Tuesday - Musee du Bonbon (candy Museum) and Dan back to work

Tuesday - Musee du Bonbon ("candy museum") and Dan back to work

Today we all got up at 7:13.  It may seem odd that I always remember the time, but since I often have to convince my eyelids that it is time to open and not time to snooze, I at least like to know how long I did get to sleep. Sara on the other hand, knows (or thinks) it is time to get up if she looks out the window and sees day light.  That could be at 7:13 or earlier - if she sees daylight it is time to get up.  

We had fruit and French bread for breakfast and went to the Bonbon museum.  We were early.  It didn't open 'till 10:00 so we had time to kill.  Dan suggested we go to the McDonalds outside of town just to see what it was like.  But it wasn't open for the day yet!  The lady saw us parking and she held up two hands so indicate they opened at 10AM!  Funny to think of a McDonalds opening that late!  We ended up at a little cafe where we got two tiny cups of coffee and a french pastry.  Everyone was happy.  I could have had about 5 more cups of coffee though.

A candy museum (that is what the Bonbon museum is) seems odd.  But this area of France once made licorice - which was a big deal to them locally.  That later sold to "Haribo" (maker of gummi bears) and today right here in Uzes they make 100 tons of candy a day.  That is hard to believe!  (I may have that exact number wrong, but it was a lot.)  

The kids were free to get into the museum (that is nice!) and Dan and I paid admission, which got us about 10 packages of various candy.  We aren't big on candy (it wasn't chocolate, it was things like gummies and things to suck on) so I just tossed it into my back pack.  The displays were interesting.  There were four floors of candy stuff - with old machinery from the 1800s and many interactive exhibits.  

Julia enjoyed the robotics of one of the interactive exhibits, and used both hands to move a mechanical arm - and she has good hand eye coordination!  Sara enjoyed looking at the modern machinery - especially a cutting machine.  We watched it over and over.  Soon we discovered that we could manipulate the machine by waving our hands to intercept a laser beam.  Sara loved that.  We must have stayed there for half and hour just on that one exhibit.  Sara also did some dancing in a room that had music.  

Dan and I enjoyed the part about the licorice, since that was local history.  But I must say even the Haribo stuff was interesting.  The company was started by one guy in his kitchen - and now is internationally known.  They make 100 different things.  They are good at what they do and like it.  That is always fun to learn more about.  (Sort of like Hershey back home in the US).  Plus, it was a candy museum so it was light and fun!  

At the end of the tour you got to put a token into a machine and it made you a pack of candy!  Actually it made 5 packs.  It was a very generous machine.  Sara loved it.  As for the candy, we let them try a little, but then it some how disappeared.  The gift shop was amazing.  We didn't buy anything, but people were buying it by the box full - carrying so much to their cars that it was hard for them to carry it all.  If you like that sort of stuff, it was a good place to buy it.  There were huge (I mean HUGE) bags of candy for 3 Euros.  Our samples were more than enough - and the quality did seem good.  All in all it was a fun visit. 

After that (it was only a 10 minute drive away) we came back here for lunch at the apartment, then the girls swam in our pool, and played legos, then we went out for a walk.  Today was Dan's first work day - so at 1:30 PM he started working (that is 7:30 EST).  That meant it was me and the girls just like home.  We wandered around Uzes - finding some really neat side streets, chocolate shops, flowers, etc.  Perhaps the highlight for Sara/Julia was when I let them out of the Bob-stroller and they got to RUN around the main square.  It was a busy time for me (chasing after them to keep them safe - and to keep them from knocking over a shop keeper's display of breakable things!) - but everyone on the square thought they were cute.  They were holding hands - walking and running - and giggling - up the coblestones and through arches, and finding knooks and crannies of this village that only a kid could find.  

After our walk I needed to rest (chasing kids is tiring work!) and so we came back here - we used our little pool (very refreshing!) - then changed clothes. While I made dinner Sara played on the iPad and Julia played with shoes (she can play with shoes for a while - no matter who they belong to - she can put them on her hands or her feet - today she put my shoes on and walked around!)  ---  I made dinner in about 15 minutes -- then we ate.  Pork, tomatoes, broccoli, beans, and pasta with some ham in it.   Everything was quick and easy.  Then I put Julia to bed and Sara and I went out for a walk.  It was so much fun.  She got an ice cream and was on top of the world - walking around like a happy lark - and I thought how lucky I was to have my sweet Sara (and Julia too - but she was sleeping!).  

Before we got back to the apartment Sara managed to get a second ice cream (strawberry and chocolate) then we came back here.  Fun.  I should mention that I planned to buy a quart of ice cream at the store so we could scoop our own and share with Dan - but Sara said, "come on Mom, I'll show you something better" and she lead me to the nearby ice cream shop. We got two scoops there, instead of a practical pre-packaged quart at the store, but we had the fun of a cone -- and got to sit together in a table for two on the main market square.  I people watched all the strolling people going by as Sara enjoyed the cone.  She even let me try some.  ;)  

Quote of the day:

Sara: "How come when I'm 7 Julia will be 4?"

Me:  "She is 3 years younger than you."

Sara:  "Does that mean I'm not young anymore?"

End of Post.