The Extraordinary Garden - Weekend Adventure

In our efforts to expose them to new things, we took the boys to a place recommended by Dan's French teacher.  She said that it is only open for 4 days each year and this weekend was during that time.  It is called, Le Jardin Extraordinaire.  

The objectives of the garden are listed on the left side of the sign.  I think they say:
* Make art accessible to all
* Nature Sensitivity
* Bond with others

So it was kind of like a hippy festival of nature art.  There was also music.  And some artisanal crafts including this 450 euro steampunk badger.

My eye is a watch and my intestines are gears!

Rather than branding this adventure as a hike, we told the kids that it was more like a hunt for koroks.  We pulled out an old camera and told them to take pictures every time they find a place that a korok should be hiding.  While they still complained a bit about the hiking part and the uncomfortable weather, we got these excellent pictures...

Hiding under a bridge

In a Circle of Flowers

Enjoying the Tournesol

Inside the Vine House

Playing on the Bug Decorating the Stream

Nom Nom

We were warned not to tickle the koroks.

Sometimes Koroks Like to be Left Alone

Alex even took some time to pose for pictures.

And take a selfie...

Great Pumpkin Selfie!

It was an extraordinary garden.  If you get the chance to visit, it is open in 2018 the weekend that spans August and September.  Maybe you can find some koroks too!

Strange things in France - Instructions and Warnings - Baby Instructions

Don't put a baby in a corner.  Just don't.

Actually, I found this warning on the packaging that came with my giant 200x200 duvet that I bought for my giant bed.  It was not French, but instead came from a British Company.  

Strange things in France - Instructions and Warnings - Bong Box

Do you have special shipping needs?  Fortunately this box exists and allows you to ship things either on a hand truck, in an actual truck, or on an airplane.  It's size L, so it can hold a lot of stuff.  

What will you put inside?

Strange things in France - Instructions and Warnings - McFlurry

So for a while in the United States, we had started to notice that the McFlurries at McDonalds didn't seem quite as mixed as they had been in the past.  The strange spoons that were designed to lock into a McFlurry stirring device were still included in the McFlurry, but didn't seem to be actually used to mix the treat.  It took us going to France to finally get an answer: 

Go Flurr It Yourself!

My guess is that it was more cost effective to re-brand the McFlurry as an interactive experience than it was to maintain the McFlurry machines and pay employees to use them.  I'm sure there was a business process study about what item it took employees the longest to prepare and McFlurry came out on top.

An awesome thing about the McFlurries in France right now is that you can not only pick the candy mix that you want in it (peanut M&Ms, Oreos, Daim, Kit Kat ball), but you also get to pick a liquid topping (chocolate, caramel, strawberry).  Plus, this summer, they have expanded the base offering to include not only vanilla ice cream, but also chocolate.  It's quite delicious and calorie filled!

Strange Happenings In France - Parking Incident

We took a day-trip to Albi.  On the way back, we stopped by the Gaillac Wine festival.  Basically, there were a bunch of tiny wooden house booths set-up in a park.  You pay 5 euro and can try the wine from any of the booths.  If you like it, you can buy the bottles right there.  One of the neat things about these types of festivals is that you can find local wine you like that costs only about 4-6 euro per bottle. 

Even a Pirate Wine Booth

Because we were at a park, we could send the kids over to either sit on a boring bench or to play on the playground.  They selected the playground.  This way we could try wine without Alex the pinball bouncing between us.  

The strange happening wasn't related to the festival, but was rather before we got to the festival.  We needed to find a place to park.  Dan researched and figured out that we were allowed to park in a space with blue dashes marking it.  Then we had to display some sort of dial that showed when we would return.  Because the festival was going on, we had a hard time finding parking.  Plus, we had the bike rack attached to our car, so we needed a fairly large spot if we wanted to successfully get into it.  Finally, we found a spot that had blue dashes, but it also had yellow dashes.  We pulled in to google what that meant.  It wasn't too difficult to fit into the space, so no problem getting in.  

As we were contemplating the blue-yellow dashes, the car in front of us started backing up.  This was ok as we were in a large space.  But, oddly, it kept backing up.  So, I honked the horn.  But no, it kept coming.  Fortunately it was moving slowly.  So when it hit us, it was quite mild.  Plus, I put the car in neutral so that we moved slightly when it hit.  

Concerned that we now had a weird accident issue on our hands, but hopeful no damage had been done by the low impact bumper bump, we waited for the driver of the other car to get out.  But there was no driver!  The car had simply rolled back into us, perhaps brought on by the vibration of our car parking near it.  

UM..........

Now what?

Silly Twingo without a driver

The little Twingo was right on our bumper.  If we backed up, it would roll back further.  But we still hadn't figured out if we could even park in the blue-yellow spot.  So we sat on a bench and googled.  Waiting patiently for someone to show up.  Perhaps a friendly police officer would find us and be able to answer both of our questions.  The one about parking in blue-yellow and the one about what to do with the Twingo.  

Out of nowhere, someone came up to the stuck car, got in, and drove away.  No words to us, but hey, our problem was solved.  We were able to escape the parking spot and go to an alternate location where we could park properly and alone in our space.

It was one of those moments when we just had no idea how to handle the situation.  Fortunately, waiting patiently is usually effective.