I’m going to tell you about a fun trip to visit Pop and Kevin in Townsend, TN in October. Yes, that’s a really long time ago, but it was a blogworthy trip, so here goes!

Pop and Kevin invited us to crash Kevin’s family reunion, so we hopped on a great, comfortable JetBlue flight from NYC to Nashville and drove about 4 hours to Townsend TN. Leif was fine for the flight, but didn’t really approve of the long car ride after that. We got in really late … the next morning, we woke to a beautiful scene …

and Pop and Kevin’s smiling faces!

After a brief period of adjustment to his new surroundings …

… Leif got a chance to warm up to Grandpop.

We spent a lot of time on the porch looking at Mount LaConte in the distance.

While there, Leif made a new friend — Dalton.

“What the heck? We’re surrounded by grownups! Do you have to go to these things all the time?”

“Hey, watch this. I just discovered the glass coffee table over there … ”

Now the grownups are looking!

What trip would be complete without a drive in Pop’s new high-tech car up to low-tech Cade’s Cove?

There was a dramatic sky up over the Smokeys.

Once back at the cabin, we discovered that Leif might be called to be a conductor:

I’ll leave you with a picture of Pop in one of his favorite pastimes — involving amazing displays of cunning and dexterity. And a few smeared flies.

Leif gets quality time with Scott and Dena…

Dena pushing two girls up the hill to the pool…

Can’t go in the pool.

So we play on the playground…

Tickling on the swings

Climbing the wall.

Back at the Friderich house … playing in the giant inflatable thing in the basement.

That was the weekend after the final Harry Potter came out. So the Friderichs, Kovariks and Dishmans had many long sessions of reading to each other. Between reading sessions, there was sleeping.

…and trying to get Tom to … have an “accident” … it didn’t work. (We woke him up trying to put his hand in the warm water)

Peter visited from Mexico.

And we had a great get-together with many old ATL friends.

Did I mention that we had lots of great meals?
.

Overall, a delightful trip!

Our vacation has been good — we’ve gotten a lot of down time. Elizabeth has been gradually beating the chest cold she had and is feeling a little better, although she’s still pretty tired. Thanks for your prayers for her — she has had a tough time, but we’ve had some good time to relax and regroup as a couple after our crazy last two months. We’ve been eating at cafes, walking around town, going to a museum and an old church and just hanging out.

We’ll be back in a couple of days and when I get my equilibrium, I’ll post some pictures!

… cell phone chargers and Atari joysticks …

… and African Idols and masks.

All outside this c. 1100 cathedral.

Inside the cathedral …

The altar

Something about this makes me think of Minas Tirith.

\

The passage to the crypt.

On the way down, the last bit of sunlight lit this Madonna.

Inside the vault, many treasures.

Looking up through the grate toward the main altar.

Some saint that was wounded in the leg. I couldn’t find out anything about him.

The organ over the main entrance.

Back outside … the steeple tower.

The bustling streets of Toulouse.

Place du Capitol has a farmers market every morning.

Ellie saw McDonalds sundaes and couldn’t resist … even in France!

I, on the other hand enjoyed a Panini Curry Poulet and a Bavaria beer (incidentally sold like Coca Cola is sold in the US). We took our treasures out to the River Garrone.

Ellie soon got sick of having her picture taken.

I did not.

Back at Place du Capitol, the farmer’s market had cleared out and this guy was juggling.

Yes, juggling while riding a unicycle.

He could get on his unicycle without using his hands…

And pick up his stuff off the ground without a dismount.

This kid seemed to be inspired…

That made it a perfect day for a museum. We went to The Augustins fine art museum. It’s in an old monestary built in the 14th-15th centuries. The first place we saw was the courtyard.

It has a bunch of gargoyles in it. They were singing. Elizabeth decided to join in.

Just before we left for France, Elizabeth had been in a performance in Atlanta. Besides her piece Flypaper Dances, she danced in Gargoyles. Here, she’s performing with actual gargoyles…

I tried to sing, but the gargoyles started to get up and leave.

It was still raining.

We went into the main statue hall and were met by this imposing figure … I wasn’t sure if he was going to smash his cross over our skulls.

After that we went to the hall of capitals — full of about 40 capitals from buildings around the city.

Later we went into the cathedral.

Overall, it was a satisfying experience … and it almost stopped raining in time for our walk back to the hotel.

This image was taken looking down the 17th street canal. We were over Lake Ponchartrain flying southwest towards MSY airport.

A tight crop of the end of the canal towards the lake is seen below. This is one of the major levee breaks in New Orleans due to Katrina.

We stayed in downtown … I have no idea what quarter … but it was about an 8 block walk down to where the pre-mardi gras partying was happening on Bourbon St. Walking down there was wierd.

There was no direct evidence of flooding. Walking the street you’d see one restaurant or shop totally normal and the next one would be trashed. There was a lot of renovation going on. Our hotel lobby smelled a little funky but my room 7 floors up smelled like a normal hotel room.

We arrived on Wed the 16th to a snowy, 30 deg F environment. I pricelined a 4-star hotel in downtown for $65/night and got the Hilton. Our room was looking out onto the rooftop pool/garden and some buildings downtown.

