Three Months in France March 31 – June 28, 2007

Well, where to begin? It has been quite a journey. Though we’ve only scratched the surface of what France has to offer we feel we’ve seen and learned about so many interesting aspects of this fascinating country. We’ve eaten a variety of new foods such as duck foie gras, cassoulet, amazing cheeses and sausages; we drank many new beverages—my personal favourite is the apple brandy known as Calvados;and we have set foot within buildings whose walls, if they could talk, could tell us stories dating back many tens of generations. And even more importantly we’ve become closer to our family members that are based here in France.

This adventure was by far the longest family vacation we’ve ever attempted and as a result we are filled with a panoply of good memories. But things didn’t always proceed as we had thought they would. For example, although all of us experienced improvements in our ability to speak French, the actual level of improvement is not as significant as we thought it would be. We also did not visit as many places as we anticipated we would. But these things are not dissapointments. They are simply comparisons between what was our best guess as to how things would turn out and how things actually turned out. Financially the trip ended up costing less than we expected and thats mostly due to fewer hotel visits than we anticipated making.

We conclude with a few of our favourite moments in France:

Francois’ favourite moments:

• Visiting Nimes to step foot into a 2000-old-year old Roman arena and to walk across an equally-old Roman aquaduct.

• Visiting Oradour-sur-Glanes. It serves as a very effective reminder of the horrors of war.

• Seeing Liam and Emma’s excited reaction to visiting and climbing the Eiffel Tower.

• Walking the Normandy beaches with my friend John, who shares my enthusiasm for WW II history.

• Our almost-weekly ritual of attending the Lavaur market to acquire a freshly roasted chicken and some frites for lunch.
  

For Liam:

• Playing with Sean’s extensive Star Wars lego collection.
  
• Seeing and climbing the Eiffel Tower.
  
• Splashing around in the various water fountains.
  

For Emma:

• All the beautiful flowers
  
• Seeing and climbing the Eiffel Tower.
  

For Diane:

• The lunch we enjoyed at the Brasserie located right next to the Roman Arena in Nimes.
  
• Boat trip along the Seine in Paris.
  
• The time she was able to spend with her two sisters.
  

For Marissa:

• I loved experiencing life outside of Canada, it was of course different in some ways but totally enjoyable
  
• I really loved swimming in the Mediterranean Sea with the kids
  
• Eating, eating, eating oh and drinking too!
  
• Although, the different cities and tourist sites were spectacular, I just enjoyed our family dinners outside in the great southern weather or going for our walks to feed the donkeys and to have a panache in the town. – we’ll miss you donkeys!
  
• How could I not mention Munich!

  Although, I didn’t get as much work done as I hoped I would have, I think after a looong while of catching up I’d be ready for another adventure!