Thursday, July 4, 2024 – Day 6: Our Search for Lavender

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Greg

For most Americans the 4th of July is a day for red, white and blue – but this year it was lavender day for us!

The main purpose of the car we rented yesterday was to explore Provence. After our French morning routine of stopping by a local bakery for coffee/tea/hot chocolate and pastries, we set off to see lavender and a couple of small provincial towns.

Our first stop was the Abbey of Senanque.  This beautiful old abbey was stunning – a white stone building set in the middle of lush greenery and fields of lavender.  There were lots of tourists, many with interesting driving and parking skills. Unfortunately, we could not tour the abbey since our arrival coincided with their two hour lunch break. Even without seeing the inside of the Abbey we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful scenery and our first glimpse of lavender fields.

We then drove about 15 minutes to the little village of Gordes.  This is a beautiful little town on a hill that obviously knows its value to tourists.  We enjoyed strolling around, looking in various shops, and having lunch at an Italian restaurant (we noticed Italian food being more prevalent in southern France)

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Back in the car on the way to our next stop we drove past a gorgeous lavender field. We quickly pulled over and parked on a side dirt road. We captured the moment for a family photo shoot with no one around besides the passing traffic.  It was exactly what we were looking for. Unbelievable!  

Our last stop on our road trip was the little village of Roussillon.  This town is known for the ochre-colored cliffs it sits on. The cliffs are beautiful and remind me of red rock found in the western U.S.  

We then headed back to Avignon. We thoroughly enjoyed our day exploring Provence. It was amazing to see so much within an hour drive of our home base of Avignon.

Due to our unexpected trip to retrieve our travel documents yesterday, Lindsey and I had not yet visited the old walled city of Avignon. After our lavender road trip we went into town to experience the frenzy of the arts festival and see the old medieval city. Karen and Kelsey showed us around and guided us from their exploring the previous day.

Kelsey wanted to see one more site in Avignon, the Pont Saint Benezet. She and I went to see the historic remains of this 12th century bridge that now only goes over a portion of the Rhone river. We squeezed in an audio tour before it closed while Karen and Lindsey enjoyed wine at a cafe while people watching.

Before heading back to the apartment after dinner we stopped to see a street magician. Lucky me, he included me into his act. It was a fun and pleasant way to end a wonderful day in Provence.

#HammondAdventures #LifeonPurpose #FamilyVacation

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024 – Day 5: Two Paths – Lyon to Avignon, back to Lyon

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Greg

Today’s post needed to be written by Karen Hammond. You will see why in the day’s events.

The morning in Lyon was spent going in two different directions.  We decided to divide and conquer. Kelsey & Karen rented bikes and went on a brisk bike ride to see one last sight before leaving Lyon.  They rode on a great bike path along the river to the confluence –  the point where the Rhône and Shoane Rivers meet. The time available for this trip was tight with just enough time to stop, take some photos of the Museum of the Confluence, and return to the hotel to make the train to Avignon.  The museum, being a very contemporary building, anchors a part of Lyon with lots of modern architecture.  The museum is controversial since the style contrasts with the gothic architecture throughout Lyon.

Museum of the Confluence

While Kelsey & Karen were off on their adventure, Greg & Lindsey enjoyed a more leisurely morning with their favorite iced chai latte and a pastry from a local patisserie. What time was left, they wandered a bit through some shops and picked up madeleines for the next leg of our trip.

Getting Chai Tea Lattes & Madeleines

Both teams were successful, meeting up at the hotel before quickly whisking off to catch a train for the 90 minute ride to Avignon.  Our next stay was an AirBnB apartment just a 10 minute walk from the train station. Despite our lack of French we were able to communicate with the host who was able to show us the spacious apartment with an interesting layout (3 bedrooms, 2 showers, 1 toilet).  Travelling further South we noticed a big change in temperature and were happy for the air conditioner that almost cooled the apartment.

