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Coda

September 27, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 2 comments

As I write this, Fritz is enthusiastically groping my wrist, indicating to me in no uncertain terms that I should not be allowed to leave him ever again.

I didn’t plan to do another post, but today (yesterday) bears comment.

So, it turns out that our flight from Paris to Calgary was moved up three hours.

I’ll let that one sink in…

There we are, about to check in our bags, and we’re told that our plane is literally taking off right now. Notable absences on this plane include… US. Both Char and I just about drop to the ground right there, but since we’re persons of resource and grace, we instead make our way to the airline ticket counter, in the hopes of rearranging our travel. Did you know that Air Transat only makes one flight per week to Calgary from Paris? You do now!

We are informed that, if we pay a 40 euro fee each, we might be fortunate enough to catch their 15:10 flight to Toronto, but other than that we’re on our own, so long, see ya, read the fine print next time… So, we do this, ending up as standby passengers numbers three and four on the flight. And now, two hours of nerve-wracking waiting, hoping that the flight doesn’t fill up. Char, in the interim, checks up on the cost of the next Air Canada or Air France flights, and determines that — if we don’t make this standby flight — we will be on the hook for $4100 to get home. When she tells me this (about 40 minutes before the standby cutoff) I actually felt faint. I don’t generally do that.

Long story short(er), with 5 slots left on the flight, and 5 minutes til cutoff, a lady and her daughter come up to the checkin and get on our plane. At this point, I have given up on getting home, having decided to send Char if there’s only one seat. Our fellow sufferers, two franco-edmontonians with whom we got along famously, are checked in as standbys one and two… and then Char and I are called up to check in. At which point I concealed tears of relief behind my otherwise unnecessary sunglasses… and we ran to the plane.

The rest of the trip was routine, other than spending two extra hours on a plane, two extra hours in an airport, and arriving home about an hour and a half ago, hoping to pass right out… and failing. So, this coda is brought to you by my insomnia.

Last Post

September 26, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | No comments

I popped down to the internet cafe in Paris whilst Char sleeps in a bit to do this last bit of postery. We’re heading off to the airport in two hours, starting the last, longest, and least pleasant leg of the vacation — the ten-hour flight and 3.5-hour drive home.

We’ll see you all over the next little while, probably in small doses because we’re gonna be wiped right out

That’s a really damned big castle

September 23, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | No comments

So, we’re in Carcassonne… and yes, we regret turning down Matt’s offer to find us a portable Carcassonne game, which we both wanted to play within the citadel this afternoon whilst drinking sangria in an open air courtyard bar whose walls date back to the Roman occupation.

Did I mention that it’s a really damned big castle?

I’m really at a loss here; the end of the trip is coming up, and I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to getting home, but I’m enjoying these last couple days.

And now, Provence

September 20, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 1 comment

Sorry about the long gap; we’ve been busy getting from there to here, as tends to happen when your main mode of transportation is on a schedule. “There” in this case was the lovely oceanside town of Calvi, and “Here” is, well, you can see:

Something I took away from the Mediterranean Sea is a sense that, amazingly, the tourism advertisements and stories I’ve read about the place really do not do the sea justice. I’m accustomed to an ocean that is dark, cold, and remote; a beauty that can really only be appreciated in the sense that a predator’s grace is admirable. The Mediterranean is different. It’s blue in a thousand shades, all of them gem-like. Each isolated cove brings something new.

We saw three firefighting seaplanes, doing water drills. That was special. We were treated to a flyby by some kind of French military fighter jet, which blew past overhead as we picked our way up to a lighthouse on a rocky promontory. We ate haute cuisine at a dockside bar, and dangled our feet over the edge of the pier, watching hundreds of black fish in the deep, clear blue waters just beside a massive ferry.

And now, Avignon.

There is a palace here, one of the finest examples of a Gothic citadel in Europe, still largely intact, and it is huge. Only pictures can do it justice, but the computer at our hotel — from which I post this — cannot recognize our camera, and therefore I cannot show you these pictures. I’ll probably come back and attach them to this post later, so keep an eye on it.

The food is amazing, the hotel is the nicest we’ve had so far, and the people all seem very friendly. Interestingly, I’ve heard more english in Avignon in one day than in the rest of our trip put together. It seems that this place is a very popular tourist destination, and once I have the pictures up, you’ll see why.

I can’t really add a lot more without those, so I’ll leave off here.

Calvi, in a few steps

September 15, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 2 comments

Calvi is a beautiful town, no question. I can’t provide pictorial evidence of that right now because it’s raining to beat the band and I didn’t bring the camera with me, but take my word for it, it’s spectacular. A 20-km bay with white sand and blue sea, capped on each tip by rocks and on our end a citadel, backed by mountains, and 50% of the time a clear blue sky.

