FREEZE!

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Familiar with that? Here is the email version that I've been receiving at work lately..

Je suis absent de mon bureau et serai de retour le x août 2005.
I am out of the office and will be back on August x 2005.

Yep, time for summer vacation, time to get that tan, time to seize the summer sun at the sea or the mountains, time to discover little villages or another country. The whole France is on standby mode, be it with administrative offices, industries or schools and universities. After our neighboring countries, the frenchies are now clogging the French autoroutes to get to their respective destinations. July to August is the summer vacation peak for France as it coincides with the scolastic vacation, oh yeah, there are children to attend to. So here's a hint, if you're residing around Europe and thinking of spending your vacation in the countrysides of France, try to take your vacation earlier or later than these dates. Of course Paris is excluded, during these dates, only tourists stay in the french capital.

Vacations could extend up to a month, what about that? Starting last week, even if I was still at work, I was nevertheless blocked as some of my colleagues are already on vacation. What I have in my inbox are:

Je suis absent de mon bureau et serai de retour le x août 2005.
I am out of the office and will be back on August x 2005.

Ok, I guess I got the message. I need a break too. Starting this weekend, my auto-response will take the revenge:

Je suis absente de mon bureau et serai de retour le 9 août 2005.
I am out of the office and will be back on August 9, 2005.

On the menu:

Entrée (Starter):

One-day hike at Ile d'Yeu with the beaux-parents (parents-in law).

See that little red mark on the map? There is where we will sweat out my beau-père's (father-inlaw) 70th birthday. Yep, sweat! A little 11-km hike is on the list to examine his tonacity. The 3 children agreed to give him (and mom-in law bien sûr) this surprise birthday gift (he detests leaving his garden on a hot summer day kasi hehe), and since frenchguy and I are on vacation on that same area too, we will be their guides.

The lost chateau (castle) is just one of the appetizers waiting for us in our one-day hike. I'm sure the ice cream at the port (our arrival area) is just as appetizing, yummm!
* Photos are from this site.

Plat Principal (Main Meal):

Cultural Visit / Castle Hopping at Loire Valley Castles.

Now that I cannot travel a lot and fatigue myself over our usual itinerant visit to God-knows-where part of the globe, it's just the right time to know more about my frenchguy's region. A cultural visit at that! Whoa! Well, I guess it's worth it, this region is not called the Garden of France for nothing, right? It's actually the King of France's favorite hideaway during the rennaissance period and transformed the area into the Region of Thousand Castles.

Among the list of castles in the region, I might throw a glance at this Leonardo da Vinci-inspired Chateau de Chambord, the biggest in the region with 440 rooms, 385 chimneys and 83 stairs! Hay naku, hirap sigurong linisin nito.

But just like most of the castles in France, bahay bakasyunan lang ng mga kings and queens yan..sarap no.

Another castle of interest is of course, the XVth century Chateau d'Ussé. If it looks familiar, that is because you probably read Sleeping Beauty during your younger years. Opo, there is where Charles Perrault got his inspiration in writing that novel.

It's a mix of gothic and rennaissance architecture, so my bébé will get his first lesson for that period habang nasa loob pa siya hehe.

Dessert (Dessert):

Beach hopping, biking (not for me now), beach night market shopping, partying and sorbetes and seafoods galore at nearby La Vendée with frenchguy's niece (on photo)! See that plate of oysters and little kuhols? Kami po ang nanguha nyan sa dagat, galing no?

Ciao!