We’ve stayed here two nights, and we still haven’t explored this little town. And this Airbnb is incredible, so it makes us want to enjoy it more. We decide to spend the day right here, in Ventabren. Stefan and I have a date tonight, in town as well, so it’ll be a whole day here without the car. Sigh.

//Stefan Note: Really?

I write a lot today, finally posting an article I’d been working on this week: “Family Travel Requires Airbnb”. I’m excited to be writing more and hope I can begin to consolidate some of our learnings from this trip. The kids spend this time playing in and outside. Their favorite game this morning: mommy and   doggy, with real accessories. So funny. 

We have lunch at the house. While there are a few tourists climbing the steps through town in the morning, the afternoon is quiet. And warm. The kids seem to really enjoy having the day off. I need to remember that while they like structure and planned excursions, they need the space and freedom to play. The kind of random creative, “this pillow is a ____” kind of play.

By 3pm we finally leave the house to explore all of Ventabren. Despite its small size, there is a tourist office up the hill. They have a map of the walks of Ventabren. We do most of the 4 walks in 20 minutes. The lanes are amazing. Small and winding. There are stairs here and there. A few people sit on their patios. We feel removed from the rest of the world here, in a really good way.  It’s calming.

The rest of our walk takes us up the hill. The town sits close to the top of the hill. Now we climb steps to the top. Along the way we pass a statue of Mother Mary and an old water fountain. A few more meters up, and we arrive at a cemetery. We walk along the side and get the most amazing panoramic view to the south. Beyond the cemetery lies a soccer field, and Oly is very excited at the prospect of playing. I can’t wait to get him on a soccer team when we get settled.  

We discover a cute restaurant and a large playground up there! It’d be awesome to have lunch or dinner up here one day and let the kids play a long time. Tonight we have date plans. In the center of the playground is workout equipment for adults. Such a great idea for parents to workout a bit while their kids play, instead of just sitting on their iPhones as usual. I’d love to see more of these.

We finally walk back home after 6pm to call Stefan’s sister and wish her a happy birthday. The kids are so excited to talk to her. It’s moments like this that remind me how removed we are from normal life, when we get to chat about things with people we know well. It is really nice when we catch someone at home on FaceTime to get a bit of that.

Our babysitter arrives at 6:30pm. Our Airbnb host connected us with her. She is 19 and lives in this tiny town. Babysitter means…date night! Ah, it is so nice to be out of the house without the kids. There isn’t much in Ventabren, but just across the street hangs a sign that says “Bar”. Sounds good! We sit on the patio with one other couple. We are close enough to the house that we can hear the kids through the window, and in turn we must keep our voices down. The owner of this place, Daniel, lives here and just opens for a few hours each day in the summer. He serves a limited selection of drinks alongside crackers shaped like hearts. He is so welcoming and kind.

We plan to walk the two blocks to dinner, but as we peer into our kitchen I see our babysitter hasn’t made the kids dinner.  We hear they are watching tv (not my favorite), so we decide to go in, say hello and start the dinner for them. We have had exceptional luck with babysitters, from our first in Oakland after Lillian was born to our NY babysitters who were also performers to the random Airbnb babysitter who makes up new games to play with the kids or cooks them crepes from scratch. This is the first time I’ve felt disappointed. Oh well. Our odds are still fantastic.

We walk to dinner at La Table Ventabren. It is the only restaurant in town besides the restaurant we found on top of the hill today. Ventabren doesn’t even have a bakery, which every small town seems to have. And this restaurant is impressive, with 2 Michelin stars. The restaurant is beautiful, with views of the valley. The dining room is small, with only ten tables. I’m so happy to be out on a date, but it’s even better when you get to experience something like this. Wow.

I am a complete dork and take far too many pictures of everything. This meal is so good. It’s not nearly as good as David Toutain, where we ate in Paris, but it’s still impressive. For one course, I even eat pigeon. Stefan substitutes with rabbit, but I want the full experience. It’s actually very good! The wine is incredible. Just wow.
We arrived at the restaurant at 8:30pm, and we leave at 12:45am. Now that’s a great meal. And not only just good food and wine, but really nice, calm conversation with my sweet husband. We sometimes forget how distracting the kids are until they aren’t around and we can have a full conversation in peace. Nights like this go a very long way for us.