Trip to France

DAY 1 – We arrived in France at 7:00 am France time. We had been on the plane for a while, but still a whole day ahead of us. We made our way to the RER and took the train into Paris, where we bravely navigated the metro to take us to the Marais. When we arrived it was a bit too early to meet the woman who was bringing us the keys to the apartment, so we decided to get some breakfast. The streets were dead; it was strange to see a city so asleep on a Saturday morning. We found a small café that was open and ordered a chocolat chaud and a café au lait, plus two croissants. This meager breakfast cost us 10 euros ($15 Canadian). Bit of a shock!! We made our way to the apartment around 10 am, got the keys and then decided to take a nap for a few hours before exploring the area.
In the afternoon, after a few hours rest, we begin to explore the Marais. We headed south on Rue Beaubourg towards the Seine, stopping to admire Centre Georges Pompidou, the Hotel de Ville, and then lastly the ponts along the Seine. We also went to get some groceries and cooked a nice dinner of red chicken curry, rice, and green beans.

DAY 2 – We took the metro to the Place de la Concorde. Here we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Took some photos of the obelisk and the Champs Elysees, and then headed off into the Jardin des Tuileries. We walked through the gardens to the end, which is where the Louvre is located. Then we walked over to the gardens of the Palais Royal. There we ate sandwiches of ham and brie, and fed birds crumbs from our hands. In the afternoon we wandered over to Victor Hugo’s house, which is now a museum. It is located at Place des Vosges, a nice square and park surrounded by houses. We stopped briefly at the statue of Moliere before heading back to the apartment for dinner.

DAY 3 – We decided to explore the Ile St.-Louis, the island directly across from Ile de Cite, on which Notre Dame is located. Ile St.-Louis is mostly residential, although some of the houses are quite old. We paused at the Pont Marie for a quick look across the Seine, and took some pictures of Notre Dame. Later we walked to the Bastille (or at least where the Bastille used to be). It was crazy busy with people on bikes and rollerblades. We admired the Colonne de Juillet, which is in the centre of the roundabout where the Bastille was located. We decided to go out for our first French dinner. We found a restaurant called The Petit Moulin and decided to sample the menu et plat du jour. I can’t remember what we ate, but I know I finished off the meal with my favorite dessert, crème brulee. We also had our first taste of kir, a nice aperitif.


DAY 4 – Mike and Caroline arrived this morning around 9 am. They were tired (like we were when we arrived) so we cleared out of the apartment so they could have a nap. We went to the Musee of French History (Musee Carnavalet). Interesting, but hard to decipher what a lot of the displays mean, since the descriptions are all in French. In the afternoon, we all headed to Notre Dame. At first we went inside and took some photos of the stained glass, and then we decided to go up the top. We waited in line for an hour and then we climbed a tiny staircase that leads to the top. We were able to check out the gargoyles, the bell towers (Quasimodo’s lair!) and the view of Paris. I wanted to go underneath Notre Dame, but it was closed. We stayed until after vespers, and then went down for some delicious crepes. After the crepes, we walked to the Conciergerie, then back across the Seine.

DAY 5 – We headed out to the Place de la Concorde again on the metro, this time it was a much nicer day. We strolled the Champs Elysees for a while and made our way down to the Arc de Triomphe. We took a lot of photos here, and then walked over to the Eiffel Tower. We spent some time in a park at the base of the tower, and then decided to walk over to the Palace des Invalides. On the way there, we stopped for lunch and Alex unknowingly purchased a large coke for 15 euros (that’s $23 Canadian folks!). It cost more than his lunch! After walking to the Palace des Invalides and checking it out, we decided to head back to the Champs Elysees and take in a movie until it got dark. The goal was to visit and go up in the Eiffel Tower that night. So we found a theatre and watched Batman Begins. Then we walked back to the Eiffel Tower and waited in line to go to the top. I was scared silly. It was also FREEZING cold and really windy, so not the best experience. But we did get some really nice pictures of the Eiffel Tower. By the time we got back home it was about 1am.

