For those new to Melinda’s and my travels to France, let me just say that the city of Nantes is our second home. We lived here for 13 months in 2010/11 and have traveled back many times since. Some of our closest friends live here. So today, arriving in Nantes is a homecoming of significant sorts for us.

I’m tired as I write this after a short night of sleep and a long day of travel so am hoping the above photo will serve as the main happy announcement of our safe arrival in Nantes. We drove 90 minutes to the Montpellier airport this morning, arriving less than an hour before our scheduled take-off. Then it was a 75 minute flight to Paris, a 50 minute flight to Nantes, and a 25 minute taxi ride to our old neighborhood, the place where we met Christine & Bérnard in 2010 and whose home we now are at.

I walked over to the Hippodrome, one of my happiest places on earth, and snapped this selfie.