The Signs that I am Back in Canada

After a long drive to the airport leaving at 5 am - most of the time in a Gravol induced haze (I get car sick), one wrong turn and a drop off at the wrong gate with a struggle through what must be the most crowded airport on a Saturday at 9 am. We were finally in the line to get through security to go home. Wearing comfy sweats that we will need to burn on landing and armed with empty water bottles to drink when through security, a good book and a fresh pen for catching up on 6 days of my written journal we are truly ready to leave this lovely place behind.

Here are some things that occured to me as we were and after we had landed in Toronto.

• Airplane annoucements telling us that we would have to sprint to our connections due to the lateness of our arrival were in English first and then French. As opposed to the announcements through the flight that the entertainment system was not working that necessitated a 30 minute shut down occuring first in French and then in English (three times before they just gave up and told us to read a book).
• The only person confused about where to go next was a young lady who spoke only French and could find no bilingual person at the gate to explain where to run to at breakneck speed for her connection to MooseJaw (poor girl)
• There were 22 customs agents ready to receive JUST our flight as opposed to the ONE agent that checked the passports of 500 people getting on 3 different flights in Paris (that is a staffing model, boy)
• The uniforms of the Airport staff did not have the flair that Hermes Scarfs and Dior jackets had in Paris. We had entered frumpville and I saw the shoes to prove it.
• Tim Hortons waiting for me as soon as I passed through the metal detector
• Fat people - sorry, guys - we have a problem. I need to google the French Paradox - I ate therefore I was in France and I lost 8 lbs - WTF?
• lanes wide enough to fit my SUV and a bit of weaving when the exaustion poked through

I am glad to be home even if I had to drive three hours after getting off the plane 24 hours from when I got up sometime in the distant past (yesterday, tommorow or today?). Thank you France for my recent addiction to coffee - it really helped me get home.

I hope you all enjoyed this - I am trying hard to have Logan finish his end of things. If you are really interested let us know if you want to see pics. But be very sure before you ask!

Love you all - Kim

Time to go

Well, technically I am back but I wanted to finish off this blog but good and I actually had this blog done for the night before I left and then it got deleted. So just pretend and time warp yourself to a time right around Friday night.......

It is time to go and I am ready - not sad so I must have done it right. This week we saw the mountains of Alsace, a concentration camp, and the most beautiful city in France: Lyon. Every moment has been packed away for me to pull out and relive during the Canadian winter or the sparse quiet moments when the kids are occupied elsewhere.

Things I will Remember:

THE WEATHER: I was very careful to NOT check Canadian weather while I was away and we had 23 degree weather most of the time with maybe 2 overcast days and one rainy day of the entire 15. Not something you can control but I throw a high five to God for that one.


A WORLD IN BLOOM: Paris in springtime - can't beat that but everything had been blooming for many weeks - cherry blossoms and everything green. It made the parks very beautiful. Versailles is a little behind though - just tilled earth in place of the usual red flowers on the border.


130 KM/hr HIGHWAYS: ok brilliant - sign Canada up for this one. Oh wait....that is not such a big change for me. To go with this is the puegots, citroens and smart cars that are parked just everywhere - don't forget motorcycles parked on every sidewalk in Paris.


SEEING A PICTURE EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK: The French are very aware of how things look - this includes their buildings. Nothing is too much and yet nothing ends up being too much.


KNOWING WHERE I WAS BY LOOKING AT BUILDINGS: As you move through France the architecture changes to give you clues about where you are. In Alsace, in the north near the Swiss and German border the houses have steeply pitched rooves with painted curlicues on the shutters. In Lyon, more tropical and southern, flat rooves with an Italian Villa feel.


CHURCH BELLS: I know, I know - trite. Just try it - that is all I am saying. Try to resist the lure. There was a reason these things could be heard everywhere no matter how hard you tried to sleep in. After 7 days of unbelievable toil and filth and poverty and hopelessness you just wanted to lie in bed on Sundays and die. Then the bells would ring, you would pop up and say, "Right - time for church!"



THE SMELL: Ok, mainly the fridge, which smells like a cow lives there but it is just the 45 different cheeses that reside there. There is also the smell of flowers in the open air market, pastry and bread from the thousands of bakeries, the sweet smell of chocolate that leads you to the most amazing chocolate art in village windows. I should know - 10 picture of food at the least - small obsession obviously.



THE LANGUAGE: How proud I felt whenever I made myself understood to Philippe, Nathan's father who only speaks french.



THE PEOPLE: Not just this lovely family but the French who are not rude except for airport personnel and this was not limited to France. Canadians are loved here - as long as you TRY you will be rewarded for your efforts and you will distiguish yourself from the Americans. Then there was the woman in the boulangerie in Lyon who sang Celine Dion ballads - very special...



I am ready for home but pleased with what I have accomplished here - not just seeing part of a country - but jumping in, trying everything, being out of my comfort zone and opening the door to the possibility of more travel (please god).



Kim

But of course........

Here are some norms that might never take off in Canada - clearly with our young age as a nation we are in the wrong here so please take down the following notes for future changes or, you know, not......
1. Egg on pizza - in the middle where the slices meet a soft cooked fried looking egg should reside - you have to ask for your pizza without egg to get the canadian version - aparently this is the italian way. They are closer - they must know.
2. Lapin everything - pate, raw and stripped in butcher counters, pies, steaks, in canned stew like pork and beans in the section of the grocery store that Helene does not shop in (te KD section) - for those of you who don't know this is rabbit. Them's good eatin'.
3. Cream and more of it - on pasta so it looks like cereal, in mashed potatoes so you can slurp them from a bowl and eat with a spoon
4. 2 hour meals from pate to coffee - we just finished eating lunch at 430 and now at nine will eat crepes for dinner. The holy trinity is Pain (Bread our Father), Fromage (cheese - 365 different kinds- the Son) et Vin (Wine, the holy ghost)
5. Full use of the animal - I asked for a recipe and now will walk around Canada looking for the throat of the porc. Well, I asked.