Immediately after arriving Greg (THANK GOODNESS!) realized we left our passports in the room safe in Lyon!  We decided the best plan would be for Greg to get our rental car early (fortunately we had booked one that was to be picked up later that evening) and drive the 2½ hours back to Lyon to retrieve the passports.  Lindsey volunteered to be his copilot, and the two of them set out to learn about driving highways in France.  Fortunately it was a relatively easy trip and they were able to retrieve the passports and get back to Avignon before midnight.  Greg definitely earned MVP status for this one (Lindsey close runner up for keeping the driver company while updating the radio station frequently).

Meanwhile Kelsey & Karen started to explore Avignon.  Our apartment was a 15 minute walk to the old walled city.  The first thing we noticed were signs for the “Festival Avignon” and LOTS of people.  It turns out we arrived on the first day of a 3 week arts festival.  Every surface in the city was covered in posters advertising performances, and at every turn someone walked up to you trying to give you a postcard about a show.  We quickly learned that saying “No, merci” let folks know we didn’t speak French. We avoided most pitches except for one performer who insisted we’d love the “no words show about three clowns who wish they were in Scotland.”

Our first stop in the old city was a tour of Palais des Papes (a huge gothic palace that was the home to the Popes in the 14th century). We then walked around the Jardin de Doms, a lovely park that overlooks the city and the Rhone River.  Later we went into the city and watched several street performers and had dinner and ice cream in one of the town squares.  We walked back to the apartment in time to make a plan for the next day and greeted Greg and Lindsey when thl returned from their “adventure.” Hammond family traveling always seems to include a little “hiccup.” We were glad to get it out of the way  toward the beginning of our trip.

Palais des Papes
Palais des Papes
The palace was built on rock
Palais des Papes
Palais des Papes
Palais des Papes

#HammondAdventures #LifeonPurpose #FamilyVacation

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Tuesday, July 2, 2024 – Day 4: Exploring Lyon, France

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Greg

Today we set out to explore more of Lyon. Our favorite way to learn about a city and see places we would never find on our own is with a free walking tour. In Lyon we connected with Maggie, a local resident who volunteers her time to show people around the city through Lyon City Greeters, a service offered by the local Chamber of Commerce. Maggie kindly shared 2.5 hours of her day walking around with us to point out many sights.

During our tour we took another Funiculaire de Lyon to the St. Just Fourvière neighborhood where Maggie showed us several small streets and alleys that included a  lookout over Lyon created by the city of Montreal, Canada. Our tour also included stops at Hotel Fourvière (a former abbey and chapel, now a 4 star hotel), the Lugdunum Roman ruins and amphitheaters that are still used for events, and La Fresque de Lyonnais (a large painted mural). During our tour we were shown part of a Camino de Santiago trail in Lyon. You can see signs for the trail by following seashell symbols and we saw groups of people on this pilgrimage.

Remains of a 5th Century church
Funiculaire de Lyon
Signs for Camino trail
Hotel Fourvière
Hotel Fourvière
Lugdunum Roman ruins and amphitheater
La Fresque de Lyonnais
La Fresque de Lyonnais
Hotel Fourvière

After walking with Maggie we explored the neighborhood around the Lyon Opera House. We unfortunately were not able to go inside as it is closed on Mondays. The outside of the building is interesting.  The first two levels are a Roman style structure and on top there is a large modern addition with a unique semi-circle roofline.

Although a challenge for our family is navigating everyone’s food likes and dislikes, we enjoy exploring local food options. This afternoon we spent a few hours on a Lyon walking food tour. The tour made four food tasting stops and our excellent tour guide shared Lyon history along the way.

At our first stop, Le Sirop de la Rue, we sampled dried sausages paired with wine and a special syrup the owner developed from the sweet, red praline almonds from Lyon. The sweet Cul Cul la Praline Sirop can be mixed with wine, used in cocktails, or has several other uses.

The second stop was at Fromagerie Cave a Manger to sample four local types of small batch, handmade cheeses paired with wine. Karen and Lindsey enjoyed having a couple of extra samples.

