Day Ten: Rocamadour, Grumpies, and Down Time

On our honeymoon, over seven years ago, we visited a beautiful village built into a steep cliff called Rocamadour. When we told the girls it was nearby, they both were excited to go. Here is a photo of me circa 2004:



Today, we started at the top and worked our way down:



The girls and I walking through a tunnel that opens into a courtyard...


Me on the other side seven years earlier:



Kenny and Eliza on the same stairs I had photographed on our honeymoon:


Unfortunately, the girls were in a pissy mood today. After ten days of sightseeing, we figured they were entitled to at least one day of grumpiness. But, of course, ice cream always makes it better...


Once we left, Samantha and I had some quality time at home and all was forgiven and forgotten:


Smiles soon ensued as we had lazy play time...


It's hard not to laugh with Uncle Greg around:




And he let the girls use his super fancy camera:



Then it was time to chase Mommy back to the house for dinner with Carol:

Day Nine: Canoeing, Sketchy Maze, and Uncle Greg

Since Kenny is leaving soon, I thought it would be good for him to spend some quality time with the girls. More importantly, I desired some quality time without them. So he took them canoeing on the Dordogne river. If the pictures look funky, it's because he used his waterproof orienteering head camera:


Apparently, the Village People live here:

Unbeknownst to Kenny, some gunk found its way onto the camera lens so many of the photos came out kind of fuzzy...



After canoeing, all four of us went to a corn labyrinth complete with moon bounce extravaganza. Definitely a bit sketchy but the girls were delighted so we went with it...





Samantha led the way through the labyrinth...


The "clues" made no sense and were not helpful:



Finally, we reached the center where "the hermit" lives. Really, it's just a friendly/weird man in a straw hat who was asking us questions in Franglish. He was very nice but the whole situation was awkward and kind of freaked us out. We promptly left:


At least there was ice cream once we got back:


Later that afternoon, Kenny's brother Greg showed up with his super cool girlfriend, Carol. They had been orienteering in Switzerland and are going to the world champs as well on Tuesday. As they were nice enough to come all the way here to hang out with us, Samantha felt obliged to entertain them with some ridiculous stories:



Greg, in turn, entertained us in the pool:


Kenny's turn with the clown raft:

Day Eight: Gray Day, More Gardens

Despite the rain, we decided to venture out to another well known garden nearby: Les Jardins d'Eyringac, one of the few sights in the area that our French guests had never visited. Before going in, the girls had to have a tour of Marilyn and Philippe's Land Rover, which they got good use of on their month long tour of Morocco. Very cool:

Les Jardins:



Inconsistent signage about where to walk on the grass and where to stay off confused us all. Can you spy the girls? They were in a prohibited area.. Oops.



Running back to safety:








Playing hide and seek with daddy:



From Kenny's perspective:



Thank goodness for the signage; otherwise we would've been at a total loss:



The girls were starving after our tour of the garden; the fancy restaurant had nuggets and fries which was perfect for the girls. Although the waiter gave me a hard time about asking for ketchup. Yes. We are American. We drown our food in corn syrupy goodness. Deal with it.



My French parents left this afternoon. SO good to see them again after ten years. Hopefully, I will see them again soon! Tomorrow, Uncle Greg and his friend Carol come to visit for a few days. Then Kenny is off to the Alps and the real fun begins!