On our anniversary, it was a beautiful, sunny day. We started off the day by getting on the Metro and going to a breakfast in Old Montreal. Yum

Next we went to Basilique Notre Dame, a very beautiful and old (for North America) church. Like most old cathedrals, this one is also a national symbol.

Inside, it was completely beautiful.

In the front of this church is an amazing altar.

On the 15 minute tour, our guide described the scenes visible on the altar. At the top left is
Melchizedek, who brought out bread and wine when Abraham offered him the spoils of a battle.

At the top right is Aaron, the first high priest, offering a lamb.

As the tour guide described all these biblical scenes and the ones on the bottom row, with the cross in the middle, the beauty and conneciton to the gospel themes in the scriptures was incredible.

Until she described the principle scene in the altar.

Over every amazing biblical story, the image of Jesus crowning Mary queen of the world was elevated. I felt like the wind was taken from my spiritual sails … as my heart was swelling with worship of the work of the Lord throughout the scriptures, the highest thing in this wonderful building was a story made up my humans, not found or alluded to in scripture. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, since the name of the church is Notre Dame — "Our Lady" in french.

After visiting the church, we headed down to the waterfront, the St. Lawrence River. On the way we admired the architecture.

We saw some ice skaters.

I got some beautiful pictures of Ellie inside the warming house for the skating rink.

Next we walked up to the nearest Metro, past the "sailors’ Notre Dame" … an old church with a giant statue of Mary welcoming the sailors coming up the St. Lawrence home.

The Subways in Montreal have rubber tires! I thought that was cool.

We took the trains and walked a bunch till we found a nice bagel place in the Jewish quarter of Montreal. Then we headed back to our hotel, got dressed and went to see the Mad Shak dance company perform on the opening night of the Montreal Lights Festival. It was a good trip.

We went to a park with a small playground and a bunch of really awesome big slides. Here’s E looking at E.

Here’s Dena with her cool orange-motif. Bono would be jealous.

This thing is a platform with springs under it … I bounced it and Elena giggled.

After bouncing on the small playground, we made it to the slide park. First, the green slide.

After that, Elena wanted to go on the big slides.

What about the red straight slide?

Happy times!

A few minutes later, Elena had climbed back up to Mommy at the top …

I stood at the bottom of the tubular slide until I heard Dena’s voice and Elena’s squeals…

Next I rode the red turny slide with her.

Let’s do the green one again …

Then she wanted to do the red tubular slide again … with "Dave"…

Elena made a special little friend who helped her climb back up a few times.

Of course, she wanted to climb up herself too…

After about a zillion times going down the slides you might think Elena would be tired…

But she was still ready to keep going!

Hey Elena, want to go down the red one again?

…here she comes!!!!

"Flipping over around the last turn was fun, but landing on my belly in the sand was pretty rough!" Elena was pretty tough, though. She didn’t cry, but she didn’t really talk either, while she was walking around holding her ribs. She was ready to be done after that. Time to pack up Elise!

But maybe she has enough energy for one more slide with her special friend …

And one more time down the red curvy slide …

Elise was content to watch.

OK, one more slide with Mommy!

Time to head to lunch at the For Sale Pub!

Tired girl, happy mom.

Happy girl, concerned girl.

I’m ready for lunch.

In the pub, Elise conked out.

Elena wanted to talk to the people behind us.

When Scott’s food finally came … about 30 minutes after it was ordered, we were finally happy.

After lunch, the girls took the girls back for naps. Scott and walked down to the catherdral of St. Steven, the first king of Hungary. We saw his hand too.

Almost everything in this magnificant structure was devoted to some saint. Finally we found a "picture" of the Lord on the ceiling, way high up. It felt like a church that was built to show how God was on the side of Hungary.

The architecture was magnificant.

On the way home, we found a monument to the prime minister of Hungary during the 1958 rebellion. He’s standing there waiting for other nations to come help. No one came.

it was successful.

We found Elena out in the steps in a pensive mood, writing poetry like her father before her.

OK, she wasn’t really writing poetry, she was being carried to the park near Mamut. Here’s Ellie carrying Ellie…

While Elena was playing with the "harmless" toys …

… uncle Dave discovered why hampsters think their wheels are so fun!

OUCH! I had a knot on my head for the rest of the trip from that one!

It was totally worth it.

Ellie found some Magyar mythological stuff to pose near…

Meanwhile, Elena was enjoying a view from above…

Inside the playhouse, there were nets she liked to climb on.

The Best thing on the playground was the zip line…

Of course, Uncle Dave had to try it too!

Too bad we can’t have this stuff in America … too many lawyers and not enough common sense, I guess.

Eleise paitently waited while Mommy and Elena had more fun …

At lunch, Elena wanted the camera out of her face…

Elise didn’t mind, though!

In America, this is an insult. In Budapest, a store in a mall.

Elise conked out on the way home…

This evening, we got "dressed up" and headed out for Indian food…

Halfway there, our tram stopped because it was ditch-your-car-and-ride-your-bike day in Budapest. We had to walk across the Margite Hid (Bridge). Here’s the moon over the Danube … and some people who didn’t ditch their cars for the day!

The Indian food was great and so was the company!

If you saw a man with a wierd green thing sticking out of his mouth what would you do?

Grab it, of course!

Elise slept well that night…