The last two stops were sweets. Up first was a bakery with a sweet roll using the red pralines that Lyon is famous for and last, but not least, was ice cream. La Fabrique Givree creates unique ice cream and sorbet flavors. We tried samples of the waffle cone ice cream and fresh basil and lemon sorbet. Both were delicious!

One interesting fact we learned about the midieval city of Lyon is that it is filled with around 500 Traboules, small “secret” passages that are shortcuts to another street and/or can often lead to an interior courtyard providing access to multiple homes. Most of the passages are now private and are behind locked doors or gates, but many are still open for the public to pass through. We ducked through several on our tour.

After our food tour we stopped into the Cathedrale Saint Jean Baptiste, another beautiful cathedral in Lyon.

We ended our day with another delicious French dinner and then drinks at a rooftop bar at the Lyon Intercontinental Hotel where we tried a signature cocktail created with
Cul Cul la Praline Sirop. Apparently Taylor Swift rented the entire hotel when her tour stopped in Lyon just a couple of weeks earlier.  So sorry we missed her!

#HammondAdventures #LifeonPurpose #FamilyVacation

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Monday, July 1, 2024 – Day 3: Lyon, France

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Greg

After enjoying pastries, tea, coffee and hot chocolate in Paris, we traveled to our next destination: Lyon, France. Lyon is the third largest city in France and is approximately 2 hours away from Paris by train.

Our hotel was in the center of the city shopping district which gave us the ability to walk most of the city. Our first afternoon in Lyon included a stop for bubble tea (which is the first thing Kelsey looks for in a new city), drinks and appetizers at the Funky Monkey, and a ride on the Funiculaire de Lyon (a mountain cable car) that took us to the  Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière at the top of a steep hill overlooking Lyon.  This was a beautiful spot to see the city and view additional places we wanted to explore.

Funiculaire de Lyon
Can you find Karen in this picture?
Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière

A late dinner at a local french restaurant included a couple of birthday celebrations for fellow diners. This restaurant uses a hand-cranked music box to celebrate the occasion along with a festive dessert.

#HammondAdventures #LifeonPurpose #FamilyVacation

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Sunday, June 30, 2024 – Day 2 in Paris

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Greg
The Hammonds at Chateau de Versailles

After breakfast at a local cafe, we travelled 30 minutes by train for a day trip to Chateau de Versailles. Although the palace may have started as a chateau, it is much, much larger now. The sheer size of Versailles with it’s 2,300 rooms and manicured gardens over 77 hectacres with 55 fountains and pools was amazing.

My favorite sights from our visit were the Hall of Mirrors and some of the incredible water fountains. As with many experiences in life, our pictures cannot capture the size and vastness of the rooms and gardens.

After a day on our feet, we enjoyed a nice, relaxing dinner. We took the opportunity to try escargot (snails) with our meal. The waiter was very helpful in showing us how to eat them. They were chewy and interesting. It was worth the experience but will not be on my desired food menu. The service, meals, and desserts were excellent at Le Terrasse Ecole Militaire.

Escargot

Our evening ended with another visit to the Eiffel Tower from a different perspective to see the Olympic rings.

Along our walk we stopped at the Flame of Liberty monument at Place Diana. The replica of the flame held by the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the United States to France in gratitude for the renovation completed by two French craft companies upon the 1986 centennial. The tunnel under this intersection is also infamous for the car accident in 1997 that killed Princess Diana.

Flame of Liberty Monument

#HammondAdventures #LifeonPurpose #Paris2024 #FamilyVacation

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The Hammonds Head to France

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Greg

Saturday, June 29, 2024: Day 1 of a Hammond Family Adventure. It was a long first day. The evening of Friday, June 28th, Greg & Karen left from Boston, MA and Kelsey & Lindsey from Atlanta, GA on overnight flights arriving in Paris, France early Saturday morning. In Hammond Family style we “hit the ground running” and were determined to stay up all day to get on the new time zone.