Kim

A Bad Day

Today should not have been a bad day - as with most bad days it was only bad due to a very small event occuring at then end but currently in center stage of my memory banks so because of that I will tell you about the last three wonderful days - this serves a dual purpose - to make me feel better and to kill you with suspense - DO NOT SKIP AHEAD.

I spent the last days in Paris seeing Versailles - which was just wonderful - it is large and ornate and the gardens and fountains and the little hamlet are just a treasure. Eden would love to get left behind in the little village put there for Marie Antoinette like the family who are the caretakers - they have two little girls who live their lives in another time in the Hamlet of the Queen - I was so surprised that this little (10 buildings and 100 hectares) place that time forgot was not destroyed during the revolution but perhaps even their hearts were touched. Or perhaps the Rockerfeller who paid millions to restore this estate of the Queen at Versailles cleaned up this spot as well.

My to-do list told me that the Musee D'Orsay was next - lists are great things. This particular list should have reminded me to take my camera - I mean, WHY am I here if not to take close to 1000 photos so I can relive this experience as I choose which memories to post and which to delete after I get home. I am really looking forward to that.

In just 4 days we leave to come home - it is going so fast. Yesterday we went for a beautiful bikeride through the countryside to a place where we hiked to a cave that Nathan's little brother Louis tells me is painted by cavemen and indeed there are drawings of bison - decidedly 20th century but I am not about to burst bubbles. It is beautiful here and all the trees are in bloom and the land is lush and green except where fileds of canola shine yellow like a crayola crayon. The flower beds have been planted for a few weeks and are quite filled in like a midsummer garden. So that is excercise session number 2 for me Mona - I will need you to crack the whip when I am back!

Today Logan wanted to show me Dijon and all the places that he visited whie not in school on the weekdays. Dijon is picturesque with many old buldings and tudor wood fronts. I saw some single dwellings - never seen in Paris - if you live there it is in an apartment - complete with ivy and rioting gardens, stone fronts and alot of wrought iron. I walked the streets and picked homes for myself and my family. Mom and dad got the street level farmhouse with the large garden and tool shed equipped with satellite dish - a man's escape complete with mercedes. Mona has the 2nd floor terrace apartment with thriving vegetable beds and herb pots 2 blocks from the lake with a dog-walking park. If she moved to France she could teach the populace to clean up after their dogs - all baggie stations are full of supplies and the sidewalks full of shat - a french tragedy to be sure. Its not only cheese that perfumes the air to make that funky french aroma! There is the delightful townhouse next to the elementary school and across from the most beautiful park for Chris and Julie - with a large French kitchen already finished (good luck with your renos). And the ivy covered 2 story 1 block from downtown for me - xenoscaped of course.

It was a hot day today with temperatures in the 20s. With time moving so fast I feel like all my moents are stolen and I must hold onto them tightly and enjoy so the last hour in Dijon was spent in the beautiful park, watching babies toddle and be wheeled by, lovers holding hands and runners starting their workouts. It was so perfect that, while Logan dozed, I snapped the last shot of the day - something I now sincerely regret. To find out why, string together all the italicized words and you will know why I feel sad tonight.

I really miss home today and will see you soon.

Kim/Mom

Getting the most out of your time

Ok, admittedly I am a freakish form of human nature. If you doubt this take the recent trip to Paris. It is not enough that I have an automated audiotour of places like Versailles, Notre Dame and the Louvre but in order to be absolutely and definitively sure that I have squeezed the essence, juice and the pulp out of the experience I also have to sign up for engish language tours in all of these places as well - all pause while Logan rolls his eyes.............There! But I have never regretted the negligible cost or this decision in any way. Even when I was in danger of being hung by my headset wires and a security guard took an hour to untangle the hopeless mess.

Take Versailles as an example; This large palace was a labour of love for Louis Quatorze (IV) and was completely stripped during the French revolution with most things outright destroyed by the mobs or sold by the revolutionary government to feed the populace. Over time there have been (rarely) donations of lost furniture but mainly the french government has been trying to buy back pieces. They have gotten a bit lucky at times like the time the Rothschild family owed 23 million american dollars in taxes (inheritance tax - what is that about????) - instead of forking over the cash they gave, in lieu, a piece of furniture that was bought during the revolution that was and original piece of furniture in Versailles - I have a pic of course. ONE piece of furniture _ the French government enacted this bill to give historically releveant pieces in lieu o taxes to try and recoup the treasures. How do I know this fascinating tidbit? through the english tour - it was not on the audio tour because the english tour takes you into the roped off areas of Versailles. In the chapel we saw masses of people standing behind velvet ropes while we stood on a beautiful marble floor in the nave in front of the alter wrecking their pristine pics all the while smugly ignoring them.

How many of your have seen the famous painting of Napoleon crowning Josephone (don't worry I have a pic)? Well I know many things about that painting I would not know if I did not have an english guide.

Probably the best illustration of this point comes in my discussion of Musee d'Orsay - where you goto see the impressionists and work by Rodin. Logan, incidentally liked this visit the best. Most people I spoke to said I must go and see it and it is a marvel.........that you will have to see for yourself because we both forgot our cameras - Bad Omen 1. Then we arrived at the audiotour desk to find they were all signed out - Bad Omen 2. And we were 1 hour too late for the english language tour - that's 3. We really tried to do our own tour in an organized way from top to bottom seeing each alcove end using our map ( I tend to get 2 or 3 maps for scrapbooking later) but it was van not until we got to the giftshop that I realized this museum might have the sunflowers by Van Gogh, waterlillies by Monet and the famous Paris street scene by Renoir - I found them on fridge magnets - not exactly the way you want to see world reknowned art. We never did find them - maybe they were there and maye they weren't but the moral to this tale is this: do a tour, do all tours, get there early and bring your camera, stupid!


