Hot Air Balloon, Gardens, and Happy Birthday Jeff!

Jeff has been wanting to go on a hot air balloon ride for quite a while, and France is a great part of the world for it, so I booked a ride for him, me, and Vivian as a birthday present.  It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights, since both Jeff and Vivian's presents this year involved being up in the sky.

The guy I coordinated the balloon through picked Thursday morning as the best weather for a ride.  Our pick up time was scheduled for 6:30am, so we set out bright and early.

It was chilly,

but there was a beautiful sunrise.

The balloon man had told me to look out for a green Land Rover with a basket.  I thought maybe something was lost in translation, but no, he really meant a basket.

The balloon is all folded up inside the red bag.  

We got in the car with three other couples, and the balloon man and his assistant drove us to a big field for setting up the balloon.  He recruited Jeff and one other passenger to help hold the balloon while it filled with air.  Vivian was fascinated by the whole process.

Eventually it was time for the flames, and Jeff shifted back into observer mode.

The balloon grew pretty quickly.

Then it was time for all of us to climb inside the basket and take off.

The balloon shifted up as it caught updrafts.  It was smooth and beautiful.  Our balloon guide had some fun taking us down low to visit the cows.  He said they knew him well and didn't mind.  They seemed relatively unconcerned, and Vivian had fun taking pictures of them.

Then we went up in earnest, and we could see the back of the Beynac castle.

You can see another balloon off to the left.  There were three other balloons, and they all seemed to go up really high into the clouds.  Our guide said he preferred to stay low, so that we could see the chateaux.  He said if you wanted to see clouds, you could ride in an airplane.  We came up closer to the Beynac castle, and the view was truly spectacular.

Jeff and Vivian both loved it.

Vivian experimented with different view points.

No matter which direction you looked though, it was fantastic.

As we were floating through the sky, the balloon assistant was following us in the Land Rover.

He met us when we landed in a hay field.  Jeff got recruited to help with bringing the balloon down, and Vivian went to help. They're on the far right at the end of the rope.

Once the balloon was under control, they had time for a selfie.

Then everyone chipped in to flatten and twist up the balloon.

The reward for our hard work? Croissants and coffee, or in Vivian's case, croissants and grape juice.

And, of course, a beautiful view.

But that was just the start of our day.  After we had rested a bit, the whole crew went to lunch at a nearby hotel and restaurant.  

Then we headed to the Jardins de Marqueyssac.  We were not the only ones who thought it would be a good place to spend the afternoon.  Parking was a challenge again, but eventually we found spots and headed up the hill.  By the time we got to the top, it felt like we were almost as high as we had been in the balloon.

The garden is full of paths.  The ones at the beginning were lined with well trimmed shrubberies.

As we went farther in though, the path started to get wilder and more interesting.

The girls had fun exploring.

They found a tree house,

a playground,

and some interesting fairy pictures.

Judy found a vending machine, disguised to blend in.

We needed some water, so it was a good find, but the girls were even happier when we found a place to buy ice cream.

They definitely earned it with all the walking we did around the gardens.  It was a lot of fun.

The next day was Jeff's birthday, and the only thing we had planned was a special lunch for him and me.  We decided to go the restaurant in Beynac that we had gone to on our first day, since that was one of the best meals we'd had, and it was close.  We had a delicious meal including the best steak I'd had in France, and a super yummy, coffee flavored crème brûlée.

Jeff enjoyed his birthday lunch.

After lunch, we did a quick run to the store.  I got this picture on the way back.

After slogging up the hill with a backpack full of groceries, the birthday boy was ready for a swim with the girls.

The rest of the day was dedicated to relaxation and family time.  Elena joined Jeff for some reading on the balcony.

It was a nice way to end our time in Beynac.

Vineyard Touring and Sarlat

For Tuesday, my dad had made arrangements for a van and driver to take us to two local wineries with a break for lunch in the middle.  The rental was through a husband and wife team, and it was the wife who took us around.  She was full of great information, and she was also wonderful with the kids, which made for an enjoyable day.

The girls took to the latest form of transportation with smiles.

Our first winery stop also had a chateau to visit, so we explored that first.

I didn't get any pictures inside the chateau because I was on Elena chase duty, and I only managed to get one slightly blurry picture of the tasting.  

The girls were pretty crazy, but our guide was great and kept an eye on them while we tasted.

We got some lunch at a restaurant about ten minutes away.  Their specialty was a soup of the day, which Vivian and Elena devoured.  We also learned that we like foie gras mi-cuit, which literally means half baked.  It's prepared fresh in restaurants.  It doesn't taste super livery, and it's nice and smooth, yum :-)

After lunch we went to a second winery.

The tour was not stroller friendly, and the girls were a bit cranky, so I stayed in the van with them during the tour, and then our guide came and sat with them while I went in for the tasting (the best part!).

It was a fun outing, but the best part of the day came when we were making dinner in the evening.  I've heard artists talk about "light" before, but I didn't really understand what they meant until we stayed in the house in Beynac.  The sun sets slowly over several hours, and there's this soft, magical light.  I tried to capture it.  This was the view out the kitchen window as we were preparing dinner.

It was just fantastic.  We spent most evenings just looking out the windows at the beautiful views.

The next day, our goal was to go and explore the nearby town of Sarlat.  There were a LOT of other people with the same idea.  The traffic and parking was crazy.  We almost gave up, but then, miraculously, we found two parking spots close to each other.  We were congratulating ourselves and walking to the restaurant when the skies opened up and it started pouring rain.  The main problem I had with this rain (besides the fact that we were short on umbrellas and Elena's legs were getting soaked) was that it was COLD.  Some went down the back of my shirt and I yelped.  I am NOT used to cold rain.  Luckily, the restaurant was lovely and made up for the traffic and bad weather experience.

Sarlat is a medieval town and the restaurant was in an old building surrounded by a garden.

The best part was that they gave us a special table for our large party on a private balcony overlooking the garden.

Vivian decided that the stairs leading up to the balcony were her own personal imaginary land and played happily until the food came.

And what food!  This was the children's menu.

Vivian tried the foie gras and decided it was pretty good, but rich, so she only ate a little and left the rest to the grown ups.  She got the duck as her main course, since Daddy is such a duck fan.  It turns out, she is a duck fan too.  She devoured it, and left most of the pasta for Elena.

Her excellent eating was rewarded with some vanilla ice cream.

We took our time enjoying our meal and surroundings, and then we went to explore.  You could see why Sarlat was so crowded.  The narrow streets were really cool.

Foie gras is really big here.  There were lots of stores selling it, as well as lots of items for sale decorated with geese.  There were even stuffed geese for the kids.  We decided to go for a picture with geese as our souvenir.  

We enjoyed another beautiful view that night, this time looking at pink and purple clouds.  We were looking towards the Jardins de Marqueyssac, our destination for the following day.

I am officially in love with this part of France.