DAY 6 – We planned to spend the whole day at Versailles, but got off to a really slow start. By the time we arrived there it was about 2pm. We decided to visit the gardens first, and Alex and I headed off for some geocaching. Unfortunately we got separated and Alex and I spent the rest of the afternoon looking for Mike and Caroline, while they ended up renting bikes and looking for us! Eventually Alex and I went to stand in line for the tour as we knew the Palace was closing soon. After about ½ hour, Mike and Caroline found us in line. We took the audio guided tour of Versailles, and then walked around the other parts for about an hour. We went to dinner, and then got back on the train to Paris.

DAY 7 – For our last day in Paris, we had planned to see the Louvre. We went on a guided tour which takes you to see all the “most famous” works of art. Of course, that means the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, and the Venus de Milo. We took a short break for lunch and then went back to the museum. In the afternoon, Mike, Caroline and I checked out the Egyptian exhibits. Lots to see in the Louvre, too much actually. We had tired feet and tired minds by the end.

DAY 8 – Our last day in Paris. We turned in our keys to the apartment and made our way to Orly airport for our flight to Barcelona. The plane was delayed so we spent a lot of time at the airport. When we finally arrived in Barcelona we were quite late, and were worried about getting to our apartment in time to meet the 9 pm deadline. Unfortunately, after waiting and waiting, we realized that Alex’s luggage was missing. We checked at the desk and they said it was still in Orly and they would deliver it soon…… So we took a cab to our apartment in Barcelona and arrived there at 10:30 pm. We found a working phone and arranged to have the keys brought to us at the apartment. Alex and I waited by the bags while Mike and Caroline went exploring. They came back with groceries, to our surprise! We crashed as soon as we got into the apartment after this long day!

DAY 9 – First day in Barcelona! We went sightseeing, first to the Arc de Triomf, which was a block away from our apartment. Then we walked to the Sagrada Familia, a very unique church built by Gaudi, which is still under construction and is not supposed to be finished until 2030!!! We walked from there to the Spike House (can’t remember the real name) and then to another of Gaudi’s creations, La Pedrera (Casa Mila). Across the street is the Casa Batllo, a very colourful building, also by Gaudi. We then walked around downtown. We decided to try tapas for dinner and polished it off with some nice cava, both were delicious!

DAY 10 – We walked down La Rambla to the beach. We spent the entire day sunning and reading. It was very relaxing. In the evening we went out for some paella, which turned out to be rather gross, probably just a bad choice of restaurants. That’s okay, the beer helped it go down quite nicely!

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Our Trip to France Aug 26, 2005
DAY 11 – We took the train to Montserrat. It was beautiful! We took the Funicular St-Joan to the top and then explored an abandoned building. Then Mike and I climbed very high in order to find a geocache. It was a great day! We spent a few hours there, then back to Barcelona. It was raining pretty hard to Mike and I went to get some pasta take-out from Pastafiore. We took it back to the apartment and had some pasta, some wine, and played some rousing games of Moes (how do you spell that?).

DAY 12 – Bye bye Barcelona and hello France! We took the train (after some mishaps) from Barcelona to Perpignan. It took us a while to find a hotel in Perpignan, everything was booked up solid! After what seemed like an endless walk, Alex found us a place to stay. We quickly dropped off our suitcases and then went to dinner.

DAY 13 – After spending the morning searching for an internet café, we finally decided to take the bus to Canet-Plage, the closest beach to Perpignan. We spent a few hours lounging there, while Mike and Caroline went shell hunting. After a few hours at the beach we headed back to catch the train to Narbonne, and then another train to Carcassonne. Luckily our hotel was directly across from the train station, so no big trip lugging our suitcases. When we arrived in Carcassonne there was a concert going on, but we decided to walk to La Cite, to see the castle lit up. It was really cool. We came across the Pont Neuf and there it was, amazing!

DAY 14 – We spent the day exploring the castle at Carcassonne. It is a restored medieval castle. We wandered the streets in the morning, and then went into a tour for the afternoon. While there, we sampled a delicious French dish called cassoulet. I am definitely going to try making it sometime! So, filled with white beans and meaty goodness, we departed the medieval city and took the train to Toulouse. In Toulouse, we met up with Gill and Tina and went out for some Italian food (and lots of red wine).

