Luka was very excited to take the trip to France to see his grandparents and the rest of his French family. We had been preparing him for it for several months - talking about the trip and what we'd do when we arrived in France. The trip went okay, but Luka only slept 2 hours on the way there. Axel slept a few more in the baby bassinet they install on the bulk head wall for parents who request it. Our kids were the only ones in that row not screaming their heads off. Lufthansa staff is kind of strict though - I had Axel on my lap and they would not let our row mate put up my food tray for me because there was "no room." Well, okay, but I didn't have much either and it was about to fall on the floor!
Luka was excited about the plane, but apprehensive too, it seems. After we were sitting on the plane waiting to take off, strapped in and all, he said, "Maman, j'ai fini" (I am done). I said, Avec quoi?" (With what) And he said, "Avec l'avion" (With the plane). Oops! We explained that we still had to take off and that it would be a while yet. He did okay in the end and we were glad to fly directly into Frankfurt with no stops.
Dieter and Ruth, friends of the Reynald's parents were there when we exited the "passengers only" section after customs. We were the only ones exiting at that point and I thought, "Who are these people taking pictures of?" because I had never seen them before (though I had heard about them). When Reynald greeted them, I realized who they were.
They were very sweet and brought gifts for Axel (rattle) and Luka (little wooden toy). They also gave us gifts for Annick and JC to take to France with us. They walked us to the car rental and then to the car itself, which was very helpful because it was far and we were kind of tired.
The rental car had a GPS that helped us throughout our trip (free in Europe, I guess) and sometimes got us lots or did weird things, but overall, was helpful. We drove the autobahn through to France, stopping at a clean, German-style road side cafe/bathroom stop. Axel did well on the trip, hardly crying. We were worried about that part as he normally does not like the car too much yet. However, we did have to keep moving....his one requirement!
This was now Friday and we were on our way to a small village outside Troyes to spend the weekend with 6 other families - our friends who drove from their various cities to spend the weekend with us. Nice!
