike, and it's so much nicer than I imagined! She loves it too. Then I came to work and started my day and I had a good day. Tomorrow again!