Love to all

PS - Eden and Teagan I cannot wait to see your new dos!!!!!!!!

Kim/Mom

It was the Best of Times

I am nearing the end of my time in Paris now and faced with the first openly rainy day of my time in France - a natural time for reflection. This morning I took the metro to Sacre Coeur Basilica and the nuns were singing the mass. I took contraband pictures and assuaged my guilt at this by making a generous donation to the upkeep of this huge shrine (by emptying my coin purse into the wooden box that apparently had been emptied recently because each coin hit the bottom with a sound rivaling a canon blast in the middle of the reverent singing - nice). It is Saturday so I am not looking forward to the line at the Musee D'Orsay but all the people I have spoken to cannot be wrong and I am hoping that my natural reticence for visiting another museum will immediately vanish upon entering as it has everywhere else. Keeping in mind that this is not a complete list I will ennumerate the things I like the best about Paris;

Boulangeries: exhaustion aside, knowing that if you drag your sore body out of bed prior to 7 each morning you have a good chance of eating something delicious from the bakeries at every corner that is still warm from the oven is a huge inducement to bandage your blisters and carry on. Watch out for the street cleaners and garbage men, though - they clean and empty the refuse of Paris streets every day between 5 and 8.
The Metro: with very few hiccups (I still don't know why I sometimes use my ticket to exit to street level, I mean, I am leaving!) this system is truly brilliant and everyone in Vancouver should just shut it - if you end up with a system half as good you should count yourself lucky although I feel your pain that this tempting facade for millennia of grafitti will be above ground. Perhaps Vancouver will take a book from Paris and paing beautiful , murals and place Art Deco or Art Nouveau signs at entrances - somehow I doubt it.
The 360° History Lesson: Pick a place, twirl in a circle and see world history come to life. Paris has a law against modern buildings within Paris - not a glass skyscraper in sight. If it doesn't make you want to be Parisian - to navigate the streets with ease, slip between streams of traffic with just the slip of your scarf to spare then I have no help for you.
Churches: By far the most popular and repoduced image in this town is that of Jesus Christ he might be edged out by his mom - the holy Virgin - she is all that and more. The French know churches, they are free to enter and some of the most beautiful art is found there. Just try not to be annoyed with noisy tourists - LOWER YOUR VOICE FOR GOD'S SAKE - I mean, literally.

That's it for now I think. I mean, I am not done yet.

Love Kim

Things That Make You Cry

This is not a top ten list. I have cried three times since being in Paris.........

Unless you count the time my battery died 10 minutes after running to a music store and back to replace the memory card that became full during my visit to the Louvre......

Or the time that I ran back to the apartment for the battery for Logan's camera to find that he had used the last of the toilet paper and had not bought more after finding the apartment without (the only thing it is without - it has a thermos and a trivet but no toilet paper) while he was spending the whole day wandering around and on the computer (I left him a nicely worded message[he was out]to get more after finding a scrap of used tissue in his pocket I could use).

Boy, those two were the same day - I ignored some pretty big omens that day but didn't notice until I was doing laundry (for obvious reasons) later that evening in my panic to see the Louvre.

Anyways - back to the crying. The only reason I mentioned it is because it occurred at places that surprised me:

The First time was my first glimpse of Notre Dame on Easter Monday surrounded by the faithful, the curious and the resigned locals. I was walking along, crossed the street and there it was, sitting as it had since the 13th century and I felt my nose and eyes fill and my throat close. Now, you need to know that in total I have spent no more than 12 hours in a church and most of that when I was very young and went with my elderly babysitter, Auntie Nessie. In order for you to understand me and religion I need to tell you about my record player.........stay with me. When I was 5 my parents bought me a RCA record player, it was blue and had a lid that you could close with a latch and a plastic handle for carrying it around. At the same time as they bought me my record player they bought about 20 records, that they added to yearly, all of which were not music but stories with read along books and some larger records with Disney stories or Golden Book Nursery Rhymes or Dr. Suess - things that cannot be found except rarely now. I know, I have looked - great gift mom and dad. Anyways, the point is that I loved stories and my parents probably got me this to let them off the bedtime reading hook so when the time came for me to be exposed to religion, how do you think that was done in the United Church that I attended with Auntie Nessie? Through stories read out of a really old storybook that someone told me was called the bible. I attended Sunday School happy as a clam to have this nice lady read me stories - just like an in person record player! Some time later someone, can't remember who, told me these stories were real but the damage had already been done. To me, stories from the bible were just that - stories. If someone told you that Little Red Riding Hood was a true story and implored you with fervor to believe them you would understand how I felt. That is how my little blue record player was instrumental (ha!pun!) in ensuring I had an educational enjoyment of religion, but, no faith. So you can see why seeing a church and feeling the shock of waterworks - from a distance surrounded by a crowd - completely stunned me. Nice Church.

The Second Time I cried was, you guessed it, at ANOTHER church. WHAT is the DEAL?????? A couple of Days ago while walking to the Catacombs, which turned out to be closed, we stopped at St. Sulpice Church - that's right, of DaVinci Code Fame. As we arrived the choir was singing and the organ was playing and I felt a sniff which I brutally quelled (I might have told myself to get a grip out loud...........yeah, that could have been the reason for the dirty looks........hmmmmm). But then when I got to the temple of the Holy Virgin and saw its beauty and embellishment there was no stopping a tear or two. Why am I having this reaction? I feel no draw to organized religion even now. I think it is a feeling of empathy - what it must have been like for people living in the middle ages to be surrounded by such a mean existance, sickness and early death and to come to these places and feel the wonder of its architecture rising from the squallor. Also the love that went into building these churches. Look at the way we throw up buildings today - speed of the essence and a request for crown moulding is a huge inconvenience. Every inch of these churches (more area than a football field including the bleachers) is embellished with works that, on their own, would take a week to complete. That is pride in workmanship.

