"Let's go to France today!"

That is what we said when we got up on Saturday morning. How neat to live somewhere where we can decide on the spur of the moment to go to another country! None of us had ever been to France, so it was a really exciting experience. We drove to Forbach, and had lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Then we drove to Le Chateau du Schlossberg, and walked around the ruins of another castle. This castle (from what I can understand from the brochure and museum information -- my French is a little rusty), was first mentioned in books in 1251. It was destroyed during the 30 Years War in the 1500's. The tower is still standing, and we were able to go into the small museum and climb up to the top of the tower. The steps to the top are a huge staircase, spiraling around the inside walls of the tower. Braden's fear of heights (which he comes by honestly -- I too get jell-o-like knees when I am on the top of a tall building), was getting the better of him, and he decided not to climb to the top. Morgan and Lydia were already ahead of us, so I decided to stay at the bottom with Braden. I turned around and started to descend the steps so I could meet him where he was at and help him back down to the bottom. But before I could do that, he passed me on his way up the stairs. He was resolutely ascending the staircase as he said, "I just said a prayer, and I'm not scared anymore! It really works!" We went to the top and enjoyed the view of the entire city.

After that, we went to a really fun park on the castle grounds, and the kids had a great time playing, while Morgan exercised his language skills talking to a nice family in French. He did great. I decided that if I could be any superhero, I would be Lingua Lady -- able to speak any language in the world! We really love to be able to blend into our surroundings and communicate with everyone. I look forward to going to Romania and Ireland, where I can speak the languages, and also to learning German and brushing up on my French! It was a wonderful day -- I wonder where we'll end up next weekend?