Since arriving in Europe, we have spent all of our time in the Paris area. As I mentioned in a few older posts, we have a service for our bike scheduled for July 7th and are additionally waiting for a spoke being shipped from Colorado to the bike shop. We have a custom back wheel and broke a spoke so needless to say, we are having them ship a few in case we break another. We have been staying with Bertrand, Isabelle, and Diego the past few days but now we are heading off to the Normandy area of France. Bertrand asked if we wanted to keep the key to their home in case we are passing through Paris again for a night so we could let ourselves in but we are going to try to plan to drive in for the service, get the service and then press onward through France after the service is complete. He is so kind to have offered that though.

Bertrand and Isabelle have been so sweet and generous! Diego, their family friend from Bolivia, shared that they are a very special and kind French couple and that not all French people are this nice, ha! Isabelle ended up taking her granddaughter and a couple of her granddaughter's friends to their home in Normandy on Sunday so our final evening in Paris was with Bertrand, Diego, Martin, and Bruno. Martin and Bruno are 2 of the sons out of the 6 kids that Isabelle and Bertrand have. We ended up grilling out in their beautiful garden/yard. We had grilled sausages, tabbouleh salad, arugula salad, fresh bread, cheese, dessert, and wrapped it up with hot tea before bed. It was a great night!

We are spending the next couple of days driving from Paris to the coast throughout Normandy and along the way stopping to sightsee, hike, and see the countryside. Once we get to the coast, we are planning to head to Saint-Pierre-en-Port where we are meeting back up with Isabelle and Martin so we will absolutely see them again, we are excited! Martin shared that there is a vintage boat event in Etretat this weekend and invited us to join him along with his buddies that are all going. After that, we have loose plans to venture further southwest down the coast to see Mont Saint Michel.

The photo below is a view from our guest room at Bertrand and Isabelle's. The sunset was vibrant that evening!

Au revoir, Paris!