The final time was not so surprising. For those of you who know me well, I have probably made you uncomfortable at least once by telling you that I feel very strongly that I have lived before and I have some connection to what happened during the holocaust. I began reading books on the subject in the third grade after reading a book from the school library on a child hiding from the Nazis. I read the Diary of Anne Frank in 4th grade and continued to have this rather macabre interest for several years, even writing a speech about it during 9 th grade complete with pictures that I showed the class from a Time Life Series on WWII that we had at home. Whether I was Nazi or Jew - I was there. Today we went to the Mèmorial de la Shoah. If you don't know what the Shoah is it is the Jewish word for catastrophe and is used to describe the holocaust of 1933-1945 in Europe and parts of Nazi occupied Africa. We had to enter through the most stringent security I have ever seen including the airports of Vancouver and Paris. After picking up my purse from the x-ray machine and going through the metal detector and two sets of bullet proof doors we came out into a marble courtyard with the names of the French deportees and their dates of birth under the year they were deported to the camps - mainly Aushwitz, Buchenwald and Drancy (in France). I have to say that Logan has become very interested in this part of history - when I told him we could come here he was excited to come (hmmmmmmmm......another connection?). In order to bring meaning to what I was seeing I asked him to find three names, names of children who would have been the same age as my children are now when they entered the camps (two boys and a girl) and we took a picture of their names. Then we entered the reception area and it started, I was handed an English speaking map and watched a slide show on the wall of pictures of beautiful families, couples and smiling children. After each picture it would fade only to come back with captions letting us know their fate. Suddenly I was soundlessly crying hard - not like at the churches - I was embarrassed and trying desperately to hide it from Logan but when I turned my head to the side there was a group of French school kids. I waited for it to pass but then Logan spoke to me and I couldn't speak and he noticed - I motioned for him to give me a minute and he escaped gratefully, embarrased greatly (Logan is proud NOT to be emotional). The suddenness and the length of time it took me to get under control shocked and embarrased me - I felt such sorrow, such fear. It was one of the most powerful moments of my life second only to the birth of my children. I feel sad that the world has learned nothing except to arm itself (this place) against hate and assert its rights with violence as we see between Isreal and Palestinians as effective weapons to ensure this particular nation never finds itself exterminated again while in other Nations, Darfurs are occuring. I feel glad when I see all the school groups going through because for every 10kids who looked bored one looked interested - this is how you fight hate.

To know more about the incredible global foundation of the Shoah check out a DVD copy of Shindler's List - there is an excellent DVD feature on the SHOAH foundation who have interviewed, verified, recorded, catalogued, archived and developed an interactive method of public access access to these memories before they die. Also check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_Shoah_Foundation_Institute_for_Visual_History_and_Education

I love you all and will go now and enjoy my last 2.5 days in Paris.

See you soon

Kim/Mom

Top 10 Signs You Have been at the Louvre Too Long

10. The clock said 645 am when you left the apartment and said 1015 when you got home and you are not sure what the weather was.
9. You were the third person in line and had already walked the Tuileries Gardens (avoiding the deeply sheltered places for safety), taken pictures of Place du Concorde (the fountain where Andy,s phone ends up in the Devil Wears Prada - Eden calls this the step shoe movie), found out that the bathrooms in the Tuilleries do not open until 11 but the cafe across the street will take pity on a hopping Canadian women if she buys a petit cafe (a hit of caffiene that gets you through the next three hours)
8. You got pictures of the Tuilleries, Pyramid and buildings of the Louvre with no tourists in them
7. You found out how popular the Tuilleries are for running and laughed when you thought of your running gear that had not seen the light of day since morning one - you have walked so far that you are now medicating yourself every 4 hours;
6. You saw the ticket area of the Louvre without people in it and on the same day, the Mona Lisa at night without having to kill young to get to the front
5. You had to return your audio tour set for the Louvre 3 times to the desk (they only stay charged a maximum of 3 hours)
4. You know that there is A Virgin Music Store close to the Louvre because your memory card that was empty this morning was full by afternoon and the young guard you asked told you they sold it and where to find it (the old guy didn't know whqt it was - remember questions on tech to those 25 and under) but they will not take a credit card (without a chip) without ID and you left your ID at the desk as collateral for your audio tour machine that is still swinging wildly about your sweaty neck as you look for a cash machine because they will not take your bank card without a chip either.............god, only me
3. You have given more than 50 (American tourists) the shortcut to the Mona Lisa and earned the thanks of Louvre staff with limited English, they are thinking of hiring you when you move to Paris for at least one year after you retire as you promised yourself on your first day here.
2. You know the route from the Louvre to the apartment and back and can make it in less than 30 minutes after the new memory card is installed and your battery promptly died - the only thing that saved you from tears was the knowledge that Logan had a charged battery back there, you could eat something (because you will not spend another 14 Euros on a roll, salad and a tart like you did at lunch by eating in the Louvre) and the promise of drugs for your aching back and feet (tylenol is not available in France but Ibuprofen is)
1. In spite of everything you read and know about the Louvre you DID see everything you wanted to see (except the Asian, Mesopotamian and Egyptian crap - who cares about that?......... just plan a trip to Egypt next!) and you have the map, marked in pen outlining the areas you have visited to prove it (filled in during the overpriced lunch while listening to the audio commentary on the parts of the Louvre you would not visit while sitting in a cafeteria at a table with 12 other people who inched away slowly to avoid catching the loony bug). What's more, thanks to the live English speaking tour you took in addition to the audio tours you actually have retained some information on the works of art that experts tell us would take us 7 months to see if we stopped and read each plaque for each masterpiece.

