Green Invasion!

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  May was a busy month, and according to our calendar June looked to be much of the same. To close out May, however, we hosted our new friends Rena and George who are studying in Freiburg, Germany. We had a blast wandering around Brussels with them and watching videos of their band back in Germany! During Rena and George's stay we also had a group of cadets from the Air Force Academy in Brussels, so we offered to give them our patented walking tour. It was interesting to talk with cadets about the program and hear what they planned to do after graduation.
  
Next on the agenda was a visit by some of our favorite friends from SD, Nate and Laura and two of their friends who are currently living in London, Emily and Gui. We toured the city (Jen's getting really good at giving the walking tour), hitting all the sights, and sampled a few awesome beers along the way. It was a great opportunity to catch up with Nate and Laura, and it was great to meet Emily and Gui (who just got engaged, by the way!), especially since they're living so close. A great, laid back visit.

Bordeaux!

• Near the end of May we hopped in the car for another French road trip. This time we headed south and west to the regions of Bordeaux and Perigord for a week of fun with some fellow European stationed military folks. Paul took a break from french studies in Lyon, Brad and Maia headed over from Stuttgart, and we met our buddies Tim and Meghan in Paris so we could carpool down together. Tim found an absolutely amazing converted farmhouse in the tiny village of St Sernin on vrbo.com. The village is surrounded by vineyards and rolling hills, and for a week we played in the pool, played ping pong, dined al fresco on the patio, toured around the region, and oh yeah, drank some great French wine. Our first outing was to the nearby town of Duras to explore the chateau. Tim's become quite the wine connoisseur over the last two years so we also paid a visit to the town of St. Emilion for an unforgettable wine tasting, and Paul and I had a run-in with a local boulanger (bread maker) on the way back. The most adventurous day found us driving east to the town of Sarlat, home of foie gras and very popular with the Brit tourists, followed by a kayak trip down the Dordogne river to see the chateaus from the water. Finally, Paul and I made the drive out to see the prehistoric cave paintings in and around Lascaux. We got a little ego boost when the guy at the visitor center tried to switch to english for our conversation, then got stuck, and we told him that it would be better if we continued in french. It was. Booyah. What an awesome trip.