For the last week and a half, we have taken a lot of road trips. We’ve driven around staying only two or three nights in different places, so we could see many wonderful places. This has been very hard on us, because it takes us about three hours to get our place cleaned up, everyone repacked and load the vehicle. Not to mention very tight quarters as we drive with our big family. As you can imagine, one person has a rough moment and we all hear about it. However, because we moved around we were able to visit four countries, two of them being micro-countries and many beautiful cities. We visited: Bordeaux, Andorra, Barcelona, the French Riviera and Monaco.

We started off in Bordeaux, France, which is the wine capital of the world. I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful vineyards. Our rental house was surrounded by vineyards and we enjoyed walking through the rows of grapevines, where each grape vine was individually tied with care to stakes to help them be ready to grow come Spring. It was so interesting to me, that I searched up on YouTube and learned a bit about how people prune these vines. Below is a very brief video of the vineyards around our rental home in Bordeaux.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRVPwbd6/

We also had churros and crepes in France from a small street shop. I was able to video how they make both. I think it is so interesting. Since being in France I have made crepes for my family three times, however, I have never been able to get them as thin and delicious as the street vendors do. I think it may be the wooden tool used for spreading the batter.

We went on a day trip to Andorra, which is a small country between France and Spain. This country is governed by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain and the president of France. As part of our education, we learned some random facts about Andorra: only one-third of their population is actually Andorran, they have miles of ski slopes, the official language in Andorra is Catalan (which is the language spoken in Barcelona as well), and Andorra produces a lot of tobacco.

We also had a day where Brooklyn was in charge. She chose the destination and directed Justin how to get there. It was a surprise for all of us, but she led us on a hike to a cave which was supposed to have goats in it. Only two of us actually made it to the cave, those two were Zeke and Luke. The rest of us had to turn back. The path we took was covered partially with thorn bushes and other times it was very steep and the pathway kept disappearing. We all had a very fun adventure though. Luke and Zeke did find the end destination, which was a cave, unfortunately or maybe fortunately, there were no goats in the cave.

We had a wonderful time in Barcelona, Spain. Where Justin was so happy to be speaking Spanish. We visited the Barcelona Cathedral called the Sagrada Familia. It is a cathedral which began to be build in 1882. So for European historical buildings, this cathedral is relatively new. They are still working on finishing it, with the proposed completion date in 2026. Below is a video of inside the cathedral.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRV5nvpp/

These are a few of my favorite pictures. I really liked the stained glass windows. They had such a vibrant array of colors.

We also enjoyed visiting the Christmas shops that surrounded the cathedral and buying dolce de leche filled churros, candy for the little girls and small Christmas gifts for the kids.

So far on our abroad experience, we have been to church five times. One was fast and testimony meeting and the other four were Primary Programs. One in Italian and the other three in French. All the children were adorable, and we all loved hearing Follow The Prophet in their languages. My favorite was in Italy, where the little kids would stand and begin their talks with, “Buongiorno a tutti.” At our last French ward, the bishop, who spoke very good English, talked with Justin about a hike near our rental home. We decided to go on it and boy, what a beautiful view. We hiked Mount Vienaigre. Round trip was about 4 miles. When we reached the top we had a 360 degree view. We could see the French Riviera, Cannes, Nice, San Rafiel, and the Alpes.

We also drove to the coast and saw different parts of the French Riviera. One beach was covered with round rocks, all rounded from the waves coming in and out. I loved the sound the ocean water made on the rocks as it went back out into the Mediterranean. 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRV5cEeK/

The kids and Justin also enjoyed jumping and playing on some larger rocks in the ocean.

Thanks for reading my blog, please leave your comments or questions and I will do my best to answer them.