So, tick the Louvre off the list - it is funny that I feel so relieved to have it done after walking past if for é days and wondering how I was going to do it. I did it yesterday April 15th. Today we were supposed to go to Versailles but we had our first slightly rainy day and are hoping for better tomorrow for the trip 45 minutes out of Paris so we changed plans and visited the memorial to the Shoah (see next entry) and Notre Dame and did some shopping for loved ones back home.

Love to you all especially Teagan and Eden for being such great kids for Grandma and Grandpa

Kim

Kims Paris Top 10 lists

I am sorry to have lost touch with you all for so long but I have been busy seeing Paris. I get up at 6 each morning and walk to places I want to see - most parks open at 7. I buy breakfast at Pattiseries and fruit and juice at shops selling legumes (vegetables), then I hit whatever is open. Most churches are open at 6 am. I have so much to say but I am worried about boring you. I am on my 2nd memory card ( they hold 400 pics). I have thought of some Letterman Top 10 Lists that might make it more interesting.

Top 10 Things I learned in Paris on my First Day

10. When lines are long and getting longer ticket agents will choose that time to take a break. If there are only 1-2 persons in line there will be at least 4 agents - they drop like flies as the lines grow.
9. Every Man, woman and child here is georgeous and dressed to kill
8. If you are willing to try the language the world of Paris and every Parisian is at your feet -
prelude everything you say with "Je suis Canadian, Ma Français et trés térrible! With use, you get better from morning to 3pm and worse after that. If it is after midnight pretend you are a deaf mute.
7. The following ticket agents are immune to charm and don't care that you are trying: Louvre and Notre Dame but they see over 14 million visitors a year - cut them some slack.
6. Every rock, tree, shrub, street, sign, gate and building here is beautiful - your task is deciding where to begin, realizing you won't see it all and accepting that your pictures cannot bring Paris to your loved ones no matter how much you take but recording the bells of Vespers ringing at Notre Dame is a great touch.
5. You must wear comfortable shoes and use the Metro only when you are nearing collapse because around the next corner is something you are so glad you saw in person
4. Even I could have a boyfriend here - getting the once over from a Frenchman feels good
3. The reason french women come across cold and remote is that Frenchmen are satyrs and if you make the mistake of smiling they will converse, usually while holding your hand and smoking and are difficult to escape from - I will tell you about this later - I now discourage the once over by looking disinterestedly off in the distance - I feel so French!
2. The Eiffel Tower is Really Far from everything else - just because you can see it from your window doesn't mean it isn't a 15 kilometer round trip plus climbing stairs up and down the arch de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower (about 1000 stairs on day 1)
1. Do not tell your 16 year old how far things are - just show him the maps at the back of the guidebook (Lonely Planet Paris has my eternal love and devotion) and keep stopping to tell him everything you know about what he is looking at (I will never call historical romances brain candy again - they are currently my most accurate literary source according to most of the english speaking guides of Paris - that is why I am reading them..........of course). Oh, your 16 year old will not trust you after your first trip (especially when your walk takes you across 2 maps) so make sure he feels nothing but love and devotion to you by reminding him of your hours of labour (complete with pantomime) to deliver him into this world in the middle of Paris thoroughfares and promising an I LOVE PARIS shirt at the end of the journey.

I hope you are enjoying this. Eden and Teagan I love you!!!!!!!!!
Thanks mom and dad - yes mom, my camera will work - I bought the same one as Logan so all his parts will work for mine

Kim/Mom

Mom's Here

hey,

So the mother has arrived. She has been here for almost 5 days now and its good to have her around. Her and Nathans mom are both big talkers so they were talking non stop the first few days in Dijon. I finished my last day of school and met her at the train station. The first 2 days we spent in and around Dijon. Went to see castles and had big French dinners. It was interesting, some of the things I didnt really want to do but because mom was here I decided that I better do them anyways. Ended up not going so badly. Saw some pretty amazing castles and a bit of the countryside. France is a nice country. Im sure mom will have lots more to write than me but thats to be expected. I am pretty excited about comming home next weekend, its been a long trip so it will be nice to get back.

We are in Paris now. Have been here for 2 days now, its so nice. We got our appartment yesterday morning and I was very impressed, its in a really nice area with lots of shops and stuff. Its quite modern and even has TV! havent had TV for 2 months so its excellent, the only channels in english are the nexs channels though. We are on the very top^floor and if you look out the window you can see the Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur. Yesterday was a big time walking day, i cant believe I did it. We walked for like 2 hours to get to the Eiffel Tower, probably longer because Mom stopped everywhere and told me the history of everything. All of Paris is so old and nice that there is things to see anywhere you go so it took us forever just to get to the one place we had planned to go. So after all that walking to the tower, you'd think that we would take the elevator up, right? Wrong, we walked up the stairs to the second floor where we cant walk up anymore, im sure that if we could have walked up to the top we would have. The Eiffel Tower is so cool, its got so much interesting stuff to read and see on it, I was happy. At the top is was so scary because i dont like heights and the tower sways a little bit in the wind. It ended up being all good though. We thought about taking the bikes that you can rent back to the appartment but ended up just walking. On the way back we went to the Arc De Triumph and climbed up to the top. I never knew that there was an inside of the arc until yesterday. It was so cool to be inside and see how they made it and stuff and then to go on top it was neat to look down on everything. Walked back from there stopping to take pictures every 10 or so steps. I forgot to bring my camera battery charger so my camera has only a quarter battery laft so mom wasnt too happy. She ended up just going and buying a brand new camera today because she couldnt buy just another battery. Now we both have our own cameras.