Our first stop, a French Cafe
On Rue Cler

After a brief check in at our hotel and breakfast with caffeinated beverages (Lindsey tried her first cup of coffee), we explored Paris with a walk to the Louvre where we spent a couple of hours seeing some incredible art and artifacts with a Rick Steves audio tour.

Sights from the Louvre Museum in Paris

The rest of the afternoon we walked around Paris, enjoyed our first happy hour and dinner at a Paris cafe, and viewed the Eiffel Tower at night to see the twinkling lights that sparkle every hour.

Always looking for a bubble tea!
Notre-Dame Cathedral is still being repaired.


We made it! Besides a quick power nap before dinner, we covered many miles and really enjoyed our first day in Paris.

#HammondAdventures #LifeonPurpose #Paris2024

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Days 18 & 19 – Bangkok to Boston

Posted on July 31, 2023 by Greg

Thursday, July 20, 2023 and Friday, July 21, 2023 – It is time for our trip to end. We were packed and ready to leave our hotel by 7:30 a.m. to make our way back to the Bangkok airport – the beginning of a long journey to the U.S.

Our trip back was in three legs, one more stop than our trip to Thailand. We flew 8 hours (6 hour flight time plus 2 hour time change) on Korean Air from Bangkok, Thailand to Seoul, South Korea. Then we traveled 22 hours (8 hour flight plus a 14 hour time change) on Delta from Seoul to Minneapolis, MN, USA. The final leg was a 4 hour trip (3 hour flight with a 1 hour time change) from Minneapolis to Boston, MA. All together we spent the equivalent of 36 hours traveling.

As we did on the way to Bangkok, we splurged for first class seats on our return trip. Again, we loved the additional space, the ability to lay our seats flat for sleeping, and the delicious and plentiful food and drinks. Being able to sleep comfortably on the planes definitely helped us adjust to coming back to the U.S. and avoid too much jet lag.

This Southeast Asia adventure included 10 flights. Fortunately, all of them were on time except for our final flight (Minneapolis to Boston) which was delayed for 2 hours. We landed in Boston, collected our luggage, found our driver and got on the road, arriving in West Hartford, CT at 5:00 am. We took a long nap and forced ourselves to get up at 10:00 am and stay awake for the rest of the day.

This 18 day adventure was an absolutely amazing trip filled with new sights, foods, cultures, and experiences. We are very grateful that we had this opportunity. Thanks for virtually coming along with us.

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Day 17 – One Last Day in Bangkok, Thailand

Posted on July 30, 2023 by Greg

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 – We had one last day in Bangkok to explore some things we had not seen before. After breakfast at our hotel we headed out on the Sky Train and Metro system (feeling like Bangkok subway experts now). Our first stop was at another temple – Wat Traimit which houses the Golden Buddha. This is one of the four main temples in Bangkok but we had missed it on our earlier visit. The main feature of this temple is a beautiful gold Buddha. The body of the Buddha is 40% pure gold, the chin to forehead is 80% pure, and the hair and top knot are 99% pure gold. At a weight of 5.5 tons it is estimated to be worth approximately $250 million (US). Interestingly, in the 1700s this statue was covered in plaster which was painted and adorned with bits of colored glass to hide its value from Burmese invaders. The plaster covering was so convincing that the underlying gold Buddha was forgotten. It was moved to Bangkok in the 1800s where the plaster Buddha was placed in a small temple. At one point it was only covered by a tin roof. In 1955 a new temple was built to house the Buddha statue. During the move of the large, heavy Buddha some of the ropes broke, dropping the statue, which chipped the plaster revealing the gold underneath. All the plaster was removed and the gold Buddha was placed in its new stone temple where it remains today.

Having already spent several sweaty days in Bangkok we knew the importance of taking a break from the heat, so our next stop was a small (air conditioned) tea shop in Chinatown. We sat for a few minutes and enjoyed a delicious iced Thai tea before taking the Metro to our next stop, Museum Siam.

