Jamestown

While I was in Paris, I got a phone call from my sister Karin inviting me on a trip with her and her adorable family to Virginia!!! I was so excited I immediately accepted! So, just two short weeks after we returned from Europe, I boarded a plane bound for VA to meet up with the Burtons! I absolutely love traveling with this family, they are SO MUCH FUN! 

Our first stop of the trip and our journey through American History was Jamestown. The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. William Kelso writes that Jamestown "is where the British Empire began ... this was the first colony in the British Empire." Jamestown was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 and was considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610. It followed several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jamestown served as the capital of the colony for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699.

We got to explore replicas of the ships on which the British sailed to America. The fleet consisted of  three ships, named Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, under Captain Christopher Newport. After a particularly long voyage of four months including a stop in Puerto Rico, they finally departed for the American mainland on April 10, 1607. The expedition made landfall on April 26, 1607 at a place they named Cape Henry. Under orders to select a more secure location, they set about exploring what is now Hampton Roads and an outlet into the Chesapeake Bay they named the James River in honor of their king, James I of England. 

Then we wandered into the settlement itself and met many of the hardworking people that brought the settlement to life. As you can imagine, starting a settlement in a foreign land was incredibly difficult. On May 14, 1607, Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, elected president of the governing council on April 25, selected a piece of land on a large peninsula, some 40 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, as a prime location for a fortified settlement. A defensible strategic point, due to a curve in the river the river channel was close to the land, thus making it navigable (and allowing for ships to dock near enough land for piers or wharves to be built).Perhaps the best thing about it, from an English point of view, was that it was not inhabited by nearby Virginia Indian tribes, who regarded the site as too poor and remote for agriculture. The island was swampy, isolated, offered limited space and was plagued by mosquitoes and brackish tidal river water unsuitable for drinking.

We had way too much fun trying on the type of armor they would have used during this time period. 

After thoroughly exploring the Jamestown Settlement, we ventured over to a Virginia Indian Village that showed the contrast of how the Native Americans lived compared to the British.

The boys had a great time playing a game made up of throwing a corn cob arrow through hoops made of branches.

James and Thomas were totally into carving this canoe with sea shells. It was really hard to get Thomas to leave, he is such a hard and diligent worker and this type of thing was right up his ally.

Jardin Des Tuileries

It's obviously hard to choose, but I think our last day in the city may have been my favorite. It began at Angelina for breakfast, we loved it so much that we had to squeeze it in one last time before we left. This time we sat in the main dining room which is so gorgeous with large painted murals and rows of small tea tables.

We went all out with the pastries this time

We spent the rest of the day strolling through the Tuileries. It was so lovely and relaxing, it was a warm beautiful day with the slightest fall chill in the air. We stopped by one of the many duck filled ponds and sat in the reclining green chairs that lined the edge of the water

We walked until the gardens of the Tuileries melded with the grounds of the Louvre. We then left the gardens and crossed the street to do a little souvenir shopping. We wove in out and all the fun little shops, finding a few keepsakes to take home. Among the numerous shops, there were a couple macaroon shops that I just couldn't resist going into. One shop had beautiful decorative tins, I picked out a yellow and red one and filled it with a dozen bright and colorful macaroons to take home.

  

Once we were done shopping, we assessed how everyone was feeling. Mom and I were hungry for lunch and Dad was anxious to pick up the pace and walk the city. So Mom and I went back into the park to have lunch at an open air cafe we had passed on our walk, and dad took off to walk around the entire city.

Our lunch was bliss. We picked a table right on the edge of a beautiful sculpture pond and both got croquet monsieurs and large glasses full of ice cold coke. We had a fluffy, chubby bird join us for lunch, he was entertaining company.

After lunch, Mom and I walked back to our hotel to take a delicious nap. We didn't see Dad until minutes before our dinner reservation, he had walked 8 miles! 

For our last dinner in Paris, we dined at L'absinthe based in a recommendation from our hotel concierge. I loved it's style and atmosphere, it was industrial and hip inside. The menu was rather limited but very gourmet, it was a great last meal.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn and were in a taxi, headed for the airport before the sun came up, thus we needed to grab breakfast at the airport. We found a nice looking bakery that we decided to try. I had discovered that I could eat gluten in France so I thought I would squeeze in a few more carbs before heading back to the U.S. It may have been the best breakfast of my life.

The Paris airport is FULL of macaroon shops, it was hard not to buy some from every one, I love to compare different macaroon shops to find the best ones.

And with my bag full of macaroons and my mind full of happy memories, we flew home.