Today we went to a couple churches that I didnt find very interesting, I just sorta sat in a seat and soaked in all the beauty. Mom wasnt too pleased with me. Oh well, theres some things that I like and some that I dont. I was excited to go see the Catacombs because I thought that would be cool. We had a long walk to get there and on the way we passed the university and stuff. The university looks really old and intense. We ate at a French restaraunt so I ordered random stuff that looked good. I ended up getting stuff that I had already tried and didnt like, so I traded with mom because she got some good stuff. Once we got to the Catacombs we realized that we were too late because the line was really long and we got there an hour before the last people get let in. We stayed in line just in case and almost got to the front then it closed. We will have to go back some other time. We just took the metro home because we didnt feel like walking all that way back. The metro system is so cool, it goes like everywhere and you dont have to wait long for a train. Oh, on the way back we stopped and went to Luxembourg Gardens, they are huge and were actually pretty cool. By that time i was pretty tired though and my feet hurt so I wasnt very interested. After that we just came home so now I got some internet hours from an internet cafe across the street from our hotel so thats where im writing from. I think by the end of the week me legs are going to be so stiff from all this walking. not looking forward to it.

Beautiful and simple

After the chaos of CDG I made it to the RER for my trip into Paris. A commonality in Paris is that the sign for where you want to go dry up just before your destination leaving you walking in small circles with colorful commentary in busy pedestrian thoroughfares. Sort of like street theatre - I must remember my tin cup next time.

That just took me 15 minutes to type. The euro keyboard has the m and a, q and period switched. you have to hit shift to make a period. Hmmmm - must get used to it.

The best way to describe France or this area of France is the most overused word I have ever seen usd but now I know why: charmant (charming). THE HOMES ARE ALL IN STONE; SORRY FOR THE CAPS - did not know what I did - Nathan fixed it. Anyways, the homes are stone edifices with wrought iron terraces off bedroom windows and large wood or stone gates that encircle the jardins. It is rare to find manicured lawns - everything is profuse yet not messy. In Nathans yard his father, Philippe shows me herbs growing in differnt parts of the yard as they probably have for centuries. He is a wine lover and the wine I brought from Kelowna has not completelyimpressed although he is kind and will probably use it for cooking. He speaks only French and is very patient as I massacre his naive tongue. Helene is wonderful and so like me it is scary except for the food - too expensive but both she and I agree that organic should be the cheapest in order to change the world. She speaks alot of English although it is hard for her to understand me when I speak fast as happens when they are on the 3rd course and 3rd glass of wine.

Cheese, wine, food and historical achitecture are my first impressions. I went for a run yesterday around the village of Savigny le Sec, watched a man in an unmarked car deliver mail on Saturday, ran on the edge of a field so that my runners were coated with orange mud that made them 5 lbs heavier. I have come on an excellent weekend - Helenes(cant find the apostrophe) birthday and Paques (Easter). Have eaten like the queen I am and tried cheeses, pate de fois gras, brioche, quiche. Everything from scatch. Some cheeses are not to my taste but she is joyful that I will try everything more than once. I think that Logan scared her - she told me last night that she considered caling OSEF (exchange company) to find out if he was depressed - he has shown no interest in much and shows such joy at anything reminiscent of home (hamburgers) that they gave up forcing the issue after the trip South. It is interesting how he reports being so bored after this and made no connection to his behaviour.

We have visited the old part of Dijon and all the chocolateries to prepare for Easter. When we return we will see the dukes palace -Dijon is the seat of per for the dus of Bourgogne - said Bergen. Patisseries and chocolateries are not about food - they are about art. I have taken so many pictures of food.

Today we took a road trip and I got car sick going 130 km/hr on a road initially planned for horse and buggy that now sometimes fits 2 cars. But we saw 2 Chateaux - one 16th century and one 12th century. Here is what I came to see - a long history, portraits, fashions to laugh at, rooms of oppulance and poverty. Logan, to this time has shown no interest, but I put him in the story - married to a cold fish by 14 or someone he adored who dies in childbirth of something easily managed in our time - no windows, smoky, smelly and death, if war does not get him, at the grand old age of 45.

I cant wait for tomorrow - our first day and night in Paris - the day navigating te metro does not count (did I tell you that the train I was on reversed direction one stop before mine - argh).

ok - must go to sleep to ge ready for Paris

Kim

View from a Bike

Vancouver, when not raining, is arguably the most wonderful place to ride a bike. When I visit with my dear friend Paula I try and get on her bike and ride the beaches: Kitts, Vanier Park, English Bay, Second Beach and when I have time I ride through False Creek to watch the Olympic Village going up and remember what excitement there was (and angry letters to the editor) when Expo was being built. British Columbians that cannot see the advantage and money that will come to this province with the Olympics and the long term gains to be enjoyed by visitors to places like Whistler and Vancouver should stay quiet and avoid looking like idiots when, years later, there are monuments that change the skyline of the city (Science World, Canada Place) and provide enjoyment and increase Canadian visibility. Its a good thing.

Now, while on the back of the bike you can really do a great amount of people watching - I am sure that the people I mowed down would agree that taking the time to look around is something that should not be missed when you are one of the lucky ones watching traffic stopped on city bridges and hearing the honks of motorists far far away (because honking is SO helpful of course). The neighborhoods near Paula's place are a particularly excellent place to view the idiosyncrasies of Vancouverites. For instance:

