Les Marchés de Noël

The Christmas market in Arras started November 25th and goes until December 24th. We went several times, for the Christmas spirit, and of course the vin chaud and churros!

  

We also went to the Christmas Market in Paris this year. We went to Paris for the day and took the opportunity to also go to the Père Lachaise cemetery. 

Back at home we got in the Christmas spirit decorating the house!

With a little help from our guest....

The Adventure Continues...

After a few days rest in Arras our adventures with Gen and Andrew continued with a day trip to Bruges. We had a wonderful day walking around the historic city center, buying chocolate, and sampling the delicious Belgian beer at the Del Halve Maan brewery.

A Day in Douvres

 In June I took a daytrip with the guides P&J across the English Channel to the port city of Dover. We rented a car for the trip and took the Ferry. It was a great daytrip; we had a brunch on the ferry on the way over, and spent most of our day at the castle. The castle grounds of Dover also have tunnels constructed during the Napoleonic area and used during the Second World War. We took a tour of both the Operation Dynamo and the Underground Hospital tunnels before going up to the castle rooftop for the magnificent view.  We finished our day trip walking along the white cliffs before re-boarding the ferry home.

Three Generations, Two Counties, One Week!

Now to begin the real posts for my Mother and Grandmother’s, vacation in France. It was a wonderful arrival Saturday, close to noon for lunch and after unpacking and a quick nap, we all headed out to take a little walking tour of the town. We wandered up to the Petite Place, to have a tea and café before visiting a few shops. We had Galettes for dinner when we got home and called it a night; after all the excitement we were all pretty tired.

Our rental car!

The next day we took the car out to see the Vimy Memorial, we walked around the monument taking photos and then piled back in our tiny car to go see L’abbaye du mont Saint-Éloi. The ruins of this abbey are very impressive, only the cathedral and parts of the original wall that would have surrounded the complex remain.

Front of the Monument

Mother Canada - Vimy Memorial

Mont Saint Eloi

Arras Cathedral

When we got back to Arras we went to see the town’s large Cathedral. It is immense with large faintly coloured stained glass windows.

RED MEAT

For dinner we went to the Assiette au Boeuf where we all had a plate of beef and a large helping of fries. Dessert is included for the month of October so we all heavily indulged ourselves!

Monday we went to Amiens to see the largest Gothic cathedral in Europe, and the head of Saint John the Baptist. On the drive back Granny Jill saw a sign for a Menhir, so immediately we pulled a U-ie to find it. It was very cool to wind around the old tractor roads and discover a pre-historic upright standing stone alone in the middle of a farmer’s field.

                                                                     

We returned to Arras with enough time to shop before calling it a day. We had an early start the next morning; Tuesday we went to Brugges....

Une Grande Famille dans Paris

The day after Andre’s parents and friends left we decided that we too should go to Paris to spend more time together since Andre had been in Normandy all week. We left the Saturday morning and met everyone for lunch near the Champs-Élysées. We then headed over with Andre’s parents to meet the Lamirande’s; Andre’s Aunt, Uncle and two cousins who had just arrived in France that day. We all walked up to the Arc de Triomphe to see Andre’s wreath, which as you can see is the biggest attraction these days.From there the group divided up to go see the sights. Andre and I went with his Mom to the Orangerie to see Monet’s paintings Above Right: Two Pouty French men outside Royal Hotel

The Lamirande’s and their friends from Holland went down the Champs to see La Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Gardens. The Orangerie was actually very busy and not the meditative haven/escape from the masses of tourists, that I had been told it was by my professors in University. It was still something to see though; with Monet’s late work the des Nymphéas, sweeping across the curved walls in the two oval rooms.

Typical Tour Guide Face Orangerie

That night for dinner we had made a reservation for our party of 12 at a restaurant in the Latin Quarter. We all hopped on the metro and walked along the Seine and across L'île de la Cité to see Notre Dame.

At the restaurant we had a gigantic table upstairs it was wonderful to all sit together.

We took the metro back to our hotels after dinner, and just as we think we’re all safely out on the platform we turn around to see Andre’s Uncle still inside the metro train waving as it goes past! The doors had closed before he was able to get out! So we stood waiting for the next train to go by the opposite direction, and sure enough as it came in we could see Uncle Rob waving as the train pulled in! There was a bit of confusion after that, since there are so many exits to different streets from the metro stop. But we did find him at last!

