Je me souviens...

We had an amazing time during our 10 days in France! We learned a lot, ate a lot, and really enjoyed the time to really escape and relax. Here's a final shot of vacation-Robyn and vacation-James, and of the little guys we were very happy to return home to!

A Sobering Sight

A few visits ago, James's parents came across the remains of a Vichy government-run concentration camp from WW2. The site is mostly overgrown now, but there is a small memorial to the Basques, Gyspies, and Jews who were interned there. Many of those who were held at the camp died there, and many more were sent on to Auschwitz.

Basque Country

The area where we stayed in the south was Basque, and we took full advantage of Basque cooking and artistry. We had a great dinner on our 5th wedding anniversary at a restaurant called Chilo, which was delicious! We also bought some beautiful Basque table linens. Here are some pics from the Basque Country.

France: Beautiful Villages

We saw some stunning villages, churches, and monasteries on our trip. Here are a few photos of our favorites.

Spain

We drove one day to Pamplona and another to Bilbao, to visit the Guggenheim museum there. Pamplona was beautiful, and we were able to see enough of the route of the running of the bulls to get a good mental image of that event. The Guggenheim in Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry, is a stunning museum of modern art. Our photos do not do it justice. What's really cool at the Bilbao is that they provide a free audio guides that describes Gehry's architectural choices, so you can wander around the interior and exterior of the building and get a real sense of what went into the design of this place. It's a great museum, and we were lucky enough to see the work of Alselm Keiferand of Richard Serra there.

Southwestern France

We stayed for the better part of a week with James's parents in Southwestern France, in a small town called Eysus. We had intended on hanging around the house, eating, drinking, reading, and sleeping a lot, but instead we ventured out every day and took in the sights of the region. (See future posts for more on that!) Here's pic of the house.

Prehistoric Caves

We met James's parents in in mid-south France and visited some gorgeous prehistoric caves. It was incredibly moving to see the images, painted and etched tens of thousands of years ago by our prehistoric ancestors. It was really cool to walk (and in once case, ride a rail car) into these dark, damp caves, our steps lit only by weak flashlights, and see the this phenomenal art in its place of origin, alongside the claw marks of ancient cave bears. We don't have any photos of this because photography is prohibited, but the caves were a true highlight of the trip.

Paris!

We spent our vacation in France in June, which was an awesome trip. We have a Top 10: Paris book, and we managed to hit 7 of the 10 sites in under 2 days. Here are some photos of the highlights.

Welcome!

Welcome to One Striped World. We thought we'd create this blog so we could share a slice or two of our life here in DC with our friends and family members from afar. We'll try not to share too many photos of Mr. Pibb and Isabella, though we can't make any promises. Thanks for coming.