We had gone by Museum Siam several times in our travels around Bangkok so were happy to have time to stop in. The museum is on three floors and houses several exhibits all focusing on Thai culture. The exhibits – on food, dress, religion, advertising, etc. – were unique and very interactive. We really enjoyed learning a lot about the culture, and especially the recent (1900s) influence of various kings to create a national identity to make Thailand a tourism destination. In fact, this is how Pad Thai was born. There was a great desire to have a unique Thai dish. Most food in Thailand has been greatly influenced by Chinese, Burmese, Indonesian, and Indian culture, but Pad Thai is uniquely Thai. We learned a lot in a couple of hours spent at this museum, and enjoyed lunch at the museum cafe.

After that we reversed our subway trip and headed back to the hotel to meet with the tailor we met during our first couple of days in Bangkok. Our custom-made dress, sport coats and suit were finished and ready for a final fitting (all perfect fits!). We decided we had just enough time for one last massage in Thailand, so headed out to a branch of a now favorite chain called Let’s Relax for a lovely aromatherapy massage.

The spa was located in a nice hotel, so we had dinner at a restaurant there and then walked back to our hotel. Along the way we walked through huge street markets and were fascinated at the amazing variety of things for sale. Everything from electronics to shoes, clothing, suitcases and homegoods were for sale in various stalls. We couldn’t believe how complex the set ups were – elaborate shoe displays and lights everywhere, all of which had to be put up and taken down each evening. It was a great way to get a unique glimpse of Bangkok on our last evening.

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Day 16 – Travel back to Bangkok, Thailand

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Greg

Tuesday, July 18, 2023 – We were up bright and early for breakfast and an 8:30 am driver pickup. Fortunately the drive to Depensar Airport in Bali was only just over an hour (often traffic makes it closer to two hours). This meant we had time to relax and enjoy an airport lounge for a bit.

A slightly delayed 2½ hour flight to Singapore resulted in only a 2 hour layover at the Changi Airport. The downside of this was that we did not have enough time to exit the airport and come back in (through security each way) to explore the Jewel – a dining and shopping “experience” that is a new part of this large airport. But, we did have time to ride the tram through a couple more times to see the huge waterfall fountain in the middle of the Jewel.

Our flight from Singapore to Bangkok was uneventful. We remain HUGE fans of Singapore Airlines. The flight crew was excellent, the baggage allowance generous, and economy seats received full meal and beverage service (even on just short 2 hour flights). Plus we loved the uniforms that the flight crew wore!

We arrived in Bangkok in the evening and easily checked into our hotel (a different one than we stayed in a couple of weeks earlier). As we had been well-fed on the plane we didn’t need dinner, but headed up to check out the rooftop bar for a drink and snack before ending our day.

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Day 15 – Ubud Palace, Shopping, and a Flower Bath

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Greg

Monday, July 17, 2023 – After a busy couple of days we decided to take it easy today. We had a late breakfast at our hotel and walked into town to see the Ubud Palace. We unfortunately could not see more than the fountains and front gate and courtyard, but like so many other places we’ve visited the architecture was ornate and beautiful.

Interesting addition of modern art.

We then walked just down the street to the Saraswati Temple. This temple was built in the 1950s and dedicated to the Hindu goddess Saraswati. Again we could not enter the inner temple, but enjoyed the beautifully carved doorways, gorgeous architecture, and huge lotus ponds.

After a lunch stop in the middle of town, we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at street markets and small shops throughout the city. It really is different to be in a place where the cost of goods is so very low (by American standards).

We went back to our resort for a break to put our feet up by the pool. Then we headed back out (by Grab – Southeast Asia’s Uber) to a spa to try Mandi Lulur. This traditional Balinese treatment included a 65 minute oil massage, a 20 minute body scrub, and then 25 minutes to soak in a flower bath. The final cost was about $15 (US Dollars) per person. Quite delightful and a great way to end our last day in Bali.

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