• the dads walking their kids to school. The coffee is starbucks, the backpacks are louis vuitton, the dogs are purebred and the clothing is MEC (this is Canada after all, you know: outdoorsy). I felt a warm place in my heart to see all these dads walking their kids to their private and exclusive nursery schools until I realized that a great proportion of them would fall under the "what a waste" category. You know what I mean girls. Babies created by a donor egg and womb for two beautiful men who will create the ultimate in tolerant adults. Still - nice to look at and textbook parenting "you are not a bad child - this is just bad behaviour" in a quiet voice at eye level. Now, gay pride aside, why did I see more men that women doing the walking? I formulated a few theories as I rode along: first, that the women had done all the morning chores and only entrusted their children to their father for the task of walking (one of the first skills we as humans learn). Second, that the balance of world power had finally reached a level where women actually make MORE than men and are at work while the dads stay home. Third - seperation and divorce - it was Wednesday (Wednesdays and every other weekend is pretty standard). And finally, and most romatically, that these children come from truly gender equal families where morning chaos is shared between two parents who vie for the opportunity to do the walking and live off the comfort of investments somehow spared the recent carnage or work during school hours and in evening after kids are in bed. Yeah, that sounds good
• speaking of dogs. Damn! What a mix - dogs running, dogs carried in bags, dogs chasing balls on manicured squares of lawn from a colorful ball thrower (you know those handle things that keep you from touching the slobber), dogs dragging busy women in studiously tossed together outfits of oversized sunglasses (it was cloudy), hats of various descriptions and comfortable worn coats (beaten with sticks at the factory to look like that and sold for hundreds at stores called "Grass") with cell phones glued to their ears but miraculously managing to pull out the obligatory white bag to gather the excrement without missing a beat in the conversation.
• Runners - it is soon the Vancouver Marathon so people are gathering in troupes to run the amazing trails of this area. When I ran at 5 these folks were probably still in bed (5 am is for REAL runners - hehe). All of them look fabulous and functional - here is an example of reality - sweat...... definitely real.
• Walkers - mainly women of a "certain age" solving the problems of the world. Were it legal, governments could bug walkways in cities throughout the world and they would get an idea of what the people REALLY want.

I made my way up to Prospect Point and then back home again. Before my journey ended I saw one thing that made me laugh and the endorphins peak: A man driving a small truck driving slowly along the road near Kitts Beach suddenly pulled to a stop in the middle of the road and gave a friendly toot of the horn. I looked over and saw a women walking with, you guessed it, two dogs. She did not turn and I almost hailed her to draw her attention to the man who was obviously there to pick her up and maybe take her to a nice lunch somewhere but before I could do that the little Jack Russel broke away from the group and sprinted to the truck where the driver side door was opened and he hopped in. The women did not bat an eyelash and I realized that this area was getting very erudite - the dogs walk themselves and are picked up by their owners when said excercise is complete. This was obviously a well practiced maneuver. Man - what height human kind can reach.

I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. The journey is about to begin. Will blog again when I can from somewhere in France. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Kim

No Subject

Hey,

Well apparently my mom is using this thing too, but i guess i cant complain because ill never win. Was sick last week for about 4 days, but Sunday i toughed it up and stepped outside the house for the first time in about 3 days. It was quite a nice day so i was excited to do something. Went for a family lunch at te grandma's house, they had guests from out of town there so the lunch was so intense. I was nervous and didnt want to do anythingwrong so before i ate aything I asked Nathan if i was doing it right. It took forever to eat and it was weird because all the kids from our house didnt like sitting at the table so if they didnt want to eat somthing they would just leave and i would be left there alone with the adults. But of corse that was no problem for me because my french is just super duper...Not, I wish. So anyways, Sunday we took a drive down La Route Des Vins. It is the road where all of the best wines of France are made. Nathan has a friend that his family has a winery so we took a tour there, it was kinda cool. Then we went along the road to a city called Beaune. It has a really old hospital and we went to visit that, its turned into a museum now but its really cool. That was all I did for last weekend. It wasnt too bad.

The only really exciting part of this week so far was that i went to Nathans 2nd language English class. What that actually means is thats his third language, his second after French is German. So the teacher asked me to introduce myself and so I did, then she asked me to introduce myself in French so i said bonjour, je m'appelle Logan, je suis Canadian. I thought that as good fo introducing myself but then this austrian girl that i have never seen before puts her hand up and says, "you've been in Frnce for 2 months and thats all you can say in French?" It surrised me becuse her english was so good and i didnt expect it, so for most of the class we battled back and fourth about stuff and explained about the life in our countries and stuff. Nathan did a little presentation about canada with pictures near then end and that was cool but he didnt finish. Today i didnt have school because my teacher was absent so i just slept in, then went into town when school got out at noon. Had a touristy day and walked around the town for a long time taking pictures and looking at things. I ended up being late meet the mom by 15 minutes, but luckily she was 45 minutes late. I thought French people didnt like when people are late,and she is always late for everything. Nobiggie. Mom gets here in less than 2 days now, should be a good time.

bye bye

Packing and Planning

Ok - so, for those of you who don't know (Logan), I will be using this blogspot to keep a record of my time in France as well. The reasons for this are legion but the one that means the most to me is that all of our family and friends are comfortable with navigating to this spot to keep updated. See if you can see the difference between my posts and Logan's. Ah, you've caught it already? Yes.....it is the spelling - well done. Let's see how I fare on the Euro keyboard because, clearly, there could not be any other reason........right, Logan?

I could say that I have been planning for this trip my whole life and maybe I will take this Hallmark moment to say that if you are thinking of travelling - stop thinking and start doing. The time will never be right, you will never have the money, people will be sorry to see you go (or come back), world disasters will happen days before you leave and the minutaie of your life will rise like a wave to drown you but that will occur whether or not you travel so make like Nike and Just Do It.

