This year for Thanksgiving 11 of us drove to France where we had rented Chateau Canaples for the long weekend. Wednesday night we drove to Ramstein (major air force base) and lived the life of American luxury. Ramstein is like a mini America- in fact, the town it is located in has the largest population of Americans living outside of America. Needless to say, it was amazing to have street lights, American style hotel, and the largest PX (kinda like a Target) I've been to. Oh yeah, and the PX was open on Thursday so we got to shop around and marvel in the American-ness.... and eat at Cinnabon....
After leaving Ramstein, we stopped in Reims, France for a look around at the Cathedral there and for some lunch. Fun fact- champagne is not actually champagne unless it is made from grapes in the Champagne region of France (I'm guessing $4 Andre isn't really champagne). Unfortunately it was raining and didn't get any good pictures.
After leaving Reims we finished the road trip to a sleep French town called Canaples and pulled up to our cottage.
Actually we couldn't really "pull up" as it was gated and had to be buzzed in. This is the back of the house and the "grounds" which included a hen house and barn area (deserted, but authentic to the chateau) and these lovely statues of deer.
This is the buck standing guard, and the doe on the other side. I think the doe was once a buck but her antlers have fallen off at some point. The boys used this backyard area to have a game of not-so-touch football on Thanksgiving, while the ladies of the house cooked and sat by the fireplaces.
This is a side view, our room was at the very top right. The windows on the ground level are a garden room that would have been very nice if it were warmer! There was also a large dining room, office, living area, billiards room, kitchen, and HUGE foyer on the ground level, five bedrooms on the second, and four bedrooms and a large playroom on the third level. The basement had a laundry room, bathroom, table tennis room, and storage rooms.
After having Thanksgiving a day late, we went to Amiens, a nearby city with an amazing Cathedral. It is sometimes called Little Venice because it has a canal system running though the city with cottages perched on the banks. Sunday we packed up and made the trek back to Amberg- stopping at Ramstein for a little bit more Americana-eating at Macaroni Grill.
And of course, our friend's son Cian- I'm perfecting my Auntie duties on this little guy!