DAY 15 – Peter got married today! We rented a van and everyone got pretty! We drove to Muret for the wedding. We arrived a bit early so we stopped off at McDonalds in our wedding finery. Lots of people that were going to the wedding were there. It was quite amusing. After filling up on grease and burgers, we went to the first part of the ceremony which was held at the mayor’s office. Then we went to the church. After the church, we headed to the village of St Elix le Chateau for the reception. I sampled a lot of appetizers, some to my liking and some not. Mike and I compared notes. Then we took some pictures with the bride and groom and headed in for some dinner. Dinner was a 7 course, 7 hour affair! It was crazy. We had our first taste of foie gras, lots of wine, and lots of food. Then we danced to some French tunes until dessert (at 3 am). Cake and dancing continued, but the poor Canadians couldn’t keep up, so by 4 am we were back on the road to Toulouse.

DAY 16 – Gill and I went out for coffee and croissants while Alex slept in. We would have liked to go shopping, but on Sunday most things were closed. It was a pretty lazy day. Everyone sort of did their own thing for most of the day. That night we went out for Indian food. It was really good. Then into bed early as we needed to catch the train next day for Paris, for our last night in France!

DAY 17 – We took the train from Toulouse to Paris, which took most of the day. Then we made our way from Gare Austerlitz to our hostel, right near Sacre Coeur. We quickly dropped off our suitcases and explored Sacre Coeur. I attempted some geocaches, but no luck. We did find a hidden can with some postcards in it, but we put it back where we found it. Alex and I went for dinner while Mike and Caroline went off to the Moulin Rouge. We stopped by Sacre Coeur one last time for some night shots, and then headed to bed. Our last sleep in France.

It was a great trip, we took over a thousand pictures. Of course, we won’t subject you to that many, only a few of the best, the most memorable, etc. Enjoy!

SEE OUR PHOTOS AT : France and Spain

206 Weber: Almost Done!

We have been working hard for over a month and the house is almost done. Below are a few before/after shots of some of the rooms that we have been working on for so long. The upstairs was the most work, we are so happy to have it finished up. We still need to do some work on the two bedrooms downstairs, but we are getting close to being completely finished!

Here are some after pics.

The Whitewater that wasn't

On the Canada Day long weekend we drove up to North Bay to go on a whitewater canoe trip on the Mattawa. We heard that there were some good rapids. We rented a whitewater canoe, and as we left the rental shop, the guy told us to make sure we didn't wrap the canoe or we would have to pay! So with that in mind, and looking forward to some wicked rapids, we headed off to Samuel de Champlain park for the night. In the morning we went to the Stepping Stones put in on Trout Lake. We paddled for most of the day along flatwater lakes/river and did a few short (but really brutal) portages. We paddled across a REALLY windy lake and then camped out for the night on a beach owned by some really friendly people that have a cottage on the lake. The next morning we continued along the river until we got to the Talon Chutes (still no whitewater!!!!!). At the Talon Chutes we had to portage since it is something like a 20 metre drop with a dam across. Pretty cool though. Alex and I did some geocaching, we swam and ate some lunch. Then we paddled some more flatwater. And then we finally hit some rapids!!! Class 1 rocks, that we could barely get the canoes over. We start thinking, is the water low or something? We continued on, here we go, Class 2 (even more rocks). Now we are starting to wonder, where is the whitewater and WHY did we bring helmets????? Anyways, Joanne cooked us awesome food for the entire trip, we all got tanned, and damn, it was a good time. Guess we will go back to the Petawawa River next year, where we can get some real rapids!

pics here

House update

Well, we have moved into 206 Weber St E. The work begins!! Alex has spent the last few days refinishing the floors in the upstairs bedrooms. It has been harder than we thought, the floors were in really terrible condition. It is back-breaking work, as I can attest. I spent last night sanding around the edges and it was HARD! But hopefully he will finish most of it today. I must say, it looks much better. Once we paint the walls it will look great!