I want to be the person that drops onto a spot on the map and feels a sense of kinship with the journey, that rides the wave of change (person, place, time and underwear), that soars through the unseen bumps in the road with glee at what might be hiding in the valleys and shining at the peaks. The kind of person who glances at a map and keeps the compass point in a concrete portion of the brain for future reference and can look around and enjoy. But the last time I checked I was me so my planning so far has consisted of the following:

• 4 guidebooks - each one progressively smaller as the idea of weighing my suitcase began to seem closer to reality. All have been read thoroughly once, just to get the feel for the info. Twice, just to check what might be repeated and therefore definitely worth knowing. Thrice, to make a few notes and the final (4th!) time to solidify details (phone numbers if I can figure out how to dial a phone in europe and hours of operation if I can get my clock to keep time). Now I am definitely ready to read them again during the 20 hours of travel time. Man, just think how much time I saved!
• A phrasebook - phrases like: "where is the bathroom", "how do I find the metro", "HOW much" and "M-I-D-O-L (suprisingly the same)" - these things cannot be overlearned and since the powers that be who write these books do not include indexes it is important to know that the section on dining out is next to the section on getting robbed - oh wait - that is the same section....
• City of Paris and City of Dijon sites - how can I stuff each of my days so full that I need to actually schedule sleep? These are the place to go because hey, these sites couldn't possibly be exagerrating the exciting life their city leads...oh, except Sunday when God and Everyone (seriously, they're Catholic) is tending to their immortal souls. Still that mushroom festival sounds like a blast! In all seriousness - it is Paris - we will run out of time before we run out of things to see (breathing into a paper bag, stay calm, can't see everything, be zen)
• Train tickets. Ok, French folks are funny - in order to get cheap fares you have to go to the site IN FRENCH and book IN FRENCH and receive confirmation IN FRENCH. Yes, we get it, you want us to try the language and hey, I am all about that but you do have my credit card number and I really do need to get to my destination. But switching to English adds 20 Euros to the price so I am game.
• Hours of operation and special notes for every church, monument and museum in Paris written in a notebook for easy access with critical phone numbers, cut out google maps and 4-5 places to eat (complete with phone numbers and prices) in each district because even though I will have all 4 guidebooks with me it won't be conveniently placed in 10-12 pages of cramped crib notes - much easier access. (shut up Logan)

And then we get to Packing. So, somewhere along the way I have heard that rolling up clothes is a great way to keep things from getting wrinkled and helps to fit everything in. So finally, it is my turn at 38 to test this theory and I am left wondering..........what size are the people with so much room in the suitcase? Is it like shoes? It looks really good in a size 6 but the size 10 is not so sexy? It must be the same with a size 4, university aged, MEC wearing bohemian versus a size 14 (ok, 16 but it depends on the brand), middle life, Walmart wearing frazzled mom. The clothes don't look much smaller...shit! Not sure the rolls as large as a Christmas goose are easier to pack either. But hey - I have waited all this time so they are packed in there like sausages. Everyone kept asking - are you packed? Why would I be packed? I have three kids and left svelte behind years ago so I have 5 outfits (for the 5 days of the week) that I bought sometime in the past 5 years and one pair of sweats for the weekend when you don't even try anymore. 3 pairs of shoes - one brown, one black and a pair of runners. Ok 4: the sandals are dusty but I got my toes painted so damn it they are coming too. How long does it take to pack it? I mean, I am wearing one now (Monday blue)! Anyways - it is all in there, alphabetized and color coded and organized according to the Almanac's prediction of the weather in France.

The planning and packing done, all that is left is the anticipation. Not so much yet. The guidebook says I might feel that in the plane on the way there so I will pencil that in. Or maybe I should sit back and enjoy the ride. I choose door number 2.

Love you all - Kim

3 Weeks Left

hello,

I'm home sick right now, which sucks but everyone ges sick so its no big deal. Haven't gone to school the last two days because of it. I was actually going to go tody but Nathan's mom said no. It's funny because they are so intense here if you are sick. To me its just a little cold, like sore throat, cough, and a stuffed up nose. Nathans mom came in yesterday morning and i told her that i wasn't feeling well and shes like okay you stay home and i will call the doctor. I was like no its just a cold i dont think i need the doctor. The doctors must be pretty busy here if most people are like that. Went bowling last Sunday with a couple of friends. It was pretty fun. We played 3 games and the first game this kid Mike only got like 30 points, but then he won the next two games. Strange. Sundays are a pointless day here. Barely anything is open. Mcdonalds is closed on Sunday! Been busy with school for he rest of the week pretty much. Tuesdy we had a debate in History/Geography in English about if Turkey should be allowed into the Eurpean Union or not. I wason the against side and had no clue what i was talking about because I dont know anything about Turkey. After the debate the the teacher told me that if he had to give me a mark for that, it would be an A+. He said that even though i had no idea what i was saying tht i kept arguing even if it was wrong and didnt make sense. He thinks i should be a politician. I think not.

Its starting to get nice out again, hopfully it stays this way. The english teacher offerd us Canadians a plane ride over the dijon countryside for this weekend because herhusband is a pilot. I want to do it but im not sure if anyone else wants to. Hopefully we will. Earlier this week Nathans mom got mad at me at the dinner table because she didnt think i was trying hard enough. Even though i try to speak french at home but if someone speaks to me in english its hard to answer in French. She tol me that she doesnt evenknow why i would even come to France if I didnt want to try all the food and stuff. The only stuff that i havent tried that they have made is the pigs ear, and the pigs blood saussage. Sorry if thats not my thing. She keept complaining that she is cooking this different stuff so i will like it but i dont want her to do that. I want her to cook something French. Then she went on telling me that in Canada we dont cook, shes like, you cant cll that cooking, cooking is when you are in the kitchen preparing a meal for hours. I have never seen her in the kitchen cooking longer than an hour. Then she goes on by telling me that "Canada has no culture." She just kept on going saying that everything we hav was given to us by the Europeans or Americans and that we have no food of our own. Then shes like if you were at home and couldnt go out to the store and buy a packaged meal that you put in the microwave for 10 minutes like you guys always do in Canada, what would you cook? I was like uhh probably spagetti or somethingand shes like no if you had only flour and oil and stuff like that. I just said that i didnt know becuse i dont cook the meals and im only 16, then i went upstairs. So ive been trying to talk French for the last little while and now she says she is impressed with it. just 2 days ago she didnt think i new any French and now she is impressed with my French. Serves her right.

Toodaloo