Our Week in Paris

You may have noticed we changed the masthead on this blog - just a joke really. We're not fluently bilingual yet (except for Ted of course).

We haven't posted for a few days so there is lots to say and lots of photos to help say it. We have been to so many Jardins, museums, cafes, and monuments that we could not possibly post all of the pictures we've been taking. This is truly a gorgeous city! Instead of uploading a boatload (bateau-load?) of photos, I put together a slideshow using PhotoStory (free download from Windows and extremely easy to use). Be warned - it's over 6 minutes long . . . so some night when you have insomnia, click below . . .

Ted suggested I should just list all the places we've visited, so here it is:

• Jardin du Luxembourg (near our apt./ place for children to sail real wooden boats)


• Jardin des Plantes


• Jardin des Tuileries (huge ferris wheel and beautiful gardens)


• Jardin d'Acclimatation (kids' park with carnival and water park)


• Musee de Louvre


• Musee d'Orsay (impressionist masterpieces)


• Musee Rodin (we thought of Kelly and Patrick - they need to see this!)


• Centre Pompidou (modern art)


• Le Conciegerie (prison where Marie Antoinette was held before her execution)


• Notre-Dame Cathedral


• Eiffel Tower (Flat Stanley climbed it too!)


• Arc de Triomphe


• Champs Elysees


• Latin Quarter (5th district - the haunt of academics and literary types supposedly)


• St. Germain de Pres (6th district - where we stayed)


• Montmartre (18th district - bohemian artist hang-out - Darlene's Jacket was here!)
  
• Sacre-Couer (famous basilica)

We feel like we've seen so much yet, unbelievably, we're not completely exhausted. To keep the kids happy, we balanced museum visits with visits to all the beautiful Jardins the city has to offer. We also did fairly cursory sweeps of these museums (using our Paris Museum Pass, which is a good deal), honing on those few special things we really wanted to see.

Mitchell asked me which park did I like better - Central Park in NY or Jardin du Luxembourg (the one we visited most often as it's so close by). I like them both - hard to compare becuase they're so different. Central Park is surrounded by skyscrapers and has winding paths, lakes, wooden benches, buskers, and inventive play structures for kids. The parks here in Paris are more formal and structured, with stone or pea gravel paths, perfectly-round cement ponds, usually a merry-go-round, keep off the grass signs, and green metal chairs to sit on. Different, but both types are such an oasis in the heart of a large metropolis.

It's been great to live the life of a Parisien but I can see how, on subsequent visits, this would be even more so. You would not go to so many museums, for example, and you would spend less time standing on street corners trying to decipher which line on the Metro you need and how to transfer on to it. You would also not burn through the Euros as rapidly as it feels like we have! You would spend more time sitting in cafes, shopping for your cheese, wine and baguettes. And eating them in your appartartement or at les Jardins or along the banks of the Seine. You would take your children to the Jardins (but you would not allow them to wear Speedos like actual Parisien males).

We leave this morning for the house we have rented in southern France. Not completely sure yet how we'll get hooked up to the Internet so next post may take a little while . . . we plan to settle in, start some schooling, and stick to a more modest weekly budget after the bright lights and big prices of Manhattan and Paris . . . a bientot!

PS (Can someone please let us know if this video worked or did you have to have Windows Media Player? It was taking too long to process on YouTube but might try again later).

Week-End in Toronto

Okay, I now realize that this post will be out of sequence but never mind. I did a post about our week-end in Toronto but it never published properly so here it is again. We were in Toronto the week-end of July 18th before flying to New York on July 20th.

Highlights of our stop in Toronto included oohing and aahing over the overflowing garbage bins as Toronto soldiers on in the midst of the disgusting 5-week old garbage strike . . .

Re-connecting with our nephews and the boys' cousins Josh and Connor in Bowmanville . . .

Re-connecting with Ted's family (this is a photo of the "Elborn men", although Uncle Brian had just left so missed out being in this photo) . . .

Jackson with Nana Elborn . . .

And spending time with our wonderful TO friends, as well as my niece Tenille . . . our friends Bob and Carol hosted a fun BBQ the night before we left!

Then Bob drove us to the airport to start the journey . . . take good care of our Saturn Vue Bob!

Thanks for everything!!

At the Finish Line in Paris

(I loved Manhattan but I love Paris even more. The boys would tell you the same, if I could get them to write a post. They are most definitely in "summer vacation" mode, but school mode will kick in soon enough. New York and Paris have so much to see, so it's been go, go, go but things will slow down for us soon. We leave Paris on Friday the 30th (driving) for the house we have rented in the Languedoc region, near Castelnaudary. Ted got a great deal for a car "rental" that he will write about later.

When we were in Toronto the weekend before we left, we learned that the Tour de France would finish in Paris while we were here. Despite feeling jet-lagged and overwhelmed by the amazing architecture and history (and not to mention food) all around us, we strolled down to the Champs Elysees area to be part of history. We wanted to witness the finish of the 2009 Tour de France, and the great comeback of Lance Armstrong. I have never seen so many die-hard cycling fans, from all over the world. A sea of yellow Livestrong T-shirts. We met one girl who toured around watching three separate stages of the race, including one stage in which she had to hike 5 miles up a mountain. We even met a couple from a small town in the Okanagan (I think it was Grand Forks?) and they came to do a three-week bike trip and timed it especially just to see the finish of the Tour.

