Colantonio Reunion 2008

Europe 2008

August 2008 will now forever be implanted in my mind as a most memorable trip back to Europe. After a year in the making, the family reunion in Bordeaux was indeed a success! To keep things from getting too long I'll just be enumerating each day and what I and/or the family got to doing. So here goes -

Sat. August 9 - Hopped on to my flight from LAX to CDG, with a layover in Philadephia.

Sun. August10 - I arrived in CDG, checked in to hotel, and got right to walking around Paris to re-familiarize myself with my home away from home. I walked from my hotel, Hotel des Allies, in the 5th by the Pantheon all the way to the Arc de Triomphe and back. Needless to say I slept well!

Mon. August 11th - Shopping Day! But first I started out the day by taking a run through the streets and through Les Jardins de Luxembourg. Then I headed over to Boulevard Haussman and shopped to my little heart's content. I went from store to store - Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, Citadium, H&M, and Zara amongst many many others. I had lunch at the restaurant in Printemps under the stained glass dome! It was fantastic.

Tues. August 12th - I took a vacation day and allowed myself to sleep in. Oooops, I slept in until noon so therefore just walked around the city all day and relaxed for a long time in the Jardins de Luxembourg.

Wed. August 13th - Took another jog, same as on Monday. Then had to pack and catch my train from Gare de Montparnasse to Bordeaux- St. Jean. I was greeted at the train station at St. Jean by Patrick! It was such a wonderful surprise! We reached the house and it was great seeing everyone again and catching up. I got to pick out the room that I would sleep in, over in Francis' "work in progress" house. It'll look wonderful once it's done with the pool and all!!! Can't wait to see the finished product. We all had dinner, and it was really a great welcoming!

Thurs. August 14th - Went shopping in the morning with Carla for a while, then helped out at the house with some of the preparing of lunch. After a while went out with Francis and Enzo to find new shoes for the boy!!! Once we returned it was time for Zio Mario and Zio Peppino to pick "les Americains" up from the train station. Once they arrived we had lunch and just had a great afternoon catching up!

Fri. August 15th - Went out on a morning run with Arnaud. It was a great crisp refreshing morning to do so, and we ran from the house to the church in Cadaujac, the town next door. The rest of the day was relaxing- just preparing for the party the next day, starting the food, decorating the banquet tent.

Sat. August 16th - PARTY TIME!!! I got up early and helped with all the hors d'oeuvres and setting up. The guests started arriving around noon or so, and then the festivities began. We all took tons and tons of pictures, for posterity yes. And we had a Mechoui set up for the meal. It went beautifully. Better than anyone could have ever wished for. There was great food, great atmosphere, and dancing. We could never have asked for more!!! The party lasted through the night until we all just collapsed in our beds.

Sun. August 17th - "The Day After". As you can imagine, everyone was very tired and just putzed around the house all day. Every one was busy cleaning up, but finally games were played all day to recuperate for the following day. Some serious Bocce was being played, alongside some fun ping pong! Dinner was leftovers of course. There was so much more lamb and pork left, we could still feed all the mouths. Fabrice and Julien left in the afternoon since Fabrice need to be home for work the next day.

Mon. August 18th - The troops headed out to St. Emilion in the morning in time to do lunch and sitesee. The group split up so as everyone could do what they wanted. Dad, Patrick, Beatrice and I headed over to a winery and visited an enormous wine cellar with room after room of wine lining the walls. There we got to do some wine tasting ourselves. It was such a great time!That night was bittersweet. I had decided to leave with my family and continue on to Belgium with my mom and grandma, which meant that we would all be leaving Bordeaux at 7 am to catch the train back to Paris. Therefore, dinner that night was the our last supper. It's so hard to say goodbye to family. You are all so important to me, it's hard to be so far away!

Tues. August 19th - Dad, mom, grandma, Arnaud, Jessica, Isabella and I took the TGV to CDG in the morning. We finally arrived to the hotel and had lunch there. Then, Arnaud, Jessica and I took the RER to the city and I showed them both around quite a bit. We had dinner in an italian restaurant, Cafe Roma, on the Champs Elysee. It was a fun night, even after getting caught in the deluge in my rainbows!!

Wed. August 20th - We headed out early, dad, Arnaud, Jessica and Isabella went to the airport while mom, grandma and I went to the train station to head to Belgium. We arrived in Vise after not entirely legally riding the train there. Well, we paid our way, just we didn't know that the train we bought tickets for actually continued on directly to Vise. (we had only paid up to Liege-Guillemins). So mom and I concocted a plan for when the men came by again to chec out tickets so we stayed on for the next 2 exits after Liege. I'm such a bad influence aren't ??

Thurs. August 21st - All day we just ran errands and got to hang out. I set up the computer over at the apartment at Evegnee-Tignee. I won't even start telling you all about the SPIDERS everywhere. I'll just leave it at mom and grandma trying to kill them all and me standing in middle of the living room shaking and trembling and wanting so hard to burst out in tears. The rest of the day we were all itchy and felt as though we were covered in them. And as you can imagine, me with my acute arachnophobia, it was not a pretty site.

Fri. August 22nd - Had dinner with mom's side of the family with Oncle Jean, Maggie, Jean, Mammy, and mom.

Sat. August 23rd - Hung out most of the day. Then we went to visit Yola for a while. I then packed my bags ready to be picked up at 4:45 am by the shuttle the next morning.

Sun. August 24th - The shuttle picked me up at 4:45 am as planned and brought me to the train station in Liege. Then I had to switch trains in Bruxelles to head to CDG. From there I caught my plane at CDG airport, had a layover in Philadelphia and finally arrived in LA at about 9 pm.

So there you have it! A run down of each day while off in Europe. It is trips like these that really make me realize what family is. Eventhough we only get together every couple years, when we all see each other it is as if not time has lapsed!!! That's what family is all about isn't it?

Some quick Numbers:

Total Family members: 29
Total people at the party: 60
Amount of RED wine we drank: 50 liters
Amount of coffee drank: 5 kilos
Amount of pasta we ate: 8 kilos