We are doing a lot of work on the house ourselves. I have a bit of experience, but Alex is learning as he goes. I think by the end we will be experts. It is nice to have the first house to practice on before we move into the next one. Which reminds me, we bought another house and we will be moving into it in September. It is a two storey red brick house in Kitchener, right near the border of Kitchener and Waterloo. I am looking forward to moving into that house as well.

Allegany State Park

For the May 22 weekend we decided to escape the crowds in Ontario and head south, to New York that is! Traffic at the border was bad, but eventually we arrived in Allegany State Park....only to end up camping next to a bunch of party people from Niagara Falls ! Just can't get away!

We spent the three days hiking, sleeping, and eating lots of good food, including a ton of dark chocolate. We took on the Bear Caves Trail, and also the Conservation Trail. Both were rated hard, but we found that the harder rated Conservation Trail was actually easier than the Bear Caves Trail. Maybe we were all just really out of shape.

I had a good time, it was nice to hang out with everyone again after my hiatus in Montreal. Another bonus was that there were very few blackflies, and I don't think that anyone got a bite! Next year I think we might try to venture a bit further east in NY, there are so many more places to explore!

More pics on flickr.

206 Weber St E

Alex bought a house and we are moving in on June 1. You can check out photos here!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noirs/sets/234922/

Alex is going to rent this house out in September, so we are looking for another one to move into then. Tonight will be the first night that we go looking at houses. It is very exciting! It looks like we will end up living in Kitchener or Waterloo, although we are looking in Guelph as well. We are both very excited to have our own house. I will probably be gardening like crazy next year!!

my birthday

Well, my birthday is coming up in two and a half weeks. I am going to be 29. Wooohooo!! (I think). I found this cool website at Christmas called mygiftlist.com which lets you make a birthday list. People can check off if they have bought something for you so no one else will buy it, but you can't see if anyone has given you anything. It is almost like registering for a wedding. It is pretty neat. Check it out here:

http://www.mygiftlist.com/giver_main.asp?frommgl=true&code=GUEST&buid=28965

mushaboom by feist

Helping the kids out of their coats
But wait the babies haven't been born
Unpacking the bags and setting up
And planting lilacs and buttercups
But in the meantime I've got it hard
Second floor living without a yard
It may be years until the day
My dreams will match up with my pay

Old dirt road, Knee deep snow
Watching the fire as we grow old

I got a man to stick it out and make a home from a rented house
And we'll collect the moments one by one
I guess that's how the future's done
How many acres how much light
Tucked in the woods and out of sight
Talk to the neighbours and tip my cap
On a little road barely on the map

Old dirt road
Rambling rose
Watching the fire as we grow
well I'm sold

Cross-country skiing at Mont Royal Park

On Sunday, Alex and I decided to brave the cold (-28 degrees C) and go skiing at Mont Royal Park. It is actually pretty close to my house, surprisingly!! When we got there it was so cold we had to get moving quickly. After the first 10 minutes my hands were so frozen they started to hurt, but once we got moving a bit more, I warmed up quickly. We went for about 3 km and went to two different lookouts. Then it started to get dark so we decided to head back to the car! The trails at Mont Royal are pretty good and we hope that we can go again soon (maybe it will be warmer next time)!

more pics from india

I have posted more photos at www.flickr.com/photos/plantgirl/ and Alex has posted some at www.flickr.com/photos/noirs/ CHECK IT OUT!!!

Back from Bombay!

WOW! India was really interesting. I think that I could spend another month there and not get bored. We had a very excellent time, thanks to the great planning of Alex's mom Gina. We toured from Delhi to Agra, Agra to Ranthambhore, Ranthambhore to Jaipur, Jaipur to Bombay, Bombay to Cochin, Cochin to Bombay! We even had time for a bit of geocaching in Delhi! There are so many places to see in India and such a variety of landscapes and cultures. I ate so much food! So much for getting Delhi Belly and losing some weight! We are trying to put together a cool slideshow (using a sample of our 1000 combined photos). I am glad to be home but am now itching to go on another trip!!!