Here's a video we took of the cyclists streaming by us on the rue de Rivoli ( an even better spot to watch the events than the Champs Elysees, as it turned out). If you're wondering why Mitchell does not seem overly enthused at the end of this video, it's because it's actually one of the later laps (the cyclists do 8 laps around the Champs Elysees and the winner has already been decided). All of us had been standing for hours at this point. Still, for four people who are novices to this whole event, we did get goosebumps watching. I think it had alot to do with the helicopters whirring overhead, the media all over the place, the police all over the place, the tens of thousands of fans lining the streets cheering and waving flags, and the fact that this was not only the biggest sports event we'd ever seen but probably the biggest media event period.

In the video, you see a motorcade followed by the top elite cycling group, followed by another motorcade and then the 2nd, large pack of riders. For a couple of hours before the cyclists appeared, sponsors drove up and down the area hyping the crowd, throwing out hats, T-shirts, and other products like energy drinks. There was a large screen so everyone watched as they rode closer and closer and finally came into view.

Our place in Paris is great. We rented it through a site called Homelidays. We have a small apartment in the 6th district (St. Germain des Pres) and it's wonderful to have our own kitchen and a bit of space to spread out. The owner is a very organized guy who has thought of everything and so the apartment is very well equipped. We are half a block from the Boulevard du Montparnasse which has everything - shop after shop, restaurant after restaurant, and very central. Here are a few photos in case my video does not go live:

Lunch on Sunday at the Jardin des Tuileries (by the way that's water, not wine, that Jackson's drinking)

View of the Seine River

This caught my eye while walking by (orthophoniste is French for "speech pathologist")




The boys found a good spot a little higher up to watch the finish of the Tour de France







So did these people . . .




Seeing the cyclists whiz by on the rue de Rivoli

A bientot!

Jackson: Newest Yankees Fan!

A whole pile of photos from New York City - many taken by our resident photographer, Mitchell:

Outside the Yankees new stadium with Flat Stanley . . .


Great game . . . they won!

Cool window at the Guggenheim Museum - Ted especially enjoyed the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit . . .

Outside the American Museum of Natural History - amazing exhibit of African mammals . . .

Mitch loved shopping at Nintendo World near Rockefeller Plaza . . .

View of the Manhattan skyline from the Staten Island Ferry . . .

There she is!

Jackson and Flat Stanley enjoying the ferry ride . . .
We took the subway everywhere - so convenient!

Check out this character in Central Park - looks just like the actual Statue of Liberty . . .

Running around Central Park - we wish Ottawa had something like this!

The Reservoir in Central Park - lots of people jog around this . . .

The bright lights of Times Square at night . . .

The "Tiles of America" display near Ground Zero - this is the fence where people posted flyers looking for loved ones lost at the WTC during 9/11 . . . now replaced by many handmade tiles . . .

We loved this tile - says it all . . .

Ferrari Spyder as seen at Manhattan MotorCars. I think they guessed we weren't serious shoppers . . .

We've been having a great time in New York City! Here's a summary from Jackson on what we've been up to.

Jackson:

The first thing we did after checking into The Leo House (our hotel) was walk down to Manhattan MotorCars. I saw my favourite car – a Ferrari Spyder. Then we walked over to Madison Square Gardens but there was no game on.

We bought Metro Cards so we can ride the subway whenever we want. We took the subway up to Central Park. We had a fun time climbing the rocks at Central Park. It has cool play structures with underground ladders. Every day we take the subway underground too, to other places.

On Tuesday, we went to the American Museum of Natural History where the movie “Night at the Museum” was filmed. It was very cool! My favourite part was inside a ball and inside was an Imax (he is referring to the Hayden Planetarium). We watched a cool film called “Journey to the Stars.”

On Wednesday, we went on a hop-on, hop-off bus. It was a red double-decker bus and we sat on the top. We drove all over Manhattan and you can see with no roof and no windows all around you. It can get very hot up on the top. We saw Times Square and lots of electric signs with advertisements. It looked cool! We went to the giant Toys ‘R Us and the FAO Schwartz Toy store and the Apple Store.

On Thursday, we took the Staten Island Ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty. Flat Stanley came along but my Mom did not need Darlene's jacket yet!

My best thing so far was going to a Yankees Baseball game at the new Yankee Stadium. I had an awesome time at the game. I got a Yankees baseball cap for $5 from a guy in the subway tunnel. And the Yankees won a 6 to 4 victory against the Baltimore Orioles, which was very exciting and I enjoyed it. I’m having an amazing time in New York City so far. This afternoon we leave for Paris.

Basement Before & After

We're in Manhattan right now, since Monday. Internet access has been tempermental but I'm having success right now at Murray's Bagels in Chelsea (near our hotel). Here are some before & after pics of our basement reno . . . photos of the Big Apple to come!

Hallway area before . . .

