Yes, I Can!

This year we were invited to spend Christmas in Nantes with Virginie's family.  I was looking forward to this so much, but began to have doubts about whether or not I would be able to make the trip.  Following the chemo, I experienced a few days when I was really tired, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to stand the long train ride.  
Despite the SNCF website's attempt to thwart his every endeavor, Mr. T managed to make the train reservations and to pick up the tickets.  Virginie had preceeded us by several days and it was up to us and Alec to join her.  Fortunately, the day before our departure, my energy level was back to normal, and we declared all systems GO!
Alec packed an incredible travel snack pack, including two bottles of kombucha to hold me over for the holidays.  The train trip went smoothly, despite a 30 minute delay for our connection at Marnes la Vallée, where Disneyworld Paris is located.  Alec declined all offers for Mickey Mouse ears despite my insistence.
Sandra, Virginie's sister, picked us up at the station and delivered us to our hotel, which is just right next door to their apartment.  Very convenient, indeed.  The next morning, Alec played the tour guide and took us around the center of Nantes, whose charming city center is reserved for pedestrians only.  We then took the train to Challans, to join Virginie's family at her mom's (Martine) house, near St. Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, a seaside resort on the Atlantic.
We spent the next few days with Virginie's family doing what the French do best during the holidays:  EAT!  It is what I affectionately refer to as a FrogFest.  For Christmas Eve, Martine made a very atypical meal for Christmas, but a big family favorite:  couscous.  It was sublime!  Christmas Day featured Pere Noël's visit in the morning,  an expedition to find tobacco for the multiple smokers and incidentally, oysters,  followed by a "brunch", defined more by the menu (raw oysters as a starter,  followed by pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs), than the hour of the meal since we only sat down to eat at three o'clock in the afternoon!   As soon as we finished eating, I was back in the kitchen to make seafood gumbo for the evening meal.  I really wanted to share a typical dish from Louisiana with Virginie's family as a contribution from Alec's heritage.  It was really well received much to my great satisfaction.
The next day, Alec took Mr. T and I for a long walk along the beach at St. Gilles.  It was a beautiful winter day, crisp, cold yet sunny.  Low tide revealed two small starfish of a most wonderful lavander color.  We put them both in a tiny tidal pool and checked on them on the way back to discover that at least one had been resuscitated.  Alec remarked the unusual absence of seagulls, to which I replied "Where?", providing him the challenge of indicating where something isn't.  I think he's still trying to figure this one out, maybe not realizing that I'm half-deaf at times.
Back to Nantes that evening, where Alec & V invited Mr. T and I out to dinner at a quiet little restaurant in the neighborhood.  The next day, we had yet another walk-about in town, visiting among other things, Le Lieu Unique, former biscuit factory.  Delicious, but noisy, lunch at the Coq en Pâte restaurant before our departure.  Alec & Virginie took us by tram  to the station, where we had our tearful (speaking for myself, of course) farewells.  The trip home was trying since it seemed that the train was full of tired, whiny kids and their even more tired parents who had abandonned all attempts at calming them. 
The surprise upon arriving in Brussels was that not only had the snow remained on the ground, but it had snowed even more while we were gone. I was so glad to make it to my warm, quiet home and find my kitties safe and sound.  
And I was even more glad to realize that I had had the strength and energy to make the trip there and back again.