Note the percentage

It’s been sporadically nice here; yesterday was alternately 3 hours of rain and 3 hours of sun, today was 6 sun, and rain since, and if the pattern holds I expect clear sky by sundown. Char and I took yesterday to walk to the top of the second hill in from the sea, where there is a small 19th-century fort (the dates on the wall indicate 1849-1852 for construction) that is completely derelict now. We simply walked in through the front gate, and poked into all of the rooms. More pictures will come from that, but suffice to say that there were bits of it that were genuinely creepy. There was a room, third and last in a series of high-ceilinged subterranean chambers, with a window high in the west wall admitting indirect sunlight, with red paint handprints covering the whole wall, around the room, as high as a child could reach. Char has pictures of it, so you can see it later, but I won’t lie: I felt a chill seeing that, and even I know it was just some kids spooking it up.

Today was snorkeling. Both Char and I were fine on the boat, but it turns out we’re both prone to mild seasickness when IN the water. Who knew?

Another day, another odyssey

September 10, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 3 comments

So, much like Char’s post below, this one is from Reims, at a local cybercafe. Not a cheap hobby, this mobile internet thing…

Anyway, I’m not going to cover the same ground as she did, nor in fact am I going to bother with a lot of detail at all; I’m tired (again!) and I have only one thing to add (and that’s for Amy): Gargoyles!

Oi, I’m tired

September 7, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 3 comments

Probably not as tired as Char, but at least I ate today. I’ll leave the details of the day to her, but suffice to say I’m enjoying it. The language is coming a bit more naturally to me, although it’s pretty clear I’m an Anglo here.

Tomorrow it’s off to Rheims, which is bubbly country.

Beers tried so far: Abbey de Leffe (Blonde, belgian, and sweet) and Ch’ti (French, light and crisp). I’m trying to remember these as best I can, because I know I’ll be quizzed on them when I get home.

Hope the cats are doing well.

Paris (Day 1.5)

September 6, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 1 comment

Well, it’s Paris.

Time is tight (I prepaid for 15 minutes in an internet cafe) so I won’t go into excessive detail here, but it’s pretty nice so far. Expect Char to get detailed to a degree I can’t hope to match, but here’s a scattering of impressions:

I’m insecure about my french, which should not be surprising. I do okay, but the sewer tour pretty much flew over my head, whilst Char followed along pretty well. I’m not bitter, but I wish I’d gotten more out of it.

The food is every bit as good as rumour and legend have it.

We hit Paris in time to catch a well-regarded outdoor market, which provided us with rabbit, cheese, and pain italienne for breakfast. Mmm.

The weather has been windy and humid. The Eiffel tower was high and crowded (and windy!) and a bit too vertiginous for Char.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try for the catacombs, I hope. The Louvre is still on my list.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

D-Day

September 4, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 2 comments

Admittedly, this is not the Normandy invasion — we’re not even going to Normandy — but it is Departure Day.

I’m almost packed, lacking just the step of putting my carryon bag together. I’ve figured out the metro routes we need to take to get to our hotel in Paris, two hops total, and I know the metro station I’m going to. I’ve just tracked down phone numbers and addresses for every hotel we’re staying in, and made notes of them, so I’m set for that. Our cats are taken care of (Thanks, Brady!) and the house is nearly in order.

And I’ve got butterflies the size of houses in my belly. I’ve only been on a trip this long once before, and although I was an adult, I still had my Dad with me, which spared me a lot of worry. This is going to be a blast, don’t get me wrong, but I’m still nervous as hell. I’ll be fine once we’re on the road, and I’ll be even better once we’re on the plane, settled in to the hotel, and enjoying the wine and dine of the City of Lights. But for now, I wait to wake Char up, and I twitch with anticipation.

Les preparations sont presque achevés

August 25, 2008 in France 2008 by Chris R | 6 comments

Wow, is my french rusty. Like, decaying post-communist state rusty.

But it’ll do.

We’re going to France!

So, I’ve spent quite a bit of time (and money!) on the phone the last couple of days, trying to line up the hotel for the main part of our trip. Last night, the last pieces fell in to place; we’re set for transportation, housing, and pretty much everything else, now all we have to do is get there. September 4th can’t get here soon enough!

We’ll be doing a few pretty cool things: An overnight ferry ride on the Mediterranean, a week on Corsican beaches, probably the Moulin Rouge in Paris… All told, it’s going to be something special.

We’ll be updating as we go. Welcome to Morruz2008!

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