The next day Andre, his parents and I returned home to Arras and Anne. Their friends from home flew back to Canada, and the Lamirande family stayed in Paris to see more of the sights.

The Little Bourgeois Robitaille Party’s First Weekend in Arras

The first night in Arras we decided to celebrate Andre’s Mom’s birthday since Andre would be leaving for Normandy the next day (her actual birthday). We had a nice dinner at the apartment followed by a custard pie from the bakery up the street. The next morning Andre left bright and early. We spent our first full day together in Arras touring the city, getting groceries, driving the standard rental car, and shopping. That night for the real birthday dinner we had chicken salad and macaroons for dessert.

We also had bought some bad garlic the day before so we peeled it all that night to save it by keeping the good pieces in oil.

The next morning was market day! We went to the market in the morning and bought all sorts of cheeses and meats to take with us on a picnic that afternoon. We picked a Chateau from a regional guidebook and headed out in the rental car. As we were driving we saw the remains of L’abbaye du mont Saint-Éloi. All that remains of this emmense abbaye is the front façade of the cathedral.

Click here for a French newspaper article on the archeology at the site

We walked around the grounds and had our picnic in a small park across the street. We finished our picnic just as it started to rain and headed back to the car to continue our drive to the Chateau. We arrived at the Chateau Olhain at two, but it wasn’t open until three. So we continued driving to the next small village where we found aroadside restaurant and fishing pond. We stopped there for a café and watched the people fishing in the fully stocked man-made ponds.

A little old French man came to greet us in the restaurant (an old custom when entering a restaurant is to greet everyone already seated) and then after discovering that we were obviously not French went back outside to show us how much the local ducks love him. With a baguette from his pocket, he fed a whole family of ducks who recognized him and immediately came running out of the pond when he stepped outside.

"Volia, ils m'aiment!"

After our cafés we headed back to the Chateau. The Chateau wasn't open when we arrived and while waiting outside the gates a British tour bus operator told us that many Chateaus in France are privately owned and open to the public to obtain government funding.

The Chateau was really phenomenal. It is a medieval fortress really, surrounded by a moat and built by the knight Hugues d’Olhain around 1200 CE.

One of the inhabitants was the knight, Jean de Recourt, who fought in the siege of Compiegne where Joan of Arc was captured. Upon entering the first set of gates you come into a walled courtyard which leads to the drawbridge of the main castle.

There are two towers still standing, and a large terrace over looking the moat where the third tower once stood. You can also climb the hundred steps of the spiral staircase all the way to the top of the watchtower.

The next day was Sunday, our day of rest. We spent the day hanging around the apartment and going for walks, ending off our first weekend in Arras.

La fête nationale in Paris

The French National Holiday is on July 14^th and is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille. We were able to celebrate it in Paris because Andre and two of the guides were invited to lay a wreath at the Arch de Triomphe! Most of the festivities held on the Champs d’Elysees, the avenue leading up to the Arch de Triomphe, are in the morning. We missed the morning venue; we didn’t leave Arras until noon. We arrived in Paris with enough time to check in and tour the gardens near our hotel before heading up to the ceremony.

Andre and the guides were part of a memorial ceremony with a small parade leading up to the arch. The French police tweeted their whistles and the traffic in the roundabout stopped just long enough for the small party to get through. The wreathes were laid at the base of the Arch de Triomphe at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The tomb holds the body of an unknown soldier from the First World War and commemorates all those who died in both World Wars. It also has the first eternal flame lit in Western Europe since the extinguishment of the vestal virgins in 394. (wikipedia!) Andre said that at the end of the ceremony a representative used a sword to bring the flame up to full ignition. There is a special sword keyhole apparatus apparently to do so. (I couldn’t see over the crowd) It was a very beautiful ceremony; the military band was very impressive.

After the ceremony we had a nice bite to eat at an odd little Tibetan restaurant before heading to the Eiffel Tower to watch the fireworks. Dinner took longer then expected but we still got an amazing view from the park in front of the Ecole Militare.

We went straight back to our hotel after the fireworks amongst the massive crowds because we had to catch our plane to Nice the next morning………..