Three Months in France March 31 – June 28, 2007

Today’s Photos

With a little over one week left until we return to Canada, Marissa—she’s our designated packing expert—decided to start packing today. Meanwhile the kids played around the house and enjoyed swimming in the pool.

Late in the afternoon we walked to the village pub so that the kids could enjoy an ice cream while Marissa and I enjoyed a Panaché (A delicious mixture of beer and lemonade introduced to us by my aunt Carole). And, of course, we stopped and fed our favourite donkeys on the way. One interesting thing about the businesses in Giroussens, including the pub and the bakery, are that they are often attached to the front of the business owner’s house. I guess this makes for a fast commute.

On another note Marissa was going to try to catch a train to Barcelona in the coming days but she unfortunately concluded today that there isn’t enough time remaining to do this. We’re already beginning to think of our next family adventure to Europe and are actively brainstorming on where to stay and visit.

Today’s Photos (in France)

Marissa will be posting photos and details of her Munich trip soon. In the meantime here’s a few shots of the Millau Viaduc which is a large, beautiful bridge near the town of Millau about 2 hours east of Giroussens. The bridge is purported to be the tallest vehicular bridge in the world—one of its pillars is actually taller than the Eiffel tower and almost as tall as the Empire State building.

For those of you with an interest in engineering you might want to look at the following URL which has lots of information on how the Millau Viaduc was built.

Viaduc de Millau

1700: Marissa is en-route to Munich, Germany today via a stop-over in Amsterdamn. I dropped her off at the Toulouse airport this morning but her flight was unfortunately delayed by almost 2 hours. Marissa is, at this moment, in Amsterdamn, awaiting her next flight, which has now been delayed several hours. She was originally supposed to arrive in Munich around 4pm but it now appears that she will arrive in Munich around 11pm. Today’s trip from Toulouse to Munich will actually end up taking longer than our flight from Calgary to Frankfurt back on April 1st.

I’ll update with more details later today once I hear from Marissa again.

2350: Marissa has arrived in Munich and is now in a taxi on her way to her hotel.

0030: Marissa is now in her hotel in Munich. Unfortunately the internet access in her room isn’t working but we’re happy to hear she made it there safely.

We said our goodbyes today to Marissa’s parents. They are travelling to Vienna by train to spend four days there before returning home to Ontario. We enjoyed our time together this week with many days spent in or by the pool—often with glass of wine in hand–and late nights spent playing bridge. Grandad spent a lot of time playing games with Liam and Emma and Nanna kept us well fed so all-in-all a great week.

We spent the afternoon visiting the facilities of Airbus, the manufacturer of such planes as the A330, A340 and the soon-to-be-released A380.

The tour began with an overview of the A380, which is the largest passenger airliner in the world and can seat over 850 passengers if configured with all economy seating. The various structural components for the A380 are built by various EU members and then are shipped and trucked to Toulouse for final assembly in the largest building of its kind in the world.

After the A380 portion of the tour we were then taken to see the supersonic airliner known as the Concorde.The Concorde is no longer in use having flown its last flight in 2003. We actually sat in the Concorde—unfortunately in a non-flying, parked state—while listening to our tour guide speak of its history and of the many technological hurdles that were required in order to make this plane a reality. The size of the Concorde is much smaller than I imagined it would be, and fits only 100 passengers.

For security reasons Airbus does not allow any photography on their tours and that is why we have no photos to go along with today’s blog entry.

We drove the 715 KM from Paris back to Giroussens today. It’s a long drive but the kids handled it very well–the portable dvd player we have certainly helped.

Tomorrow will be a catch-up day for work and chores. And on Thursday Marissa’s parents will be coming to stay with us for about a week so we’re looking forward to that.

Bonne nuit.

Today’s Photos

– We spent most of the day in Tuileries Garden where Liam and Emma enjoyed the playground

– Marissa managed to do a little shopping in the late afternoon

– After dark Liam, my mom and I returned to the Eiffel tower for one last look.

– Will post photos and more detailed description later.

Today’s Photos

– We took the train to Versailles today to visit the Palace of Versailles. From the Gare Saint Lazare in Paris you can buy a ticket that includes the train ride and access to the Palace and it is a good idea to do this as the lineups for purchasing tickets at the Palace are rather long.

– We proceeded through the inside of the Palace rather quickly as planned–it isn’t the most exciting place for kids–and we concluded our visit with a walk in the lovely ‘backyard’. The inside of the palace is certainly fit for a king and features copious quantities of marble, gold, paintings and statues. The overall enjoyment of visiting the Palace of Versailles is somewhat dampened by the overwhelming crowds–the rooms were often stiflingly hot–and the lack of any outdoor play area for the kids (as we had found at Valencay). But it still remains as one of the must-see sites in Paris due to its beauty and its long and interesting history.

Its midnight here and Marissa, Liam and I have just returned from a late-night visit to the Eiffel tower. My mom and Emma were already asleep by the time we decided to make the trip out to the tower this evening so I will see if I can interest them in going out tomorrow night so that they get the chance to see the lovely Eiffel at night in all her lit-up glory.

The ideal spot from which to enjoy the Eiffel tower at night—and during the day actually—is from the Trocadéro and thats exactly where we—and several other tourists—planted ourselves with coffee, hot chocolate and camera in hand. Ahhh Paris. Unfortunately my weak words and amateur photos cannot adequately describe the suprisingly wonderful feeling of pondering the lit-up tower on this warm Summer-like evening with loved-ones at my side—but it was really cool!!

Photos of Eiffel tower at night

Today’s Photos

– Woke up to beautiful sunshine!!

– Took the subway over to the Hotel de Ville this morning where we boarded the Batobus. The Batobus is a great way to make your way along the Seine–for only 12 euros you can use it all day long–and we used it as a means to get to the Eiffel tower.

– Marissa, Liam, Emma and I climbed the Eiffel tower by stairs while my mom enjoyed a walk in the surrounding area. Both kids really enjoyed going up the tower and we rewarded their efforts with an ice cream at the first observation level.

– Afterwards we ate on the grass facing the tower and the kids played in the playground there. Liam also took the time to draw a picture of the Eiffel tower which he signed and dated. For Marissa and I this drawing has become a priceless souvenir.

– We returned to our hotel by Batobus and subway; we picked up a roast chicken, some rice and veggies along the way which we consumed in our room and we finished off with a few pieces of cake in honour of Marissa’s 33rd bday.

– Overall a wonderful day in Paris. As a parent the highlight of the day occured during the Batobus ride this morning when I noticed Liam’s expression as he first spotted the Eiffel tower in the distance. With camera already in hand I managed to capture the moment. Ahh..Paris!!!

Today’s Photos

– Visited Chateau Valencay on our way to Paris. This was the prior home of Talleyrand, Napoleon’s foreign minister. The place is great for families because the outdoor area has a large maze, playground and animals. The chateau itself is a great step-back-in-time with plenty of furniture and artifacts that once belonged to Talleyrand. Throughout the Chateau grounds one hears Classical music playing which really adds to ambience of visiting such a place.

– Made it to Paris and checked into the Etap in the 19th arrondisement. Can’t beat their prices at less than 50 euros per night for a room.

– We took the subway to the Louvre and walked around outside. The kids enjoyed the glass pyramids