Bathroom area before . . .

Bathroom after . . .

Living Room before . . .

Living Room after . . .

Hallway area after . . .

Basement bedroom after . . .

The Elborns have left the building

We're officially homeless now. Pretty exciting! We moved out of our home yesterday just as our tenants moved in. They're lovely people and we hope they have a great year in our place and in the neighbourhood. We're in Toronto for the week-end, visiting Ted's family and our TO friends before we fly out to New York on Monday.

It's been a bit strange and disorienting for the boys, just the notion that we're not simply here for the weekend and then returning home (as per usual) but that we will not go home again for a year. Listening to the boys in the car yesterday, I heard some funny conversation between the two of them. Things like, "Did ya know if you're standing by the Eiffel Tower and someone drops a penny from the top, it'll split you in half?" and "If you spit in Thailand, they stick you in jail and make you pay fifty bucks" and also this doozy, "In Nairobi, if they don't like the look of you, they'll chop your head off or beat you up or something!" Some underlying anxiety perhaps . . .

Listening to this made me think of a great quote I saw on the wall at the place where Mitchell does karate. I'm a quote person and collect them, so I had this one written down:

"Come the edge," he said. They said, "We are afraid." "Come to the edge," he said. They came. He pushed them, and they flew . . ." (Guillaime Apollinaire).

Courage my boys!

We Go Not Alone . . .

You may have thought there were just four of us going on this trip - Ted, Kathi, Mitchell & Jackson - but actually there are now six. We have two guests, Flat Stanley and Darlene's Jacket. Welcome aboard!

First, a word about Flat Stanley. We actually have two Flat Stanleys. One was given to us by Michelle, a wonderful teacher in the Language Class at Divine Infant, whom I have gotten to know over the last few years. I visit her class as SLP. There are 8 primary students who attend in the mornings and another 8 who attend in the afternoons. All wonderful little friends of mine! Anyway, I spoke to them about our trip and they have read many Flat Stanley books so they - at Michelle's prompting - asked me to take along Flat Stanley and report back on his many adventures. They got to meet Jackson as well and my plan is that he will do many of these e-mail reports to the class as part of his home-schooling.

The second Flat Stanley came from Lisa, Jackson's Gr. 2 teacher. She is a big fan of Flat Stanley and the class read many books in the Flat Stanley series in her class this year. She has been doing the Flat Stanley thing for several years with her students. For example, one little boy went to Mexico and took FS. Another went to Italy and along came FS. Last year, the only place Jackson took him was to a hockey tournament in Pakenham, Ontario but next year - look out! Both classes have maps of the world on their walls to track FS's movements. I figure we will probably use the same descriptions for both classes. Kind of like the AP wire for breaking news about Flat Stanley.

And now on to Darlene's Jacket. This just came about today. My friend Darlene was over on Saturday evening. She left her nice fleece jacket here by accident. She and Michael came by today to pick it up and I commented how nice it was and where did she get it? Can you guess what happened? Never compliment a generous person. She insisted I keep it and take it on our trip! After about 10 minutes of "no, I can't, I really can't" and "yes, please take it!", I relented. I really like it, you see. So I told Darlene I will take her jacket and I will wear it proudly, give it many adventures, keep her posted on where her jacket has been and what excitement it has seen, and then return it to her next year (dry-cleaned, of course).

Crunch Time!

At this point I cannot even look at our little Countdown Clock without getting a sick feeling in my stomach. We are excited, it's just that there is so much to do and we don't feel ready. On Thursday, we move out of the house, drive to Toronto and spend some time with family and friends before flying to New York on July 20th. Before then, we need to finish packing up alot of stuff in our house, move it into the basement, finish the last few details in the basement, and pack all 4 of our backpacks. It will get done because it HAS to get done.

It's been a busy week. There's been lots of running around, picking up the malaria pills (which practically require their own suitcase, there's so many of them), proper shoes for all of us, various clothes for us and the kids, etc. And running around, picking up things for the basement reno. I finished up work on Thursday and Ted finished on Friday. That will definitely help us to focus.

On Thursday, carpet was laid in our basement and it looks great. I never would have imagined such a transformation was possible in the ugly concrete hole formerly known as our basement. If I have time (ha!), I will try to post some before and after photos. Those are always fun. Then on Saturday, we had a a farewell party with friends from work and the neighbourhood and that was even more fun! I won't post any photos because (a) I didn't really have time to take any, and (b) not everyone likes their mug posted on someone else's blog (I get that). I was feeling kind of emotional last night - so many good friends we will miss. I went to bed thinking how blessed we've been in Ottawa with the friends and nieghbourhood we have.

That brings us to today, Sunday. I had really wanted to get to church this morning since it's our last Sunday but I woke up feeling pretty head-achey and dizzy so that did not happen. Mitchell was at a sleep-over and Jackson was having one, so that complicated things also. But we did eventually get down to work and managed to finish emptying the closets and dressers in all 3 of our bedrooms.

What should we do with that little Countdown Clock I wonder? Soon it will run out but Mitchell suggested either re-setting it to the day we return home or the day we enter a new country . . . ideas??