Travel Tribulations

My Mom and Granny Jill have come this week to visit us in France. However I think that the posts of their visit should begin in Canada, and can best be told by the emails I received and sent Friday night….

So Friday night sitting in our living room in France I receive the following email from my Mom sent from my Dad's blackberry on the 400 highway in Canada:

Some problems at this end; G. Jill left her passport at home so I am going on without her. I don't think I'll be too late to catch the plane with this delay of driving her back to Orillia, but I doubt she will make it. I will contact you if I have any further upsets. G. Jill is devastated, very upsetting for us all.

My response: I just got your email, any news? (this isn’t happening)

Skiff at the airport:
I think it looks like he and I felt the same way

Mom: G. Jill is waiting at Timmie's in Orillia for G. Tom. He has her passport and she is going to try and catch the plane. I am getting close to the city so I hope I'll be ok for time.

Me: Alright keep me posted… (okay it’s happening, starting to freak out a little)

Some emails discussing alternatives in case she did miss the plane

Dad: Moms checked-in and has made arrangements for G. Jill’s bags. They should be here in 40 minutes. We took the 407 highway and shaved at least a 1/2 hour. Keep your fingers crossed :)

Dad: Granny is in the line to check her bags. Whew!

THEY MADE IT! 

But it doesn’t end there, As my Granny Jill and Mom go through customs together and head towards the boarding gate they discuss their car rental insurance to come to the realization that my Mom forgot her driver’s license! Luckily Granny Jill is well versed in manoeuvring French highways in a standard vehicle! They made it to Arras Saturday without any further hindrance, how happy and relieved we all felt when they finally arrived and walked in our front door!

Action de grâce en France

My Brother Fishing Thanksgiving, Arden 2010

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s a long weekend always spent with family and most preferably at a cottage where we either have to use a bbq or a wood smoker to cook the Turkey. It was our first holiday away from home. Since Thanksgiving is not actually celebrated in France, it being a New World thing and all, we Canadians banded together to have a wonderful Action de grâce. We had two dinners, one with Andre's co-workers who are from the east coast and one with the guides.  Andre and I spent the Saturday making a pumpkin pie from scratch.

To see a hilarious Youtube video about making pumpkin pie from scratch click here

We bought the pumpkin in the market Saturday morning. The vender was quite surprised we wanted the entire thing, since pumpkins are usually sold by the slice here in France. Sunday's dinner with Andre's co-workers was a traditional Jigg's dinner, which was fantastic! Tuesday night we had Thanksgiving with the guides. They cooked an entire Turkey; which is only available by special request at this time of year;  "Ce n'est pas possible." We had such wonderful Thanksgivings; a good Turkey dinner really can bring a little bit of Canada to France.....

And so can a blackberry ;-) 

A night in Rouen

Rouen Cathedral

After my Gramma returned to Canada, Andre and I decided to take a little getaway to Rouen. It was a spur of the moment decision, all we knew about Rouen was that there is a Cathedral Monet painted and that we had found a wonderful small quirky hotel to stay at. We arrived in the afternoon and checked in. The weather was not the best but we wandered around the old streets and entered the Cathedral that Monet had studied so fervently.

Inside the Rouen Cathedral

Exterior statues now preserved inside 

 It rained in the evening so we lounged around with aperitifs before heading out with an umbrella to the closest Indian restaurant. After a huge dinner we wander around a bit more in the rain before heading back to the hotel.

Jacques Cartier is everywhere in France

 The next day we did some shopping and grabbed a bite to eat at a place where their entire menu consisted of different bagel sandwiches! I have not had a bagel in months, and I actually hadn’t realized it until I saw them on the menu… delicious

 After lunch we went to the Musee des Beaux Arts to see the famous Monet paintings of the Cathedral. Sadly there was only one, and the collection that was supposed to be second only to Musee d'Orsay in impressionist paintings was pretty sparse. We ended the mini vacation walking around the city gardens on our way back to the train station.