Sunday, August 15, 1999 - 2:30pm  --  Paris

My nephew Grant came to visit a couple weeks ago.  He's 14 years old and has never been to France.  I don't think, in fact, he had ever been out of the US.  He arrived on Sunday, August 1st.  We spent the day hanging out and seeing some stuff.  I really surprised him with my car, as he hadn't known about it, so he was psyched to drive around in that all week.  I wanted to share with him a few things.  First, I wanted to just spend time with him and get to know him.  That's not so easy sometimes with teenagers, as they usually are not into hanging out with adults and 'sharing'....  But I must say Grant is a very special young man, and he's a good communicator.  I found it easy to get along with him and his demeanor was one of openness and curiousity.  He was truly into coming to France and seeing what it was like.  That is most definitely the best mind-set for visiting here.

So we had a great week, in short.  The basic plan was to start for a couple days in Paris, doing the sight-seeing thing.  Then I had to go to Stuttgart to have a bit of work done on the car, so we made a small trip out of it.  Then back to Paris, and off to Normandy for a few days.  Finally we just hung out in Paris the last day, and he left on Sunday, August 8th.  I had wanted to keep him a bit longer, but work obligations prevented it.  So I extracted a promise from him that he'd come next summer and stay longer- maybe a few weeks.

So here we go -  after a LONG flight, waiting 2.5 hours in JFK airport, and sitting next to a lady who stole his pillow and blanket, he's arrived safely and is no worse for wear:
 

Driving home from airport (That's Vanessa's Tongue in the Back!) August 1, 1999 - Paris, France

So we went to the park called Invalides...  This is a beautful park and on Sunday, it was very relaxed.  People were milling around everywhere, and hanging about on rollerblades.
 

Invalides August 1, 1999 - Paris, France	Invalides August 1, 1999 - Paris, France

The next day we went to see La Defense, Notre Dame, etc.  We did a bit of window shopping, etc...
 

	Looking at the Arc de Triomphe August 2, 1999
Photo of the La Grande Arche August 2, 1999

Then we went to the Eiffel Tower before departing for Germany on Tuesday:
 

View up Seine with Telescope August 3, 1999	View of Park and Montparnasse in Distance August 3, 1999

So we then took off for Germany.  We went first to the town where our forefathers came from, Iffezheim.  We stopped at the famous Leuchtner store and bought some Leuchtner noodles.  It seems one of our distant relatives started making German noodles (like 150 years ago), and his great-grandson still runs the place.
 

The 'Original' Leuchtners August 3, 1999 - Iffezheim, Germany

After we hung out there a bit, we went to Baden-Baden and hung out at one of the coolest spa's.  The next day we got up early, drove on the Autobahn and went to the Porsche plant.  Here we hung out at the museum for a bit, then had lunch in the dining room, and then in the afternoon had a tour of the maintenance facility.  We ended spending more time there than we thought, so missed a dinner back in Paris, but had a nice drive back... it started to rain, but that was ok.

The following day we took off for Normandy.  It was a strange trip.  The first place we went to was Omaha Beach- this is where the D-Day landing was.  Grant really liked it, especially where we could see the crosses featured in the movie 'Saving Private Ryan'.
 

Omaha Beach - August 4, 1999

We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast...  Grant befriended a dog there called Ondine:
 

Grant and Ondine Manoir de Crepon August 5, 1999 -- Crepon, France

The place must have been over 400 years old, and was surely haunted...

We then travelled north to a small town, I can't remember the name.  We were supposed to stay overnight there, but decided at the last minute that we'd come back to Paris so we could spend the whole Saturday before he left here.  We were glad we did.  The guy at the hotel we were supposed to stay in was loud and drunk when we arrived, so we high-tailed it out of there.... none too soon!

We spent the last day in Paris, hanging about and getting Grant some clothes to take home.  He also took the opportunity to buy a bottle of Champagne for the Millenium.  He was psyched when the wine store proprietor helped him find the best bottle for the occasion.  Something you don't get in the US.  That night we dined in a fine French restaurant, where Grant had his first taste of escargots... they were delicious, and he loved them.  Sunday morning we hung out a bit, had breakfast, then I dropped him off at the airport.  It was a lonely rest of the afternoon... and took a bit getting used to him not there.

Well, thanks Grant, for such a great trip!  I had a super vacation, one of the best I've ever had.  Despite my mobile phone ringing constantly, it felt like a vacation to me.... I look forward to having you come visit me again!

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